Pumpkin Pudding Graham Cracker "Cake"

This dessert recipe has to be one of the most simple dishes ever... Seriously. Trust me on this one. Anyone can do it! This recipe is actually the same as my easy icebox cake that I shared with you last year. Essentially it's just a dessert with layered graham crackers, pudding, and cool whip.... Hellooooo easy! I thought it would be more fun to call it pumpkin pudding graham cracker "cake" this time around though. ;-)

Ingredients:

-1 box pumpkin flavored pudding (I used JELL-O's pumpkin spice flavor)

-8 to 10 full graham crackers

-cool whip

Instructions:

Make the pudding according to the directions on the box and make sure it's set before proceeding. In an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan, place graham cracker sheets so that they cover the bottom. My pan was an 8 x 8, and it took a little more than 4 full crackers to cover the bottom. Next, spread half the pudding over top of the graham crackers until it's smooth. Cover with another layer of graham crackers and then another layer of pudding (use the rest of it). Let the dish sit overnight in the fridge (or for several hours) so that the pudding seeps into the graham crackers and makes them soft.

If desired, you can spread cool whip evenly over top of the pudding before slicing the "cake" into pieces to serve, or you can just serve it by putting a dollop of cool whip on each piece. The latter way may be slightly safer just in case someone doesn't care for cool whip!

I forgot to take a picture again after I smoothed out the pudding here on the top layer.

I also forgot to take a picture until half the dish was already gone! Oops. It went fast. :)

Yummy layers! So simple yet delicious and fun.

You can obviously make this with any pudding flavor you'd like! One time I made it with pistachio pudding and another time I went wild n' crazy and made this with two different pudding flavors...wowzers! And then I even threw in a couple layers of fresh fruit. Yikes! Something must have gotten into me that day. I just went crazy. And it's also always fun to top this with some fun, colored sprinkles or maybe some crushed graham crackers for an added crunchy texture. You can also make this in a larger pan like a 13 x 9, but you may need to use two boxes of pudding with the larger dish and obviously more graham crackers too. :)

Happy mid-week, all!

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Hi there! It's time for the Barbershop to share a quick and easy recipe that doesn't even involve baking! One of my favorite blogs is Brown Eyed Baker, and one of the most popular recipes on that site is the recipe I'm about to share for no-bake chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies. These are sooo easy, it's not even funny. Start to finish (and by finish, I mean, these cookies were ready to eat!) was about 30 to 35 minutes. And that even involved the extra time I took to snap a few pictures along the way. ;-)

You can find the recipe here. It involves just seven simple ingredients (ones that you likely have on hand already too; I love that!). A few pictures are below for your enjoyment.

Cookie sheets, ready with the wax paper!

Beginning to cook ingredients on the stove...

Here's the final mix. Yummm.

The next step is placing "dollops" on the wax paper and then letting them cool and harden. Once I placed them on the wax paper, they were ready in about 15 - 20 minutes or so. And you could even put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up that process!

This made almost three dozen cookies for me.

I was trying to get a good shot of the cookies stacked up on a plate... I never know if a flash or no flash is better with food pictures (you may have noticed that I often include pictures with and without a flash in my blog posts). So you'll have to bear with me with my amateur photography skills! I actually thought this picture below looked cool though, with the shadow of the cookies in the background there.

So the next time you need a fast and delicious treat, I encourage you to try these no-bake cookies! They are very yummy, and I guarantee that if you share them with others, they'll be gobbled up in no time. That was the case with my coworkers. :)

See you!

No Bake Peanut Butter & Chocolate Rice Krispie Bars

So I've come to the conclusion that I've recently been cheating on my oven... A friend of mine suggested this on facebook, and as I thought more about it, I realized she is right! A few of my recent recipes have not involved baking. What is this Baking Barbershop coming to?! I may need to change the title of my blog or start only posting recipes that I bake... OR, I could just continue as I'm doing and post all types of recipes. I think I'll go with the last choice. :)

I was craving some time in the kitchen to make a dessert. But, as is typical for me these days, I didn't have a ton of time. So I thought what better solution than to make no bake bars! They generally do not take nearly as long as baked desserts do. A few years ago a former coworker, Kristi, made these peanut butter rice krispie bars, and I had a fond recollection of their deliciousness...and I also had a vague memory of her sending me the recipe at the time. Luckily, I was right, and I was able to find the recipe in my inbox! I am a little ashamed to say though that the recipe was sent to me almost FOUR years ago! I got the recipe from my coworker on February 27th in 2006...and I have yet to make them! Shame on me. These are delicious and should have been made long before now!

I know I've said this before about other flavor combinations too...but can you ever go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate? Definitely not. It's always a winner in my book. These no bake bars only require five ingredients. Another plus! And from start to finish (minus the cooling time and clean up time), they only took about 15 minutes. I see no reason why you should not make these yourself! ;-)

Here are the ingredients:

-1 cup white sugar

-1 cup light corn syrup

-1 and 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

-5 cups Rice Krispies

-12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Grease a 13 x 9 dish. In a saucepan on the stove, combine the sugar and corn syrup over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for about 45 seconds and then remove from heat. Add in the peanut butter and stir until smooth. Mix the peanut butter "sauce" with the Rice Krispies until they are well coated. Be careful here; the mixture gets sticky! Spread the mixture evenly, with the back of a greased spoon, in your prepared 13 x 9 pan. In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips and spread over the top of the peanut butter mixture in the pan. Cool at room temperature; do not refrigerate. Cut into bars and enjoy! These can be stored at room temperature, covered tightly. The chocolate topping will harden as the bars sit. I actually recommend melting an individual bar for like 8 or 10 seconds in the microwave before you eat it so that the chocolate melts a bit.... Delicious!

Okay, now I have an odd confession to make. I love melting chocolate. That is my confession. For some reason, in recipes where I need to melt chocolate, I find it to be incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. Below are three pictures of the process this time around. I generally melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave in 20-30 second intervals, stirring each time before microwaving again. When the consistency gets to be like the picture on the right, I am always tempted to take a taste... Doesn't it look so yummy? I know it's kind of weird, but it's true. I love melting chocolate.

Alrightie, that's my only baking confession for this post. Stay tuned for more next time. ;-)