Aunt Carole's Easy Breadsticks (and yummy, too)

We love these breadsticks. They are a favorite. This time I made them with whole wheat flour, but they are delicious either way. Thanks for the great recipe, Aunt Carole!

Easy Breadsticks

1 Tbsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 ½ C. warm water
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cube butter

Sprinkle yeast and sugar into water. Let dissolve. Add salt and flour and mix into dough. Let rise once. Roll out on floured surface. Cut in strips and twist. Melt 1 cube butter on a cookie sheet. Coat breadsticks in butter and lay on pan. Sprinkle with garlic, parmesan, and sesame seeds. Let rise again. Bake at 400˚ until golden brown.

I sprinkled also with parsley flakes, and I skipped the first rise. I am usually in too big of a hurry to wait.

Here I am at Jen's house at Dallin's 5th birthday party and we thought we'd post a picture of his fun dinosaur cake. I love these kind of cakes where you just throw something on top.

Wontons

My friend Kahanu brought me some won tons about a week ago that were SO good. I have actually never made them myself, so here's her picture and her recipe! She made two different kinds, one of them being a sweet one. And after those recipes is Amy's way of making them.

CREAM CHEESE WONTONS

6 oz. cream cheese

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 tsp. soy sauce, lite

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/3 c. seafood shreds (imitation crab meat) optional - they used chicken and it was great!

Pkg. won ton wrappers, sm. squares

Blend together ingredients. Drop approximately 1 teaspoonful on each of the small size wrappers. Fold in corners and seal with egg white. Fry in hot oil until crispy and brown. Serve with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

THE SWEET ONES:

cream cheese, pineapple bits, and a little bit of sugar

And here's how Amy makes the filling: Buy whipped cream cheese, any flavor but her favorite is the kind with chives.

Eclairs

These eclairs are a favorite in the Lunt family. My mother-in-law made these while we were there a couple of weeks ago. They are so yummy! And always a hit with everyone.

You can fill them with pudding or I've also done the cream filling recipe for ding dongs in Karen's previous post. I've also made them into little balls, filled with cream and they were like the mini cream puffs you get at Costco.

1 C. water

1/2 C. margarine

1/2 tsp salt

1 C. flour

4 eggs

Heat the margarine and water to the boiling point. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and clings to the spoon. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Add the unbeaten eggs, 1 at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Shape mixture with a pastry bag into 4X1 inch strips. Arrange on a greased baking sheet, baking them some distance apart. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes and then at 325 for 25 minutes. Fill with pudding, custard, or cream and frost with chocolate frosting (or vanilla).

Do not double this recipe because it is too hard to stir.

Cream recipe:

1 C. milk
3 Tbsp. flour

1 C. softened margarine
1 C. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a really fun cookie recipe I found in a magazine (can't remember which one) while on jury duty. I got around to making it yesterday and liked it! The only recommendation I have is to make it when you have time and are in the mood to bake -- it's a little more involved than just plopping cookie dough onto the cookie sheet.

The name of these cookies in the magazine was peanut munchies. I didn't like that name, but you can change it back if you want!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients for the chocolate dough:
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C. butter, softened
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/4 C. peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Ingredients for the peanut butter filling:
1/2 C. peanut butter (I had to use a little more pb)
3/4 C. powdered sugar

Directions for the chocolate dough:
1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.
In large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 C peanut butter. Beat with mixer until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla - beat well. Beat in the flour/cocoa mixture. Shape dough into about 32 balls, set aside while you make peanut butter filling.

Directions for peanut butter filling:
2. In bowl, combine powdered sugar and 1/2 C. peanut butter with mixer until smooth. Knead by hand if necessary. (Mine turned out kind of dry and crumbly, so I added a little more peanut butter.) Shape into about 32 balls.

Putting it all together:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flatten a chocolate dough ball in your hand, place a peanut butter ball in the middle and shape the chocolate dough around it to form a ball - completely covering peanut butter ball with chocolate dough. Repeat with remaining balls.

Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet, flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake about 8 minutes, leave on cookie sheet about 1 minute after taking them out of the oven, and then transfer to a rack to cool.

Creepy-Crawly Cupcakes

My friend, Kim brought each of my kids a cupcake for Halloween. They loved them! She got the recipe from Family Fun. These were so cute!!

Start with a dozen chocolate frosted chocolate cupcakes. Then make the worm topping by melting 1/2 cup white chocolate chips in a microwave for 1 minute and stirring them until smooth. Stir in 5 drops of red food coloring, 1 drop of blue food coloring, and 1 tablespoon each of light corn syrup and hot water. Gently fold in 1 cup of chow mein noodles until they are evenly coated. Scoop the mixture onto waxed paper and use two forks to separate the noodles into individual worms or smaller clumps. Allow about 20 minutes for teh coating to set. Meanwhile, sprinkle the cupcakes with chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (1/2 cup should be plenty for one dozen) and gently press them into the frosting. When the worms are ready, arrange them on top.

A Surprise Sammy

That's a funny title, I know. Here's the explanation. My husband is used to nasty lunches on Saturday afternoons - microwaved cheese crisps, mac-n-cheese, PBJ, etc... So I surprised him with a sandwich yesterday. The "surprise" won't work if you've already spoiled your husband, but if he is deprived of good lunches like mine he'll be so happy. Click here to see where I got the inspiration. I just added a few more ingredients.

As for the "sammy", that's what Jon likes to call sandwiches. Here's the list of what I used in between the toasted bread:

scrambled eggs w/ cheese melted on them

bacon

sprouts

avocado

tomato w/salt & pepper on it

spinach leaves