Peanut Butter Apple Mini Fruit Pizzas w/ a Caramel Drizzle

A few days ago, my husband came home from work excited about a new food idea put in his head by a co-worker. His co-worker (Carol) told him about a fruit pizza she makes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting, apples, and caramel drizzled on top.  

He came home talking about how the sugar cookies I make would be the perfect crust and then the frosting would be perfect if I could add some peanut butter to it. So...here it is! 

This recipe relies heavily on sugar cookies featured on Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  I use her White Velvet Sugar Cookie recipe all the time.  If you are looking for a recipe that will turn out great, you can always trust a few sites.  Mel's Kitchen Cafe is one of them. 

Peanut Butter Apple Mini Fruit Pizzas w/ a Caramel Drizzle

Crust:

2 C. butter, softened

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 C. sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla

4 3/4 C. flour

Frosting: 

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/2 C. creamy peanut butter (such as Jif)

1 1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 C. heavy whipping cream

Toppings: 

Your favorite variety of apples peeled, cored, and thinly sliced 

(Granny Smith apples are great! Golden Delicious is also yummy!)

(I haven't tried this, but mini chocolate chips would probably be really good on this as well).

Drizzle: 

2 Tbsp. Karo syrup

1 1/2 C. sugar

3/4 C. butter

3/4 C. buttermilk (or make your own buttermilk by combining 3/4 Tbsp. lemon juice and milk to make 3/4 cup)

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. vanilla. 

1. For the cookies, cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour.  The dough will be very soft.  Cover and chill 2 hours or until firm. Roll out on floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into circles.  Place on greased baking sheets or parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 9-12 minutes or until set.  The crusts should not be brown at all. Cool 5 minutes on the pan and then place on wire racks to finish cooling.  Do not frost until you are ready to eat. 

2. For the frosting, in a large bowl combine cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Set aside.  In another medium bowl, beat whipped cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and mix carefully so you do not deflate the cream.

3. For the drizzle, bring the first four ingredients to a boil on high in a large pot.  Then, turn down to medium low (a soft boil) for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.  Caramel drizzle will be foamy. 

4. To assemble, spread frosting on 1 cookie.  Top will apples. Drizzle with caramel. AND ENJOY! 

I don't recommend frosting these all at once as I mentioned above.  I recommend assembling as you eat. 

How the Grinch Crinkled Christmas Cookies--From Scratch

Kudos to Cookin' Cowgirl for an awesome recipe for How the Grinch Crinkled Christmas Cookies.

I don't buy cake mixes.  I learned that if I buy cake mixes, they just sit in my pantry and expire or get weevils.  Did I mention that when I was pregnant with Buddy someone brought us the most delicious cake balls made from a cake mix?? I took a big bite of my 3rd one and thought that I felt something strange in my mouth.  I quickly spit it out to find the FATTEST weevil I have ever seen in my life. Because I was pregnant, I wanted to vomit. I lived, but it scarred me. (just kidding--sort of)

 Here's my take on the Grinch Cookies. No cake mixes allowed!

Crinkled Grinch Cookies
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C. white granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter, use 1/2 tsp. salt instead)
1/2 C. nonfat dry milk
8 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Green food coloring (amount of choice--I used about 30 drops of chartreuse, 40 drops of green, and 6 drops of blue)--leave the food coloring out if you don't care if they're green!

1/2 C. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and non fat dry milk in a medium sized bowl. Add melted butter and beat with a hand mixer until the butter is somewhat evenly distributed. Add the eggs and mix until the texture is even throughout. Add the vanilla and mix again. Next, add the green food coloring until the dough has a nice even color.

Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in small bowl.  Roll balls of cookie dough (about 1 Tbsp. each) and roll them in the powdered sugar/cornstarch mix.  Place on greased cookie sheet (I also used parchment paper) and bake for about 8-9 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool for about 1 minute on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.

Enjoy!