Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Now that we're in the middle of the SEC football season, smack talk is at an all-time high at work. Love it! We even have game day snacks each Friday for the associates. Last Friday's spread included meatballs, chips and dip, Oreo truffles, and Rice Krispie treats. Not just plain 'ole Rice Krispie treats. I finally took this opportunity to reproduce the beloved (or, I should say my beloved) orange and white checkerboard pattern.

Not surprisingly, I first found this idea on Pinterest. My intent was to simply use orange food coloring to make the needed variation. But then I ran across the idea of making Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie treats. Perfect! I still used the orange food coloring, but adding a small amount of pumpkin pie spice gave it a subtle flavor perfect for this time of year.

It was a hit! Even one of my students who is a die-hard South Carolina fan couldn't resist this snack.

And it worked! UT won! Congrats to Butch Jones on his first SEC victory! I guess I will be making these for the remainder of the season. What's the commercial say? "It's only weird if it doesn't work!"

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 (10 oz) package miniature marshmallows (approximately 4 cups)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• orange food coloring (approximately 10 drops), optional

Directions:
In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in pumpkin pie spice and orange food coloring (if using), working quickly until well combined. Add cereal. Stir until well coated.

Evenly press mixture into 9x13 casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Cool completely before cutting into 2 inch squares and serving.

Tailgating or football party tip:  Make one regular batch of treats and one batch of pumpkin spice treats. Arrange into a checkerboard pattern for your UT fans. Go Vols!

Snickers Cookies

Last night, Steve and I met such wonderful neighbors at the First Annual Eliot Road Street Party. Entertaining in an alley: that's the way to go. No hostess has to invest in postage for invitations; just slip a cute note in everyone's mailboxes. No hostess has to get stressed over cleaning the house. No hostess has to get stressed about over-the-top decorations. No hostess has to assume the burden of making all of the food. Here, the emphasis was all about meeting new friends. Gosh, I love this community!

We had hotdogs, hamburger sliders, chicken, chips, macaroni and cheese bites, and lots of different dips.

For dessert, we had a variety of cookies and pies. Mmmmmm. I brought Snickers cookies.

You basically start with a peanut butter cookie dough. (In fact, if you want to take a short cut, you could simply start with a purchased cookie dough such as Pillsbury. Cheater.) Then, wrap a small amount around a Snickers candy bar.  Now is the time of year when you can buy the Snickers Mini's. These are perfect. If you start with the Snickers Fun Size, just cut each in half.

 

 

I have been making these for a few years; however, this is the first time I refrigerated the dough before wrapping around the candy. Big difference. The dough is much easier to handle and not nearly as messy. Each batch only takes 10 minutes to bake. That's it!

If you're smart and plan ahead, these are great to make with your Halloween leftovers. If you're smarter, you can purposely plan to have these Halloween leftovers. ("Oh Honey, really, I didn't have a choice. Look at all we had left! What else could I have done with them?") Or, if you still have tricker-treaters in your household, steal from their stash. :)

I'm told that we could expect around 1000 tricker-treaters this year. No kidding. I think I'm gonna ask for a raise.

Snickers Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 bag of Snickers Mini's or approximately 14 Snickers Fun Size candy bars, cut in half

Directions:
Combine first four ingredients. Set aside. Cream together remaining ingredients (except the candy bars, of course). Stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Refrigerate dough.
Shape dough smoothly around each candy bar, making sure bar is completely covered. Place several inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. (I still use a light coating of Pam, though.) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite things about moving into our new neighborhood is getting back into the swing of things with my tennis game. No pun intended. OK. Yes, pun intended. From day one, this special group of ladies made me feel so welcomed! Today was our first home match, and I learned that we provide snacks for the visiting team. What should I bring? Pressure's on! I decided to go with an oldie, but goodie, especially for this time of year: pumpkin bread. For family members, you'll notice that this recipe is already in the family cookbook.

One of Keely’s favorite foods is Panera Bread’s pumpkin muffins. So, I was determined to find a recipe that would duplicate them. Everything I tried wasn’t nearly as moist. This recipe, however, is as close as it gets. I’m not surprised, though, since it calls for 1-1/2 cups of oil!  It’s so worth it. The chocolate chips are technically optional, but who would want to skip those?

In addition to having a variety of salty and sweet treats, I was told that we also provide drinks for the opposing team. Oh, and not just water. With a team name of Over Served, I wasn't surprised! :) I was hoping to share the recipe for Milk Punch. (Don't let the kid-friendly-sounding-name fool ya.) All of my new tennis buddies kept saying how wonderful it is. Apparently, it's an "Ole Miss thing." Unfortunately, our team captain who is known for this concoction was out of town. Darn!

We had a beautiful spread nonetheless:

If only I had selected a coordinating platter! This time of year, most people know my blood runneth orange. You think I'll ever get used to this red and black stuff? :)

 Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 2 cups canned pumpkin 
• 1-1/2 cups canola oil 
• 1-1/2 cups (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips (optional).

Pour into two greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Tips: For mini bread loaves, bake for 50 minutes.
For extra large muffins, bake for 25 minutes.
For regular size muffins, bake for 20 minutes.
For mini muffins, bake for 10 minutes.