.:Pumpkin Muffins:.

My sister gave me this recipe a couple of falls ago, and it has become a traditional favorite at our house! This recipe makes a TON, so I usually do half of it with butterscotch chips and the other half with chocolate chips. They are a great visiting teaching or neighbor gift, or even just to freeze for later, and believe me, you'll have plenty to go around!

INGREDIENTS

3 c pumpkin (be sure not to get the pie filling!)
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
4 c sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cloves
1 pkg. butterscotch chips (or chocolate chips - or both!)

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Mix the pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (except the chips) and mix.

Stir in with the pumpkin mix.

Stir in chips. (Be sure to set aside half of your batter if you are choosing to do half butterscotch chips and half chocolate chips.)

Line your muffin tin (if you are a liner sort of baker - I despise cleaning out muffin tins, so I always have to line mine!) Fill 2/3 full with batter.

Bake 18-20 minutes. (My oven is more on the 25 minute side, and they were still very moist and soft!)

.:White Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies:.

I saw this recipe on a local T.V. program the other day, and visiting teaching gave me the perfect excuse to try it out!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup shortening
• ¼ cup butter or margarine softened
• ¼ cup white chocolate chips melted
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips

• 8 oz package cream cheese softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 Tbsp milk

• 1 can cherry pie filling (I used raspberry because I'm not a fan of cherry pie filling)
  

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine sugars, shortening, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until it is blended well.

Melt 1/4 cup white chocolate chips in the microwave.

Add to the bowl and beat until creamy.

Add flour, soda, and salt. Beat until a soft dough forms.

Hand stir in 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy.

Stir in milk until it is absorbed.

Drop spoonfuls of dough on to cookie sheet.

Make an indention with the tip of your finger or a spoon.

Drop a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each indention.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. (Mine were more on the 12 side).

Let the cookies cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.

Allow cookies to cool and spoon on your filling.

Store in the fridge!

.:Chocolate Chip Cookies:.

I'm sure everyone has their own chocolate chip cookie recipe, but my husband swears this one is the best! It's a recipe I got from my mom, and they are always a hit! Delicious!

MRS. FIELDS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 1/2 c sugar
2 c brown sugar
1 lb butter
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
5 1/2-6 c flour (I usually use 5 1/2)
1 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 large package chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. My oven usually does 10 minutes and they are perfect!
They come out looking like they are not done, but they are!
After they have cooled, they look like this - perfect!

.:Frozen Hot Chocolate:.

This recipe is from my mom, and it is sooooo delicious! It's a great frozen dessert for the summertime!

INGREDIENTS
6 oz. chocolate bar
2 t. hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. milk

* Melt chocolate bar
* Stir in the hot chocolate mix and sugar
* Add 1/2 c. milk
* Put mixture in blender and add the remaining 1 c. of milk
* Blend with 3 c. ice
* Top with whipped cream and chocolate bar shavings

YUM!

Lets get saucy...

Home-made Hot Fudge Sauce Perfect On Vanilla Ice Cream
And you can ignore the rest of my post, which is totally irrelevant to this recipe-sharing blog! :)
This sauce was very easy and it keeps in the fridge up to four weeks!

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

.:Chocolate Bowls:.

I have been wanting to try this out ever since I saw it posted on another blog. Well, we just got done with a huge production with our youth group, and we want to do something nice for the parents who have been SO helpful throughout it all. We are having the girls in my young women's program come over tonite to make 'sweet treats' to take around to them. I thought that these beat out a paper plate any day!

All you need are some balloons, semi-sweet baking chocolate, and some wax paper.



Put your chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. Since I was doing such a large batch, I started off with 60 second intervals. For smaller batches, you'd probably only want to do 30 seconds. I stirred it in between.

While the chocolate was microwaving, I lined a cookie sheet with wax paper and blew up my balloons.

Once the chocolate is melted, LET IT COOL. On the website I got this from, it says even when you think it's cool enough, let it cool some more. Otherwise, you end up with popped balloons and chocolate all over. For my large batch (four boxes of 8 oz. of Baker's chocolate) I let it cool for almost an hour. I stirred it about every fifteen minutes to check the temperature.

Then, take your balloon and dip it in the chocolate.

Set it on the wax paper to cool. (I put mine in the fridge).

Take a pin, and poke a small hole at the top. You don't want the balloon to explode - only the air to let out slowly. I stuck the pin in, and then kind of held the hole open to let the air out.

Peel the balloon out and you have a chocolate bowl! We haven't added any treats to it yet, but once we do, we'll probably wrap it up in cellophane and deliver as gifts!

What a fun way to serve dessert at a dinner party or special occasion!

And what fun are desserts if you don't share them? Here is Reece enjoying her first tastes of chocolate. I think she liked it....