sugar cookie dough cashew butter cups

Remember last month when I made Sugar Cookie Dough Almond Butter? The almond butter only lasted a couple of weeks, but  knew it was going to have to be made again! I’ve also always wanted to make homemade nutbutter cups. So, combining the Sugar Cookie Dough Almond Butter along with chocolate in a bite sized candy? Sign me up!

The first step includes making a batch of the nutbutter of your choice (or using something already prepared). This time is was Sugar Cookie Dough Cashew Butter with confetti colored sprinkles – mmm :).

Then you’ve got to pick the almond bark/chocolate of your choice and melt away. Even though it’s not real chocolate, we used almond bark because of the ease in melting – but next time I definitely want to try it with dark chocolate!

Layer chocolate – cashew butter – chocolate in a small cupcake wrapper and top with sprinkles (or topping of your choice – nuts, sea salt, nothing at all). And then allow to cool. The almond bark cooled nicely at room temperature, but sticking these in the freezer is definitely not a bad idea either!

• 1/2 batch Sugar Cookie Dough Cashew Butter
• 1/2 block of almond bark or 1/2 bag chocolate chips (or another melting chocolate)
• sprinkles

1. Using a small cupcake pan, place a cupcake wrapper in each section.
2. Fill the bottom of each wrapper with a small scoop of chocolate – just enough to coat.
3. Dollop a teaspoon of your cashew butter on top of the chocolate base.
4. Cover with another small scoop of chocolate.
5. Sprinkle with sprinkles.
6. Allow to cool and then ear/serve!

We made these to bring with us and share and they were a definite hit! We didn’t come back with a single cup.

It’s hard not to love chocolate + nutbutter mixed together. It’s my weakness ;).

sugar cookie dough almond butter

I love making my own nutbutters. It always proves to be a fun kitchen experiment, and the end result is the perfect topping to many of my weekday breakfasts. I’ve made many more nutbutters in real life than I’ve blogged about, probably because the nutbutter is already halfway gone by the time I would get around to taking a picture ;).

The idea for this particular recipe actually originated around Christmas when my work was doing a white elephant gift exchange. Our rules were to gift either something you already had at home or something homemade. I ended up scrounging up a peanut butter cookbook, packed a few Peanut Blossoms in small ball jars and then included another ball jar filled with this sugar cookie dough nutbutter (using cashews that time around). I did manage to take a photo before packing up my nutbutter gift, but never got around to posting it!

The biggest novelty of this nutbutter is the sprinkles, and even though any color sprinkles will do, it just seems more special to have holiday inspired sprinkles – so Valentine’s Day it is!

• 2c raw almonds or cashews
• 1/2 Tbs agave (honey would work too)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• pinch of salt
• ~1-2 Tbs grapeseed oil
• 1T sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 170* and roast the nuts for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through.
2. Take out of the oven the let cool for about 5 minutes.
3. In a food processor, add the roasted and slightly cooled nuts, and process for 8-12 minutes, or until the nuts break down and turn into a nutbutter consistency.
4. Add in the agave, vanilla, almond extract and salt to the processed nuts, and process again to combine.
5. The mixture will probably harden with the additions, so this is the place where you can add as much oil as you need to thin it back out. It really depends on the oil level of the nuts for how much you need, so start with a little and then add more to reach the desired consistency.
6. Scoop the nutbutter into a bowl, and allow to cool.
7. Once cooled, stir in the sprinkles and place into a jar to store.

This really does make such a cute gift, and a really delicious topping to your breakfasts. It’s also a pretty tasty dip for apples, gluten free pretzels, graham crackers, etc. Definitely be creative with what you top with this or dip in it, even eating it by the spoonful would be okay ;).

things that make me smile

I usually always have a few things that I look forward to each and every day.  Whether it be random products or websites, or (obviously) different foods and beverages.  Here are a few of my favorite things right now:

1. Iced Coffee (and Coffee in general).  I had stopped drinking coffee over the summer because I was getting a little too much sleep and therefore I was unable to fall asleep when I wanted to some nights.  Thank you working and getting up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning to justify my daily coffee habit!  I am especially enjoying the iced variety – making it (or making meanie sister make it) the night before and keeping it in the fridge overnight.  Morning perfection!

2. My new Michael Kors sunglasses that were FREE.  That conference I worked at a couple of weeks ago in Sonoma?  I walked away with three pairs of Michael Kors sunglasses + a pair of Coach.  I love the look of the coach by themselves, but they don’t look as good on my face… but I will definitely wear them at some point in the future :).  And the best thing about the MK ones?  I got TWO pairs of the style I like!  One in black and one in red.  I haven’t worn the red ones out yet, but oh, their day is coming!

3. Babycakes – I have never been to Babycakes, but I am counting down the days until my Disney 1/2 Marathon in January so I can stop over at the Downtown Disney Babycakes location!  I had been a bit skeptical as to whether or not I would like their gluten free goodies since I am not a fan of Bob’s Red Mill mix – but this past weekend I had a gluten free cupcake with the same ingredients and it was FANTASTIC.  I think me not liking the mix had more to do with me not wanting to add a lot of sugar and oil to make the baked goodies taste good with the different flours.  I also would not mind a trip to Sweet Freedom Bakery.  Maybe a weekend trip to Philly is in order?!

4. Crosby.  Hard not to love him.  Especially when he is so sweet and cuddly most days.  He also has an obsession with coming along with us everywhere we go on the weekends… he just can’t be alone!  It is also his birthday on Monday… hmm what to do, what to do?

5. Postcards from friends in amazing places.  Aloha from Hawaii!  One of my good friends from college took a teaching job out there and I got a postcard in the mail from her today!  I should really work on sending her something back – and I also really want to try and figure out a time to see her when I go to Hawaii in November.  Unfortunately I will be going to two different islands than the one she’s on, but we’ll see if something will work out!

6. Phone calls that make me laugh.  First, this one was more of a chuckle than a laugh but a grown woman said “duuuh” to me on the phone today… turns out SHE was the one who did not know what she was talking about… hmm so I was laughing more about her than with her ;).  Another one?  Well, referring back to #3 and #4, Crosby is one lucky pup.  He is getting a custom-made gluten free cake made.  Yes, he gets a small piece (he absolutely loves it), and the rest is for us!  Bahaha.  So I was talking to the bakery and we were going through the decorations.  Male or Female?  Male.  Adult or Child?  Child (snicker).  Decorations?  We have swirls and dots, balloons, rainbows?  (Me talking to Kinley – they could do rainbows – couldn’t hold in my laughter and the guy on the phone was laughing with me too).  Oh any poor boy who would get a cake with a RAINBOW on it… this little guy is getting blue and green swirls and dots.  He’s excited.

7. Cake Batter Cashew Butter.  Can you tell I have birthdays on my brain?  I immediately ran to the grocery list and added “cashews” and “sprinkles”.  Yup, definitely making some this weekend for a special birthday breakfast ;).

A random thing I missed today?

Ice skating.  I figure skated for 8ish years when I was younger and for some reason I just really wanted to lace up my skates and go!  Unfortunately it’s a wee bit hot out for that… ;).  I got my butt kicked by sister instead for my second “personal training session”.

What things are making YOU happy today??