I finished the 13th batch of Christmas cookies yesterday (13 batches since December 2)
#20 12-23-11
Chocolate Mint Dreams
I've been waiting to make this batch because it looked like it might be the "oh my gosh these are amazing" batch. They're good, but not quite the "oh my gosh ..." Mike gave them 4 smiley faces and I'm debating between a four and a five. They are a chocolate cookie with a hint of peppermint (extract) in them and full of mini chocolate chips. On top of the cookie is a green (food coloring) peppermint icing and on top of that is a drizzling chocolate chip/shortening mixture. They're very festive looking.
A few more thoughts I meant to post yesterday.
So the construction on the house:
As I have mentioned, I get a lot of free construction/remodling of the house from my dad and Uncle (and my husband). I only have 1 room left, the kitchen. Never mind that this is the room I wanted done immediately when I moved into the house three years ago. I've been told that I'm going to have to wait for my kitchen because Mom wants her bedroom remodeled. All fair and good, except that with just the 1 room left, my house could be done. All the cabinets are made - it's just about ready to go, how long could it take. So I've been trying to get myself bumped up on the list. To be fair, my mom has been very patient and has loaned Dad out to all 4 of us kids ahead of her own needs. Although, she just got her laundry room and basement bathroom done about a month ago. Anyways, I have new reasons to be bumped up on the list. So the one outlet I have in the kitchen is old - it has the whole test/reset button in it still. Every time I pull a plug out (say from a KitchenAid Mixer) the reset button pops out and I have to push it in. Annoying, yes, but doable. However, on Thursday while making those two types of cookies the reset button popped out again. I took my knife to push it back in and the test button just wouldn't stay. I kept trying until I pushed too hard and now the reset button is jammed in the wall. The plug no longer works. This plug is what I use for my microwave, my mixer, my toaster, my griddle. I do have another plug behind the stove - doesn't really work to have the mixer on the stove. Of course the next step in the direction was to melt chocolate chips in the microwave (I probably could do that on the stove, but for the sake of being a martyr, I didn't). I considered using an extension cord from the living room, but the only extra cord I have had to be put outside for the Christmas lights because my Dad ran over the outside extension cord with a snowblower a few weeks ago (I did not know he was coming over to do that - I would've told him I had a cord out there). Back to topic, I wheeled my microwave cart next to the stove (good thing we already tore the chimney down and put the refrigerator into the chimney spot, because where the microwave is now is where the refrigerator was. Then I had to set a table up in front of my sliding door so that I had something to put the mixer on. I do have one other outlet in the kitchen (actually it's an outlet that I think my husband installed - we've had it for a month or so now. However it's not fully installed and it's sort of hanging out with wires and it's above the dog's water dish but I used it anyway worrying just a bit about electrocution. So I made the cookies yesterday like this as well. I think I should be able to have my kitchen finished before my Mom's bedroom. She should be willing to sacrifice herself for the creative cookie process I need in order to continue this massive challenge of mine.
Note to Mom - I'll let you pick out the next recipe and you can have the whole batch if my kitchen is put ahead of your bedroom : )
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
1 more to go
Only 1 more to go and I will have made 13 batches of Christmas cookies. I made four more batches just this week. Yes, while working during the day and wrapping presents at night and still getting workouts and other such in. No, I am not a domestic goddess; my mood probably hasn't been the greatest this week - yes, I brought on this crazy cookie challenge, and yes I did stress myself out - nobody is making me bake 13 kinds of cookies this Christmas - but I have very high expectations for myself and I don't like to let myself down.
Okay, I cheated, I made a batch of cookies that was not from the book. Thinking back, I'm not really sure why I would do that to myself, but these are one of my favorites (that I only discovered last year).
Peanut Butter Blossoms (12-20-11)
You know, it's a peanut butter cookie with a hershey kiss pressed into it. You bake the cookie and then as soon as you take it out you push a hershey kiss into it so the cookie gets all cracked. Nothing better than peanut butter and chocolate.
#18 (12-21-11)
Crinkle-Top chocolate cookies
One of my favorite Christmas cookies that my mom usually made was the crinkles. These chocolate cracked cookies with powdered sugar on top. I found a very similar recipe in my book - except these crinkle cookies have chocolate chips in them as well. My sister in law wanted me to elaborate (I'm not sure on what - the recipe or my reaction to the cookie). This is your basic chocolate dough (mixed in with a little water) with some chocolate chips then rolled in powder sugar. They are soft when you bite into them and are very chocolatey. Is this good enough Cris? I gave them a 4 to start with but reduced it to a 3 when I tried them the next day. I think Mom's are better, but I can't do a side by side comparison because Mom is only making 12 kinds of cookies this year and the Crinkles is not one of them. Maybe my family members can leave comments after they try them this weekend.
#19
Peppermint Snowballs (12-22-11)
So not worth the effort. This ball has a creamy, peppermint red filling inside of it. They sound fantastic. The problem is the dough. It's very crumbly (made out of butter, powdered sugar and lots of flour). Ideally you take a ball of dough, press a well into it, fill it with filling and put a little more dough over it to smooth it out. The dough was not cooperative - again, very crumbly. So I ended up using a lot of dough to make it all stick together. The result is that it is a dense floury cookie with just a bit of filling on the inside.
After the cookie is baked you do roll it in a combination of crushed candy cane and powdered sugar. My cookies do not look like little snowballs though unless you like very bumpy snowballs with edges jagging out.
On the plus side though, I found a great way to crush candy canes - the Magic Bullet! Thank you for that wedding present!
(the cookies only get a 2 from me)
12-22-11
ANOTHER cookie not from the book.
I don't really have a name for these maybe just sugar cookie rolled in coconut with butterscotch and hot fudge goodness, but that doesn't quite roll of the tongue.
I've been making these for a few years. I got the recipe off the internet back in my bachelorette days when I didn't have a Taste of Home 623 cookie recipe book. I searched for Christmas Cookies and found this recipe. As the name implies, it's a sugar cookie rolled in coconut. Bake that and then top it with butterscotch topping and hot fudge on top of that.
Another favorite I will be making every year.
One more cookie tomorrow and then maybe a little break from baking. Tomorrow's recipe:
Chocolate Mint Dreams
I know, right!
Okay, I cheated, I made a batch of cookies that was not from the book. Thinking back, I'm not really sure why I would do that to myself, but these are one of my favorites (that I only discovered last year).
Peanut Butter Blossoms (12-20-11)
You know, it's a peanut butter cookie with a hershey kiss pressed into it. You bake the cookie and then as soon as you take it out you push a hershey kiss into it so the cookie gets all cracked. Nothing better than peanut butter and chocolate.
#18 (12-21-11)
Crinkle-Top chocolate cookies
One of my favorite Christmas cookies that my mom usually made was the crinkles. These chocolate cracked cookies with powdered sugar on top. I found a very similar recipe in my book - except these crinkle cookies have chocolate chips in them as well. My sister in law wanted me to elaborate (I'm not sure on what - the recipe or my reaction to the cookie). This is your basic chocolate dough (mixed in with a little water) with some chocolate chips then rolled in powder sugar. They are soft when you bite into them and are very chocolatey. Is this good enough Cris? I gave them a 4 to start with but reduced it to a 3 when I tried them the next day. I think Mom's are better, but I can't do a side by side comparison because Mom is only making 12 kinds of cookies this year and the Crinkles is not one of them. Maybe my family members can leave comments after they try them this weekend.
#19
Peppermint Snowballs (12-22-11)
So not worth the effort. This ball has a creamy, peppermint red filling inside of it. They sound fantastic. The problem is the dough. It's very crumbly (made out of butter, powdered sugar and lots of flour). Ideally you take a ball of dough, press a well into it, fill it with filling and put a little more dough over it to smooth it out. The dough was not cooperative - again, very crumbly. So I ended up using a lot of dough to make it all stick together. The result is that it is a dense floury cookie with just a bit of filling on the inside.
After the cookie is baked you do roll it in a combination of crushed candy cane and powdered sugar. My cookies do not look like little snowballs though unless you like very bumpy snowballs with edges jagging out.
On the plus side though, I found a great way to crush candy canes - the Magic Bullet! Thank you for that wedding present!
(the cookies only get a 2 from me)
12-22-11
ANOTHER cookie not from the book.
I don't really have a name for these maybe just sugar cookie rolled in coconut with butterscotch and hot fudge goodness, but that doesn't quite roll of the tongue.
I've been making these for a few years. I got the recipe off the internet back in my bachelorette days when I didn't have a Taste of Home 623 cookie recipe book. I searched for Christmas Cookies and found this recipe. As the name implies, it's a sugar cookie rolled in coconut. Bake that and then top it with butterscotch topping and hot fudge on top of that.
Another favorite I will be making every year.
One more cookie tomorrow and then maybe a little break from baking. Tomorrow's recipe:
Chocolate Mint Dreams
I know, right!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Cookie Catch up
Okay - I finally have some time to write some more. I made another batch this morning and have bars cooling on the rack (remember, this book has bars too). - I'm up to 17 batches now.
So batch #10 - Chocolate Shortbread - the start of the Christmas cookies (12/2/11)
So my friend Chelsea called to hang out. I invited her over for pancakes for dinner. I decided I should throw in a batch of cookies since I was out. I had to find a recipe that I had all the ingredients for - chocolate shortbread - all it needs is butter, cocoa, powdered sugar and flour. Kind of a weird cookie - very crumbly - I had to press the dough together to make it. My husband and I gave it a 2 at first, but they're strangely addictive. Anyways, Chelsea called later and said she's meeting a date (a 1st date) at a restaurant for a little bit but then she'll be free - so what ended up happening is I went on the date with her along with our other friend Trista. No, I did not invite myself to the date - Chelsea did - that's just how she was. So here Chelsea, Trista and I are at Stanley's ready to meet - some guy (cannot remember his name). Oh, and our friend Theresa was there too because she works there. All I know is I am very happy I do not have to do that dating thing again - and I'm sure I would've scared Mike away if I brought two other girls along on our date. The guy was cool though - we (the group) went out afterwards and such. What does this mean - that the cookies I made were not eaten that night. Oh well, I had something to take to Crafty Women (the name kind of speaks for itself - a group of women that get together and craft once a month - I scrapbook) the following weekend.
#11 Peppermint Brownies (12-6-11)
My work decided to have their holiday potluck on the 7th of December. That seemed rather early to me considering we work until the 23rd. I did not have my stock of cookies piled up to have ready for potlucks - so I needed to make an emergency dessert. Brownies are usually pretty quick - these brownies - from scratch - not so much; especially when I had to take 12 candy canes and crush them. Does anyone have good tips on crushing candy canes - I put them in a bag and used my rolling pin. First I tried rolling it over the candy canes, but ended up using the roller as a hammer. I wonder if my Magic Bullet would be good for grinding up candy canes - I'll have to remember that for next time. Overall, I didn't really like the brownies - dry and crumbly to me. My husband though gave them 5 smiley faces and the teachers at work complemented them - so I guess I won't cross it out of the book.
#12, #13 and #14 (12-10-11) Caramel Heavenlies, Colorful candy bar cookies, Santa Claus Cookies
(Cookies for the church potluck)
Did my big grocery shopping trip - tried to get all the supplies I needed for the 13 different kinds of christmas cookies I'm planning on making. But Rainbow was out of a lot of basic things. They didn't have maple flavoring (not so basic, but still), they were out of butter - how is a grocery store out of butter? I went on a Tuesday - not even a busy day. They were out of sweetened cocoa powder - am considering switching my loyalties to Cub.
Caramel Heavenlies - quick and easy - Just a graham cracker bottom with a bunch of stuff on it - marshmallows, a caramel topping (made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla), almonds and coconut. This will be a repeat.
At this point I needed to text my husband (who was working on our new kitchen cabinets at my parents house - thank goodness because I've really discovered how much I hate my kitchen with all this baking I've been doing) - anyway, needed to text my husband with a list of supplies: Nestle white chocolate bar, maple flavoring, a reindeer cookie cutter if he could find it, and more mini snickers for the candy bar cookie. I didn't think it was that hard of a list, but he called me five times while he was at the store. When I texted him, I gave him very detailed descriptions of the packaging of these things, brands and the aisle to find it in. For each item he found he describe the packging, the size, the brand - I guess I should be thankful - he wanted to make sure he got it right. Of course, I'm at home trying to bake and the phone kept ringing. Oh, and he couldn't find the Nestle white chocolate but he found Ger-doll-lia (his pronunciation): Ghiradelli : )
Colorful Candy Bar Cookie: sugar cookie dough wrapped around a snickers bar then dipped in red or green sugar - Very Good!
Santa Claus Cookies: A nutter butter cookie dipped in white chocolate on both ends with a little red sugar sprinkled on top for his hat, a white chocolate chipped placed on it for the bauble of the hat and two mini choc chips for eyes and a red hot for his nose. Very high on the cute factor - didn't do much for taste.
#15 (12-11-11) Chocolate Reindeer
So a reindeer cookie cutter is very difficult to find. I looked at Target and that's about it - but if Target doesn't have it, then it's very difficult to find. Actually, I went out to Michaels for the purpose of looking for a cookie cutter, but I got so distracted by the scrapbooking supplies and then thinking about if I should abandon traditional scrapbooking in favor of digital scrapbooking that I completely forgot to look at the cookie cutters. Don't Worry ! Mike found one at Cub! My mom did ask why I couldn't just make chocolate stars or snowman or something else. I guess she hasn't figured out that her daughter is kind of an obsessive perfectionist type A person that likes to follow directions exactly.
Anyways - these are also very cute but very involved. And if you read my last post, you'll know that I don't have the supplies to make sugar cookies (the whole rolling the dough out thing) So I dumped flour on my kitchen table and painstakingly tried to roll this dough out as it continued to get stuck on the table and the roller. Needless to say I have a few reindeer with no legs or missing an antler - I guess I'm not much of a perfectionist when I'm fed up and tired. So if that wasn't enough, then after they cooled I needed to make icing to outline the cookie and place a red hot on for the nose. The icing was rather necessary as the cookie didn't do much (for the taste buds) as just a chocolate sugar cookie. They are very good, but 60 reindeer, 4 torn ziploc bags of icing and a huge mess, not sure if they're worth it - at least until I get better supplies.
12-17-11 #16 and #17
Chocolate Dipped Maple logs
I let Mike pick out some Christmas cookies he specifically wanted - this was one of them. I wasn't looking forward to these - but he has good taste. These are really yummy. Dough made out of butter, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla and maple flavoring with flour, oatmeal, and salt rolled. Take this and roll it out as a snake and cut them into 2 inch logs. I made all 70 of these on two cookie sheets because they're small and don't spread out. Then take these cooled cookies and dip them in melted choc. chips and milk and then roll it in ground up walnuts. Rather amazing. Oh, and I did use the magic bullet to grind up the walnuts - worked well.
Caramel Cranberry Bars
Another one of Mike's picks. I've never made anything with cranberries, so I'm not sure if I'll like them or not (however there are 8 recipes in this book that uses cranberries so hopefully they're good).
A crust made out of flour, sugars, oats, baking soda and butter. Top the crust with a mixture of cranberries, dates, pecans and sugar. Top that with ice cream caramel topping mixed with flour and top that with more of the crust mixture. This pan of bars is what's cooling on the racks - I think they should be ready to try.
Holiday old lady game night tonight! Plates of cookies are ready and oh yeah, I made "Satisfying Beef Stew today as well" Am I kicking this holidays butt or what! Just five more batches of cookies to go!
-The Cookie lady
P.S I'm working on figuring out how to post pictures on this blog too - because these Christmas cookies are good looking.
So batch #10 - Chocolate Shortbread - the start of the Christmas cookies (12/2/11)
So my friend Chelsea called to hang out. I invited her over for pancakes for dinner. I decided I should throw in a batch of cookies since I was out. I had to find a recipe that I had all the ingredients for - chocolate shortbread - all it needs is butter, cocoa, powdered sugar and flour. Kind of a weird cookie - very crumbly - I had to press the dough together to make it. My husband and I gave it a 2 at first, but they're strangely addictive. Anyways, Chelsea called later and said she's meeting a date (a 1st date) at a restaurant for a little bit but then she'll be free - so what ended up happening is I went on the date with her along with our other friend Trista. No, I did not invite myself to the date - Chelsea did - that's just how she was. So here Chelsea, Trista and I are at Stanley's ready to meet - some guy (cannot remember his name). Oh, and our friend Theresa was there too because she works there. All I know is I am very happy I do not have to do that dating thing again - and I'm sure I would've scared Mike away if I brought two other girls along on our date. The guy was cool though - we (the group) went out afterwards and such. What does this mean - that the cookies I made were not eaten that night. Oh well, I had something to take to Crafty Women (the name kind of speaks for itself - a group of women that get together and craft once a month - I scrapbook) the following weekend.
#11 Peppermint Brownies (12-6-11)
My work decided to have their holiday potluck on the 7th of December. That seemed rather early to me considering we work until the 23rd. I did not have my stock of cookies piled up to have ready for potlucks - so I needed to make an emergency dessert. Brownies are usually pretty quick - these brownies - from scratch - not so much; especially when I had to take 12 candy canes and crush them. Does anyone have good tips on crushing candy canes - I put them in a bag and used my rolling pin. First I tried rolling it over the candy canes, but ended up using the roller as a hammer. I wonder if my Magic Bullet would be good for grinding up candy canes - I'll have to remember that for next time. Overall, I didn't really like the brownies - dry and crumbly to me. My husband though gave them 5 smiley faces and the teachers at work complemented them - so I guess I won't cross it out of the book.
#12, #13 and #14 (12-10-11) Caramel Heavenlies, Colorful candy bar cookies, Santa Claus Cookies
(Cookies for the church potluck)
Did my big grocery shopping trip - tried to get all the supplies I needed for the 13 different kinds of christmas cookies I'm planning on making. But Rainbow was out of a lot of basic things. They didn't have maple flavoring (not so basic, but still), they were out of butter - how is a grocery store out of butter? I went on a Tuesday - not even a busy day. They were out of sweetened cocoa powder - am considering switching my loyalties to Cub.
Caramel Heavenlies - quick and easy - Just a graham cracker bottom with a bunch of stuff on it - marshmallows, a caramel topping (made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla), almonds and coconut. This will be a repeat.
At this point I needed to text my husband (who was working on our new kitchen cabinets at my parents house - thank goodness because I've really discovered how much I hate my kitchen with all this baking I've been doing) - anyway, needed to text my husband with a list of supplies: Nestle white chocolate bar, maple flavoring, a reindeer cookie cutter if he could find it, and more mini snickers for the candy bar cookie. I didn't think it was that hard of a list, but he called me five times while he was at the store. When I texted him, I gave him very detailed descriptions of the packaging of these things, brands and the aisle to find it in. For each item he found he describe the packging, the size, the brand - I guess I should be thankful - he wanted to make sure he got it right. Of course, I'm at home trying to bake and the phone kept ringing. Oh, and he couldn't find the Nestle white chocolate but he found Ger-doll-lia (his pronunciation): Ghiradelli : )
Colorful Candy Bar Cookie: sugar cookie dough wrapped around a snickers bar then dipped in red or green sugar - Very Good!
Santa Claus Cookies: A nutter butter cookie dipped in white chocolate on both ends with a little red sugar sprinkled on top for his hat, a white chocolate chipped placed on it for the bauble of the hat and two mini choc chips for eyes and a red hot for his nose. Very high on the cute factor - didn't do much for taste.
#15 (12-11-11) Chocolate Reindeer
So a reindeer cookie cutter is very difficult to find. I looked at Target and that's about it - but if Target doesn't have it, then it's very difficult to find. Actually, I went out to Michaels for the purpose of looking for a cookie cutter, but I got so distracted by the scrapbooking supplies and then thinking about if I should abandon traditional scrapbooking in favor of digital scrapbooking that I completely forgot to look at the cookie cutters. Don't Worry ! Mike found one at Cub! My mom did ask why I couldn't just make chocolate stars or snowman or something else. I guess she hasn't figured out that her daughter is kind of an obsessive perfectionist type A person that likes to follow directions exactly.
Anyways - these are also very cute but very involved. And if you read my last post, you'll know that I don't have the supplies to make sugar cookies (the whole rolling the dough out thing) So I dumped flour on my kitchen table and painstakingly tried to roll this dough out as it continued to get stuck on the table and the roller. Needless to say I have a few reindeer with no legs or missing an antler - I guess I'm not much of a perfectionist when I'm fed up and tired. So if that wasn't enough, then after they cooled I needed to make icing to outline the cookie and place a red hot on for the nose. The icing was rather necessary as the cookie didn't do much (for the taste buds) as just a chocolate sugar cookie. They are very good, but 60 reindeer, 4 torn ziploc bags of icing and a huge mess, not sure if they're worth it - at least until I get better supplies.
12-17-11 #16 and #17
Chocolate Dipped Maple logs
I let Mike pick out some Christmas cookies he specifically wanted - this was one of them. I wasn't looking forward to these - but he has good taste. These are really yummy. Dough made out of butter, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla and maple flavoring with flour, oatmeal, and salt rolled. Take this and roll it out as a snake and cut them into 2 inch logs. I made all 70 of these on two cookie sheets because they're small and don't spread out. Then take these cooled cookies and dip them in melted choc. chips and milk and then roll it in ground up walnuts. Rather amazing. Oh, and I did use the magic bullet to grind up the walnuts - worked well.
Caramel Cranberry Bars
Another one of Mike's picks. I've never made anything with cranberries, so I'm not sure if I'll like them or not (however there are 8 recipes in this book that uses cranberries so hopefully they're good).
A crust made out of flour, sugars, oats, baking soda and butter. Top the crust with a mixture of cranberries, dates, pecans and sugar. Top that with ice cream caramel topping mixed with flour and top that with more of the crust mixture. This pan of bars is what's cooling on the racks - I think they should be ready to try.
Holiday old lady game night tonight! Plates of cookies are ready and oh yeah, I made "Satisfying Beef Stew today as well" Am I kicking this holidays butt or what! Just five more batches of cookies to go!
-The Cookie lady
P.S I'm working on figuring out how to post pictures on this blog too - because these Christmas cookies are good looking.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The story behind this blog
Ok, so I've never done anything like this before, but people keep telling me to write a book about this experience (or in other words crazy lunatic idea of mine). I don't have the discipline or frankly time to write a book so I figured this blog might be my journal of sorts. First and foremost, it's for me - if you enjoy reading it - that's cool too.
Last July, almost 5 months now, I got married. I don't know what else to say about that so I'll continue with this cookie story. About two months ago I decided to make every single cookie out of this cookie cookbook that my husband and I received as a wedding present - see that's why I had to start the story with the whole I got married thing. Why you ask, why would I want to make all these cookies. Not sure, except that I like giving my self these enormous gigantic tasks. I like to cook and bake and always want to make every recipe out of my cooking magazines, except I'm a picky eater and don't want to try most of the recipes in my magazine. But who doesn't like cookies, this way I always have cookies on hand if people come over, cookies for work, cookies for neighbors, etc. Plus, I kind of like the idea of being an old fashioned wife/mom type without actually being an old fashioned wife/mom type. And, my husband was all for the idea. So that's how this whole cookie challenge thing started. Now let me be clear, I am not giving myself a deadline - I'm not doing that whole Julie/Julia thing where she almost destroys her marriage and puts all this pressure on herself to make all those recipes within a year - that's just crazy. I will just be recording the cookies that I make, how it went, funny anecdotes about making these recipes and generally what's going on my life around these times.
Ok - so cookie #1 and #2 (10-20-11 and 10-21-11):
Monster cookies and Lemon Crumb Bars - I made these just to have cookies in the house - oh yeah, and I decided to have coffee over at my house for my Grandma and Mom. I invited my sister and her 3 boys over as well. Her youngest (Cullen - 6 years old) deemed them not good because the Monster cookies had nuts in them and I'm not sure why he didn't like the lemon bars. He drank root beer instead. I gave the bars 3 smiley faces and the cookies 2 smiley faces (frankly my Mom's monster cookies are better). My husband gave the monster cookies 4 smiley faces - he would have given them a 5 but he wanted to save a 5 for something truly remarkable.
I also had old lady game night (more on this later) so needed cookies for that too.
Cookies #3, 4 and5 (10-29-11)
Halloween time
So this cookbook has tons of holiday themed cookies - I picked out 3 to do on the Saturday of my brother's Halloween party. 3 types of cookies, 2 of which were rather involved - I will not repeat that mistake again.
Boo-rrific kisses - actually very easy - a merangue type cookie - they look like little ghosts - however do not keep well.
Pumpkin cookie pops - Huge hit both at the party and school (I'm a teacher by the way - so school is work and vice versa). These are pumpkin flavored cookies that I put on a popsicle stick, put orange frosting on and made pumpkin faces. Yes, time consuming.
Boneyard cookies - these were supposed to be made out of bone cookie cutters but I could only find a bone cutter at Petsmart (looked everywhere) and they were $10 and really for making your own dog biscuits - so I went with a ghost cookie cutter. Problem: these are sandwich cookies. You need to cut out the cookies, put jam in between them - put the cookies together and dip it in white chocolate. I will never be making these again. Two ghost cut outs don't match up too well.
So made these all, dressed up as a tree (my husband was the lumberjack) and brought them to a Halloween party - like I said - I won't be repeating that day.
#6 Chewy Surprise Cookies (11-3-11)-
The best cookie ever (so far) No school on that Friday!! Whoo hoo. Teachers still had to work and we were having a pot luck. This cookie was in the big batch bonanza section of the cookbook. Not much to say except this peanut butter cookie with melted milk dud in the center were eaten quickly.
#7 (11-5-11)
Sister Sarah has party for people to see her new house. I have 3 siblings by the way if you're trying to figure it out - older twin sisters and older brother. 2 of the 3 are married, 3rd is getting married next year. Between the 2 married, I have 7 nieces and nephews. One set of twin nephews (11) 3 other nephews and two nieces.
Sarah bought my Grandma's house after she was moved to the nursing home (Alzheimer's). We tried selling the house, couldn't, so Sarah bought it.
Anyways - had dinner at Sarah's on Friday, told her I'd whip up a batch of cookies since I started this whole exhausting challenge thing. Found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for: Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops - kind of wierd to make since it called for oil instead of butter.
Here's the problem though - so it was my husband's Aunt Betty's birthday. And on Facebook I wished her a happy birthday and then said - I'll make a batch of cookies for you. Innocent, sure - sounded like fun. I could be the relative that sends cookies on people's birthdays. However, Mike (my husband) has 8 Aunts and Uncles on just the one side and of course all of them are married and there are a bugzillion cousins. So I put that on facebook and now everyone's like, I like cookies and my birthday is coming up. Whoops!! Not sure how I'm going to afford sending out all these packages of cookies.
#8 Malted Milk Cookies (11-10-11)
Dang - another birthday - this time, my Mother in laws. So I was thinking her birthday was on the 16th - so I planned to make the cookies over the weekend - then find out nope, her birthday's on the 12th - now I gotta make these cookies like now, on a Thursday after a busy week of working with Kindergarten students (I do ELL for a kindergarten team). I so don't want to make cookies right now. So I make em anyway - and I completely failed - they spread way too much and were kind of wierdly chewy. (tip: If cookies spread too much, try replacing some of the butter in the recipe with shortening). I can't send these to my Mother in law. I am NOT making another batch tonight though. So my Mother in law will just get her birthday cookies late. Which brings me to batch #9:
Championship Cookies:
These have snickers in them and a little cinnamon and oatmeal. All in all pretty good - sent these off to Indiana. I pawned the Malted milk cookies off on my husband, dad and Uncle. Dad and Uncle come over to the house a lot to do remodeling work. It's rather annoying to have to clean the kitchen of dust every week - but yet I'm eternally grateful that I get free remodeling work on my house - people I know might be reading this and I need my dad to know that I am very grateful - not complaining.
So this is about where I took a break for a few weeks and where I'm going to stop now. I'll try to catch up to now later.
Last July, almost 5 months now, I got married. I don't know what else to say about that so I'll continue with this cookie story. About two months ago I decided to make every single cookie out of this cookie cookbook that my husband and I received as a wedding present - see that's why I had to start the story with the whole I got married thing. Why you ask, why would I want to make all these cookies. Not sure, except that I like giving my self these enormous gigantic tasks. I like to cook and bake and always want to make every recipe out of my cooking magazines, except I'm a picky eater and don't want to try most of the recipes in my magazine. But who doesn't like cookies, this way I always have cookies on hand if people come over, cookies for work, cookies for neighbors, etc. Plus, I kind of like the idea of being an old fashioned wife/mom type without actually being an old fashioned wife/mom type. And, my husband was all for the idea. So that's how this whole cookie challenge thing started. Now let me be clear, I am not giving myself a deadline - I'm not doing that whole Julie/Julia thing where she almost destroys her marriage and puts all this pressure on herself to make all those recipes within a year - that's just crazy. I will just be recording the cookies that I make, how it went, funny anecdotes about making these recipes and generally what's going on my life around these times.
Ok - so cookie #1 and #2 (10-20-11 and 10-21-11):
Monster cookies and Lemon Crumb Bars - I made these just to have cookies in the house - oh yeah, and I decided to have coffee over at my house for my Grandma and Mom. I invited my sister and her 3 boys over as well. Her youngest (Cullen - 6 years old) deemed them not good because the Monster cookies had nuts in them and I'm not sure why he didn't like the lemon bars. He drank root beer instead. I gave the bars 3 smiley faces and the cookies 2 smiley faces (frankly my Mom's monster cookies are better). My husband gave the monster cookies 4 smiley faces - he would have given them a 5 but he wanted to save a 5 for something truly remarkable.
I also had old lady game night (more on this later) so needed cookies for that too.
Cookies #3, 4 and5 (10-29-11)
Halloween time
So this cookbook has tons of holiday themed cookies - I picked out 3 to do on the Saturday of my brother's Halloween party. 3 types of cookies, 2 of which were rather involved - I will not repeat that mistake again.
Boo-rrific kisses - actually very easy - a merangue type cookie - they look like little ghosts - however do not keep well.
Pumpkin cookie pops - Huge hit both at the party and school (I'm a teacher by the way - so school is work and vice versa). These are pumpkin flavored cookies that I put on a popsicle stick, put orange frosting on and made pumpkin faces. Yes, time consuming.
Boneyard cookies - these were supposed to be made out of bone cookie cutters but I could only find a bone cutter at Petsmart (looked everywhere) and they were $10 and really for making your own dog biscuits - so I went with a ghost cookie cutter. Problem: these are sandwich cookies. You need to cut out the cookies, put jam in between them - put the cookies together and dip it in white chocolate. I will never be making these again. Two ghost cut outs don't match up too well.
So made these all, dressed up as a tree (my husband was the lumberjack) and brought them to a Halloween party - like I said - I won't be repeating that day.
#6 Chewy Surprise Cookies (11-3-11)-
The best cookie ever (so far) No school on that Friday!! Whoo hoo. Teachers still had to work and we were having a pot luck. This cookie was in the big batch bonanza section of the cookbook. Not much to say except this peanut butter cookie with melted milk dud in the center were eaten quickly.
#7 (11-5-11)
Sister Sarah has party for people to see her new house. I have 3 siblings by the way if you're trying to figure it out - older twin sisters and older brother. 2 of the 3 are married, 3rd is getting married next year. Between the 2 married, I have 7 nieces and nephews. One set of twin nephews (11) 3 other nephews and two nieces.
Sarah bought my Grandma's house after she was moved to the nursing home (Alzheimer's). We tried selling the house, couldn't, so Sarah bought it.
Anyways - had dinner at Sarah's on Friday, told her I'd whip up a batch of cookies since I started this whole exhausting challenge thing. Found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for: Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops - kind of wierd to make since it called for oil instead of butter.
Here's the problem though - so it was my husband's Aunt Betty's birthday. And on Facebook I wished her a happy birthday and then said - I'll make a batch of cookies for you. Innocent, sure - sounded like fun. I could be the relative that sends cookies on people's birthdays. However, Mike (my husband) has 8 Aunts and Uncles on just the one side and of course all of them are married and there are a bugzillion cousins. So I put that on facebook and now everyone's like, I like cookies and my birthday is coming up. Whoops!! Not sure how I'm going to afford sending out all these packages of cookies.
#8 Malted Milk Cookies (11-10-11)
Dang - another birthday - this time, my Mother in laws. So I was thinking her birthday was on the 16th - so I planned to make the cookies over the weekend - then find out nope, her birthday's on the 12th - now I gotta make these cookies like now, on a Thursday after a busy week of working with Kindergarten students (I do ELL for a kindergarten team). I so don't want to make cookies right now. So I make em anyway - and I completely failed - they spread way too much and were kind of wierdly chewy. (tip: If cookies spread too much, try replacing some of the butter in the recipe with shortening). I can't send these to my Mother in law. I am NOT making another batch tonight though. So my Mother in law will just get her birthday cookies late. Which brings me to batch #9:
Championship Cookies:
These have snickers in them and a little cinnamon and oatmeal. All in all pretty good - sent these off to Indiana. I pawned the Malted milk cookies off on my husband, dad and Uncle. Dad and Uncle come over to the house a lot to do remodeling work. It's rather annoying to have to clean the kitchen of dust every week - but yet I'm eternally grateful that I get free remodeling work on my house - people I know might be reading this and I need my dad to know that I am very grateful - not complaining.
So this is about where I took a break for a few weeks and where I'm going to stop now. I'll try to catch up to now later.
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