Strawberry-Pretzel Jello Salad

I've seen this salad at a few different "potlucks" that I've been to but it's always gone before I had a chance to try it myself. But I saw this recipe in a magazine the other day so I made it for my family....it was GONE in less than a day!! It was so good that I thought YOU might want to try it too!!

•2 cups crushed pretzel sticks
•3/4 cup melted butter
•3 tbsp. sugar
•8 oz. cream cheese softened
•1 cup sugar
•8 oz. Cool Whip
•1 (6oz.) pkg. stawberry Jello
•2 cups boiling water
•3 cups fresh strawberries or 2-10 oz. pkgs. frozen strawberries

1.Mix first three ingredients and press in bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Let cool completely.

2.Beat sugar, cream cheese, and Cool Whip in a medium size bowl (I sometimes double this part if I am feeding more people). Spread over pretzel crust.

3.Mix Jello and boiling water until dissolved. Add strawberries. Pour over cheese mixture. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Caramel Apple & Pecan Pie

Pie Dough:
• 1 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
• 3 tablespoon(s) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoon(s) cold vegetable shortening
• 3 1/2 tablespoon(s) ice water

Pecan crumble:
• 2/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon(s) (packed) light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon(s) granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup(s) pecan pieces
• 5 tablespoon(s) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Apple Filling:
• 1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoon(s) cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly ground nutmeg
• 6 (1/2 pound each) Apple Slices
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) grated lemon zest
• Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Vanilla Whipped Cream:
• 1 cup(s) cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoon(s) confectioners' sugar
• Scraped seeds from 1/2 split vanilla bean
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Directions
1. To make pie dough: In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Add butter and shortening, tossing gently until all pieces are coated with flour. With a pastry blender, cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, drizzling over flour mixture and tossing with a fork just until dough begins to hold together. Turn dough out onto a smooth surface and gather into a ball. Wrap in plastic; flatten into a disk. Refrigerate 1 hour.
2. To make salted pecan crumble: In a food processor, combine flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup pecans; process until pecans are ground. Add butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly. Transfer crumble to a medium bowl; add remaining 1/3 cup pecans and, using your hands, crumble and squeeze mixture to form larger clumps. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. On a lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of waxed paper , roll out dough into an 1/8-inch-thick 12-inch round. Fold in half and ease gently into a 9-inch pie pan. Unfold dough, letting pastry overhang edge. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Fold under and flute or crimp edge. Refrigerate shell. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. To make apple filling: In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, and nutmeg until blended. Add apples and zest; toss until apples are evenly coated. Remove pie shell from refrigerator and spoon apple filling into it, mounding filling in center of pie. Sprinkle crumble evenly over top of pie, gently pressing into place; place pie on a baking sheet.
5. Bake 1 1/2 hours, or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Dust top of pie with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Serve with vanilla whipped cream.
6. To make vanilla whipped cream: In a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and the scraped seeds from 1/2 split vanilla bean until soft billowy peaks form.

Cake Mix Oreos

This is a recipe that my friend, Megan Somes posted on Facebook and I decided to give it a try. It was definately something I wanted to share with others. These only use 3 ingredients for the cookie part and 4 for the filling so it's simple & yummy.


Oreo Cake Cookies:
1 box Devil's Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all 3 ingredients until a dough forms. Roll dough into balls approximately 1tablespoon each. I just use my medium cookie scoop and then slice each scoop in half. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 8 minutes, or until edges are firm. Don't over cook! Allow to cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes, then remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire wrack until room temperature. Match similar sized cookies into pairs. Make filling.

Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix butter and shortening in stand mixer. On low speed, slowly add powdered sugar until combined. Add vanilla. Beat on low speed 1 minute, then high speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Using a pastry bag with 1/2 inch round tip, or a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off, pipe about a teaspoon of filling on half of cookies. Place similar sized cookie on top. Smoosh while lightly twisting (kind of the opposite of opening an Oreo!) to make filling spread to the edges of the sandwiches. *Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. The cookies will become softer from the moisture of the filling.