Lemon Bars

I made these for Jason, since he loves anything lemony. I didn't think it had enough lemon flavor to them.



1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. 2. Combine the flour, 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, and butter. Pat dough into prepared pan. 3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until slightly golden. While the crust is baking, whisk together eggs, white sugar, flour, and lemon juice until frothy. Pour this lemon mixture over the hot crust. 4. Return to the preheated oven for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Dust the top with confectioners' sugar, cut into 2 squares.

Rachael Ray's BBQ Chicken 1 Pot Pie

We have a lot of Rachael Ray dinners that we really enjoy and this is one of them. I save a little money and make my own corn muffins and it tastes just as good.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/bbq-chicken-1-pot-pie/

Ingredie
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 to 3 onions, chopped 4 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 to 1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce, to taste
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 store-bought corn muffins
2 to 3 tablespoons butter, melted (eyeball it)

n a large sauté pan, heat EVOO and begin browning the chicken pieces in small batches making sure not to over crowd the pan. Add the onions, garlic, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook until onions and garlic are soft, about 2-3 minutes. (If your pan is too small to cook all the chicken at once without overcrowding, work in batches, reserving cooked chicken on a plate. Add additional EVOO, if needed, to sauté onions and garlic.) In a bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, tomatoes and chicken stock. Pour into the pot with the chicken. Let this mixture cook for about 15-20 minutes or until reduced. To serve, split the muffins horizontally. Cover a cookie sheet with some foil and arrange the split muffins on the tray cut-site up and brush with melted butter. Toast under the broiler for 1 minute. Place the toasted corn muffin halves on top of the skillet stew.

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cups butter, melted
1 1/2 c crushed graham crackers
2 c choc chips
1 c white chips
1 1/3 c coconut
1/2 c Reece's Pieces *I had these on hand and decided to use them.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray. 2. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork. 3. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

Chocolate Crock Pot Cake

Crock Pot Cake is so easy, I let Delaney make it. Its a great recipe for kids, since they don't have to worry about a hot oven. Just put it all in, stir and let the crock pot do the rest.
There is many different variations of this cake, you can mix it up.

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
8 oz sour cream
1 c chocolate chips
1 c oil
1 c water

Mix well and cook on high 4 hours. You can serve it with vanilla ice cream, or whip cream. Chocolate or caramel syrup would be good drizzled on top.

You can also use a yellow cake mix, white chips, vanilla pudding. Or even chocolate chips. So yum!

Cream Cheese Ball

One of our favorite recipes to bring to parties. Everyone loves it. You can serve graham crackers, teddy crahams.

1 8oz cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter (not margarine), softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tbs brown sugar
3/4 c confec sugar
1 c mini choclate chips
beat together until smooth. Chill 2 hours. Roll into ball, then roll in crushed pecans.

Halfmoon Cookies

I have always loved halfmoon cookies, and thought they'd be fun to make. I used. A recipe from a blog. http://andreasrecipes.com/2006/02/12/chocolate-half-moon-cookies/ I used the Wilton's recipe for buttercream frosting

Wilton's Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 c veg shortening
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 c confec sugar
2 tbs milk
For Chocolate add 3/4 c cocoa



I found a recipe for Hemstroughts, next time ill have to try this one.
FOR THE COOKIES:
3 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 cup sugar
16 tbsp. margarine, cut into pieces
3/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
FOR THE FUDGE ICING:
3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate
butter 4 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
extract
Pinch salt
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING:
7 cups confectioners’ sugar
16 tbsp. room temperature butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
7 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt
FOR THE COOKIES: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, margarine, cocoa, and salt in bowl of standing mixer and beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat. Add half the milk, then half the flour mixture, beating after each addition until smooth; repeat with remaining milk and flour
Spoon or pipe batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets, making 3-inch rounds 2-inches apart. Bake until cookies are set, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove from parchment.
FOR THE FUDGE ICING: Melt bittersweet and semisweet chocolates and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water over medium heat. Add confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, salt, and 6 tbsp. boiling water and mix to a smooth, stiff paste with a rubber spatula. Thin icing with up to 8 tbsp. more boiling water. Icing should fall from a spoon in thick ribbons. Keep icing warm in a double boiler over low heat.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING: Put sugar, butter, shortening, milk, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Beat on low speed to mix, then increase to medium and beat until light and fluffy.
TO FROST THE COOKIES: Using a metal spatula, spread about 1 tbsp. of warm fudge icing on half of the flat side of each cookie. Spread the other half of