sticky gooey buttery goodies and some other stuff

hello hello hello...  good afternoon to you all... so i'm not going to go into a huge schpeal excuse as to where i've been for the last few months... just know that i haven't "desserted" you my faithful readers... and i thank you for still subscribing to me... and i hope that this post will keep you enticed... i'll give you a real quick recap into what has been going on with me and the family...

 i'm so happy that the hubby is finally home after being gone since before christmas, but unfortunatly for me, i can't get too happy about it, because he leaves this sunday for another 5 weeks... grrrrr.... but his sea time is winding down and he'll be all mine this summer... which, is when we will be transferring back down to Cape May, NJ!!

 we are very excited about it... it's kind of like going home again... needless to say the boys are beyond thrilled because we'll be so close to our family and friends again... but i'll be honest, i will truly miss living in Maine... we have made some amazing memories up here, and the hubby and i talk often about living up here in the future...

in other news... my littlest man celebrated his 4th birthday... of course, it was captain america themed... if you ask Ben where he was born, he says brooklyn because that's where steve rogers was born... i'm being honest when i say that Ben truly believes that he is captain america... gotta love this goofball...

 

and like most of the northeast, we've have plenty of snowy wintery weather... and i was kinda happy that the day after my hubs got home we got slammed with 30 inches of fresh white powdery snow... and i didn't have to shovel any of it, or clear a single car off... thanks hubs :)

i love this picture... it's just pure happiness

well... enough blabbing... lets get on with why we are here... some of the sweet treats i've been whipping up... lets get started with these...

 so... these are an amazing overly indulgent sticky fingered treat that combines a take 5 candy bar, rice krispie treat, and a bar cookie... they are so good... that it is ridiculously hard to eat just one... my poor hubby... he's cursing me for making a huge batch of these... so here's the low down on how to make them...

1. grease and foil line a baking dish... you can go as big as you want... i used a 9x9 square cake pan... then you pour on a layer of melted chocolate and let it set...
2. while the base layer is setting, make rice kripsie treats... i don't really use any recipe... i take a huge hunk of butter, melt it and brown it a bit, toss in the mallows and stir until melted, then add the rice kripsies... now layer the rice krispie treat on top of the chocolate... and press it down evenly...
3. now... for an easy nougat layer... take some marshmallow fluff and blend it with some creamy peanut butter... now layer that on top of the rice krispie treat...
4. take some pretzels, chop 'em up and push 'em down into the nougat layer...
5. now... layer it up with some homemade salt caramel... now, if you don't wanna get down making some homemade caramel, you could always melt some of those kraft caramels... once the caramel is cooled, layer that on top of the pretzel nougat... are you guys still following me??
6. now... i let it set up in the freezer for like 15 minutes... then i top it with some more melted chocolate... let it set once again... be patient... patient... patient... then, cut those suckers up into squares... and then let the magic happen.  :)

now... here are some deliciously light and dreamily creamy eclairs and cream puffs... these are so easy to make, and way easier to eat... i think they are kinda devilish though... because they give the illusion of being a light dessert... you take an airy slightly eggy pastry shell, and fill it with a sweet vanilla bean pastry cream, and top it off with some chocolate ganache... one to two bites and BAM! you're done and onto the next one... or two... or five...

 and finally some overly buttery, crispie and crunchy chocolate chip cookies... i go back and forth over what kind of chocolate chip cookie really revs my engine... sometimes i am a soft and chewy cookie girl... other times i'm all about a crispie and buttery cookie... these beauties are AHH-MAZIN... buttery, almost caramely cookies, and the best part is that the  center of the cookie is slightly chewy and chocolate chunks are soft... its a seriously good cookie... if i knew i could handle eating just one here and there, i'd keep my cookie jar stocked with them... but i am weak in the will power department... plus... i'm trying to keep my fat bottomed figure under control!

 

well...i think thats enough for today... but don't worry i'll be back again soon... until then... happy baking eveyone!!