Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, it is Christmas cookie week at our house. Jamie and the boys came over yesterday and started off with one of our favorite go-to cookies for the Holidays the Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookie.

These cookies are actually great and fun to make any time of the year. These are known by many people as Peanut Butter Blossoms or chocolate kiss peanut butter cookies.

This time of the year you can find this recipe right on the back of the bags of  Chocolate Hershey Kisses. As for the recipe, we pretty much stick to the ingredients on the bag with the exception of, we use butter instead of shortening. Also, I've included 3 helpful tips that we always use when making these delightful treats.

Here is what we used for the Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies:

48 Hershey Kisses
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
More sugar for later

In a large bowl mix together the butter and peanut butter until it's blended. Add the 1/3 cups of sugar and brown sugar and continue to beat until it's fluffy. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and continue to mix.

Now stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt mix this until you have a dough.

 Tip number 1: Set the dough in the refrigerator while you unwrap the Hershey Kisses.

Tip number 2: After unwrapping the kisses set them in the freezer while you prepare and bake the cookies.

Preparing and baking these homemade Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies:

Add about 1 or 2 cups of sugar into a bowl, roll the dough into 1 inch balls and then roll them in the sugar. We just love having the kids baking cookies with us.

Bobby and Tyler rolling in sugar 

Place these on a ungreased baking cookie sheet about 2 inches apart or you can use parchment paper as we did.

Ready for the oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies puff up and the bottom is a nice light brown.

Out of the oven

Now take the Hershey Kisses out of the freezer and press one into the middle of each cookie.

 Tip number 3: Place the completed cookie sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

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Fettuccini with King Oyster Mushrooms

This fettuccini pasta recipe is one of my favorite pasta dishes. The ingredients come together to create such a wonderful flavor.

I have been making this for several years now and thought I would share it with you. I haven't made this for some time and thought it was time to make this delightful pasta dish again. It ranks high on my list for easy fettuccini recipes.

This is not my recipe, some years ago while I was out of work I spent a lot of time watching the Cooking Channel.

I became a fan of Chef Roger Mooking follow the link to learn more about Roger and his recipes.  I watched him make this dish and knew that I had to try it.

Everything in his recipe is fresh and this is so easy to make. Here are some of the ingredients that you'll need to make this amazing dish, fresh king oyster mushrooms, fresh thyme, chives, and baby spinach.

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We just love recipes using fresh herbs and like to use fresh herbs plants as much as we can.

These handy little fresh herb gardens are inexpensive and can be grown right in your kitchen. This way you'll have fresh herbs any time you need them.

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There is more so I urge you to follow this link to get his recipe. Fettuccini with King Oyster Mushrooms by Roger Mooking. I know you won't be sorry I think you and your family will love this one.

When you see Roger's recipe the prep time is 5 minutes and cook time is 15 minutes. Since Roger is a seasoned Chef and I'm not this took me a little longer to make. I'd say that I had this on the table in a little over 30 minutes, and it serves 4 people. Thank you, Roger, for this tasty pasta dish.

You may also like my own Pasta with Peppers and Onions

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Five Winter Warm-Ups

The fall season is now upon us here in Western New York and soon it will be winter and the snow will be flying. Oh! I'm so not ready for the cold weather.

Not to worry, though, I've combined five of my favorites from previous posts all into one post, to help you through the cold weather.

Hearty Chicken Tortellini Soup

This is a family favorite and is made with meatballs. Serve with some fresh Italian bread and this soup is a meal all by itself.

Italian Wedding Soup

Another family favorite passed down from my grandmother. We have this soup as a starter for almost all of our Holiday meals.

French Onion Soup

Impress your friends and family with this easy to make classic French Onion Soup. Another great starter for any meal.

Italian Peasant Soup

This one is the perfect warm me up on a cold winter day and another soup you can make a meal out of. 

Beef and Sausage Chili

This award winning chili is not your average chili. My daughter makes this the best, I don't know where she got the recipe but you're going to love it. This chili is also a gameday favorite for us.

I sure hope these five winter warm ups help you through the winter season. I'll for sure be making ever single one of these this year.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy! 

Maple Cinnamon Rolls

Maple Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

I do love sweets and these Maple Cinnamon Rolls are a perfect fit. After Fran and I had our children we started a  family tradition of having cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning. Even now that our kids have grown up and have their own families we still carry on that tradition.

Every year we buy Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls and pop them in the oven on Christmas morning. All these years I've never tried to make my own cinnamon rolls from scratch before. Yesterday I decided to practice and give it a try.

As you can see from the picture my practice run at this was a huge success. These maple cinnamon rolls are melt in your mouth delicious. After making these there will be no more store bought cinnamon rolls for me, not that Pillsbury doesn't make a delicious cinnamon, roll I'm now hooked on homemade.

I made these in three stages the dough, filling, and the icing following is how I managed all of this.

The Dough:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon honey

I mixed the warm water and yeast in my you guessed my KitchenAid mixing bowl. Next in a small pan combined the milk and butter, bring this to a boil and remove it from the heat to cool.

While the milk and butter cooled I beat the two eggs in a small bowl and added the salt and honey to the warm water and yeast. Now add the milk to the water and yeast, and then add the sugar.

I began to add the flour one cup at a time while the mixer was on low speed. After the dough is formed, knead it on a floured surface a few times and put back in bowl cover it and let rise. While the dough was rising I mixed my filling in another bowl.

The Filling:

1/2 cup butter melted (To be brushed on the dough)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
Raisins or chopped nuts (Optional)

Mix the two sugars and cinnamon in the bowl and reserve the butter to brush on the dough later. Roll out the dough to about 16 inches by 10 inches and brush it with the melted butter. I didn't use all of the melted butter so you may have some left over.

I covered the dough with the filling saving a little for the top of rolls after I sliced them. Roll the dough into a log pinch the ends together then carefully cut one-inch slices.

I prepared a 13" x 9" glass baking dish by brushing the bottom with melted butter and sprinkling it with sugar. Place the rolls into the baking dish close together I got 16 rolls in the baking dish.

Cover the baking dish and them rise for about 30 minutes. Now sprinkle the remaining filling on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on the middle rack.

Maple Cinnamon Roll Icing

4 tablespoons softened or melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Maple extract or Vanilla (I used Maple)
5 tablespoons milk (room temperature)

Whisk or mix together until combined and it looks like a glaze.  After they come out of the oven let them cool just a bit and then spoon on the icing.

You can make these ahead of time after you slice them you freeze these delightful cinnamon rolls and have them whenever you want. These are great for breakfast or anytime treat.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

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Fresh Tomato Spinach Pizza

I'm always in the mood for pizza, especially if I'm making my own. There is just something special about making pizza with fresh ingredients. This is an easy fresh spinach pizza recipe.

Get my fresh dough recipe from my older post here: How to Make Homemade Pizza. This recipe yields me about three smaller pizzas or two large ones.

So I whipped up the batch of dough in my KitchenAid stand mixer and was waiting for it to rise. Fran knew we had some fresh tomato, baby spinach, fresh mozzarella, and feta cheese in the refrigerator. We always like to experiment with fresh ingredients, and pizza is so versatile that way you can use just about anything you want.

Here is what we used and how we made this fresh spinach pizza. The amount will depend on your taste. We really didn't measure anything we just added these fresh ingredients as we went along.

Easy Homemade Pizza Recipe:

• Roll out the dough in your pizza pan and brush it will olive oil
• Next, add fresh sliced tomatoes, enough to cover the  dough
• Layer on some fresh feta cheese
• Now add some fresh baby spinach all over the top
• Add some sliced mozzarella
• Sprinkle fresh basil and some Italian seasoning
• Season to your taste with garlic, salt, and pepper.

Our pizza ready to go in the oven

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees and baked this on the middle rack for 16 minutes. Then moved the pizza to the bottom rack for another 3 minutes just to make sure the bottom was golden brown.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

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