Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases

REESE'S CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP BROWNIES

Over the years, I have made so many brownies that I could have built a cute little brownie cottage complete with a picket fence and window boxes! Can't you just picture it? Chocolate Fudge Brownie shingles with PB Cup steps and a Marshmallow Fluff snow covered roof. Kind of like a gingerbread house but made of brownies instead!

We used to make them in 12 X 18 inch sheet pans and then cut them into 24 squares. The restaurants we sold them to would order anywhere from 2-8 pans a week. They froze them and thawed them out as needed. In any given week, we could have orders for 30 pans of brownies or more. Let's do the math. 30 pans X 24  = 720 brownies! That's a lot of brownies!  Multiply that by 15 years ~ more-or-less ~ and I can't believe we made that many brownies!

BROWNIES, BROWNIES & MORE BROWNIES!
The choices were endless. Chocolate Walnut Brownies, Cream Cheese Brownies, Chocolate Frosted Mint Brownies, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Brownies, Turtle Brownies, Snickers Brownies and the always popular Reese's Chocolate PB Cup Brownies. Every week the restaurants waited with anticipation to see what I would dream up next!

As a kid, I wasn't allowed to eat brownie batter. I got to lick the occasional bowl and spatula, but the rest was for the pan. After I was all grown up and owner of my own bakery, it dawned on me that I could do whatever I wanted. So, one day I decided it was high time for me to eat a whole batch of brownie batter. I sat in the corner on my stool and ate the entire bowl. It tasted so good going down. I felt like a kid again and even had some smudges on my face! You know the saying, "All good things must come to an end"? Well, it wasn't long before my tummy started to ache and I ran to the bathroom. I was so sick I wanted to die. That brownie bowl did double-duty that day! And to this day, I have never been tempted to do that again!

Another Bake It, Make It & Take It Original!
Now that I've made you all a little queasy, I want to tempt you with my very special, knock-your-socks-off Reese's Chocolate PB Cup Brownie Recipe.  Erika Martin ~ Stampin' Mama's one and only creative stamping guru ~  has put together another one of her Most Amazing Projects to share with you too! The "scratch-and-sniff" photos are intentionally put here to make you drool!
                                                                               
Caution: No matter how tempting and delicious, resist the urge to eat the whole bowl of batter!
                                                                              

Bake it, Make it & Take it.....Birthday Party To-Go!

The Stamping Diva ~ AKA my daughter Erika from Stampin' Mama ~ has done it again! She has the most amazing talent for creating outrageous treasures out of totally ordinary things! Given the success we had with our last Cherry Kisses project, we've decided to make "Bake it, Make it & Take it!" a regular feature. I'll give her the recipes from my collection at Suite101.com, she'll bake the goodies, then dream up some way-out container to showcase them in! Erika has always been creative, but I swear those twisted dreads have given her some magical power to make everything she touches sparkle!

While I was in Vermont visiting a week ago, I got this uncontrollable urge to play bakery! What a coincidence my son has a bakery (that's another story)! I bought all sorts of ingredients and went to play with the BIG BOY equipment. I made Kahlua Tiramisu at his place. The next day, I went to Erika's house and we both had a blast, making messes and licking bowls! When I was done, we all got to eat the fruits of my labor ~ meaning cheesecakes and Tiramisu!

For this "Bake it, Make it & Take it" project, we came up with a version of my Chocolate Zebra Cheesecake Recipe. After I was done with everything I wanted to make, I still had some batter left over and decided to make mini cheesecakes with Oreos, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Chocolate Chips. Erika then grabbed the cheesecakes before the guys and kids could devour them and took a bunch of very professional photos. She then sat down and savored every bite while groaning in delight! Can't you just picture it? That's my girl!
                                                                         

Cherry Kisses Cookies with a Hershey Kiss on Top!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but don't fret, there's still time to make these easy cookies for your kids class party! Cherry Kisses ~ or Cherry Winks ~ can be whipped up real quick. The kids can help you unwrap the Hershey Kisses ~ one for the cookie, one for me! ~ and with adult supervision, they can even place the kisses on the cookies when they come out of the oven.

I've teamed up with Erika Martin from Stampin' Mama.com to do a "Bake it, Make it & Take it." project. This new feature is going to showcase different goodies that you can easily bake and can be showcased in a stamped or paper-crafted container/box/bag/holder/etc. Roughly once a week, she'll be posting a project that you can create and include some goodies inside of. I'm so excited to be doing this with her! I send her the recipes, she bakes them, she takes the photos, her kids eat them and we both post them on our blogs! What's not to love?

In Erika's own words, "I'm really excited about this feature because it means that I'll be getting us all to think beyond the realm of cards (I DO love cards, but I really enjoy paper-crafting of all kinds) and it also means that I'll be able to bake something yummy to eat and share. And those that know me well enough know that I have a sweet tooth and that I love to make things for people (my neighbors are usually the recipient of these goodies)."

Today's "Bake it, Make it & Take it" post features an adorable mailbox and yummy Cherry Kisses Cookies!

This project is Erika's creation from Stampin' Mama using my Cherry Kisses Cookie Recipe from Suite101.com.

I have to give Erika all the credit for the photos, aren't they adorable?