Homemade Samoas

Cookies:

* 1 cup butter, soft1/2 cup sugar
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt followed by the vanilla and milk. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.

Roll the dough between pieces of wax paper and use a circle cookie cutter to make small rounds. Place on baking sheet and use a smaller item to cut a smaller center hole. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are lightly gold. Cool.

Topping:

* 3 cups shredded coconut
* 1 lb chewy caramels
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 3 tbsp milk
* 8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a baking sheet and toast 5-10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate into a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

These taste like the real thing! Be careful, you might eat all of them in one sitting.

O'Henry Bars

I brought these to a class party. Some wanted the recipe so here you go. Super easy, and makes a lot...great for parties!

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup karo syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 5-6 cups rice krispies

Grease a 10 x 15" cookie sheet. Bring the sugar and karo syrup to a boil. Remove from the heat and add in peanut butter. Pour over rice krispies. Stir until well coated and then pour into pan.

Frosting:
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Melt together chocolate chips, and then frost the rice krispies with the mix. Let cool for 1 hour before serving. I usually put them in my fridge if I have the space.


Jessica Nelson

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

When I'm craving something sweet, but don't have time to make something fancy, I love snacking on these cookies to solve my problem. Seriously, I am addicted...

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg

Mix ingredients together. Roll into one-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 350˚F for 10 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, sprinkle some sugar on top if you want to make it look nice. To make it healthier, use reduced-fat peanut butter and Splenda. For something fun, add crushed peanuts to the recipe or chocolate chips! Really anything goes- these are fun cookies to work with.


Ashley Stokes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I made these bars for one of our class potlucks. I made it a little healthier with sugar-free jam and Adam's low-sugar peanut butter because it was what I had at the time. But who cares about calories when it comes to dessert. Enjoy!

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam
• 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven at 350° F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix butter and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter. Beat until combined, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine with the ingredients in mixer on low speed then mix in vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of the mixture to pan and spread evenly. Next spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden. Cool and eat!


Brittani Hunsaker

Carmel Popcorn

This is by far the easiest and bestest carmel corn ever from my Aunt.

• 6-8 quarts (2-3 bags) plain popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white karo syrup
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

First, pop the popcorn. Combine the sugar, syrup, butter, and salt and bring to a boil (stirring constantly) and then remove from the stove top and add the baking soda. It will froth up a bit. Pour immediatley over the popped corn and eat it with a movie. (Note: I always double the sauce - it's just silly not to).


Brittani Hunsaker