Quickest Cookie Recipe

This week I have been swamped with assignments and tests and therefore needed to come up with something quick and easy. After browsing through a couple cookie recipe books I had, I then found the perfect one. This particular recipe comes from a cookie jar classics book, the recipe is titled 'friendship cookies', I'm not exactly sure why seeing as there is little to no effort that goes into these but that is besides the point. Back to the cookies... They require a simple 4 ingredients which are as follows:
One large egg
1/2 Cup of cooking oil
1 Box of cake mix
1/4 Cup of water

As for the cake mix, I used confetti cake (vanilla cake with rainbow bits). Basically all you do is combine all the ingredients together, mix and bake. It is best to bake at 350 degrees F for roughly 10-12 minutes. I dropped out large portions or the mix then once they were baked cut them into heart shapes and ate the side pieces. All in all, I highly suggest for everyone to try this recipe out as it is by far the easiest cookie recipe. Enjoy. <3

Chocolate Macaroons

   This week I wanted to make something easy and tasty, therefore I decided I'd go with chocolate macaroons. This is a very simple recipe which only requires a few ingredients and takes little time to make. These can be baked and enjoyed at any occasion whether that be a family event or no real event at all. In terms of ingredients you will need:
4 Ounces of semi-sweet or bitter sweet chocolate
3 Large eggs whites
1/4 Cup of cocoa powder
3/4 Cup of white sugar
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 1/2 Cups of sweetened coconut

Directions:
In a stainless steel bowl, place in chocolate over top of boiling water to melt, once melted set aside.
In another large bowl whisk together egg whites, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and vanilla extract.
Then stir in coconut and melted chocolate ensuring that coconut is well coated.
Cover and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place large teaspoons of the batter onto baking sheet and place in oven, bake for roughly 15 minutes.
Cool and enjoy!

Test it out and comment below, I'd love to see some other macaroon recipes as well! 

Banana Chocolate Chip

    This week I had a serious craving for banana bread but more specifically, banana bread with lots of chocolate chips in them. Therefore I decided to make a traditional banana bread mix, add chocolate chips and then bake into a muffin tray and top with chocolate frosting. Yum yum. To start off you will need to create a banana bread mixture, many online baking sites offer them but I have also posted one below in which I found online. The ingredients and directions are as follows:

Ingredients:
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup of melted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  With a wooden spoon, mix butter into mashed bananas, then mix in sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Add in the flour and chocolate chips and pour mixture into individual muffin cups. Bake until toothpick comes out clean.

Once it has cooled down, top with your favourite chocolate frosting and enjoy!! For an added flavour, add in banana extract to the chocolate frosting. ENJOY!

Saucy Apple Cake

     This week I helped my mom with making a saucy apple cake to go with Sunday dinner. This is a rather quick dessert to make and can be made earlier in the day and then served later. This recipe has two parts, the cake and the sauce. The ingredients for the cake is as follows:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
2 peeled and chopped apples
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup 18% cream

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the cake ingredients in the above order, then place in a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean. For the sauce, bring all ingredients to a gentle boil in a sauce pan. Serve cake with warm sauce.

This dessert is also very good when topped with whipped cream or a side of vanilla ice cream. Try it out and let me know what you think, like it or love it?!

Cereal Bars

     This week I decided to go on a bit of a health kick and try to make something a little healthier, although it does contain marshmallows I figured baby steps is the best way. This week I made cereal bars, they are basically rice crispy squares just with different cereals and dried fruit. For this you will need 1 bag of marshmallows, 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine and 6 cups of your favourite cereal. I personally used 3 cups of Banana Nut Cheerios and 3 cups of Presidents Choice Crunchy Cranberry Almond cereal. First you will need to take a large saucepan (large enough to fit all ingredients), begin to melt the butter/margarine in the saucepan then gradually add in the bag of marshmallows, use a spatula to pull the marshmallow away from the sides as well as make sure you're using a non stick saucepan! After the marshmallows have melted and now look like glue, add in the cereal as well as anything else you would like such as dried fruits, chocolate, nuts, etc. Then pour into a non stick pan, something like a greased casserole dish works well, then place into the fridge to cool. After it is cooled, you may add a chocolate drizzle over the top or just cut and serve as is. These cereal bars are best kept in an air tight container as well as may be frozen and stored away for another time.