Recipe-Copycat Auntie Anne’s Nuggets

While shopping for clothes at our local mall recently, we stopped by Auntie Anne’s and picked up some Nuggets. They were absolutely amazing. They tasted just like the Auntie Anne’s Pretzels we’ve been making, except they were in nugget form.

This spurred a cooking day soon after in order to convert our pretzels to nuggets. Here’s how you do it:

Use this recipe and follow the instructions up to when you divide the dough. Instead of dividing the dough into 12 lumps roll it out into a rectangle roughly 8″ x 12″. Using a pizza cutter cut the dough into 48 pieces by cutting the it into 8 strips on the short side then cutting each strip into 6 pieces. Each “nugget” should be about 1″ x 2″.

Dip in the baking soda and water  mixture, place on a greased pan, and cook until the bottoms are a medium brown. Ours took about 6 minutes. Now dip in butter and enjoy!

Recipe-Black Bean Brownies

When you read the title most of you were probably like, what? Beans and brownies don’t go together, except they do.

I was introduced to these brownies at a recent NCFCA tournament. During the down time between rounds I noticed a friend at my table eating something and I asked what it was. She said it was a black bean brownie and offered my one. I said no! Later I decided to try one and was totally surprised, they were so good. So after having a couple days to recover from the tournament we got the recipe and made a batch (actually two!).

Unfortunately I let the secret slip about what was in the brownies (we were originally going to give the brownies to my younger siblings and then tell them what was in them). Everyone did try them and all but one person in my family like them (more for the rest of us I guess).

Though I must admit my regular brownies are better than these, these are definitely better when you consider how much better for you they must be. These are incredibly simple and you can’t even tell they have black beans in them!

Hopefully you’ll be brave enough to try these brownies by using the recipe below or by downloading the recipe by clicking here: Black Bean Brownies.

Black Bean Brownies

Makes 9 Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ½ oz) can Black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup and 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips (about ½ cup)

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on low until all ingredients are well blended (there should not be any whole black beans in the batter!).
3. Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish and pour batter inside.
4. Top with chocolate chips or nuts if desired. (or you can stir in the chocolate chips)
5. Bake for 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean after inserting in the center.
6. Cool for 30 minutes before cutting and serving (otherwise they will fall apart).

 

Notes

For a double recipe use a 13×9 pan.

If your oven tends to cook faster be sure to check the brownies a couple minutes before the 25 minute mark.

Enjoy!

Recipe-Mango Pineapple Smoothie

Breakfast is my least favorite meal, unless we have something good (think pancakes, waffles, breakfast casserole, etc.). I don’t like very many cereals which is of course the normal breakfast food. But my new favorite thing to have for breakfast is a smoothie/shake. They’re relatively easy to make, taste good, and are also good for you.

My favorite smoothie/shake so far is my Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake . But another good one, and probably healthier since it doesn’t have chocolate syrup, is a Mango Pineapple Smoothie. My sister came up with this recipe and I thought I’d share it with you.

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

You Will Need:

2 cups Pineapple Juice
1 cup Greek Yogurt
2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
1 cup Frozen Mango Chunks
1 cup Frozen Pineapple Chunks

Make It:

1. Combine the juice, yogurt, and chia seeds in the blender. Blend on high to combine.
2. Add the fruit and blend until smooth and the consistency is to your liking. To make it thinner at more juice and to make it thicker add more fruit.

For ease in printing download the PDF file: Mango Pineapple Smoothie.

Enjoy!

Recipe-Copycat Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

Is your mouth watering yet? Don’t they look amazing? They are! Want to know how to make them? No, I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.

Here’s the recipe.

My sister found this recipe from Yammie’s Noshery. One Saturday she made them. They were amazing. They made twelve and as there were only six people home at the time we each got two. I ate both, felt stuffed afterwards, but the they were worth it. I highly recommend you try them. I was a little skeptical as to whether they would taste like Auntie Anne’s but they did. Be sure and try them out yourself. The best part; eating them, but forming them was fun too! We have made them twice so far and everyone has loved them.

Just a couple of things about this recipe:
1. The recipe also has a recipe for cheese sauce. We did not make the cheese sauce as we didn’t think it would be good with them. But that is your own personal opinion.
2. Right when they come out of the oven you dip them all over in melted butter. We ended up needed about twice the amount of butter to coat all twelve.
3. Be generous when salting them, but also be careful; it’s hard to get the balance right. First time she made them she didn’t put enough salt, second time there was too much salt on some of them.

I hope you enjoy making these pretzels!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake Recipe

I’m a swimmer on a competitive swim team, therefore I eat a lot. I also love chocolate, peanut butter, and milk but hate bananas. This is one of my favorite milkshakes. After a morning practice I come home and make several batches of this (necessary so that everyone home gets some). This shake has a chocolate peanut butter flavor but you can’t taste the bananas at all. That’s why, even though I hate bananas, I love this shake. My sister came up with the exacts for this recipes though none of it gets measured out, just estimated. Depending on the size of the bananas the shake may be smoother or thicker. To get the right consistency you can either add more bananas or add more milk, it’s whatever you like. I hope you enjoy it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Milk Shake

You Will Need:

2 Cups 1 % Milk

1 Tablespoon Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup

2 Tablespoons Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter

2 Medium Sized (7”-7 7/8” long) Frozen Bananas

Make It:

1. Combine Milk, Chocolate Syrup, and Peanut Butter in Blender. Mix until combined.
2. Add frozen Bananas and blend on high speed until shake is smooth.
3. Enjoy!

Makes: ~2-2 Cup servings

Nutrition Facts per Serving: Calories 332.4 Total Fat 10.9 g Saturated Fat 2.9 g Polyunsaturated Fat 2.4 g Monounsaturated Fat 4.7 g Cholesterol 12 mg Sodium 165.2 mg Potassium 805.9 mg Total Carbohydrates 48.2 g Dietary Fiber 4.1 g Sugars 32.7 g Protein 13.1 g Vitamin A 11.5% Vitamin B-12 17.9% Vitamin B-6 38.7% Vitamin C 17.9% Vitamin D 31.7% Vitamin E 2.1% Calcium 29.9% Copper 8.7% Folate 8.7% Iron 4.1% Magnesium 16.2% Manganese 10.7% Niacin 4.3% Pantothenic Acid 11.9% Phosphorus 26.1% Riboflavin 33.8% Selenium 13.5% Thiamin 6.8% Zinc 8.4%
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Nutrition Facts Calculated Using: SparkPeople Recipe Calculator

I have also created a PDF copy for ease in printing. You can download it by clicking this link: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Milk Shake. You can also access any of my recipes on my new recipe page I’ve just created which can be accessed at the top of the page. Enjoy!