My Cooking Spot

When Girl Meets Kitchen

Oreo Truffles – An Easy & Perfect Halloween Treat

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The grocery store near me is open until midnight.

Do you ever wonder who actually does their grocery shopping at midnight? Yeah… that would be me.

It’s not how I prefer to do it, and not something I do regularly, but honestly, some days are just too much. I literally got the the end of my day and realized that I had nothing to put in my kids sack lunches for the next day, and nothing available for breakfast or dinner either. Not grocery shopping was really just not an option.

I wanted to bake something yummy and fun, too, but what I ended up doing was grabbing a bag of Oreo cookies during my midnight trip to the store, and mixing them up into these quick and easy no-bake truffles.

They’re just as tasty as any other treat, but with only 3 ingredients and no baking, they’re way easier.

Plus they look really cute rolled in Halloween themed sprinkles.
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Let me walk you through how easy this is.

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Italian Tea Cookies

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Sometimes family recipes are the best ones we have in our homes. Nothing beats recipes cards/books that are passed down for generations.
My grandma, who grew up in an Italian family and was one of sixteen children, has some recipes I grew up making. One of them is this Italian Tea Cookie recipe.

One day when we made these together, she pulled out a small piece of paper, and attempted to write the recipe out for me. She wrote the ingredients and on the back, I scribbled the process. 
Being one of 16 with limited means, she was not able to attend school often and didn’t attend past elementary school. This becomes evident when you read her writing.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Bars

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Hey again! Welcome back to the second edition of Beyond Frosting on My Cooking Spot. I am excited to bring you something that is basically the totally opposite of my Peach and Macadamia Nut Muffins. These are Peanut Butter Cake Bars. They are just like a magic bar, but these use a cake mix instead of a graham cracker base. I really had no idea you could use a cake mix as a base for a bar, which in hindsight, I am not sure why I thought you couldn’t. If you mix an egg and some butter with a cake mix, it creates the perfect base for a bar.

However, this recipe brings you a little something else that’s special. Have you heard of Jif Whips? Basically, it is whipped peanut butter goodness and bonus, they have a chocolate version. I was totally hooked; like “forget the spoon and just use your finger” hooked. Mmmm; guilty. I mixed some Jif Whips into my cake mix base for an added layer of peanut butter in these bars.

You might also notice this bar is topped with brownie crumbs. I had a batch of leftover brownies, and well, I just thought it was appropriate to add some chocolate to these to offset the peanut butter. Whether you prefer chocolate or peanut butter, these bars are packed with both.

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4 Ingredient Flourless Chocolate Cake

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I’ve been on a wheat and gluten-free kick lately.  Here’s why… I’ve spent the last 9 months getting back into shape after 2 back-to-back pregnancies and I just can’t seem to get rid of the excess belly fat.  I decided to give the whole wheat free thing a try to see if it helped.  I went a whole week without eating wheat and I still have this belly, so I don’t think it’s really working.  Now… on to the chocolate cake.  (Also that was sarcasm.)

Now, you might be asking “Why Kristy, why would I want to make a chocolate cake without flour?”  And here is my answer to you, “Because it is freaking delicious that’s why.”  While researching flourless chocolate cake recipes, I came across a doozy from the queen herself, Martha Stewart.  (Don’t worry; Oprah is still the other queen.)  I figured if it was a Martha recipe, how could I go wrong?  And boy was I right!

Ladies, I am not a baker by trade.  I don’t have a baking blog and I don’t have the baking genius to just whip up a recipe from things lying around in my kitchen.  I just really enjoy eating scrumptious things.  I am an accountant ok?  That means I can measure things well.  So when looking at this recipe, you might think that it is too difficult for you, but have faith!  If I can do it, you can do it.  I used to be intimidated with beating egg whites into stiff white peaks too… Wait!  Don’t go anywhere!  It’s easy I swear.

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