Friday's Treat ~ Oatmeal Creme Pies

These little "pies" are absolutely amazing!! If you like little debbie snacks but don't like that they are just chemicals and not real ingredients than you have to make these. Trust me, you won't regret it. They taste just like the little debbie ones only about 20x better! I found the recipe for them on The Pioneer Woman's blog.  You can find the recipe for them here. She calls them Whoopie Pies but says that they are just like the little debbie creme pies as well. 

Don't you think they look amazing?! They were really easy to make too. I doubled the recipe and they still took very little time. In the actual recipe she says to bake them for 10 min.

 I only baked mine for 8, I think they would have been to dry if I had baked them for the full 10 minutes. 

Now, the filling. I feel slightly embarrassed to tell you I did take the easy way on this. My intentions were to make the Homemade Marshmallows that Christine wrote about. I only needed to get the gelatin. I was out shopping with a friend and went into Target. They didn't have it:( It was pouring rain, my daughter was about beside herself from exhaustion ( because she insisted on getting up at 6:15am that morning and didn't want a nap ) I knew it was going to be late when I would finally be able to make them so I bought marshmallow cream at Target....I know, I know!! I think the marshmallow cream is really the best option in these. Next time it will be homemade:)

If you aren't doing anything else this weekend you need to make these. I promise you will not be disappointed! Let me know if you do and what you think.

Have a great weekend

Mary Elizabeth

Homemade Vanilla Bean Pudding

It has been entirely too long since I have posted anything! I am still making the treats for Friday....I don't have a good explanation as to why I haven't posted those in a few weeks other than I just keep forgetting. Is that acceptable? :) 

 In case you haven't noticed my sister Christine makes pretty much everything herself, I have been trying to do the same. I make pretty much everything myself but won't deny I do like the convenience of a box mix now and then.  One thing I have been looking to make is homemade pudding. I actually use a lot of it and my husband loves to eat it. There was a recipe for a coconut cake ( basically a coconut cream pie ) that he has been asking me to make for a while but I kept forgetting to get the coconut pudding. So, yesterday I decided to make homemade pudding to use in the cake. It turned out to be a vanilla been cake with toasted coconut on top which is not a bad thing. I will tell you about that later, for now the pudding. 

This pudding is absolutely delicious. Very smooth and creamy like boxed pudding but I know exactly what is in it un~like the box mix. It was very easy to make and took very little time and it had ingredients that I always have on hand. 

You can see the specks of vanilla bean in it....I love vanilla beans!!

The recipe I used didn't call for vanilla beans but I find myself putting them in everything. It gives such a better flavor. 

The blog I found this recipe on said they like to eat theirs with fruit. I had rasberries in the freezer and put some of those on it today and it was sooo good. Kinda like eating ice cream only creamier. This will be a good way to get my daughter to eat more fruit too:)

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbls corn startch

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

2 1/2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1 tlbs butter

1 tbls vanilla ( and vanilla beans if you want )

Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch in saucepan. Whisk in the cream, milk and egg yolks. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. When refrigerating place plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding to prevent the skin from forming on the top. 

There is no separation in this pudding like there is with the box mix. 

Try it, I know you will love it!!

Have a great day!

Mary Elizabeth