Candy Cookie Cups

Say that three times fast.

Bless The Pioneer Woman for her fantastic ideas. Particularly this one, which I tried this weekend, and which had my Sunday School class begging for more...

Candy Cookie Cups

Refrigerator Cookie Dough
Miniature Chocolate Candies


Slice the cookie dough into 1 to 1 ½ inch slices. Lay the slices on their side and cut them into quarters. Place each quarter into a greased mini-muffin tin. Peel the wrapper from as many pieces of candy as cookies you’re going to make. (Don’t be afraid to try different combinations of candies and dough.)

Bake the cookie dough in a 350-degree oven for just a few minutes, about 6 to 8 at the most. You’ll want to take them out just when they start to turn golden.

Almost as soon as you pull the warm cookies from the oven, begin lightly pressing one piece of candy into each cookie. The warmer the cookies, the better. They’ll grab onto the pieces of candy and work their magic, making the candy nice and soft and melty. And ridiculous.

When they’re all done, carefully remove from muffin tins with a spoon and arrange on a nice decorative platter. So easy, so fast, so tasty.

NOTE: The BEST combination is peanut butter cups in peanut butter cookie dough. My store didn't have the premade peanut butter dough, so I whipped up a standard peanut butter cookie recipe out of Better Homes and Gardens and dropped spoonfuls of that into the mini muffin pan.

Pineapple Chicken!

The ongoing hunt for great recipes continues! Remember the criteria? Quick, healthy, and a relatively simple list of ingredients. Check, check and check! We found this recipe (and I honestly for the life of me cannot figure our where I got it! Believe, I've been looking....) for Pineapple Chicken and were able the make it with ingredients that we already had in the cupboard. No shopping required! It was like a little miracle.

Pineapple Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 4 oz each)
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 20-oz can of pineapple (sliced, chunks, whatever)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c dijon or brown mustard
1/4 c honey
1 tsp minced garlic (the jar of this that I keep in the fridge is one of the best buys ever)
Hot cooked rice

1. Sprinkle chicken pieces with thyme, salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown the chicken in the oil. Meanwhile, drain the pineapple, keeping the juice and setting aside.
2. Combine cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of juice and set aside. Combine mustard, honey and remaining pineapple juice. Add the mustard mixture to the pan with the chicken, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 - 20 mins.
3. Remove chicken, add cornstarch mixture to remaining starch in the pan, bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 mins or until thickened. Return chicken to the pan and add the pineapple, heat through, serve hot over rice.

YUMMY.