Emily's Kitchen

Last weekend, we had a few parties to go to so I went to Pinterest (where else?!) to find some food to take with us!  I ended up choosing an appetizer and a dessert.  If you aren't following me on Pinterest, click the button in my right sidebar or you can find my boards here!

For the first party (a going away party), we took these Jalepeno Poppers.  They were a HUGE hit and very easy to make!

Source: tastykitchen.com via Emily on Pinterest

Easy Jalapeno Poppers

2-3 jalapeno peppers

3/4 of a block of cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 can Pillsbury crescent rolls

The recipe called for canned jalapenos which I thought was a little odd so I used fresh.  I only used 2 peppers because I didn't want it to be too hot for people who can't handle the spice!  If you like it spicier, be daring and use 3!  I also made sure to remove most of the seeds.......

Mix the diced jalapenos with the cream cheese and sugar.  I mashed mine together with a fork to make sure the sugar was mixed in:

Get out your cutting board and spread the crescent rolls into two rectangles.  As the recipe suggested, I pinched together the seams in the dough.  Next, spread your cream cheese mixture evenly over the dough:

 Next roll up the rectangles starting at the LONG end (you'll get more poppers this way)!  Don't roll too tight, the dough will break!  After this step, I stuck my rolls in the fridge for a few hours.  I thought it might make it easier to slice plus I wasn't going to the party for a few more hours!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and slice your logs into about 1" pieces.  Using a sharp knife really helps to make this step stress-free! ;)

Place your poppers onto a lightly greased baking sheet and pop into your oven for about 13 minutes, or until golden brown (mine took about 15 minutes).  Let them cool and enjoy!  This recipe made about 30 poppers for me.

For the second party (a housewarming party), I decided to bring some cookies (mainly b/c they would be fine in the car while we were at party #1.  Sigh....being popular is so hard!  I ended up choosing these delicious Red Velvet Cake Cookies.  This recipe was also very easy and also a big hit at the party!

Source: thesmallthingsblog.com via Emily on Pinterest

Red Velvet Cake Cookies

1 box red velvet cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)

1 block (8oz.) cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1 egg (I used 1/4 cup egg beaters egg product...I hate regular eggs!)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Powdered Sugar, for rolling

Make sure to set your cream cheese and butter out to soften first!  I did this while I was prepping my jalapeno poppers.  Once the cream cheese and butter is about room temperature or softened enough, mix it up with your Kitchenaid stand mixer!  Oh wait, I forgot....I don't have a stand mixer.  Boo!  I used my Kitchenaid hand mixer and it worked fine....at least, for this step....

Mix in your egg and vanilla and blend until creamy.  Next, add your red velvet cake mix.  If you've never used red velvet cake mix, don't be alarmed if it comes out brown - that's normal!  It will turn red, I promise!

Before mixing....

After mixing!

Stick your cookie dough in the fridge for about 3 hours to harden up.  This will make it easier to form into balls.  Once your mixture is sufficiently chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Now you can use your hands or a cookie scoop and form the dough into 1-1.5" balls.  Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place on an un-greased baking sheet.

Pop these in the oven for 10-12 minutes.  They will look cracked and gooey in the middle, but that's ok!  Let them cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

The original recipe said to sprinkle extra powdered sugar after baking.  I skipped this step and they still tasted delicious!


P.S. Just so everyone knows, my Kitchenaid hand mixer about killed me during this kitchen adventure.  For some reason, it was having major issues with the thick cake cookie dough and I had to keep scraping the beaters off.  ANNOYING.  I was trying to explain to my husband that this definitely would never happen with a stand mixer. ;)  Proof:

growl!