Sinful Snickers Ice Cream Cake

Do you need a super easy yet very decadent and delicious dessert to make for your family or for a potluck??  Try this recipe!  Its Snickers Ice Cream Cake. 


What you need:
14 ice cream sandwiches (size: 8x13)
Hershey's fudge sauce
caramel ice cream topping, I used Smuckers
chocolate syrup, I used Hershey's
crushed peanuts

Start by layering the bottom of your 9x13 pan with ice cream bars, I cut two bars in half lengthwise to fill in at the top and sides of the pan.

Then spread the fudge sauce across the top of the bars, swirl the caramel sauce on top of that and add crushed peanuts.The next layer is another layer of ice cream bars, again cut to fit the pan nicely.

Top with Cool Whip, and finally give the top a nice drizzle of chocolate syrup, caramel sauce and more crushed peanuts.  Freeze this for about 3 hours before serving.*

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

14 ice cream sandwiches

chocolate fudge sauce

caramel ice cream topping

cool whip

crushed peanuts

 



Instructions

1. Place a layer of ice cream sandwiches in the bottom of the dish.
2. Spread on a layer of fudge.
3. Sprinkle with peanuts and drizzle with caramel topping.
4. Add on another layer of ice cream sandwiches
5. Spread on a layer of fudge.
6. Top with cool whip
7. Sprinkle with peanuts
8. Drizzle on caramel and chocolate syrup.
9. Freeze for 3 hours.
10. Slice into squares and serve!

 

*I am not responsible for the extra hours on the treadmill required after eating this delicious dessert :)



first birthday fun

 My sweet little Camden turned 1 on June 10.  I can hardly believe how fast this year has flown by.  I rarely find a mom who doesn't say the same thing though!  We had an owl themed party, mostly because this is probably the only year I'll get away with such a thing!!  I managed to make him a banner using my Cricut, proving that with practice, anything is possible :)

 Somehow Camden managed to miss his nap, and was very tired during his party.  He wasn't fussy though!!  Here he is wearing his birthday present from his big brother, Harper.  His very own Red Sox hat.  Now they each have one!

I managed to make cupcakes and frosting from scratch this year, it was much easier then I thought and now I'm not sure why I thought it was so daunting.  It was actually quite fun!!!  These ones are Texas Sheet cake with chocolate frosting.  I found this recipe on Blue Eyed Bakers, a great blog for recipes. I made the little picks with the Cricut as well.  These were so good, and the cake was very moist and delicious.

 These two plates represent the Peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting, and the Texas Sheet cake cupcakes with the peanut butter frosting.  Since Father's day was the following weekend I wanted a special treat for my dad as well.  His personal favorite is the chocolate/peanut butter combination!  The genius of this is that I got four different cupcakes but only made two batches of cupcakes and two batches of frosting! Perfect!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes were especially for Camden.  I used Strawberry jelly and all of the kids loved these cupcakes.  I did, however use all natural peanut butter which caused the frosting to be a little loose, but delicious nonetheless, and it also required about 1 Cup more powdered sugar then the original recipe called for which may have also been due to the all natural peanut butter.  This great recipe is one I found at Brown Eyed Baker, a blog with amazing recipes.  I often check there when I'm looking for something, and even when I am not!

Thanks to my dear friend, Caitlin Foster, who encouraged me to try baking cupcakes on my own and also gave me the great tip of using a zip lock bag with the corner snipped off for frosting, very easy and I can't wait to try it again!

Thin, Crisp, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies

 The perfect chocolate chip cookie.  Everyone has a recipe, the back of the tollhouse chocolate chip bag has a pretty good recipe!  I have a few go-to recipes.  Today I wanted a thin, crisp but chewy chocolate chip cookie...bonus no eggs in the batter and therefore worry free eating if that kind of thing occurs to you :)  These cookies turned out perfect, just as they claim to be.  Here is a useful site to help you determine what type of cookies you want to make, for example higher moisture content helps cookies be soft and chewy!

Thankfully, Matt spent some time with the guys this weekend and I was able to send a bag off with them instead of eating them for breakfast, as I mostly likely would have done otherwise!

Thin, Crisp, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies
original source: here

1 Cup of butter, melted and cooled to room temp
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 Cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups chocolate chips

preparation:
1. In a bowl, I used my kitchen aid and therefore my Kitchen Aid bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended.  Beat in 3 tablespoons of water and the vanilla until smooth, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed.

2. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir or beat into butter mixture until well incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough in 1 Tablespoon portions, 2 inches apart, onto buttered cookie sheets

4. Bake in a 300 degree oven until edges of cookies are browned, but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, about 14 minutes; if baking more then one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking.

5 With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool.  If hot cookies start to break, slide a thin spatula under them to release; let cool completely

Brownie Batter Dip

 There is a blog I follow that I get some really great recipes from called Crumbs and Chaos...maybe I just relate to the name or maybe I just really have good luck with the recipes I try from there, either way check these lovely ladies out! 

While perusing their site the other day I came across a recipe for Brownie Batter Dip.  Now I like chocolate and all but sweets are not necessarily my thing, I'm more of a savory girl but, alas, this did catch my eye and I knew I had the perfect opportunity to make it coming up so make it I did!

This yummy concoction was a crowd pleaser and, I think, it's a great option if you looking for something a little outside the box to take or make for a shower or party!

Brownie Batter Dip

• 8 oz CREAM CHEESE (I used 1/3 less fat)
• 1/2 cup BUTTER (room temp)
• 2-3 cup POWDERED SUGAR -- varies by desired consistency I only needed 2 C
• 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
• 5 Tablespoons FLOUR
• 5 Tablespoons COCOA POWDER
• 2 Tablespoons BROWN SUGAR
• 3+ Tablespoons MILK -- varies by desired consistency
• a few chocolate chips and a sprig of mint for garnish

Preparation:
 Using a stand mixer, blend the cream cheese, yogurt and butter.  Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.  Add 2 Tablespoons of milk.  Add flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar and vanilla.  Blend until smooth.  You may need to add more sugar to stiffen the dip or milk to loosen it a bit.

I used graham crackers, Nilla wafers and pretzels for dipping,

Triple Threat Brownie Bars

So if your as obsessed with Pinterest as I am (and if you're not why ever not??) then you have definitely seen some version of these bars 1000 times.  I, however, have made them today from my cousin Tracy's recent post on our family blog.  She cleaned up the title as well :) So if you have desire to sabotage any semblance of a diet you may be on....these are worth it!!!  Things to consider: You can certainly use your own chocolate chip cookie dough, I didn't because I didn't have the time or ingredients today.  You can use any cookie you want in the center, I was thinking caramel delights or thin mints but Oreos were on sale.  Spending an extra 50 cents on the fudgey brownie batter...is money well spent :)  After I poured the brownie batter on top I wished I'd drizzled Caramel sauce on top of the oreos...it was too late for me but you may still have time!

Triple Threat Brownie Bars

2 rolls of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 package of Oreos, or cookies of your choice approx 30 cookies
1 box of fudgey brownie batter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease a 9x13 pan

Spread cookie dough into the bottom of the pan in an even layer.  Lay cookies on top of cookie dough. ( I want to say that I did 4 across and 8 down but I could be making that up and I didn't take a picture and they've been cut already so bear with me.)  Pour brownie batter across the top and smooth over the Oreos.

Bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes.  Mine were still pretty fudgey but that's my preference.
Enjoy!!