Blog - Inside BruCrew Life

M&M Pecan Toffee Pretzel Bark

M&M Pecan Toffee Pretzel Bark: Chocolate covered pretzels topped with pecans, toffee, and M&M's are such an easy and fun treat to make. Perfect last minute treat for munching on or for giving to friends and family.

Chocolate covered pretzel bark topped with pecans, toffee, and M&M's is such a fun sweet and salty treat!

I cannot resist a sweet and salty treat. Ever!

Ever since I made this Candy Cane Pretzel Bark I have gone a little bit pretzel bark crazy.

You needed one more last minute treat to munch on, right? I sure hope so because this pretzel bark is deeeelicious!!! I definitely ate way more of it than necessary. Stretchy pants are definitely here to stay!

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Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn: Chocolate and peppermint coated popcorn with Peppermint Oreo cookies and Peppermint M&M's is one snack mix you will not want to miss. It is so fun, bright, and tasty!

Chocolate and peppermint covered popcorn with marshmallows, Oreos, and M&M candies. Sweet holiday treat!

A few weeks ago my daughter had to do a fun project for Home Ec. They had to bring a party favor related to the holiday that they were assigned.

How perfect was it that she got Christmas for her project?!?!?!

With all the fun I am having creating cute food packages, we knew we could do something fun and easy for her project. The email from her teacher said to use things from around the house to create this food gift.

How convenient was it that I had already bought some cute stickers, bags, and bows at Michael's. I really had no idea how they were going to be used when I bought them...they were just too cute to pass up, so they came home with me.

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Funfetti Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix

Making your own pancake mix is easy with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. Try a fun twist with this Funfetti Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix. It's the perfect breakfast for kids or adults.

The most asked for breakfast in our house is pancakes.

But mixing ingredients and cooking on a hot griddle first thing in the morning can be dangerous for those of us that are morning challenged. Anyone else out there like that? Trust me. It's a real thing.

My eyes don't open and see very well too early in the morning. Believe me, I struggle being awake to do these crazy workouts, but at least those don't involve a hot stove. [Read more...]

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Macaroons

These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Macaroons are loaded with chocolate chip and caramel flavor. The sprinkle of sea salt on top gives it just the right amount of sweet and salty.

*Today I am joining forces with some of my blog friends to bring you lots of cookie love. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post for more details.

I got the decorating itch again last night. You see we already decorated our house the day after Thanksgiving, but I didn't finish putting everything up. So yesterday I looked through the boxes and pulled a few more lights, garland, another tree, and some glass ornaments out of storage.

The kitchen still needs a few decorations, but I'm not sure anything that is left in the boxes is going to work. Although I will probably end up putting the garland around the top of the shelves like I always do because I shouldn't be spending money on more decorations.

Along with this sudden burst of decorating came the urge to finish my Christmas cookie list. I cannot believe I have waited this long to finalize it. Usually by the first day or two into December I have a huge running list that has to be narrowed down.

About a month ago I made and shared these White Chocolate Funfetti Macaroons. The sprinkles and dipped bottoms inspired me to create another fun macaroon with a caramel twist. [Read more...]

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate Fudge

The best thing about this Hot Chocolate Fudge are all the toppings. Mini marshmallows and candy canes make this easy fudge recipe a delicious treat for holiday parties. You can also package this fudge in cute boxes to give to family and friends.

Three squares of hot chocolate fudge topped with chocolate, candy canes, and mini marshmallows on red and green paper.

Hot chocolate is the perfect drink when it is cold outside. I personally love to drink my hot cocoa with a swirl of whipped cream, chocolate drizzles, and sprinkles or candy cane bits.

The other day I was enjoying a peppermint mocha hot chocolate when all of a sudden I realized those flavors would be awesome in a batch of fudge. I couldn't wait to get in the kitchen and create this fun holiday fudge flavor to share with our friends and family.

Why You Will Love This Fudge

This chocolate fudge is so easy to make without a candy thermometer. Stirring hot chocolate mix into the chocolate fudge gives it a delicious hot chocolate flavor.

Peppermint bits also give the hot chocolate fudge a delicious peppermint crunch. It's a great way to use up all those extra candy canes.

Chocolate drizzles, mini marshmallows, and more candy cane pieces make this fudge so fun. Everyone will be the talking about it at your next party!

This easy chocolate fudge makes a great gift too. Give a box of fudge this season and see how much everyone loves it.

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Candy Cane Chocolate Cheesecake Cake

Candy Cane Chocolate Cheesecake Cake: Chocolate cake and chocolate cheesecake come together to make an amazing dessert. Adding peppermint marshmallow frosting and candy cane piece turns this cake into an impressive holiday cake worthy of sharing at any party.

You guys...

this cake is about to knock your socks off. Like completely! Are you ready for lots of peppermint goodness now that it is December?

And just to warn you there are about a billion pictures because I couldn't decide which ones to share...I'm sorry for slowing your computer down with all the pics on a Monday. But seriously, get ready to drool all over your keyboard. #youarewelcome

Candy Cane Chocolate Cheesecake Cake - layers of cake, cheesecake, and peppermint frosting makes this holiday cake so pretty and delicious! Great recipe for holiday parties!

So most of the time I have a reason for making a dessert. There is usually some sort of meeting or class or life group that needs a delicious treat. Ok, ok, they might not "need" it, but I sure love making and sending sweets for them anyway.

But on Saturday I got the brilliant idea to make this cake because it has been way too long since I made a big layer cake. The last one was this Lemon Cheesecake Cake two years.

Two years??? I have made bundt cakes, icebox cakes, and eclair cakes, but layer cakes have been missing in action. It was definitely time for some cake fun to happen in my kitchen.

After I decided how I wanted it to be, I couldn't get it out of my head. So with no plan to get rid of this delicious monster of a cake, I went ahead and made it anyway. I figured it wouldn't be hard to find someone to help me out with devouring it.

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Eggnog Sugar Cookie Bars

Two times the eggnog makes these Eggnog Bars the perfect sweet treat for the eggnog lover in your life. Plus, sugar cookie bars are so much easier to make than regular sugar cookies making them perfect for these next few busy weeks.

A stack of three eggnog bars topped with frosting on a white paper.

Eggnog is one thing that you either love or hate.

I am definitely team love for eggnog. Each winter I look forward to having a glass of the good stuff. Up until this year, it was just my oldest and I who loved eggnog. I would buy it and bake a few things, and he would finish off the rest. Well, except for the times I beat him to the left overs. It always became a race to see who would get it first.

Then just last week the other two munchkins decided to try it again...and they decided that they have been missing out on some eggnog goodness because now they love it too.

A stack of three eggnog bars topped with frosting and sprinkles on a white and pink paper.

Of course now with 3 kids who want to drink all the eggnog, I have to be smart and buy 2 half gallons. One for baking, one for drinking! And with three of them guzzling the sweet stuff, that half gallon does not last long at all. I have to make sure the second one is hidden in the back of the fridge, or that would probably disappear too!

As much I love eggnog, I can only drink a small glass of it at a time. The boys on the other hand would drink a large glassful if I let them. You should have seen the cup that our youngest was trying to drink before bed time last night. We had to go over some eggnog drinking rules right away. I know it's good, but chugging that much would give anyone a stomach ache.

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Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Brownie Bites

You look like you could use a fun sweet treat for the weekend. These Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Brownie Bites are so fun and absolutely delicious! Brownies, peanut butter cups, and marshmallows in one cute little bite.

You guys!!!! I did something crazy!

I'm probably going to regret this wild and crazy action in about 5 months! You see my husband signed up for the Tough Mudder again...and he convinced a few others to sign up too. I'm one of the crazies he convinced!! Eeeeiiikkk! What was I thinking? Again!

You see I am kind of a girly girl. Cute clothes, fun shoes, scarves, nail polish, and yes, lots of accessories. We are talking bags, necklaces, hair bows, and bracelets! Give me it all!!!

This girly girl does not like to get dirty. Mud is so not my friend. My idea of getting dirty is rolling brownie cookies with my bare hands!

So, cue all the crazy laughing at this curly haired girl who doesn't like mud. Because she will be running 10-12 miles all based around tough mud activities! It's ok...I'm totally laughing right now too! Laughing because it is totally something I've actually done before! I got this...I hope! [Read more...]

White Chocolate Funfetti Macaroons

White Chocolate Funfetti Macaroons: Sprinkles and white chocolate make these easy coconut cookies look so fancy.

Since everything around here is still coated in a light coat of snow, I figured why not embrace it and have my baking be coated too. Of course this kind of "snow" coating results in a warm toasty house and sugar. That's my kind of snow coating for sure.

I saw on the weather channel that New York is getting hammered with snow in certain parts. When I heard that, I realized how silly I must sound complaining about one inch of snow here. #firstworldproblems

They also said more snow is headed my way. As long as it stays around 1 inch and not the 6 feet from NY, I'll be ok with it. Well, as long as I'm snug as a bug in my house wrapped in a blanket and sipping on a coconut Nutella latte. [Read more...]

Frosted Eggnog Bread

Eggnog in the bread and eggnog in the glaze makes this Frosted Eggnog Bread the perfect sweet bread for the eggnog lovers in your life. It is the perfect holiday breakfast or afternoon snack. Just add a cup of coffee and you are good to go.

Two times the eggnog makes this frosted bread an awesome holiday breakfast or snack choice

Well, it happened.

Winter came early this year. The past 2 days have been 28*, and both days we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground and the roof looked like it was frosted with powdered sugar.

I am so not ready for this. It has been years since we have had snow here before January. Everyone is predicting a bad winter this year. I really thought last year was bad, so I'm not sure how it can get worse.

Becoming a hermit for the next 5 months is looking better and better. As long as I have a loaf of this Eggnog Bread each week, the confinement will be totally doable.

The recipe for this bread came from a plastic recipe box that has been hiding up in my cupboard since we moved to this house 5 years ago. I wish I know where the recipe came from, but unfortunately I wasn't so good at documenting that stuff. I think that's probably how a lot of family favorite recipes happened. Someone copied a recipe, stuck it in a box, and over the years it became "grandma's recipe" because she always made it.

When we first got married, I used to collect recipes from magazines and cookbooks and write them on notecards. The funny thing is we only ever tried a handful of these recipes, but I still kept writing more recipes on the cards. Then we started having kids, and I haven't really used those boxes of recipes in I don't know how many years. They just sat there until this week when I saw them hiding behind the big box of cupcake liners.

I pulled them out and flipped through all the cards. Some I pulled out, read the recipe, and promptly threw it away. I'm not sure what younger me was thinking about when she copied some of these down. There is no way I would ever make some of the stuff that was in there. Probably another reason why the box has been sitting forever.

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