bite-sized pb&j cups

When I want to feel the nostalgic satisfaction of childhood  I need look no further than my pantry. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were by far my favorite of sandwiches and still are today! Sandwiches mind you, are not something we make here on Un-Pampered Chef...so how can I incorporate them? Glad you asked! Luckily I happened upon this great recipe from my grandma for peanut butter cookies but decided to take it a step further. Trust me: like most of the treats made on here, these peanut butter and jelly cups are AWESOME!

chocolate cream whoopie pies

Just the name sounds fun...though if you are from the NE United States, Whoopie Pies are nothing new for you. Finally making their way down here to Texas these little treats look pretty darn delectable. The other day when searching for ideas for this week I stumbled upon a recipe for easy Whoopie Pies. The reason they are easy is because they come from a cake box! (The trick is making the cake as the box directions dictate but leave out the water...I used a Duncan Hines) The whole recipe (frosting included) was way too easy, seeing how even I was able to make them.

The biggest trick honestly through this process was finding a good recipe for frosting. Since the cake part was so easy I wanted to try and challenge myself. The best recipe I found out is called "butter-cream frosting" and finally after searching for what seemed like hours I ended up finding a great (and easy) one from Martha Stewart oddly enough, that I slightly altered. After a few tries I think I finally have us a winner:

super addicting snicker-doodles

In my search for delicious treats to share with you guys, one of my friends let me know about a family recipe she has for some Snicker-doodles. I honestly have never even eaten a snicker-doodle cookie before but let me tell you now, my life has changed!

red velvet cookies – from scratch!

When it comes to cookies I am a chewy cookie kinda guy. My dad would beg to differ, but the chewier the cookie the better it is…hands down. I found this recipe a while back for a red velvet cookie. I love me some red velvet cake so I knew I had to try it all out. The best part of this recipe: it’s all from scratch!

The Task

Here we go! I have always appreciated and even enjoyed making things in the kitchen, though when it comes to full-fledged cooking, well, let's just say I envy those on Food Network. I've never been able to taste the spaghetti sauce and think "Oh, it just needs more oregano" or if oregano even belongs in Italian food; it's sad. That could be why I've always had a sweet spot (no pun intended) for baking. While that term definitely seems to take all forms of  masculinity and kick it out to the curb, it is so much more of an analytic process...at least to me it is. Everything is listed out for you...