Coconut Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS
For the Cookies:
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. canola oil
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2 eggs
2 tsp coconut extract
5 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
For the Frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sour cream
1 tsp coconut extract
dash of salt
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. coconut milk (or as needed, to taste)
Toasted Coconut

DIRECTIONS
For the Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
In a stand-mixer or large mixing bowl, combine butter, oil, sugar, powdered sugar, and water. Cream together and slowly add in eggs. Then add coconut extract, and mix thoroughly.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well and slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture until combined and doughy.
Roll dough into golf-ball sized balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat.
Dip the bottom of a glass into excess sugar and press on to each dough ball (re-dipping in sugar each time) to flatten the cookie to about 1/2 inch in thickness.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottom is lightly golden-brown. Do not over-bake. Set aside to cool.
For the Frosting:
Cream together butter, sour cream, extract, and salt. Slowly add powdered sugar, and mix until desired consistency (you may not need all of it). Add coconut milk to thin if needed. Spread over cooled cookies, top with toasted coconut and serve! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator to get that soda shop experience.

Sodalicious Cookies

Recipe Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

INGREDIENTS

For the Cookies:
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. canola oil
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
5 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
For the Frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp almond extract
dash of salt
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. milk (or as needed, to taste)

DIRECTIONS
For the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
In a stand-mixer or large mixing bowl, combine butter, oil, sugar, powdered sugar, and water. Cream together and slowly add in eggs. Then add almond extract, and mix thoroughly.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well and slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture until combined and doughy.
Roll dough into golf-ball sized balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat.
Dip the bottom of a glass into excess sugar and press on to each dough ball (re-dipping in sugar each time) to flatten the cookie to about 1/2 inch in thickness.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottom is lightly golden-brown. Do not over-bake. Set aside to cool.
For the Frosting:
Cream together butter, sour cream, extract, and salt. Slowly add powdered sugar, and mix until desired consistency (you may not need all of it). Add milk to thin if needed. Mix in food coloring to desired hue. Spread over cooled cookies and serve! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator to get that soda shop experience.

Guys, I am slowly increasing my A1C with the addition of SodaBomb! in Roosevelt- they are fantastic! Thankfully, they do not have Sugar Cookies every day like those other soda shops (Sodalicious, Swig) and I can keep myself in check. BUT their sugar cookies are vanilla flavored- still delicious- but they don't quite live up to the amazingness that is a Sodalicious Sugar Cookie… sorry Swig, the one time I gave you a chance-at the original, your sugar cookies were meh. Anyway, I had to find something to fill in the void, and I finally gave making some myself a chance. I'm SO glad that I did. These are SO good! If you are a monster, and do not like Almond Extract, go ahead and make them with Vanilla- just know that they won't be as good! Also, these get SO MUCH BETTER after sitting in the refrigerator over night.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Recipe Adapted From Alina Design Co

INGREDIENTS

1 package (2 sheets) puffed pastry

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon Sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Unfold then use a rolling pin to spread out the puffed pastry. Place one sheet of puffed pastry onto parchment. Spread cream cheese mixture onto puffed pastry, top with other sheet of puffed pastry.
Seal sides by pinching them together. Spread melted butter over the top, and generously sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool. Serve warm.

Once upon a time, I pinned the recipe for this on Pinterest, and it became my mom popular pin. Like, it was on the Most Popular Page for like 3 weeks. It was the most annoying thing of my life! And then Pinterest stopped being an invite only website, and the jets were cooled. Unfortunately, the annoyance caused me to resent the pin, and I never made the recipe. What a foolish decision that was, because this is AMAZING. The original recipe says to use Crescent Roll Dough, but I think that it's too greasy and too savory of a thing, AND when I made this in a bind, all I had was some Pepperidge Farm Puffed Pastry Sheets. Best ingredient swap of my life! Make this, you will not be disappointed! 

Puffed French Toast

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf french bread, cut into 1 inch slices*

3/4 cup sugar

1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

2 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Vegetable Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

In a shallow baking dish, mix sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil to 375ºF.

While the oil is coming to temperature, thoroughly combine eggs, remaining sugar, salt, vanilla extract, milk, flour and backing powder in a pie dish.

Working quickly, take each slice of french bread, and soak both sides in the batter. Shake off excess, and place in hot oil. Fry until puffed up and golden in color, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Remove from oil, and place on a cooling rack lined with paper towels to cool. While still warm, coat in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Serve warm with whatever your heart desires. We like it with fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream.

I'm a Mormon. I guess that needed to be said for the story? Anyway, I was watching General Conference with my friend, Marina. And in between the Saturday Sessions a commercial for a cookbook came on, and it showed a picture of this puffed french toast. And I KNEW that I needed that cookbook, because I NEEDED to make that french toast for our Sunday General Conference Breakfast the next day for all of our friends. So, after the afternoon session, we drove to Deseret Book, purchased it, found the recipe and straight to Walmart to grab the ingredients. We forgot to grab the Texas Toast the recipe called for, but there were loaves of french bread next to us. Laziness prevailed, so we grabbed a loaf, and then the adaptation that created my FAVORITE breakfast was born!

Cowboy Caviar

Recipe from Culinary Hill

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (11 ounce) can super sweet corn, drained (see notes)
1 red onion, diced
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup chopped cilantro (1 bunch)

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, sugar, white wine vinegar, chili powder, cumin and salt.

Add tomatoes, black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, bell peppers and cilantro. Mix to combine.

Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight to let the flavors marry. Serve chilled with chips.

Lilliana and I went to the store one Saturday to purchase some strawberries to make strawberry ice cream. Next to the strawberries was some samples of what looked pretty dang gross, but it had a corn chip, so we decided to try it. And then our love for Cowboy Caviar was born. We paid the outrageous price of $2.69 for a cup of it, and then shoveled into our mouths as fast as we could, because other family members would try it, and would also fall in love. Today when I went to the grocery store, they did not have any of that delicious Cowboy Caviar, so I found a recipe, and hot dang, I am gonna live off of this stuff!

Midnight Cookies 'n' Cream Ice Cream

Inspired by Chocolate Midnight Cookies
by Häagen-Dasz in Downtown Disney
Recipe Adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (100% cacoa)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup evaporated milk
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 ounces crushed Oreo Cookies

DIRECTIONS
Combine 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.
Chop the chocolate and place it in a medium bowl.
Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
Combine the remaining milk, cream, evaporated milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Add the cocoa, whisking until it is incorporated, and continue to boil for 4 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the chocolate. Add the salt and whisk until the chocolate is melted.
Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon resealable plastic freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until the mixture is chilled through, about 30 minutes.
Pour the ice cream base into the ice cream maker and process until thick and creamy per the machine’s instructions.
Gently stir in crushed Oreo Cookies, place in a quart sized container, topped with parchment paper before regular lid, and then freeze for a minimum of 3 hours in the freezer.
Scoop, and serve to all your favorite people.

The first time I took my niece, Peggy, to Disneyland, all she wanted for a snack, all day, was ice cream. And I just kept forgetting to take her to get some- there are waaaay better things to eat in the land of happiness than ice cream. So after our first day, while walking through Downtown Disney on our way back to the room, she noticed the Häagen-Dasz and reminded me that all she wanted was ice cream. So we made that quick pit stop. She was kind of being a butthead, didn't know what she wanted, so I chose for her. And I chose the first ice cream that I saw an advertisement for and that is what she got. She kind of pouted a little bit, and then she got the ice cream. And good heck, was it good! So, as I was making ice cream this last week, my facebook kept popping up that a year ago I was in Disneyland. Which made me crave this ice cream, so I made it happen! This is seriously SO good! You should definitely make it today!

Cherry Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream

Adapted from Recipe Diaries

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup chocolate chips

2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 15 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups of fresh cherries, pitted and quartered

DIRECTIONS

In a microwave safe bowl, mix chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. Microwave for three 30 second increments, stirring between sessions until chocolate chips have melted, and you have a thick chocolate ganache. Set aside to cool, then crumble.

In a large, chilled bowl, beat with a hand mixer remaining two cups of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks have formed. Add vanilla extract, and continue to beat until stiff peaks have formed. Gently fold in sweetened condensed milk, cherries, and cooled chocolate ganache crumbles.

Freeze in quart sized container of your choice for a minimum of 4 hours, and then serve away!

So, I have never been a fan of cherries that aren't cooked or processed to heck. Maraschino Cherries, Cherry Pie, Cherry Flavor… those are my jam. Regular cherries? Not so much. Then add in the fact that I HATE chocolate chunks/chips/whatever in ice cream, and it makes you wonder why on earth I would ever make a Cherry-Garcia-esque copy cat slash cheater recipe for ice cream. Well, the answer is: we had a bunch of cherries, and I had some heavy cream I needed to get rid of. I decided to make a chocolate ganache to replace the chocolate chunks, because I didn't want to risk breaking my teeth. I am an ice cream chewer. My Grandma Alice really enjoyed this recipe, and I hope that you all will too!