Looks Like Gold To Me

In my last act as class leprechaun I made celebratory treats for my son’s class. Always one to use whatever is on hand, I had a not-quite-full box of yellow cake mix (used for flavoring in the cake batter bark here).  I added 2 eggs and a half cup of vegetable oil and BAM!  Cookie dough.  I dyed the dough green (obvious choice) and rolled them around in a dish of gold and rainbow-colored sanding sugar.  They were baked for 7 mins at 350 degrees.

I love a little shimmer…

Doesn’t this look like I’ve gone all in during the most amazingly delicious game of poker?  Dessert poker anyone?!  I see your cookie and raise you a pie!

Easily distracted…sorry…anyhoo, once the cookies were cooled I cut the tops off Ziplock sandwich bags and individually packaged each cookie, tying the baggies off with handy-dandy Washi tape.

HAPPY ST. PADDY’S DAY!!

Lucky Leprechaun

The kids have half days for conferences which means I need to get them to do something other than drive me nuts. While at our local Walmart, Calvin picked out orange cookie mix that ha wanted to make. I have never heard of orange flavored cookies, why not give it a try.

The nice thing about this mix, you only add two ingredients and mix it up. The kids enjoyed rolling the cookies into balls and watched them bake.

Once cooled, the kids decorated them with green and white frosting and a mix of green sprinkles. We bagged up the cookies and added the cute tags which are printable a from Studio DIY!

These kid friendly treats are leprechaun approved!

Nutella Cookies

I worked on a little Lovin’ From the Oven this weekend, and you have to check out this recipe for Chewy Nutella Cookies.

Because these spread quite a bit while cooking, I only dared to bake 6 on a cookie sheet at a time.  strangely enough for every six that came out of the oven, only two made it into the cookie jar.  Some chocolate loving little hands swiped them (mine included)!  We ate these yummy chocolatey hazelnut pieces of heaven while watching all those toned bodies work for Olympic gold.  Do I feel guilty?!  Not one bit!  Wait…Nutella’s good for you right?!

 

 

A Valuable Gift

Looking for a gift idea for that special summertime birthday coming up?  I recently gave two of my favorite little girls a gift that keeps on giving.  I created a lemonade stand gift basket that included a jug with spigot, a juicer, a pad of paper for taking orders and keeping track of sales, a yellow tablecloth, plastic cups, straws, ice bucket, lemons and a jar of sugar (although they’re sweet enough already!).

The kids squeezed the lemons, mixed up the fresh lemonade, made their own signage and set up shop outside.  I made some lemon shortcut cookies to help lure in customers too.

I happen to ADORE fresh lemonade (and a good cookie) so I was the first customer in line.  But once the word got out on the street everyone from the neighborhood kids to the mail lady stopped by for a fresh treat on a warm summer day.   We all had a great time and the kids got to practice counting money  and learned a little business lesson too (like why it didn’t make good business sense to charge $5 a cup).

I told the kids to remember where they got their start when one day they’re powerful CEOs of their own companies…Cheers to summertime fun!

Strawberry Shortcut Cookies

So, as it turns out cookies don’t last very long in our house.  The cookie jar is again empty.  Since cake mix was on sale last week, I picked up a couple of Spring appropriate flavors: Lemon and Strawberry.

This morning I used the Strawberry cake mix to make what I’ll call Strawberry Shortcut Cookies.  These couldn’t be easier.

1 box Strawberry Cake Mix

1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip

1 egg

Powdered Sugar for coating

 

Mix everything together until well blended.  The dough will be super sticky.  It was also a little wet.  I had initially planned on rolling the dough with my hands and coating with powdered sugar, but found the dough was too wet and sticky to use my hands.  My scooper came to the rescue.  It also helps to keep the cookies the same size and to cook evenly as a result.

Once you scoop out a rounded portion of dough, drop it into a small bowl of powdered sugar and roll it around until coated.  I used a spoon to push it around to avoid sticky fingers.

These bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.  Let them set a bit before moving them to a cooling rack.  Yields approximatley 45 cookies.

The cookie jar is full again…

Rolo Cookies

I realized awhile ago that I didn’t actually own a cookie jar.  It seemed strange that someone who loves to bake so much wouldn’t own a staple as simple as a cookie jar.  A kind friend pointed out that perhaps its because my cookies are so good that they don’t stick around long enough to make it to a jar.  I’d love to say that was the case…

My Grandmother was generous enough to give me one recently.  Its a glass jar with “Mother’s Cookies” imprinted on it.  Classic.

So this rainy spring day, since we’re stuck inside I thought I’d do my best to fill my new jar…

These cookies are probably some of the simplest I’ve ever made…and the tastiest.

You’ll need:

1 box of devil’s food cake mix (I used Pilsbury brand because it includes pudding in the mix)

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 bag of Rolos (you’ll need approximately 36, so feel free to taste test)

 

Mix everything but the Rolos.  You’ll want to use a scooper for this one so that the cookies are the same size and cook consistently.  Scoop some of dough and press a Rolo into the center.  Gently fold the excess dough over the top and then roll it into a ball (like play dough).  They bake quickly. My oven got the job done in about 8 minutes set at 350 degrees.  Let them rest for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack, or they will break.

Once cooled the centers will still be very moist and the caramel chewy and delicious!

My hubby, who isn’t as fond of the sweets as I am, loved these.  Of course the kids couldn’t keep their hands off them either.  And I may have had a few myself…

A little sweet

Chocolate is the best cure for the stuck-in-traffic blues. After dinner, I turned the TV off and turned Pandora on. While listening to Adele, recent Grammy sweeper, I cleaned up the kitchen and enlisted the help from the munchkins. I told them that their efforts would be greatly rewarded.. with cookies!

I love to bake in a clean kitchen. I took this opportunity to bake some yummy cookies for the kids and I. With their help, we turned out these tasty treats in 30 minutes! Like I really need more sweets when we just had Valentine’s day! Oh well! These cookies sure tasted scrumptious!

Gifts in a Jar

For Christmas, I made decided to try out Bakerella’s idea of cookies in a jar! I decided to make these last-minute, so I couldn’t get the cute mason jars like she used. That’s okay, next time!

With limited resources, I was able to find some 2 quart containers by Ziplock. I followed her recipe and instructions for the dry goods, but changed my m&m colors to Christmas colors and added Christmas fabric to the tops.

This was a fun and easy project to follow! Homemade gifts are the most thoughtful and I love giving them! I will be making this project again, using real jars, for Valentine’s Day! I’m going to change the m&m colors to red and pink and use a cute heart fabric for the top! I plan on giving these as a treat for my daughter’s preschool teachers!

A midnight snack

Okay, so the kids are asleep, finally, and now I am craving something sweet! It’s too late to make cookies, cakes, brownies, or any of the pointers that Yvette suggests in this post. I went to the pantry and find my trusty jar of…. Nutella! I love Nutella! Usually, I grab a spoon and dig in. I was feeling adventurous so I decided to raid the refrigerator and pantry for possible Nutella pairings and this is what I came up with:

Apple- I feel like Nutella is the new caramel dip! I am no nutritionist, but Nutella has to be better for you than caramel dip! This snack was crisp and delicious.

Orange- I tried this because I’ve had that orange sliced chocolate before and thought it may be close. Clearly I was wrong! The orange was way too juicy and the Nutella was not a good combination as far as texture goes.

Club Crackers- This was a very yummy pairing! I love the combination of sweet and salty always, remember this post?

Yogurt Rice Cake- The rice cake is a good idea for Nutella spread. I suggest a plain rice cake, I tried it out with a yogurt and berries flavored rice cake and it wasn’t a good match.

Ginger Snaps- I must say that the ginger snaps I had are the kind from Sprouts. These particular cookies have a VERY distinct ginger taste. I love them with coffee, but not with Nutella. The ginger was too overpowering. I would definitely try nutella and vanilla wafers though!

Raspberries- This pairing was my favorite of all! Try it an you’ll see, it’s the new chocolate covered strawberry!

What are your favorite midnight snack suggestions? What have you paired Nutella with lately?

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies

 

With the 4th of July approaching, I can think of many things that feel American to me.  Just one of which is a warm oatmeal cookie!

I previously used Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips here to make scones.  In that post I mentioned that I might try them in oatmeal cookies.  Well this morning I woke up early (note: I am not a morning person) to do a little baking.  They are super easy and fast.  If I could bake more than 4 dozen cookies this morning while feeding an 18 month old, keeping the 3 month old puppy from eating the 18 month old’s food, and getting myself ready for work, you can do it too!

You can find the recipe here.  I omitted the raisins since no one in our house likes them. 

Oatmeal cookies count as a breakfast food right?