Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies

1 

bag (17.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Sugar Cookie Mix, mixed per package directions

Liquid 

food coloring, as desired

Rainbow 

sprinkles, if desired

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• For rainbow pinwheels, divide dough evenly into five bowls, and color each with a different color liquid food coloring. (We used McCormick Neon shades in pink, green, blue and purple, as well as the yellow from the standard pack).
• Roll each color dough into 14 grape-sized balls.
• Combine a ball of each color and quickly roll into a larger ball. It will look like a little beachball.
• Then roll that ball between your hands and the counter or cutting board until you have a cylinder about 6 inches long.
• Starting from one end of the cylinder, roll the dough into a coil, twisting the cylinder as you go.
• Roll edges of the cookie in sprinkles.
• Repeat with remaining cookies.
• Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes, or until done (fully done middle with the barest touch of golden brown on the edges).
  

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

From www.thecountrycook.net

This is made without slices of bananas, however, you could certainly add those on there if you like. My husband and I decided we would just add some freshly sliced bananas right on top of our individual pieces of cake which turned out to be a delicious idea.   If I had put them on the cake while I was making it, they would have turned brown within a day. It also makes the cake really pretty if you serve the individual slices with a bit of sliced banana and a Nilla Wafer on the side. 

Ingredients:

1  box yellow cake mix

ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil & water)

2 (3.4 oz.) packages instant banana pudding

4 cups milk

1 (8 oz.) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

20 vanilla wafers, crushed

 Directions:

Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9x13 cake.

Once cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for just a couple of minutes.

Then, with a wooden spoon handle or some other similarly-sized object, begin poking 

holes in the cake.

 You want the holes to be fairly big so that the pudding has plenty of room to get down  in there. Be sure to poke right down to the bottom of the cake.

 In a bowl,whisk together instant pudding with 4 cups milk. Stir until all the lumps are gone. Let pudding sit for just about 2 minutes so it has just slightly begun to thicken but not fully set, it should still be easily pourable. 

 Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to get it into the holes as much as possible.

 Spread it all out and using the back of the spoon gently push pudding down into the holes.

 Put the pudding into the fridge to set and cool.

Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping.

 If you haven't done so already, crush your vanilla wafers.

I just place mine in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Leave some of the pieces big. It's nice to have a bit of a crunch when you eat the cake.

 Spread crushed wafers onto the top of the cake. 

You can do this part immediately before serving the cake if you like. 

This will ensure the wafers are crunchy when you serve it. 

I think this cake gets more delicious over time.

To me, it's even better the next day so it's a great dessert to make ahead of time.

Serve with freshly sliced bananas. Keep refrigerated.

Read more at http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/06/banana-pudding-poke-cake.html#0TwwU6kPbRK4ERfo.99

Elephant Ears

Grandmas all over the country have long used scraps of unused pie crust dough to make larger versions of these sweet treats. This miniature version is just the right size--and much easier to assemble!

Easy Elephant Ears

• 1 tube Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layer Original Biscuits
• Cinnamon Sugar Mixture - I always keep a container in the cupboard so I don’t have an exact recipe – this really depends on you so mix a little sugar and cinnamon together until you like it) – you will need about a cup
• Oil for frying

In a frying pan, pour oil about 1 ½ inch high and turn burner on medium.

Using the layers, split the biscuits in half so you have 16 thinner biscuits 

Stretch each biscuit as thin as it will go without tearing and carefully place it into the hot oil.

Depending on how big your frying pan is you can put more than one biscuit in at a time but just avoid over crowding the pan.

When the biscuits are golden brown on the bottom, flip over and fry the other side (I used two forks to help flip the biscuit without splashing).

When the biscuits are done on each side, carefully place them on to a paper towel and blot the excess oil.

Cover both sides with cinnamon sugar and serve warm

Guilt Free Ice Cream

We've made "ice cream" before out of frozen bananas but this recipe has a little different twist. Adding in some almond butter and cocoa powder for a chocolate version.

The kids will be anxious to help create this concoction and their bowls will be completely empty within minutes!

Kid tested...mom approved!!!

Guilt Free Chocolate "Ice Cream"
Source: www.isavea2z.com

4 or 5 frozen bananas
1 T. almond butter
1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T. (or more) coconut milk

Cut up bananas and freeze them overnight or longer. Put the frozen bananas into your food processor and mix until you see finely shredded banana pieces. Add almond butter, cocoa powder, and 1 T. coconut milk.  Add in more coconut milk until it's the consistency you want. Serve immediately.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Source:  Amanda's Cookin' and Annie's Recipes

2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 t. grated lemon peel
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

TOPPING:
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. finely chopped walnuts (I used pecan pieces that I already had on hand)
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
3 T. cold butter or margarine

DRIZZLE:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder. Add egg, milk, butter and lemon peel; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the blueberries. Spread in a greased 9-in. square baking pan.

For topping, combine sugar, flour, walnuts and cinnamon in a mini food processor or bowl. Add butter and process, or cut in if doing by hand, until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

For drizzle, combine the powdered sugar and milk. If too thick, add a few drops of additional milk at a time until it reaches drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Betty Crocker Watermelon Cupcakes

These turned out so YUMMY! Instead of oil, I used 1/2 cup of real butter. It really does make a difference and as always, use a timer for mixing any box cake mix and follow the directions exactly. They spent countless hours trying to figure our what works and trust me, when you mix it exactly 2 minutes, it makes a difference!