Cooking Classy

Today I'm doing a guest post over at I Wash You Dry (a fantastic blog by the way. One you are definitely going to want to follow) so please head over here to check out the recipe! These are one of my favorite cookies. They are amazingly chewy, loaded with the perfect amount of ginger and molasses flavor and the sugary finish is divine. If you are looking for a delicious cookie recipe for the holidays I would highly recommend this one! 

I just love everything about these fun little treats. Their sweet and lightly salty deliciousness, their beauty and of course, their simplicity. Holiday treats don't get any easier than this. Another great thing about these bite size treats is that everyone loves them, young and old alike. They are perfect for a party, to give as a gift or even to make just for yourself because you simply must have them =). And when they take about 15 minutes to make, how could you not want to make these?  I just love the holidays. Especially when these show up =). Enjoy! Pretzel M&M Hugs Yields 70 Ingredients: 70 square pretzels (do NOT use butter snaps) 70 Hershey's Hugs chocolates (from nearly 1 full 12 oz package), unwrapped 70 Milk Chocolate M&M's, I used the red and green Christmas package Directions: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Align pretzels on cookie sheet in a single layer then top each pretzel with one Hershey's H...

If there's one treat you must make this holiday season this is it. Okay there are a lot of treats that definitely deserve to be made this holiday season but this one should be near the top of your list. It's easy (we are talking 10 - 15 minutes total easy), it tastes like candy with a crunch, it's nutty, slightly sticky, deliciously sweet and it's the perfect gift for friends neighbors or coworkers. Simply said this stuff is highly addictive so share the wealth or you will want to eat it all =). Enjoy!   Holiday Chex Mix Ingredients: 3 cups Rice Chex cereal 3 cups Corn Chex cereal 3 cups Golden Grahams cereal 1 1/2 cups mixed nuts* 2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup light-corn syrup 3/4 cup salted butter Directions: In a large mixing bowl, toss together Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Golden Grahams, mixed nuts and coconut, set aside. In a medium saucepan combine sugar light-corn syrup and butter. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirrin...

So lets be   honest, Oreo truffles look like cookie tar. BUT it is the best tasting cookie tar I could ever imagine! Back when I first had them many years ago, it was when my sister made them and I was like, uh... what is that? But after one blissful bite that so perfectly melted in my mouth, I was hooked. For life. Most of you have probably already tried these and feel much the same way as I do. If you haven't tried them then you must! If you have tried them, then you can try the peppermint version I made to switch things up. It adds a fun and festive twist for the holidays. I personally prefer these coated with a white chocolate coating because it makes it more like a cookies and cream or peppermint bark truffle but of course you can use a milk or semi-sweet chocolate if you prefer. Also, you can use vanilla candy melts in place of the almond bark (they are basically the same thing as far as I know, just in a different shape and size).  My second favorite part of these beyon...

I know what some of you may be thinking. Girl, you are so last year. I know I know, if you have had a Pinterest account last year you'll know what I mean when I say these Santa Hat Brownies were basically the hit of the century on Pinterest. Sadly though I never got around to making them. Well not this year! And this year I decided to add my own twist. Cheesecake! And not just any cheesecake, a White Chocolate Cheesecake. I'm obsessed with cheesecake. Okay, I basically say that about every dessert. I'm obsessed with them all. So I guess we'll say I am super obsessed with cheesecake. It's like the best of the best. The luxurious of the luxurious. I adapted this recipe from my Heart Swirled White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake because it's my favorite.  I need to give my husband some credit in this post for pulling out some creative thinking. So often I ask his opinion when I'm going to create something to post, for example which variation of food would tast...

  Too often I get a huge craving for a fresh, made from scratch, warm out of the oven cinnamon roll but so often I don't want to wait the 3 - 4 hours it takes to prepare them with all those tedious and lengthy rise times. Yes, I love a good yeast based cinnamon roll, but is the yeast absolutely necessary? Well, I decided to find out for myself.  Recently, I've been reading through the "The Quick Recipe" from the Editors of Cook Illustrated Magazine and came upon their recipe for Fastest Cinnamon Buns. I knew I had to try it for a number of reasons. First off  I'm yet to be let down by Cook's Illustrated. If you are looking for a cookbook that you will likely love and cherish for life, I'd recommend any of the Cook's Illustrated cookbook collections. They are fabulous. And second I'm a cinnamon roll addict so if it can be done in anywhere under the usual 3 hours, then I'm in. Normally when I try someone else's recipe I like to make quite a f...

I adore red velvet. Red Velvet Cupcakes are one of my all time favorites so I think they definitely deserve to be made in breakfast form. Don't they just have Christmas written all over them? With such a vibrant and beautiful red there's not really a more fitting or festive breakfast to serve up on Christmas morning. These are such a breeze to whip up. No offense to any of you that only use pancake mix, but I still don't understand the whole pancake mix thing. It maybe takes 1 minute longer to make them from scratch versus a pancake mix. And once you do make that switch from pancake mix to made from scratch you'll have a hard time going back. Not to mention, when you make pancakes from scratch the possibilities are endless! It's so fun to create and eat so many different flavors of pancakes.  Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods, if you don't believe me check out the breakfast list on my recipe page. I haven't even posted half of the pancake flav...