Kick Off School Snack - Taffy Apple Pizza

I had the day off to enjoy taking my boys to their first day of school.

Drop off with the big boy went smooth.  I then came back to pick up the two little boys to take the middle one for a 1/2 hour to sit with him in his classroom so he gets used to the new teachers and room.

Afterwards we went up quickly to visit my grandmother. 

We got home around 12:45.  I threw together the recipe for Sandra Lee's Asian Steak Hot Pot in the crockpot.  It only had to cook 3-5 hours so knowing I would be home I plugged it into the menu for today. It was so-so.

The big hit was a very special treat I made for their after school snack.  I usually do cupcakes or the usual for the first and last day of school, but decided to switch it up when I found a cute recipe in Gooseberry Patch Quick and Easy Autumn that I earmarked to make a few weeks back called Taffy Apple Pizza.

The kids had fun drizzling the caramel!

Taffy Apple Pizza

18-oz refrigerated sugar cookie dough
8-oz package cream cheese, softened (I used neufatchel)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
1 t vanilla extract
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

Form cookie dough into ball and place in center of 14' round pizza pan.

Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out to a 14-inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes, until lightly golden.

Remove from oven and cool at least 10 minutes.

Loosen cookie from pan slightly so it doesn't stick.

Combine cream cheese, brown sugar, peanut butter and vanilla; mix well and spread evenly over cookie.

Cut apple slices in half and arrange evenly over cream cheese mixture.

Drizzle topping over apples.

Sprinkle peanuts on top if desired and cut into wedges.

It was so easy and good!

Get It Done Tip: Probably the first and only time my son didn't come home with homework, but I had a ton of homework.  About 18 sheets I needed to fill out and a few additional checks I had to cut - money to cover their textbooks (17 text books in 1st grade!!), money to opt out of doing lunch duty, send a picture of your child, etc.
As soon as it comes in, no matter how tired I am I just deal with it and put it back in the folder to return it to the teacher the next day.
I don't want to lose the paperwork, run the risk of it getting destroyed by one of the kids or forgetting about it. So I just turn it around same day and get it to hell out of here!  :)