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Travel/Food

Peanut Butter Blossom recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund

Peanut butter blossom cookies are one of my favorite types of cookies. I really like the taste and I also think they are super cute! I am going to be reviewing a recipe from preppy kitchen.com

Here is the link to the recipe: link

Review

Taste

The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is perfect in these cookies. Peanut butter adds saltiness and the chocolate adds the perfect flavor to complement it. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I find it best to eat these cookies fresh out of the oven so that the chocolate is still melted. I also like how these cookies are rolled in sugar because it adds a nice texture on the outside. I would rate the taste a 10/10.

Baking Process

These cookies were quick to make and they didn’t have to bake for very long. You can also fit quite a few of them on a pan since they are small and they don’t expand too much. The only tricky part is that you have to have all the Hershey Kisses you need unwrapped so that you can put them on the cookies right after they come out of the oven. I would rate the process an 8/10

Overall, I would rate this recipe a 9/10 and would definitely make these cookies again.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup creamy peanut butter (188g)
  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling (100g)
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 36 Hersey’s Chocolate Kisses unwrapped

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter, sugars and salt. Cream together by beating on medium speed until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the flour and baking soda and beat on low speed just until combined.
  3. Scoop the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Coat in additional granulated sugar if desired. Place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies look puffy and cracked and the bottom just start to turn brown. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. (The cookies will crack and that’s okay!) Allow the cookies to cool completely on the pan, until the chocolate is set. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Travel/Food

Cranberry cheesecake bars recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund

Image generated with AI

The weather is getting colder, and that means it’s time for fall treats! The recipe I reviewed was for cranberry cheesecake bars from Somuchfoodblog.

You can find the recipe here.

Review

To start, the process of making these bars.

There was 3 different components in these bars: the cheesecake filling, the cranberry topping, and the crust. Managing all of these mixtures and ingredients can be a little bit tricky, and you have to clean up as you go to make room for the next mixture. It is time consuming to cook the cranberry topping over the stove.

Another inconvenience is that you need quite a few appliances to make this recipe, like a food processor, hand mixer, and stovetop. There is also a lot of uncommon ingredients that people would not usually have in their house, like ginger snap cookies and orange liqueur/Grand Marnier. These bars are not something you make randomly, it has to be planned and the ingredients and appliances have to be on hand. On the bright side, the ingredient list isn’t too extensive.

Although it is more complex than a lot of recipes, if you like baking, it’s quite enjoyable and it’s fun to assemble all of your components once they are done.

Next, the taste.

These cheesecake bars tasted very good. I really love the tartness of the cranberry and I also like how the recipe used ginger snap cookies for the crust instead of graham crackers, like most bars use. These bars are very meticulously made and they taste very gourmet. I think that the measurements in this recipe were just right, because nothing is overpowering and it all blends well together.

Overall, I give this recipe an 8/10. The ingredients and baking process were a bit of a challenge, but the taste made it worth all the work.

Travel/Food

Crepe recipe and review

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By: Nils Hileson

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup of milk
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 cup of flour
  • 3 tablespoons of melted butter

Steps:

  • Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk vigorously for 10-20 seconds until smooth.
  • Put the batter in a bowl with a lid and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours
  • Put a pan on a burner at low-medium heat and add butter
  • Add 1/3 cup of batter in pan
  • Swirl pan until the surface is coated with a thin layer of batter
  • Let sit until the edges start to peel off the pan then flip the crepe
  • Wait until it’s only a little crispy and then put on a plate

You can add toppings like;

  • Butter & sugar
  • Jam & whipped cream
  • Nutella & banana
  • Butter, sugar & cinnamon
  • Scrambled egg

The crepes were really good, I made three; one with Nutella and banana, one with cinnamon and sugar and one with scrambled egg. Crepes are really good due to how many different things you can put on them. While most crepes are made sweet you could make one more savory.

They are also pretty easy to make but it’s easy to accidentally cut them due to how thin they are.

The crepes tasted really good the egg one might’ve been my favorite as the cheese I put in the egg and the crepe itself worked really well together. The other crepes also tasted really good though, both being sweet in different ways.

Due to how much batter I had we ended up with a lot of extra crepes since the crepe doesn’t take much batter to make due to being so thin. When making crepes the first one will almost always come out really bad as the pan isn’t quite ready yet so the first one will look bad.

Overall crepes are really good and pretty easy to make.

This recipe was a modified version of my dad’s.

Travel/Food

S’mores cookie bar review

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By: Alice Rapacz

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg (room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (around 8 full sheets)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 heaping cup marshmallow creme (fluff)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes).
  3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until combined. (It may look curdled but that is ok) scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
  4. In a separate medium bowl mix together the flour, graham cracker crumb, baking powder, and salt.
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on medium speed until combined.
  6. In your prepared baking pan, spread ⅔ of the cookie dough onto the bottom of the pan. The dough will be sticky so do your best to evenly spread the dough in a thin layer.
  7. Use a spatula to spread the marshmallow creme on top of the dough. It is very sticky so just do your best to spread it in an even layer.
  8. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the marshmallow creme in an even layer.
  9. Using the remaining cookie dough, mold it into flat pieces and layer on top of the chocolate chips. (There won’t be enough dough to cover the whole top in a single layer, some marshmallow and chocolate chips will be exposed.)
  10. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  11. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.
  12. Lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares
  13. Cover and store the leftover bars at rooms for up to 1 week.
  14. Lastly, Enjoy!

Review:

The process of making the bars was very straightforward and the recipe was easy to follow. Once the dough was made the only part that was kind of hard was the assembly, only because of how sticky the dough and marshmallow creme was. I used my hands to spread out the dough, which made it easier to make sure it was spread evenly to each corner. Using a rubber spatula to spread out the marshmallow creme was a lot easier than anything else because it didn’t stick to it as much. I found that placing a few dollops of the creme on the dough before spreading it out made it much easier.

The hardest part of the whole process was waiting. The combination of the baking time and cooling time felt like forever and the smell of sweet graham cracker filled the air.

These cookie bars were so good! The inside of the cookie was soft from the marshmallow and the actual cookie itself, and the outside had the perfect amount of crunch. The sweetness from the marshmallow complemented the bitterness from the chocolate. I wasn’t sure how the marshmallow creme would bake, I didn’t know if it would get hard like other marshmallows when they are cooked for a while, but they were still soft.

These bars were so good, I made them a second time. They were the perfect way to end the night and my family loved them. I think that these would be perfect for a summer night and definitely are a better version of the classic s’more.

Travel/Food

Recipe review: Kitchen Sink cookies

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter softened
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup crushed pretzels
  • 1 cup potato chips
  • 4 graham crackers broken up
  • 1 cup toffee bits
  • Flaky sea salt for garnish

Instuctions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars until they are creamy and combined, about 2-3 minutes
  4. Add in the vanilla and the eggs and beat again, until everything is evenly mixed together.
  5. Stir the flour, salt, and baking soda into the wet ingredients and mix.
  6. Add the milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, crushed pretzels, potato chips, graham cracker pieces, and toffee bits into the mixture and stir just until evenly distributed.
  7. Scoop 1/3 cup sized balls of cookie dough onto the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Space them about 1 to 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
  8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden brown
  9. Top with the flaky sea salt.
  10. Enjoy!

Review

I made these cookies for my friends and I to have. I have never tried to make these types of cookies before, and I was very pleased with the outcome. I absolutely loved the sweet chocolate, caramel, and graham crackers paired with the salty chips and pretzels. I also loved how crunchy the chips were along with the gooey chocolate and caramel. Overall, the cookies were very balanced, and the flavors compliment each other greatly.

I had decided to make these cookies because they honestly just looked so fun! My friends and I decided to have a bonfire because it was finally getting warm outside again, and I thought it would be great to have a treat with it. It was really enjoyable to make with my friends, we had a great time, and the outcome was so worth the time spent making them.

These cookies would be great for any occasion, whether it be a holiday, party, or just for fun. It is a great thing to make with your friends and family!

I got this recipe from House of Nash Eats by Amy (https://houseofnasheats.com/kitchen-sink-cookies). She did a great job with this recipe; it was all very easy to follow and to make.

I really enjoyed making these cookies, and had an even better time eating them with my friends! Try this recipe for yourself! Enjoy!

Travel/Food

Homemade Tru Fru recipe review

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By: Alice Rapacz and Evie Beaumaster

If you’re anything like us, you have tried Tru Fru and loved it. Like Tru Fru, other frozen chocolate dipped fruits are very good but they leave quite a dent in your pocket! We decided to try to make our own and to see if we could make something comparable, but for a smaller price.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of raspberries (or other fruits we used strawberries)
  • 1 cup of white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup of dark chocolate chips
  • 2 teaspoons of coconut oil

To make the homemade Tru Fru, we chose to use strawberries as our fruit. We started by cutting the stems off our strawberries, coring them, and cutting them in half. You want to make sure that your strawberries are completely dry because when you freeze them, they will stick together if they are wet.

After the strawberries are all cut and washed, we put them on a baking sheet to freeze. We covered the baking sheet with parchment paper and made sure that the strawberries weren’t touching each other.

After about 3 hours, the strawberries were fully frozen. We kept them in the freezer while we prepared the chocolates. In two microwave safe bowls add the chocolates (separately) and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Microwave the white chocolate chips first, before doing the milk/dark chocolate, we chose dark. Microwave in 30 second intervals mixing in between each one.

Once fully melted we pulled out the frozen strawberries and added them into a bowl so we could put our dipped strawberries on the baking sheet. We used a fork to dip the strawberries in the chocolate and shook off the extra chocolate so that there would only be a thin layer of chocolate on each strawberry.

After half the strawberries were coated in white chocolate, we had to melt more chocolate to finish the rest of the strawberries and continue dipping the strawberries.

Once they all were coated in white chocolate, we moved onto the dark chocolate. We used the same process of melting, and because the strawberries were frozen to start, the chocolate hardened onto the strawberries so we did not have to put them back into the freezer. After they were all dipped, they were ready to eat!

In the end, the strawberries were really good. Since we used a fork to shake off extra chocolate, there was a nice and thin layer on the strawberries. If it was thicker, it would have been really hard to bite. If you leave the strawberries out for around 3 minutes before eating, it makes the strawberries thaw just enough so they are easier to eat.

The dark chocolate evens out the sweetness from the white chocolate, and the two pair well with the strawberry. Since they are frozen, they would be a perfect sweet treat for on a hot summer day. The strawberries are sweet and fresh, with the chocolate added, they are really good. We made the strawberries when some of our friends were with us. They all really liked them and thought they were a perfect treat to end the night.

Overall, the recipe was pretty easy to follow and the strawberries tasted really good. We think that this recipe is a great way to save some money if you also like Tru Fru. We made around 40 strawberries and the total cost was around $11.78. A typical Tru Fru bag comes with around 16 strawberries for $6.99. For the homemade strawberries it cost around 30 cents per strawberry, the Tru Fru cost around 43 cents. While this is not that big of a difference, we both thought it was worth it. Not only was it fun to make, but we also got to have a delicious treat too. If you ever want a fun and delicious treat to make, we definitely recommend this homemade Tru Fru recipe.

The original recipe!

https://www.liveeatlearn.com/frozen-chocolate-raspberries/

Travel/Food

Recipe review: Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

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By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

  • 1 ⅔ cups of flour
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • ¼ tsp of baking soda
  • 1 ½ tsp of baking powder
  • ¼ tsp of kosher salt
  • ¾ cup of unsalted butter
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup whole milk

Ingredients for Frosting:

  • 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 cups of heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

Cupcakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  2. Sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder into a large bowl.
  3. Mix the butter, egg whites, vanilla, sour cream, and milk into a separate bowl.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until fully combined.
  5. Put cupcake liners into a muffin tin and fill them ⅔ of the way full.
  6. Bake for 18 minutes.

Frosting

  1. Heat the heavy whipping cream in a pot over the stove until simmering.
  2. Put chocolate into a medium sized bowl and pour the simmering cream on top.
  3. Cover the bowl with a plate for 2 minutes before mixing.
  4. Take the plate off and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until smooth, creamy and set
  5. Beat the mixture until fluffy

Piping

  1. Put frosting into a piping bag.
  2. After cupcakes have fully cooled, pipe the frosting to cover the top
  3. Enjoy!

Review:

These cupcakes were absolutely divine. The cake was so fluffy and dense at the same time. The frosting was so creamy and the chocolate was so rich. I loved the sweet flavor of the vanilla cake and the frosting went with it perfectly because it was so rich. The two flavors complement each other perfectly.

I made these cupcakes with my friends, and we got the recipe from her grandma. They were very enjoyable to make, and we had a great time. It took us a while to make everything, but it was so worth it in the end. They were honestly the best cupcakes I’ve ever made and I will absolutely be making them again in the near future.

These cupcakes are perfect for any occasion, birthdays, holidays, celebrations, or just for fun! They are perfect for chocolate lovers and are so easy to share with everyone!

I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did! Enjoy!

Travel/Food

Jam thumbprint cookie review

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By: Norah Hoglund and Max Cahoon

Image created with Instagram AI

Overview

Jam thumbprint cookies are a classic Christmas or holiday cookie for this time of year. They not only look cute but they also taste really good. We tried out a recipe for them and are going to share our thoughts on it.

Link to the recipe:

https://www.loveandlemons.com/thumbprint-cookies/#wprm-recipe-container-53346

Review

Taste

These cookies had two components: the cookie and the jam. The cookie was like a shortbread cookie, and it was sweet and crumbly. They were also very buttery and they were quite a good cookie. If they didn’t have the jam in the center they would have been a bit boring, so good thing there was jam in the middle. It added a different tart flavor to the cookies as well as a fruity flavor and a different texture. The cookies would have been a bit dry without the jam but it made their texture perfect. We rate the taste an 8/10.

Baking process

The process of making these cookies was fairly easy. The cookie part was pretty straightforward to make and wasn’t really any more difficult than any other cookie. The hardest part was putting the jam in the middle of them, because it was sort of hard to be precise with a spoon and to not spill over the edge of the indent that was made in the cookies for the jam.

Another thing about the recipe is that it says to wait until the bottoms are lightly browned, so we put it in for 12 minutes but the bottom edge didn’t look brown at all, so we put it in for a little bit longer which made the cookies a little more dry. Other than that, these cookies were pretty simple to make. We rate the baking process a 7/10.

Overall

Overall, this recipe is pretty simple and straightforward and yields good results. The taste and texture is good and the blend of flavors is pleasant. The one thing that we would change is the instruction about looking for brownness, because you can’t see if the bottoms would be brown.

Overall, we rate this recipe a 7.5/10. We would recommend this recipe to anyone who enjoys baking, cookies, and especially the sweet jam.

RECIPE

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the two flours and salt.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract until fluffy. Gradually add the flour and mix until completely combined.
  4. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the dough and roll them into balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheets. Gently press down to form discs and use your thumb, or the back of a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon, to make an indentation in the middle of the cookies. Use a spoon to spoon ½ teaspoon of jam onto each cookie.
  5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely
  6. Then enjoy.
Travel/Food

Christmas cookies

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By: Sophie Elmstrom & Lily Sheldon

Photo by Jonathan Meyer on Pexels.com

The holidays have come to an end, but that doesn’t mean that all of the recipes that come with it do!

During the holiday season there are so many treats to make, with Christmas cookies being a staple recipe. There are so many different cookie recipes for the holiday season. We wanted to share a few of our favorite cookie recipes to make.

Sugar Cookies:

Sugar cookies are a classic, and are a very common cookie, not just made for Christmas, although once you add the red and green sprinkles it will add Christmas cheer! This is a very simple recipe, so it’s easy and quick to make. It’s sure to be a staple cookie to add to your holiday baking. These cookies have cream cheese in them, and that adds a richer flavor to them.

You can find the directions here: https://www.nourish-and-fete.com/sprinkle-sugar-cookies/

Hershey’s Peanut Butter Blossoms:

These cookies have a delicious peanut butter cookie base topped with a Hershey’s Kiss that is perfectly melted on top. These are a fan favorite, and they don’t take long to make either. With a simple list of ingredients, and a short baking time of 8-10 minutes, these cookies have the perfect texture with a slightly crispy outside and warm chewy inside, and the kiss on top adds the perfect flavor and richness to the cookie base.

Here is a simple recipe: https://www.hersheyland.com/recipes/peanut-butter-blossoms.html

Christmas Bark:

Christmas bark or “ Christmas crack” is a saltine layered base with chocolate and toffee pieces on top. This is a very versatile cookie, with the option to add any combination of chocolate and toppings to the saltine layer base. Here we have a version with milk chocolate and toffee pieces, which is our personal favorite combination. Other ideas you could make are white chocolate with peppermint, or milk/dark chocolate with various toppings such as M&M’s, pretzels, etc. This is a crunchy treat that is so delicious and a fun bake for the holidays!

Here is a recipe: https://therecipecritic.com/christmas-crack-recipe/

Sandwich Cookies:

These sandwich cookies are flaky and buttery, they crumble in your mouth. This recipe is very complicated and takes a while to make because you have to refrigerate the dough for the cookies before you roll them out and cut them. Even though these take time to make, they are so worth it and don’t have to be made in just the holiday season, you can make the frosting different colors for different events and enjoy them all year long! Make sure to bring these to a cookie competition, it will be a sure win for you.

Here is the recipe: https://inspiredbycharm.com/cream-wafer-tree-cookies/#Ingredients

Wreath Cookies:

The wreath cookies are an easy to make recipe without using an oven. All you have to do is melt marshmallows and combine them with rice crispy cereal, shape them into a wreath and add some green food coloring and you’re done! These cookies are very good and chewy and once you show them to people they will be begging for more. We’re sure you could make these into different shapes for different holidays and events.

Here is a simple recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10070/christmas-cornflake-wreath-cookies/

Travel/Food

Pumpkin bread recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund and Max Cahoon

Pumpkin bread is a great option for breakfast; it isn’t too hard to make and lasts throughout the week. This recipe is healthy and delicious. We tried out this recipe because we both love to bake things, we both love bread, and to see if it’s good enough to recommend to anyone. This recipe is from my mom, and we already know it tastes good because she makes it a lot.

Review

Taste

This bread has really good and savory flavors; you can taste the fresh pumpkin flavor and the hint of cinnamon in it from the first bite. The chocolate chips add a great texture, color, and taste to the bread allowing people who want it as a treat to enjoy it too.

The texture of the bread itself is crispy and flakey on the top but once you bite inside you feel the softness of the bread and the melted chocolate chips slice through your teeth like butter.

We know a lot of people that don’t enjoy the flavor of pumpkin but this recipe has a great pumpkin flavor mixed with all of its other ingredients which makes it even more delicious.

Also, for anyone worried about how unhealthy it may be and the calories, this recipe has 1 scoop of protein powder making it gym rat friendly and can help maximize your gains in the gym.

From the sweet but salty flavor and the crispy but soft texture, we rate this recipe a 9/10. Easily one of the best loafs of bread we have ever tried and highly recommend it to anyone that loves a sweet and salty treat or breakfast item.

Baking

This recipe is very forgiving and easy to make. It doesn’t matter what order you put the ingredients in, so you don’t have to worry about it. It takes less than 10 minutes to mix up, and you just have to let it bake for an hour. It is a very quick and easy recipe for the wintertime to have as a snack or breakfast or to have it anytime you want.

Some tips for this recipe would be if you like your bread soft all around we would recommend 55 minutes inside the oven, if you like a perfect in between we’d recommend 1 hour and 5 minutes, and if you like it very crispy we’d recommend 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Overall

This recipe is overall very very tasty and a really good recipe for pumpkin bread. It is easy to make and has healthy ingredients, especially as compared to some other recipes with a lot of sugar. We rate this recipe a 10/10.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 stick butter, soft
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 C coconut sugar
  • 1/2 C almond flour
  • 1 + 3/4 C flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 scoop protein powder (we use Equip, unflavored)
  • 1-2 t pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
  • 1/2 C chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins

Instructions

Blend all ingredients together, in any order. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, and/or raisins. (We decided to use just chocolate chips; it’s completely up to you!)

Pour into a parchment-lined large loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour (see notes above about other baking times).

Test with a toothpick – may need 5 more minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe also makes an EXCELLENT banana bread – just omit the pumpkin and add 3 soft, overripe bananas. We use 1 tsp vanilla instead of the pie spice, but many people like to keep the spice in – totally up to you!