{ Cadbury Creme Egg Flurry & Reese's Egg Flurry }

The internet recently exploded over McDonald's having Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurries this Spring. While I do not enjoy them myself, Bean's girl adores the Creme Eggs! I did a little poking around and discovered that this is, in facts, true. McDonald's IS bringing a Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry to the market this year....in Australia!

That is one heck of a long trip for ice cream.

You know what though? Nothing could be easier to make. Nope. SO EASY.

You just need ice cream, milk, and the candy. Done and dusted.

Bean does not enjoy Cadbury, so instead, I made HIS favorite egg into a flurry too!

So, my fellow Americans, don't be sad about the lack of Cadbury McFlurries in the USA, make your own. It will take you under 5 minutes!

Enjoy!

Tina


Cadbury Egg Flurry
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

2 cups of vanilla ice cream
2 Cadbury Creme Eggs, chopped
1/4 cup whole milk*

In chilled mixing bowl, add ice cream. Beat for about a minute to soften. Slowly add milk, beat again. After fully mixed, add chopped candy. Mix until candy is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.

*Add more or less milk to desired consistency.



Reese's Egg Flurry
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

2 cups of vanilla ice cream
1 Reese's Peanut Butter egg, chopped
1/4 cup whole milk*

In chilled mixing bowl, add ice cream. Beat for about a minute to soften. Slowly add milk, beat again. After fully mixed, add chopped candy. Mix until candy is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.

**Add more or less milk to desired consistency.

{Bunny Feet Cookies}

Easter is a crazy busy time of year around here. I'm sure it is at your house too. 

The Bean's birthday is always close to Easter (April 9), so since the whole fam damily is already here for Easter dinner, we just have his family party the same day. His huge, massive, 20+ teenager blowout comes in May when it's warmer and drier in Ohio, cause, yeah, they aren't all partying in my house.

No.

Anyway, I have much to do today (treats for 15 Easter bags, sculpt more fondant items for the Bean's birthday cake, make Hot Cross Buns), but I had to take a second and post these for you.

Cause I love you.

These are made with a basic rolled sugar cookie dough, buttercream, plain sugar, and pink chocolate (or white chocolate tinted pink).

To get the foot shape, I used a cheap Easter egg cutter that I squished it a little. For the toes, I used the medium flower cutter in this set by Wilton. 

I think that the little toes the flower makes are super cute, but I'm fully convinced that these would be cute just with the egg shape if you cannot locate the flowers.

After that, I melted up some pink chocolate, and piped toe pads and paw pads onto parchment paper.

As those dried, I iced the cookies in a buttercream, and topped with tons of sugar!

Cause sugar.

Once the chocolate was dry, I peeled them from the paper and placed 3 toes and 1 pad onto the cookie. I used the back, flat side of the chocolate. 

And that's it! Bunny feets!

Delicious, delicious bunny feets!

Hoppy Easter!

(Yeah, I just went there.)

Hope you have a fantastic Easter filled with sugar and joy!

Tina

Bunny Feet Cookies

Needed:

Rolled Sugar Cookie Recipe

Buttercream Recipe

Cookie Cutters

More Sugar for Topping

Pink Tinted Chocolate

{Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies}

It's time I came clean about something. I'm a Disney addict.

See, the fact is, I've always loved Disney movies, who doesn't? However, I was never "into" Disney. The collectables, the jewelry, the clothes.

Things change, man, things change.

As I mentioned in this post, the Magic Kingdom is the place I never knew I wanted to visit.

In September, at 39, I made my first trip there. Ever since then, I've become infected. My brain has been addled. My mind is not right. Disney. Disney. Disney.

Send help? No. Wait. I don't want no stinkin' help!

I LOVE DISNEY. I'm not the least bit ashamed.

Here we are at the Magic Kingdom. So excited, we could barely breathe!

What you see there, is my first pair of mouse ears. I now own 9 pair. I can't help it, it's the Year of the Ear. What's a girl to do!?? Now, 6 pair are mini ears. Not Minnie Ears. Mini, as in tiny.

Cause yes.

I have pics of me wearing my other ears, but I won't bore you here, you can see them on instagram. haha.

Anyway. I've been missing Disney so much, and we won't be back there for over a year. I just felt like I needed to bring a little Disney into Easter. And I decided to drag Darla along too. Really, it didn't take much convincing (read, no convincing), because she, too, is a Disnerd.

Trolling the internets looking for Disney goodness, I came upon Mickey Easter Egg cookies that they sell at the parks in the spring and decided to put my own spin on them. You can see the originals here, on A Cup of Disney (scroll down a little).

I used an egg shaped cutter & a shot glass sized glass to cut out the cookies. Then I just squished the ears to the egg a little (they'll bake into each other), and baked.

I covered these in fondant. Thought fondant is not my favorite thing to eat, it does make for a great presentation. The Marshmallow Fondant that I used is pretty good actually. I'm still more of a buttercream girl though!

I cut the fondant to fit, added a little icing (make some buttercream or a little canned frosting will work) to 'glue' the fondant on. I added dots and tiny Mickeys to one (dab on a little water to the back of the accents and the fondant will stick to itself), a larger Mickey to one, and stripes with a Mickey to another. There are lots of ideas for decorating these guys though. Go wild!

I painted on a bit of luster dust to give a little shimmer.

The cookies are rolled to a 1/2" and baked about 8 minutes, so they are still soft and chewy,

and amazing.

I can't keep the Bean's hands off of them.

How cute would these be packaged up in Easter baskets? Sure to delight little ones, and big nerdy ones like me!

Even if you don't go the fondant route and top with a sweet, tasty buttercream instead, they would be totally adorable.

Clearly Easter. Clearly Mickey.

Now, you have to see what Darla made! She's starting with the exact same dough, so you could make both cookie types from the same batch!

Mickey Mouse Easter Basket Cookies

It's gonna be a Disney Easter up in here!

Tina, Disnerd Extraordinaire

*

Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies

1 recipe Rolled Sugar Cookies

1 recipe Marshmallow Fondant

OR

1 Recipe Buttercream Icing

Food Coloring

Luster Dust for Fondant (optional)

Sprinkles for Buttercream (optional)

{ Striped Delight Dessert }

Years and years and.. uh.. years ago, when I was first married, I had the brilliant idea of putting together a Family Cookbook. Both sides of my family submitted recipes, which we then typed together, printed, copied, and then bound put into inexpensive folders & handed out. My mother in law and mom did most of the typing. I didn't have a computer then or even a typewriter! GASP. I can't find the date anywhere in my book, (it's since been put in a nicer binder)  but I believe it was 1994 or 1995. Holy moley.. time, it flies.

This book, while time consuming, really has come in handy over the years. I've often gone to it for family favorites, like, Grammy's Pancakes, Aunt Diana's Corn Casserole, Mom's Homemade Noodles,

Grammy's Strawberry Pie, and much more. The recipe I'm sharing today, and my next, also came from this book.

So, if you are looking for a unique and inexpensive Christmas gift, think of doing something like this. It'd be much easier with today's technology. I wish we'd had the ability to have them printed up in actual hardbound books like they sell at Winkflash, Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. That'd be an AWESOME gift.

This recipe is from my Sister in Law, Dorothy. She always called it Striped Delight. I've heard it called several things like "Better Than Robert Redford", Eclair Dessert", but most prominent on the internet is the name "Better Than S#x". Yes, I'm a grown up. Yes, I just bleeped out that word. I do not want to show up in any questionable web-searches. LOL. For that reason, I'm sticking with Dorothy's name for it... Striped Delight.

I've never found her EXACT recipe though, but ones very close.

Now, let me tell you a little story. I made this to have tonight when my mother-in-law & grandmother-in-law came over for a little weenie roast (it's somethin' we country folk do, ya know). We'd just gotten everything down to our fire pit, when Luna, our 4 year old Jack Russell decided to go on the lam. 

We searched, yelled, posted to neighbors on Facebook, drove around, yelled, searched more. For over an hour. We'd finally given up and decided if she was going to come back, she'd come back, but there was no way we could find her in the acres and acres and acres of 8 foot tall corn that surround us.

And then, just when we'd given up.. there she was. 

Guess who's never allowed outside the fence again? Yeah, this girl:

So, sorry if the finished dessert photos aren't quite up to par. This little mutt had us all in a tizzy!

Back to the dessert, eh?

Here's what you'll need:

Striped Delight Dessert

Crust:

1 sleeve of Graham Crackers

1/3 Cup Butter, melted

1/4 Cup Sugar

2nd Layer:

1- 8oz Block of Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat & fat free will work, but will result in a softer set)

1 Cup Cool Whip (thawed)

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Milk

3rd Layer:

2 Small Boxes (4 serving size) Chocolate Pudding, Instant

3 Cups Milk (2% or Vitamin D)

4th Layer:

Remaining Cool Whip

Finely crush graham crackers

Add sugar

Then add melted butter. Mix throughly, and press into a 9x13 dish.

 Chill the crust for 15 minutes.

Prep the 2nd layer by adding cream cheese 1/4 cup sugar & 2 Tablespoons milk to the mixer. Beat until well mixed. Then fold in 1 cup of thawed Cool Whip.

When this is done, it will be thick and delicious. Seriously, try not to eat it ALL.

Spread over chilled crust. Be careful, because your crust may want to peel up a bit.

You'll see crumbs in my layer.

 The third layer is 2 small boxes of instant chocolate pudding & 3 cups of 2% or vitamin D milk.

Beat together until thick (should be a bit thicker than regular 'quick set' method puddings due to using less milk), then spread over the cream cheese layer.

 Just before serving, add the rest of the cool whip to the top. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, toffee bits, drizzled caramel topping, coconut flakes, grated chocolate... the sky is the limit! My guys are kinda boring, so I just did chocolate chips.

Some people can do perfect lovely layers... I am not one of those. Here are my messy  layers

Messy, but delicious.

Did I mention delicious?

Great dessert for a crowd, so perfect for get togethers, pot lucks (do y'all call them pot lucks or carry in dinners?), Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, picnics, etc!

Easy, quick, cheap. Yay.

Enjoy!

Tina

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{ Happy Birthday, Bean & Cookie Crumble Trifle }

Today is my baby Bean's birthday!

He's 15.

That can't be right. *counts on fingers*

FIFTEEN?? What the Holy Romans is that about???

His birthday always falls close to Easter, this year being the day after.

Since everyone is here already anyway, we just have his family party on Easter.

His friend party is later. No one wants 20 extra teenagers on Easter, now do they?

The Bean's cake of choice for the last several years has been this one, from Pioneer Woman.

He asked, very sweetly (no seriously), if I could make him something else to go along with it.

Cookie Crumble Trifle

Looks pretty right?

Yeah, that's my awesome punch bowl from this recipe.

So here's the dealio:

   1/2 cup butter, softened
    1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
    1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
    2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
    3 1/2 cups milk

    1/2 teaspoon vanilla
    1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
    16-32 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies with creme filling*

*depending on preference-I used 32 yesterday and it seemed like too many. 

Also I like to use a mixture of golden cookies & chocolate instead of just chocolate.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar and butter together. Add vanilla. Set aside

mix together the milk and puddings. Stir in whipped topping.

Mix the cream cheese and pudding mixtures together.

Finely crush the cookies- as fine as possible. A food processor does a great job.

Then layer into a large glass bowl.

Cookies/pudding/cookies/pudding/cookies

Hmmm... You guys are smart. You've figured this out.

YES, it's just Dirt.

Which is so common for jokes and kid's parties, but when you put it together like this it becomes a pretty & delicious dessert.

And people love, gummy worms or no!

So, there you have it, make this for your next gathering and when someone asks what it is, say, 

"Oh, well, my it's Cookie Crumble Trifle, of course!".

And they'll be none the wiser.

Tina

        And, Happy Birthday, Bean, Momma loves you. 5, 15, or 50, you'll always be my little boy.


Shared at
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{ Harry Potter: Chocolate Frogs }

Yes, I realize it's the day before Easter.

Yes, I realize that I'm posting a Harry Potter recipe.

The day before Easter.

Does that make me a bad person? Or does that make me eccentric? I like the sounds of that.

All my people love Harry Potter. My niece (18 yr old) and I were the first. She started reading them at the ripe old age of 8. Then I started to read them to the Bean. Somewhere along the lines, my younger (16) niece took a liking.

Probably peer pressure. You know, from family.

My older brother refused to read them. Or watch the movies. He, being an older brother, liked to make fun of me for my nerdlike tendencies. He called poor Harry names.

So rude.

Then he was down for a few months with his (I'm not sure at this rate, he's had so many) 4th back surgery.

And he was bored.

Harry Potter books, well, they are fatties. They'll keep you entertained for weeks.

Or days, if you read fassst.

Long story short- he's joined the ranks. Potter Geeks RULE!

I decided to make Chocolate Frogs to give the fam for Easter.

I saw Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen do a guest post on Bakingdom's blog a couple weeks ago.

Bakingdom is one of my favorite sites to stalk, Darla is a geek too, and a majorly talented one!

Kristan made her frogs with a fluffy (green!) marshmallow filling, and while, I'm sure that is good (and I will be trying it), the Bean's fav is chocolate and peanut butter. If you could see his Easter Basket, you'd recommend I buy stock in Reeses.

So chocolate peanut butter frogs it was.

I like how my salsa dish looks like a lil cauldron.

Want to see the middle?

Since last night, Bean has eaten three. And BEGGED for more.

It's possible that he likes them.

I like to give the nieces and nephew a little something when they come over, but I know that they've got loaded baskets at home, so, just a wee little treat from me.

In honor of my Manga/Anime obsessed nieces, they are getting little Take Out boxes.

The baggie in the back is the chocolate frog.

I bagged them all up quickly to keep the Bean's grubby paws off.

It had to be done.

Happy Easter! May you be blessed with good food, good company, and good candy.

Amen.

Tina

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Frogs

Recipe by Tina @Sugar Bean Bakers

Makes approx 12 filled Frogs

6 squares of Chocolate Bark for dipping

(or equivalent in other dipping chocolate)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4 Tablespoons brown sugar*

4 Tablespoons water

*I used Skippy Natural Peanut Butter, which I believe has less sugar to start with. You may want to start with 3 Tablespoons brown sugar and taste from there.

 In a bowl, mix the sugar into the peanut butter. Add in the water.

Microwave for about 30 seconds. Then stir well.

It should be slightly runny.  Set aside while you prepare molds.

Melt chocoalte according to package instructions. 

Place a couple spoonfuls into the frog mold. Using a brush that you have reserved for food use only, work the chocolate into the mold. Place into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.


Remove molds, fill to nearly the top with the peanut butter filling. Reserve a small bit of room to cover the peanut butter mixture with chocolate. Place in refrigerator again. Allow to chill completely before removing your frogs onto a serving plate.

{ Carrot Strawberries? }

Yeah, that's what I said.

Carrot. Strawberries.

Now, Dear Internets, let me tell you a story.

I'm sad.

You see, I thought I'd invented these! I was standing at the kitchen counter washing berries while contemplating if I was smarts enough to come up with a new Easter post, when WHAMO, idea.

I don't know if you know this, but strawberries have the little green leafies at the top. (That's the scientific name, look it up). Carrots? Well, by golly gosh darn, THEY have the little leafies at the top.

Hmmmmmm.... If I had some orange tinted chocolate, I'd be in bizzznezz.

Guess what! I did. Well, I had white chocolate and candy coloring, but folks, semantics.

I set to work, thinking, alas, my readers will think I'm SO clever!

They will oooooh and ahhhhhh.. and they will reply and email me, and share my blog, and Pin my things to Pinterest!

And my life will be changed....

By Carrot Berries!!!!!!!!!!!

YUS.

Ok, maybe I didn't think all that. Or maybe I did. You'll never know.

So, I berried away.

They are cute, yes. I am proud.

Clever Tina.

After finishing, I sit down to post, and think... I should consult the Google Machine.

Google says to me, "Bahahahaha... Tina, you LOSE! Someone smarter than you, prettier than you, skinnier than you, and all together better than you has already made these".

Google, I thought you were my friend, why are you so mean?

I found them in a few places, not many, but a few, this was the first Google return.

After I wiped my tears, I pulled up my big girl panties and soldiered on.

I realized, mine have sprinkles. Sprinkles always make things better, right?

I win.

So here we go.

These are very, very easy.

Make some up and stand back and wait for applause.

What, am I the only one that does that??

You can also have fun with just the white chocolate and sprinkles.

After all, isn't Easter the perfect time to dye berries?

No?

Package some of these babies up. Who wouldn't want this treat in their Easter Basket?

HOPPY EASTER!!!

(sorry, I'm lame like that)

Tina

Carrot Berries for Easter

You'll need:

Strawberries, washed and totally dry

Orange Candy Melts Or White Chocolate* tinted with Candy Coloring**

Orange sprinkles

I use white chocolate almond bark (found in most groceries)

**this must be specific for candy, like this from Wilton, regular food coloring will ruin the chocolate.

 Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals. You may need to use a bit of oil or shortening to thin.

Dip your dried berries all the way up to the stem, add the sprinkles immediately, the chocolate will dry quickly.

Allow to fully dry.

Need more Easter ideas? Well, then I've got a treat for you!

Check out my friends at

The Ladies @ Crock Pot Ladies  
 who have whipped up Crock Pot Au Gratin Potatoes 

 Kristen @ Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
who made Strawberry Rhubarb Pie In a Jar 

Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl
who created Coconut Caramel Pie in a Jar

Gotta love those pies in a jar!

And potatoes of ANY nature are my favorite thing in the worlds.

YUM, RIGHT?

and post up your own ideas below

If you link up, be sure to link back to myself & my co-hosts.

And follow me on Facebook, eh?

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{Angel Fluff Cakes}

So, today… is the day when we are either showered in gifts by our husbands and children, or declared to that “you are not my mother”, by those we married.

I hope you got the former, not the latter!

My lovely 14 year old Bean took me out for lunch (the husband had to work). He laid out $25 in allowance money for it too. What a sweetie. :)

This evening, I had my inlaws (outlaws! ha), my grandmother-in-law, my parents, and my grandmother over for a cookout. I made these lil beauties for dessert.I’ve heard the recipe referred to as Angel Lush Cake. However, my grandmother used to made a dessert called Pineapple Fluff that contained the very ingredients as the topping I used here.

So.. to me, this makes them Pineapple Fluff Cakes.

But you know me, I’m all about compromise, so I declare these… Angel Fluff Cakes!

These are the perfect summer treat. They are light, they are fluffy, they are low in fat and calories- um.. if you are into that kinda thing.

Whatever.

You can eat these on a 93 degree, dripping hot, humid, sticky, gross Ohio (or wherever, I just type what I know people), and not feel like you just consumed a brick after.

Did I mention they are yummy?

So, what you need here, is

A. An Angel Food Cake recipe.

Or

B. An Angel Food Cake Boxed Mix.

I choose B.

Because I didn’t have a dozen egg whites and a mass amount of patience.

I’ve heard both are required for making an Angel Food Cake from scratch.

I would not know from experience. Hey, cut me some slack. I’m no Alton Brown!

Anyhoo…

Mix according to directions, then spoon into cupcake liners. Isn’t Angel Food batter pretty?

I got 45 cupcakes from my box. Crazy cakes, eh?

Note, I did not have enough fluff to cover all of these cakes. I had enough for about 32 of them.

While that is baking, mix up your fluff.

1 Box Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 20oz can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 1/2 cups Frozen Topping, thawed (aka Cool Whip)

Stir until well blended.

Place in fridge until the cupcakes are totally cooled.

Then, plop on top of your cupcakes.

Top with strawberries or with other fruit.

and.. that’s it! Easy… quick.. refreshing.

Here’s the printable.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there in cyberland!

~Tina

shared on A Well Seasoned Life's Sweet Indulgences Sunday #6

{Peeps de Résistance}

Hey! Tomorrow is Easter!!!

I’m betting this slipped your minds.

I mean, it’s not like the stores have chocolate coated, pastel aisles or anything.

Remember when there were chocolate bunnies, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, Cadbury Eggs, and Jelly Beans?
A small section of one aisle contained the above plus some Easter Baskets and some of that creepy green grass. (You know it’s creepy- and my cat likes to eat it. He’s creepy too).

Holy Consumerism, Easter Bunny! Now there are about 4 aisles chock full of stuff that no kid needs, but every kid wants!

I will admit, I do enjoy trolling the Holiday sections at the store. I’m usually looking for candy and items good for baking.

Shocking, I know right?

Anyway.. it is far, far too wet around here to have a Easter Egg Hunt. We’ve had a deluge of rain in the past weeks. 

And of course, the ones hunting the eggs would also be far to old to do so (17, 15, and 14), with the exception of my 8 year old nephew, that is. But don’t tell them that. They like to hunt eggs.

Who can blame them? It’s good, clean fun. And always entertaining when we find that last egg, smashed, melted, and moldy in our yard in mid-July.

You know you find them too, don’t judge!

In the attempt to pull said teens away from the video gaming console, I’m having them spend 5 minutes making these.

I've seen the same made many times with chow mien noodles, but I choose pretzels.
Cause they taste better with chocolate. You know they do.

Chocolate Bird’s Nests.

Here's what you'll need:

a bag of thin pretzel sticks

melting chocolate (chocolate chips should work too!)

jelly beans

and, of course, Peeps.

Melt chocolate according to package instructions

Break pretzel sticks up

Toss into chocolate, using a fork to coat.

Arrange on parchment paper, non stick foil, or wax paper to resemble a bird’s nest. Add jelly beans. I used these pretty Starburst Crazy Beans.

Top with a cute lil Peep.

Allow to dry and you are done-zo!

Cute, easy, and tasty. What more can you ask for.

Totally adorable with tags for place cards too. You know, have your place card and eat it too?

That’s a common saying right? Right??

Have a blessed Easter.

Tina <3