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THE SEMISWEET SISTERS

Two sisters who love to bake...

Peeps Sunflower Brownies

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Sunflower Peeps Brownies

My best friend Heather loves her Peeps, so I made this for her on her birthday yesterday. I made two because she is gluten free, so for one I used King Arthur’s gluten free brownie mix and for the other I used the Ghirardelli mix. The King Arthur’s did not come with icing, so I made a chocolate ganache. Then the peeps are gluten free. These are so easy to make and super cute. I will be making them again for our Easter Brunch. I can’t decide if I like the peeps facing up or down.

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Peeps Sunflower Brownies

Peeps Sunflower Brownies

 

 

Peeps Sunflower Brownies
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1 small box of brownies with frosting (should fit 9x9 pan)
  • 20 peeps
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
  • parchment paper
Instructions
  1. follow directions on brownie box (except you will use round pan)
  2. line a round cake pan with parchment paper
  3. bake as directed on box
  4. let cool
  5. flip upside down onto a plate, peel off parchment paper
  6. put frosting/icing on the top of the brownies
  7. place peeps around the outside of the brownies
  8. put mini chips in center of brownies
  9. put regular chocolate chips around the outside of the mini ones

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French Toast Casserole

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French Toast Casserole

This recipe came from my friend Jody. We were in a mom’s group called MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) together and we would meet twice a month and everyone took turns bringing in brunch food to share.  Jody brought this and EVERYONE asked her for the recipe, including myself. It’s great to make the night before and then just pop in the oven in the morning. I am also not a nut person, except of an occasional piece of pecan pie but I love this recipe even with the nuts.

French Toast Casserole

You can serve with maple syrup, but it’s not really needed.

 

French Toast Casserole
 
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Recipe type: Brunch
Ingredients
  • 1 loaf of French or Italian bread torn/cut into 1 in pieces
  • 1 tablespoon soft butter
  • 8 eggs
  • 2½ cups whole milk
  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • Topping:
  • 8 tablespoons butter
  • 1⅓ cups packed brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 325
  2. spread bread out over 2 baking sheets and bake until dry and light golden brown, about 20 min.
  3. coat 9x13 baking dish with butter and pack the bread into the dish.
  4. whisk eggs in a large bowl
  5. then whisk in milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg
  6. pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread
  7. press bread to submerge
  8. Topping:
  9. stir the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup together until smooth
  10. stir in pecans
  11. Stored:
  12. put the topping in an air tight container
  13. cover bread and egg mixture with plastic wrap
  14. refrigerate both for 7 or more hours. No more than 24.
  15. Cook:
  16. Preheat oven to 350
  17. unwrap casserole and sprinkle the topping over the top evenly
  18. place casserole on a rimmed baking sheet and place on middle rack of oven
  19. bake until puffed and golden about 60 min.
  20. serve immediately

 

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Cheesy Potato Casserole

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Cheesy Potato Casserole made with hashbrowns

Cheesy Potato Casserole

This is another recipe that I got from my moms group MOPS (mothers of preschoolers). We always took turns bringing brunch food in for our meeting and this was a staple food at every meeting. Then I started hosting Thanksgiving for 50 people and the first year that I made a double batch of this the pans were scrapped empty, but there were so many mashed potatoes left. Now I don’t even bother with mashed potatoes during the holidays because everyone likes this better. It’s better for me too because I hate peeling potatoes!

Cheesy Potato Casserole

Make sure you buy the shredded frozen potatoes, not the cubes ones. They don’t turn out as well and take longer to cook.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

Cheesy Potatoes
 
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Recipe type: Brunch
Ingredients
  • 1 package frozen hash brown/shredded potatoes (THAWED)
  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 8oz container sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes OR ¼ cup chopped onion
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • pepper to taste
  • Optional Topping:
  • 2 cups crushed cornflakes
  • ¼ cup melted butter
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. In large bowl mix hash browns, butter, can of soup, sour cream, onions, cheese, and pepper.
  3. Put mixture in 9x13 baking dish
  4. Optional Topping:
  5. In medium saucepan over medium heat, saute cornflakes and ¼ cup butter.
  6. Sprinkle over casserole.
  7. Bake covered for 45 min.

 

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Sausage Puffs with Creamy Mustard Dip

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Sausage Puffs with Creamy Mustard Dip

My neighborhood has a dinner club where we get together once a month and someone hosts a dinner with a theme.  A few months back the theme was New Orleans. I made these with spicy andouille sausage and they were a big hit.

You will have some left over puff pastry. If you want you can take the leftovers and cut into strips and brush with egg and cook with the sausage puffs (on a different cookie sheet) then when they are done you can dip in melted butter and then roll in a cinnamon/sugar mixture. My daughter loves it when I do this.

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Sausage Puffs with Creamy Mustard Dip
 
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Recipe type: Appetizer
Ingredients
  • 1 package of frozen puff pastry
  • 1 package of fully cooked sausage
  • 1 egg, beaten and mixed with 1 teaspoon water
  • Mustard Dip:
  • ½ cup stone ground mustard
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup sour cream
Instructions
  1. unfold pastry
  2. cut sausage into 1 inch pieces
  3. using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut into 1 inch strips, about 3 inches long
  4. wrap the pastry strip around the sausage and push the ends together
  5. place on greased cookie sheet seam side down
  6. refrigerate for 1 hour
  7. preheat oven to 375
  8. brush pastries with egg mixture
  9. bake until puffed and golden 20-25 min
  10. mix mustard, mayonnaise, and sour cream together
  11. serve sausage puffs with mustard dip

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Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

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Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

This is another one of my husband’s favorite cookies, well I guess it’s mine too. For this one I took my best chocolate chip cookie recipe and turned it into bar cookies. Bar cookies just seem easier to make and there are less pans to wash afterwards. As you can see in the picture they are totally gooey in the middle. If you like hard cookies, then these are not for you.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1 cup soft butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 cups all flour
  • 2 teaspoons hot water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups chocolate chips (add more of less to your liking)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. grease 9x13 pan
  3. cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth
  4. beat in the eggs one at a time
  5. add vanilla
  6. dissolve baking soda in hot water, then add to batter
  7. add salt
  8. slowly stir in flour
  9. stir in chocolate chips
  10. spread batter in greased 9x13 pan, press down with you hands
  11. Bake for 22-26 min.

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

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Famous Braid Bread

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Famous Braid Bread Recipe

My famous bread! Your probably wondering why is this bread famous? Well that would be because of my daughter. When my daughter was about 5 year old, she would add the word “famous” to anything that she loved. So she started asking is she could have a piece of “famous” bread and the name stuck. She is almost 8 now and still calls it famous bread. This recipe makes two nice sized loaves.

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This is how your bread should look after about 5 min in the bread machine.  It should be a ball. If it’s too wet add a little flour and if it’s too dry add some water. Add a tablespoon at a time, until it looks similar to the above picture.

Next you braid the bread. Braid the bread just like you would hair, and then tuck the ends under so it looks nice.

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I usually take a cold stick of butter when it’s hot out of the oven and rub it around the top of the loaf. Just a little goes a long way.  Then TRY and wait about 20-30 min. to let it cool before you cut it, otherwise it will squish down.

Famous Braid Bread Recipe

Famous Braid Bread
 
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Recipe type: Bread
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cup of warm milk (microwave the milk for 1 min.)
  • ¼ cup soft butter, not melted
  • 3 eggs (at room temperature is best)
  • 5½ cups of all purpose flour or bread flour if you have it
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 packet of rapid rise yeast
Instructions
  1. Add ingredients to bread machine in the order above.
  2. Add warm milk, butter, eggs, flour, sugar, salt, and then yeast.
  3. Set machine for dough cycle, this takes about 1½ hours.
  4. Preheat oven to 375 convection.
  5. Once it is finished put the dough on a floured surface. Break dough into two even pieces.
  6. Then take one of the pieces and break into 3 more even pieces.
  7. Braid these 3 pieces together and place on half of the greased cookie sheet.
  8. Repeat with the other dough and place on cookie sheet. (two can fit on 1 cookie sheet)
  9. Let rise in a warm, not hot place for 30-45 min.
  10. After risen, if you like the shiny look you can brush with an egg wash. (wisk one egg and 1 T. water) then brush on top of dough.
  11. Bake at 375 convection for 15-20 min. should be golden brown.
  12. I usually take a cold stick of butter and rub it across the top of the bread when it comes out of the oven, just a little gives the crust a nice buttery flavor.

 

 

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