Christmas Cookies

I've been meaning to get these recipes on here for a while now.  I tried really hard all week but it's just been so busy.  Either there is too much on my plate or I am not budgeting my time wisely. Not sure which it is yet but anyhow I digress. I've got all the doughs made already (except the Chocolate No-Bake Macaroons)and in the freezer. Once I start baking things up I will take pictures and I'll update this post. Here are the recipes for you in no particular order. :)


1. Molasses Cookies

2. Rod's Favorite Sugar Cookies

3. Frosted Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs

4. Oatmeal Cookies

5. Gingerbread Men

6. Chocolate Chip Cookies

7. Chocolate No-Bake Macaroons

My plan is to bake the cookies and then freeze the cookies (cut-out cookies undecorated) until needed. We'll also be giving some to friend's in gift baskets. This should keep the cookies around the house longer and not quite as many to leave their mark on my hips. ;)  Happy baking!

Christmas Cookies

Halloween Cake Pops

I made these for Bean's class Halloween party.  The recipe makes 45-50 cake pops so we had a few leftover for the family.  I was glad too because these things are so good! They do take some time to make and decorate and the candy coating takes some time to get use to using. Just be patient and don't forget to tap the excess candy coating off the cake ball. I forgot to do that for the first few and it really used up a lot of the chocolate.

Cake Pops

• 1 box cake mix of your choice. (I used Devil's Food.)
  
• 1 container of ready-made icing. (I used Cream Cheese.) 
• Candy Melts or Chocolate Bark 
• Waxed paper

Directions:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting.
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)
4. Chill for several hours. (or put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Dip ends of sticks in the melted chocolate then insert into cake ball.  Let the chocolate harden a bit.
7. Dip pops in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm or insert into a Styrofoam block (make sure you tap the stick on the edge of the bowl gently to remove some of the excess chocolate)

For more cake pop inspiration check out these sites:
Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake Balls
The Pioneer Woman and Bakerella’s Signature Cupcake Pops
The Recipe Girl's Pumpkin Cake Pops

Halloween Cake Pops

Halloween Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs

These are the best sugar cookies for rolling & cutting.  I love the fact that I don't have to chill the dough too.  I use this dough all through the year for making cut-out sugar cookies.  It's not an overly sweet dough so after frosting your teeth won't ache from sugar overload either.  It's also makes a nice sturdy cookie to decorate. I need to work on my decorating skills.  I really want to learn to decorate cookies with Royal Icing.  Maybe I can try it out with Christmas cookies.

Here is the recipe so you can try making some yourself.

Soft Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup margarine or shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk or buttermilk
• 5 cups flour

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream together margarine and sugar in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl mix salt, nutmeg, baking powder and flour together. Add to sugar & margarine mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Mix throughly.
• Do not use flour to roll out (I place between 2 sheets of parchment paper). Cut out cookies with cookie cutter and bake for 8-10 minutes

I frosted these with store bought cream cheese frosting & used chocolate chips for the eyes. You can certainly make your own frosting if you would like.

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Halloween Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs

Candy Corn Cookies

I made these cookies using a sugar cookie dough recipe.  I replaced some of the sugar with honey in hopes of giving it a real candy corn flavor.  They still tasted like sugar cookies though and the dough really browned up quickly due to the addition of honey.  I used gel coloring to dye the cookie dough orange and yellow.  I'm really not going to bother giving you my whole recipe for these since I didn't like the way they turned out this time.  If I make them again I will either follow the directions on the Betty Crocker website or I'll leave out the honey and use a sweet sugar cookie dough recipe.

Candy Corn Cookies

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Carving pumpkins or making pumpkin puree? Don't throw out those seeds!  This is the best part of the pumpkin if you ask me. :)  There is a trick to getting your pumpkin seeds to be salty boil the seeds in salted water first, and then toast them in the oven.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

• One medium sized pumpkin
• Salt
• Olive oil

Directioms

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides.Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.
2. In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a half tablespoon of salt for every cup of water (more if you like your seeds saltier). Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Halloween Caramel Corn

It wouldn't be Halloween at our house without caramel corn (or Christmas for that matter). I love making this. Something about the whole process of making the caramel and smelling the caramel corn cook that is so yummy.  You can add peanuts or anything else you like to this, we like it as plain ol'caramel corn though.

Caramel Corn

Ingredients

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces.Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

Halloween Caramel Corn

Sorta Healthy Mini M&M Cookies

Years ago I bought one of those cookbooks you can buy at the check out of the grocery store.  In that book there was the best recipe for M&M® oatmeal raisin cookies. It made huge cookies.  I think it was called lunchbox cookies or something similar anyhow.  I had kept that book forever, even the cover was missing from it and I loved making those cookies.  Flash forward a couple of years and I can not find that cookbook anywhere in my house.  I am so disappointed.  I tried looking on line for the recipe, but since I can't remember what company published the cookbook I haven't been able to find it.

I did find a recipe that sounded sort of similar on the M&M® website.  They are very good, but they aren't that recipe. I don't know, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I tried to healthy these cookies up a bit.  I guess it doesn't matter too much because the kids are eating them up! :)

M&M Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

adapted from the M&M Gift Jar Cookie Mix recipe.

Ingredients:
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (169g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon (3.75mL) vanilla extract
3/4 cup (169g) whole wheat flour
1-1/4 cups (281g) uncooked oats (I used quick)
1/2 teaspoon (2.5mL) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2.5mL) salt
1/2 teaspoon (2.5mL) ground cinnamon
1 cup (225g) Mini M&M’S®
1/2 cup (113g) raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla until well blended.

In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; blend into creamed mixture.

Stir in Mini M&M’S® and raisins.

Roll into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or just until edges begin to brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets; cool completely on wire racks. Store in tightly covered container.

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Notes:

• Next time I make these I would double the dough ingredients and leave the quanities of M&M'S® and raisins.
• Original recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter.  I thought it was fine with just one stick though.
• Original recipe also calls for all-purpose flour and I used all whole wheat. Usually I do half and half but they turned out fine with all whole wheat.

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Sorta Healthy Mini M&M Cookies

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

It was such a beautiful fall day yesterday that I decided we should take a drive.  We stopped at a farm market not to far from here.  I really love that market.  Not just for all the good, fresh, local produce but also for the prices.  I really feel like I am getting a great deal when I buy things from there.  I bought 2 huge zucchinis for a dollar each!  I love that!!

So today I decided I would try to bake something I have never made before.  Chocolate zucchini bread.  I've made zucchini bread lots of times and I love it.  My daughter also loves it.  My husband and my son not so much.  So I am hoping by it being chocolate zucchini bread I can entice them into trying it.  I tasted it and to me it tastes like a very moist chocolate bread. Hopefully they will agree.

Making the bread didn't even use 1/2 of one of these zucchinis, so I am going to shred the rest and package it up in 3 cup bags, and pop them in the freezer so I can bake this bread over the winter. Great way to get your chocolate fix and your veggies all at once. ;)

Here is the recipe so you can try it too

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Serves 10 , 2 loaves

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil {I used 1/2 cup homemade applesace & 1/2 cup olive oil}
2 cups sugar {I used 1.5 cups, but I think next time I'll try just 1 cup}
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups zucchini, peeled, shredded {I used 3 cups shredded zucchini}
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour {I used 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour & 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour}
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.
2. Stir in zucchini.
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to zucchini mixture and mix well.
4. Pour into two greased 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.
5. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until bread tests done. Makes 2 loaves.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Pucker Up! Lemon Bars, Flavor of the Month, Round 1

Yes, I have found another baking theme for me to participate in! Lucky for my rear end this baking theme hosted by Bake at 350 is only once a month. :)  The neat thing is she picks the challenge and then we all scurry off to see what we can bake up to fit the bill pan.  I missed out on the first challenge which was pie, I did however bake her Texas Peach Pie and it was good!! (I have pictures and I promise I'll blog about it soon)

This month the challenge is Pucker Up! The very first thing that came to mind was lemon bars.  So that is what I made and am sharing with you this month.

I've made these lemon bars many times.  They are a summer favorite here.  Next to the ice cream cake this is the dessert I make the most in the summer.  I mean really nothing tastes more like summer than lemon bars, don't you agree?

Last night the process wasn't so easy.  I'm not sure if it was being under pressure to get it done for today's challenge or if it was baking after a full day of cleaning, laundry and dealing with children.  Whatever it was, I am surprised these turned out. ;)

First thing I recommend is putting your ipod on when measuring ingredients.  I started mixing the dough for the base and once my hands were coated in it, I began to wonder if I added all the flour to the mixture.Between the kids running through the house, the baby standing at the gate saying "up, up", the TV blaring...I was a little distracted to say the least.  I just continued on, pressed it in the pan and shoved it in the oven, hoping for the best.

Then I started gathering my ingredients for the lemon part of the bars and I discover, at 9:30 at night, I only have 2 eggs and the recipe calls for 4.  At this point I just want to call it a night, but my hubby said he would go get eggs.  What a guy!

Finally get that done, bake them and let them cool...a bit.  I was very impatient and just wanted too get it done so tried to cut them and get them out of the pan.  Yeah, don't do that.  Let them cool completely. I thought I really had messed up on the base.  This morning when I went to see what they looked like they were fine! Thank you baking gods! :)

So enough of my chatter here is the recipe so you can go make your own!

Ingredients:

For the base:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups sifted flour
1 cup butter

For the top:
4 large eggs
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon rind {This is optional, but I definately recommend adding it for full lemon flavor}
4-5 drops yellow food coloring {optional}

Directions:
For the base:
Mix the butter into the flour and sugar. Mix with hands until it clings together.
Press into a 13 x 9 inch pan, sprayed with Pam or greased.
Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

For the filling:
beat the eggs with electric mixer for 7 minutes, add the sugar and lemon juice.
Sift together flour and baking powder.
Stir into egg mixture.
Pour over baked crust.
Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.
Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

 

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Pucker Up! Lemon Bars, Flavor of the Month, Round 1

White Chip Chocolate Cookies - 52 Cookies in a Year, Week 1

Southern Girl's Nest is hosting 52 Cookies in a Year! When I saw this I thought it would be fun to participate. I do love to bake but I always seem to bake the same recipes over and over. Oh they are good recipes but it's always fun to try out something new, so I thought this would be the perfect way to expand my cookie recipes.

This week I picked White Chip Chocolate Cookies. The idea was from Southern Girl's first week of cookies. I've never made them and I really wanted to. Her recipe called for white chocolate bar, and I didn't have any of that on hand. However I did have a bag of white chocolate chips begging to be used. So off I went on a search for a recipe that I could use those in. Here is what I found...

These are sooo good. Melt in your mouth good! The recipe I used made about 5 dozen cookies. I took half and put in the freezer so they didn't get gobbled up in no time. :) They are that good!

Here is what you need:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour {I used 1 cup white flour & 1 cup whole wheat}
  
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 package of white chocolate chips

Here is what you need to do:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in white chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. {I used a cookie scoop to do this - quick & easy, plus uniform cookies. It also increased the amount of cookies made to 5 dozen}
   
3. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking; flatten upon cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

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The orginal recipe can be found at Hershey's Kitchen. Head over to Southern Girl's Nest to see what others are putting in their cookie jar this week.

White Chip Chocolate Cookies - 52 Cookies in a Year, Week 1

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream...Cake!

I have been planning this post since I made this cake last Saturday. Finally decided I better get it up here in case any of you want to make this cake over the weekend. It is a perfect hot weather dessert. Great after a BBQ or heck it's great anytime. Yum! If you've ever watched the show on Food Network called Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, this recipe would be something that she would make. So you know it's going to be quick, easy and taste great.

Let's get to the recipe...

Take one package of cookies. I used a package of Golden Oreo's (regular Oreo's are really good too). Pour them in a bag and use your rolling pin to crush them. You just want them broken up, not tiny crumbs. After you have done that pour them into an 8x11 in pan.


Then take a container of ice cream that you have let soften and spoon the ice cream on top of the cookies. Spread it as evenly as you can. I used Caramel Praline ice cream when making this cake. You can use any ice cream you like. One of my favorites is Mint Chocolate Chip on a bed of chocolate oreo's. (I just set the container on the counter while I put groceries away on Saturday. You can also let it soften in the fridge if you think it'll take you awhile to get to making the cake)

Then take a jar of ice cream topping and pour it over the ice cream. Spread it evenly across the entire cake. For this cake I used Butterscotch Ice Cream Topping.

Finally, take a container of Cool Whip Topping that has thawed completely and spread that over the top of the entire cake. It's really looking good now isn't it??

Here is your finished cake! Now cover it with some plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours.

When you are ready to eat the cake, slice with a sharp knife and serve. I promise everyone will be oooing and ahhhing while they eat. :) You'll be the hostess with the mostess. :)

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I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream...Cake!

Blondies, any way you like 'em

Yesterday was the last good baking day for this week; so I was determined to get in the kitchen and whip something yummy up for the kids & daddy. I have been making this blondie recipe for at least 4 or 5 years now. It is so good and if I don't keep an eye on the tray the kids will (ok, and daddy too) will devour them in one day.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can do just about anything you want to it and it will still turn out great. I don't add nuts, but you could add any kind you like. I've used all kinds of chocolate chips in it and even butterscotch chips; they always turn out great. You could even just leave them plain for a true blondie and they would still just melt in your mouth.

Oh I've even made a couple batches and put them in the freezer to pull out as needed. This works great in the summer when there are very few good baking days. They are just as good as if you made them that day. So go ahead, get in your kitchen and make a batch up today for your family. They will dance and sing and give you the highest praise. OK, maybe not all that but they will love them!



Blondies

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional - or any kind of nuts)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (any kind will work, I usually use milk chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.

Using a large pan, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Let this cool for about 10 minutes.
While this is cooling, sift flour, baking powder and salt together, and set aside. Add the eggs one at a time, to the brown sugar & butter. Be sure to beat well after adding each egg. Add the flour mixture, the nuts and the chocolate chips and blend well (by hand). Spread in the greased pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides. Cut into small squares when cool.

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Blondies, any way you like 'em

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Last week a friend on twitter (her profile is private so I won't share her name, but she knows who she is ;) ) ordered a bread machine. She wanted to make cinnamon rolls so I pointed her to a recipe online that I use. Well, I should have looked at it closer. I do use that recipe but I make some adjustments and changes. So here is the actual recipe that I use to make cinnamon rolls.

You can make the dough just fine without a bread machine too, just do what you would normally do when making bread. If you need more specifics than that leave a comment and I'll walk you through it.


Glazed Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 12 rolls

Rolls

3/4 cup water, plus
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon bread machine yeast

Place above ingredients in bread machine & start dough cycle. Once the dough is complete, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 21 inches long by 16 inches wide.

Filling

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

Spread butter over dough then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up tightly into a log beginning at the long end. Cut into 12 equal slices and place into a greased 9x11 pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes, until golden and puffy.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar (aka icing sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp milk

Let rolls cool for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile combine ingredients for the glaze and then drizzle glaze over rolls. Serve warm.

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I hope that your family enjoys these as much as my family does. If you have any questions or just want to say hi! please leave a comment. :)

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

The World of Strawberry Bread

The other day on twitter @familyeducation posted a link to a strawberry bread recipe on their blog. As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to make it. Since I had 3lbs of strawberries in the fridge, I decided today would be the day. The recipe was very simple to put together and it didn't create a huge mess in the kitchen when preparing it, so it definitely gets bonus points in my book. I made a double batch of the batter and the only thing I changed was using 4 whole eggs rather than 8 egg whites. If I would have had egg whites in the carton I would have just used that. I really didn't want to separate all those eggs and then have to find something to do with all the yolks too. The resulting batter was really thick, so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. It turned out just fine. I will be making this again as strawberry season gets into full swing here.

Strawberry Bread

1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour (or you can use all purpose flour)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 egg whites (I used 2 whole eggs)
¼ cup applesauce
¾ cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of diced fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and add the applesauce, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, mixing only to incorporate. Add the strawberries and mix just a few times, to ensure good distribution throughout the batter.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Add the batter. If desired, top the batter with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

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Hope you enjoy this as much as we are, and thanks Family Education for a great recipe.

The World of Strawberry Bread

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

As I promised yesterday I'm back with a photo and a recipe for the chicken enchiladas. Everyone really enjoyed them and they are super filling. For those of you on the West coast you still have time to get the ingredients and whip these up for your family for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. :)

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (I use organic/free-range ingredients as much as possible)
Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts, chopped (done easily if partly frozen)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup low fat sour cream
1 small can green chillies
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10 flour tortillas

Directions:

In skillet brown chicken with garlic powder, salt & pepper. When chicken is browned add soup, sour cream, green chillies. Stir and heat until warm throughout. Add 1 cup cheddar cheese and stir.
Spoon sour cream chicken sauce into tortillas. Roll and place seam down on a baking sheet or 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F

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I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know how your family likes it. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

The *Best* Chocolate Chip Cookies E.V.E.R.

Today I decided I wanted to bake. It's been since my last cupcakes that I have done any sort of baking, so it was nice to get in the kitchen today. Little guy co-operated very nicely too. He took a nice long nap. :) These are seriously some good chocolate chip cookies. It's taken me years of trying different recipes to find one that I am really happy with the results. Lets get to it...

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes Approx. 7 Dozen
Original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed (I always make my own w/granulated sugar and molasses - just add as little or as much molasses as you like.)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (or use 4 cups all-purpose flour)
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bag chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate or swirled)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F or 176°C. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. (I add the flour 1 cup at a time and mix well). Stir in entire bag of chocolate chips.

Using a cookie dough scoop drop on lined cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 9-12 minutes.

If you want a chewy cookie, you'll want to take these out of the oven just as they begin to brown. If you want a crunchy cookie leave in for 11-12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 -3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Since this makes so many cookies and kids are kids, I usually just put out 1-2 dozen on a tray and package the rest up for the freezer.

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The *Best* Chocolate Chip Cookies E.V.E.R.

Rainy Day Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I baked today. I called them Rainy Day Cupcakes because today is a rainy, dreary day and these cupcakes looks so cheerful (to me anyhow).

I had a mix in the cupboard for confetti cake I guess it was, so I decided to just use that for these. Made up a typical butter cream frosting, tinted with Wilton gels. It was a lot of fun piping these and I can't wait to play more with my new tip set. *Thanks mom!*

Rainy Day Cupcakes

Chocolate Cream Filled Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes this week. This was my first attempt at piping the icing and filling cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty darn good. Everyone says they tasted really good too. For my personal taste I think they were a bit too sweet. I'm looking forward to making other types of cupcakes now. I'm on the search for new and exciting recipes to try. :)

The recipe I used for the cupcakes and frosting can be found here.

Cream Filling

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, shortening, confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla and salt; beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Insert a Bismark tip into a pastry or plastic bag; fill with cream filling.

Chocolate Cream Filled Cupcakes