November 23, 2015 by Krista

The Perfect Holiday Dessert

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ShareTheJoyOfPie #CollectiveBias

I love this time of year. The lights, the colors, the music, the movies, the good will and the food. I love holiday food, and my sweet tooth does too. I love the hunt for the perfect holiday dessert.

But the holidays can be stressful too. They are busy, they are bustling and there is always something to do or some where to be. Add in a big family meal with all the traditional fixings and the favorite family recipes. Things can get kinda of hectic and crazy.

My grandma has always made the Thanksgiving pies and they are amazing. Her apple pie has a special little spot in my heart. I love using her recipe and making apple pie from scratch. My mom made pies too, but she had a little help from Marie Callender. And I’ll be honest, baking pies from scratch doesn’t happen often. I just don’t have a lot of time for it.

Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies are already a part of my childhood and I love the go to option of Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies. You get delicious pies, quality ingredients and the hot-from-the-oven satisfaction without the prep work. You can find them in almost any grocery store and I grabbed a few favorites last time I was at Walmart and some Reddi-Wip® to help put together the perfect holiday dessert.

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BUFFET

The beauty of the pie buffet is that everyone gets the dessert they want without you spending hours and hours in the kitchen. There’s a great selection of Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies so everyone is sure to find something they like. Add some delicious toppings and you’ve done it: the perfect holiday dessert. Check out how you can put together your own pie bar.

Ingredients:

Marie Callender’s frozen pies. Choose your favorite flavors.
Assortment of toppings. See my list below for ideas.

Directions:

Bake the pies according to the directions on their box. Depending on what kind you choose, baking times and temperatures will vary.
Put your toppings in easy to serve dishes so your guests can top their pies just the way they want. You may consider labeling the toppings so there is no confusion. I just explained the options verbally.
Let the pies cool as directed, slice and set out. You will want the pies on one end of your serving area and the toppings on the other end.

Let your guests serve themselves. They can choose how much pie they want and what, if anything, to put on it. Everyone gets just what they want.

PIE BAR TOPPING IDEAS

Reddi-Wip® topping
Caramel syrup
Lemon glaze
Orange glaze
Cranberry glaze
Cinnamon sugar
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips or shavings
Ice cream
Nutmeg clove sugar
Citrus zest

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BINGO

Want to have a little more fun and encourage your guests to try more than one type of pie? Do people really need to be encouraged to eat more pie…? Anyway, here is a fun printable game similar to bingo. The winner is the one with the most boxes checked off and combinations of pie tried. Right click, save and print!

See what a completed game board might look like below.

So, simplify your holidays and choose Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies and enjoy stress-free, delicious sweets to accompany your holiday meal: the perfect holiday dessert. Grab yours at Walmart today! And check out more amazing ways to use Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies this holiday season!

November 4, 2015 by Krista

Nutter Butter Snowmen Cookies

I can’t think of a better way to kick off the chilly season than with some fun in the kitchen. Celebrate the first snow fall, with these fun and super easy Nutter Butter Snowmen cookies!

I often run out of steam and energy before we’re finished when I’m in the kitchen with my boys; so, I decided to skip the baking part and just jump right to the fun part. We used Nutter Butter Cookies and candies to decorate and make snowmen!

NUTTER BUTTER SNOWMAN COOKIES

Print This Recipe

Nutter Butter Snowmen Cookies

Prep time: 30 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Decorate Nutter Butter cookies and turn them into a winter wonderland! Create friendly snowmen with candies and white dipping chocolate.

Ingredients

Nutter Butter Cookies
White Dipping Chocolate
Mini Chocolate Chips
Mini Chocolate Candies
Mini Peanut Butter Candies
Chocolate Flavored Roll Candies
Red and Green Licorice
Confetti Sprinkles

Instructions

Melt the white chocolate.
Work one cookie at a time so you can get it completely decorated before the chocolate hardens.
Spread the white chocolate on one side of the Nutter Butter cookie with the back of a plastic spoon.
Shape the chocolate roll candies into the shape off a top hat. I actually found it easier to make several at a time and have them ready to go straight on the cookies as soon as I got the chocolate spread.
Use the mini chocolate candies, the mini peanut butter candies and the confetti sprinkles to create eyes and buttons on the snowmen. The orange peanut butter candies perpendicular on the cookies made a great nose on the round snowman faces.
Use the licorice to make a scarf for the snowman.

Notes

The best part of these cookies is that you can decorate them however you want! Your imagination is the limit. My kids liked the snow globe, but my favorite was the snowman faces. Get creative.

Decorating these cookies was a ton of fun and, while my boys ate more candy than they put on their cookies, it was definitely more conducive to the length of their attention spans. There wasn’t a long wait time while the cookies baked. We got in, got it done and moved on to other activities.

These would be perfect for neighbor goody plates this holiday season. My kids loved the snow globe cookie, but it wasn’t as pretty as I had in my head so I only did one of those. My favorites were the snowman faces.

Tips and Tricks I Discovered While Making Nutter Butter Snowman Cookies

I loved that the cookie decorations were trapped in the melting chocolate after it hardened. It was less messy when my kids were eating them… and that’s definitely a win. You could definitely substitute the melting chocolate for frosting too, if that is more your style.
I opted to just spread the melted chocolate on one side of the cookie because I like Nutter Butter cookies as they are and didn’t want to change the taste too much. I didn’t want the dipping chocolate to overpower the Nutter Butter cookie flavor. And it cut down on sugar a little bit.
I used my little melting pot to keep the chocolate warm and melted. It worked great. A small slow cooker would probably work as well. Just make sure you don’t over heat your chocolate or it will get grainy. You can also just heat it in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it’s melted. If you have access to a melting pot, I would highly suggest using it.
It was much easier to shape several hats before I started putting the chocolate on the cookies. Then I just had to grab one and stick it on. I didn’t have to worry about moving quickly before the chocolate hardened.
Use a toothpick to help you place the little candies on the cookies. The candies are tiny and kind of hard to position with larger hands. My boys did great if I was steadying their hands. A toothpick lets you push the candies right where you want them.
Use an orange peanut butter candy bit for the snowman face nose. Stand it up on the cookie to make it look more carrot shaped and give your cookie more dimension.

October 21, 2015 by Krista

Caramel Apple Nachos

Caramel and apple is one of my favorite fall flavor combinations. The sweet, crisp apples and the delectable caramel, what’s not to love? Maybe the stickiness, but that just doesn’t seem to bother me when I’ve got that delicious combination tickling my taste buds. These caramel apple nachos are one of our go-to snacks after school. They are just sweet enough to be a treat, but are still mostly fruit. I also love being able to adjust the amount of caramel and chocolate on them.

CARAMEL APPLE NACHOS

Ingredients:
– 1-2 Apples • I love green Granny Smith apples or Galas
– Caramel sauce • make your own or use your favorite ice cream sundae topping
– Chocolate sauce • I like a thicker hot fudge
– Knife
– Cutting board
– Plate
– Nuts, if desired

Directions:
– Core and slice your apples into thin slices with the knife.
– Layer the apple slices on your plate.
– Drizzle caramel sauce on the apples.
– Drizzle chocolate sauce on the apples.
– Chop up the nuts, if you want nuts.
– Sprinkle over the apples.
Serve and enjoy!

Check out the video to see just how easily this comes together. It is super simple and always a yummy treat.

A video posted by Krista Wolff (@whilehesnapping) on Oct 21, 2015 at 11:03am PDT

The caramel and chocolate will start to soak into the apples the longer they sit. I like it that way, it’s like caramel infused apple slices; but, it doesn’t look quite as pretty. So, keep that in mind if you are thinking about serving them for a party or something.

Speaking of parties, I like to do this as a caramel apple bar of sorts when we have people over. Let your guests start with apple slices and build their own nachos. Everyone gets what they want and how much they want.

Topping ideas we love:
– mini marshmallows
– white chocolate chips
– cinnamon and brown sugar
– chopped nuts
– whipped cream

September 25, 2015 by Krista

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BakeInTheFun #CollectiveBias

It’s official… autumn is here! Hooray! I love summer, I really do. But, since becoming a mom, autumn has slowly stolen my heart. The colors, the traditions, the holiday season kicking off, and the foods. Oh, the foods. So many fabulous flavors come with the autumn season. One of my favorites is apple and my sweet tooth has a soft spot for caramel. How perfect is the caramel apple combination? Perfect enough for some cupcakes! Caramel Apple Cupcakes have some of autumn’s best flavors all in a delicious little cake just bursting with flavor.

I’ve got a killer recipe for you today that will make you taste buds scream “AUTUMN IS HERE!” They are super easy to make – from a box! Wanna make baking even easier? Enter the #bakeinthefun sweepstakes by voting for your favorite submission. You could win a KitchenAid! Get the details! Let’s get to baking those amazing autumn Caramel Apple Cupcakes, shall we?

CARAMEL APPLE CUPCAKES

Print This Recipe

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 22 mins

Total time: 32 mins

Serves: 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes bursting with delicious autumn flavors - caramel apple. Soft, moist cakes full of apple flavor and topped with creamy tangy frosting.

Ingredients

15.25 oz Pillsbury™ Moist Supreme® Caramel Cake Mix
¼ cup Mott's® Apple Sauce Original
¼ cup oil
3 eggs
½ cup water
½ cup Snapple® Apple

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Spray lightly with cooking spray, if desired to help the cupcakes release more easily after baking.
Combine the cake mix, apple sauce, oil, eggs, water and Snapple® Apple in a large bowl.
Mix until well combined.
Fill each cupcake liner ¾ full.
Bake 22- 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool 10-15 minutes before removing cakes from the pan.
Cool completely before frosting.

You’ve got the cupcakes, now comes my favorite part of making cupcakes: the decorating! When I think of caramel apples, I think bright green and that beautiful brown caramel color. I wanted to put those on display on these cupcakes. While I was at Walmart the other day, I saw these new M&M’s® I couldn’t pass up – M&M’s® Pecan Pie! They were perfect with their fall colors to use as a garnish.

Print This Recipe

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 24 cupcakes or 48 mini cupcakes

Tart apple and sweet caramel combine in this delicious cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

2 sixteen oz cans Pillsbury™ Supreme Creamy® Cream Cheese Seasonal Frosting
2-3 Tbsp caramel sauce (I used a store-bought ice cream topping, but you could make your own)
Lime green gel food coloring
M&M's® Pecan Pie flavored for garnish
M&M's® Milk Chocolate Harvest for garnish

Instructions

Prepare a pastry bag with a large round icing tip. The larger, the better.
Place the empty pastry bag inside a tall glass and fold the top of the bag over the rim of the glass.
If you want to create a marbled effect in the frosting, draw lines or dots inside the bag with the gel food coloring.
Fill the bag with the Pillsbury™ Supreme Creamy® Cream Cheese Seasonal Frosting. Add a small squeeze of food coloring into the glass as you put each scoop of the frosting into the pastry bag. When the bag is full or the frosting is all in the bag, remove it from the glass.
Squeeze the frosting around a bit to help mix up the food coloring. You just want it streaked, not completely mixed; don't squeeze and mix it too much.
Pipe the frosting onto a cupcake, starting at the outer edge and moving inward in a circular pattern, ending with a point in the middle.
Put the caramel sauce inside a zip top bag. Snip off just the very point of one corner of the bag.
Drizzle the caramel sauce on the cupcake. I put it between the lines of frosting, which helped hold it where it needed to be and kept it from dripping all over. If you frost the cupcakes with a knife, you can drizzle little zigzags of caramel sauce on the tops of the cupcakes.
Garnish the tops of the cupcakes with M&M's®.
Place the cupcakes in the fridge until ready to serve.

Bake In The Fun Caramel Apple Cupcakes CloseUp

I really love the way these cupcakes turned out. The apple is just tart enough and the caramel just sweet enough… it’s a perfect combination. It’s autumn in a little cake. I can’t think of a better way to start out the season! Grab everything you need at Walmart to make these delicious treats and check out these other delicious recipes! And don’t forget to enter the #bakeinthefun sweepstakes!

MARS Bake In The Fun Sweepstakes

Grab your ingredients for these deliciously Harvest-inspired cupcakes on your next trip to Walmart. All ingredients can be found in the grocery section of the store.

September 21, 2015 by Krista

Wiggly Worms Tic-Tac-Toe and Go-Paks! Creepy Crawly Pudding Cups

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SnackAndGo#CollectiveBias

While Big J is at school and Baby N is napping, I’ve been trying to capitalize on my time with Little J. The differences between his and Big J’s learning styles have thrown me for a serious loop. Big J is such a quick and easy learner. Little J would rather climb something. He doesn’t care how to count or what letters are in his name. I’ve had to get creative. One thing the boy does love is sweets. This last week we’ve been learning about the letter W and what better way to reinforce the learning with a tasty treat?! We made creepy crawly pudding cups, complete with wiggly worms.

WIGGLY WORMS TIC-TAC-TOE

Before I jump into the delicious pudding cups, I’ve got a couple printable activities we did to help with letter recognition, colors, sequencing and taking turns. You can click on the image to download your own copies.

I had Little J help me circle all the w’s in the sentence and then we used the gummy worms to trace the large letters. We talked about other words that start with w, specifically our last name. And then he ate the gummy worms.

A couple days later, we played a game with the leftover gummy worms. First we matched the colors of the worms for a little color recognition practice. Then we played tic-tac-toe with the worms. He played with one color of worms and I played with another. He didn’t quite get the game, but it was still fun. Big J played when he got home and loved it.

Now, for Little J’s absolute most favorite part… dessert!

GO-PAKS! CREEPY CRAWLY PUDDING CUPS

Print This Recipe

Go-Paks! Creepy Crawly Pudding Cups

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 1 Go-Pak!

Taking the "walking taco" trend into the dessert world. A fun snack for anyone who loves bugs!

Ingredients

OREO Go-Paks!
Chips Ahoy Go-Paks!
Chocolate Snack Pack Pudding
Chocolate Vanilla Snack Pack Pudding
Reddi-wip Original
Sour Gummy Worms

Instructions

Open the Go-Paks! Use a fork and break up the cookies.
You want chunks about the size of a pencil eraser, give or take a little. Use caution while you're breaking up the cookies... you can break the container. Not that this happened... but, yeah it did.
Open the Snack Pack Puddings. I put a Chocolate Vanilla container in with the dark OREO cookies and the Chocolate with the Chips Ahoy to help darken it up.
Mix the cookies and Snack Pack Pudding until they are well combined.
Top with the Reddi-wip and some gummy worms.
If you let the Go-Paks! sit in the fridge for a little while, the cookies will soften up. If you do wait, add the Reddi-wip and gummy worms right before you serve.

These are super fun snacks for any kid who loves bugs and it definitely made teaching Little J more fun and kept him engaged. It was a little more sugar-intensive learning than I usually prefer, but… sometimes you pick your battles, I guess. Little J at least knows what a W looks like now. I hope.

Ready to make your own creepy crawly snack? I grabbed all the ingredients on a recent trip to Walmart and we made our fun buggy snack. Create your own with the directions above. This was so perfect for our study on W and the treats were enticing enough that even Little J – my boy with a .0003 second attention span, love of heights and all things mischief – was engaged through out the activity. Total mom win.

Want more delicious treat ideas? Be sure to check out these very yummy Go-Paks! creations! Which one are you dying to try?

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BUFFET

PIE BAR TOPPING IDEAS

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BINGO

NUTTER BUTTER SNOWMAN COOKIES

Tips and Tricks I Discovered While Making Nutter Butter Snowman Cookies

CARAMEL APPLE NACHOS

CARAMEL APPLE CUPCAKES

WIGGLY WORMS TIC-TAC-TOE

GO-PAKS! CREEPY CRAWLY PUDDING CUPS

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