I love Pillsbury Products for many reasons. The first one is I can usually buy them for CHEAP using coupons and waiting for a sale. Second, is they are easy to make – even I can’t mess these up. Third, they are always tasty! Even the Reduced Sugar is tasty – 50% less sugar using Splenda. I’ve never used the Brownie Mix as a base for other recipes, though. I recently discovered the Pillsbury Recipe Section where there is a ton of great ideas to perk up your brownies!

So for this holiday season, save some bucks by skipping the expensive bakery items and making your own decadent desserts by using Pillsbury Products. Brownies are a delicious, inexpensive dessert which are easy to transport. Here’s a few links to some great holiday dessert ideas using Pillsbury Brownie mix:

• Pecan Pie Brownies: a chocolate-y twist on a holiday classic
• Holiday Mint Brownies: impress your colleagues at the office party with this gourmet treat
• Chocolate Covered Brownie Bites: wrap in a festive tin for gift giving from the heart
• Chocolate Cherry Crisp
• Make-Ahead Brownie Delight (Pillsbury Bake Off finalist!)
• Mexican Chocolate Ganache Brownie
• Sticky Toffee Brownies
• Hot Fudge and Cherry Trifle

The good folks at Pillsbury are having a contest where YOU can win many prizes including a $5,000 Kitchen Makeover and $5,000 will be donated to Feeding America™ in the winner’s name. All you have to do is submit a 100 word essay and a photo or video telling everyone how YOU make America Sweeter with Pillsbury baking products (baking mixes, frosting, flour). Enter to win and read more about it HERE.

Check out My Giveaway: “Holiday Decadent Dessert” prize pack Ends 12/10

For the first time, Smucker’s has launched two limited edition ice cream topping flavors – Smucker’s Pumpkin Spice and Smucker’s Magic Shell Cherry toppings. These are perfect for winter.

Smucker’s Magic Shell Cherry has a sweet juicy cherry flavor which is great for a bowl of vanilla ice cream or drizzled over a slice of cheesecake. It magically freezes in just seconds on your ice cream…a BLAST for kids! It tastes just like a maraschino cherries. Note: Do not refrigerate this product as it will cause it to harden and you won’t be able to use it anymore.

Pumpkin Spice tastes just like Pumpkin Pie. If you crave a Pumpkin Pie Blizzard, you will be able to substitute Pumpkin Spice topping to satisfy your craving. It has a nutty, sweet flavor mixed with spices. It would be yummy on ice cream, poured on the top of a cake, or mixed into your favorite hot beverage! Personally, I thought it was pretty yummy just to eat plain! This Pumpkin Spice Thumbprint Cookie recipe that looks yummy and it uses the Smucker’s Pumpkin Spice Topping. (I would have never thought to use ice cream topping to make cookies!)

In addition to these limited flavors, Smucker’s is looking to create a third and YOU get to vote! You can vote in the “Your Vanilla Is Showing” Campaign by visiting yourvanillaisshowing.com and casting your vote for one of three new flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Black Cherry, and Magic Shell Cupcake Topping. I’m having a hard time deciding but I think Black Cherry is going to get my vote! The new flavor will be announced in early 2009 and available in stores by Summer 2009.

My family recently had the opportunity to try Pillsbury’s new Flaky Twists with Chocolate Icing. Thanks to the Pssst Community from General Mills for sending us a free coupon & several $1/1 coupons! (If you aren’t a member, sign up HERE to be eligible for future offers.)

As with all the other bread products from Pillsbury, we LOVED these! They didn’t look as pretty as the picture when I got done icing them but that didn’t matter – they tasted wonderful! This package makes 8 and they was gone in NO TIME at all! We even had a couple of guests stop by as soon as they came out of the oven. They wanted to know what smelled so good! Of course, we shared.

Verdict: Tasted great and fairly easy to prepare. Hit that chocolate sweet spot. I will say I had some trouble twisting per the directions. Not that it matter because they didn’t sit there long enough for anyone to admire/laugh at my wonderful twisting. I would recommend this product for breakfast, special occasions, dessert, or just anytime you want something fresh & sweet.

Retails for $2.99. You can often find Pillsbury rolls on sale for $1 and there is always coupons out there for these products. So if you plan right, you can get these really cheap. You can print a $1/1 coupon HERE.