Valentines Cookies

Ok, I'm bad - I went a whole week after making my valentines cookies before writing about it. Forgive me, the less than 5 people who actually read this. Valentines Day: I made two different cookies, bought heath bars for my husband (his favorite), arranged the heath bars into a heart and left a note for my husband. I also made the dinner arrangements. That's what I did for Mike. Here's what he did for me: ........... Fortunately I bought myself some chocolates the day before and surprised myself with them. Then at the lovely dinner Groupon provided us with at St. Anthony Village Pub, I made him put a reminder in his phone for next year's valentines day to make the dinner plans, I really don't need a gift but if he wanted to bring me chocolates or flowers I wouldn't fault him for it. Okay, the cookies: 2/12/12 Batch #26 Chocolate Heart Cookies This cookie (obviously in the shape of a heart) was the first cookie cutter cookie I have made since getting my rolling cloth and rolling pin cover from Mom (thanks Mom) at Christmas. This made making these cookies so much easier than any of the other cookie cutter cookies (where I would spread flour all over my metal table and scrape cookie dough off the table as I tried not to break them). Anyways, these beautiful cookies are chocolate hearts dipped halfway on each side into white chocolate. Then drizzled on top of that are fancy squiggly lines with melted chocolate. These were a fan favorite. A thin delicate cookie with a lot of flavor (and normally I don't even like white chocolate). 2/13/12 Batch #27 Linzer Cookies (Mike did not like these because it has cinnamon and nutmeg in it - which he hates and raspberry jam - which he also does not like - so I guess I didn't really make him any cookies for Valentines since I gave all the cookies away). Since the first heart cookie went so well, I decided to make another batch that required the use of a cookie cutter. This cookie is actually a sandwich cookie (and look impressive - which they better because they were a lot of work) To make these I rolled out the cookie dough, cut the hearts out and then in half of the hearts, cut out a smaller heart inside. After they baked and cooled, I spread raspberry jam on the complete heart cookie and took the heart cookie with the heart inside on top - to make a sandwich cookie in which you could see the inside. I know, that's a really convoluted explanation of that cookie, and I wish I had a picture, but it's been a pain trying to upload pictures (mainly because my computer is ancient) - until now - I have switched from being a PC user to a brand new MacBook Pro user - so hopefully I'll be able to include pictures of my cookies now with no problems. Only thing is, I never took a picture of those heart cookies and they were eaten rather quickly by Grandma's nursing home and the Pillsbury teachers.

Super Bowl Cookies

Like I need much of an excuse to make cookies. This weekend it's the super bowl. The whole family is coming over; it's just a reason for me to make cookies and a reason for everyone to see the new kitchen. I looked through my book and it has Easter cookies, valentines cookies, back to school cookies, but no Super Bowl cookies. I looked for cookies that would relate to the Giants or July 4th cookies for the Patriots, but there was nothing. You'd think there would be something for Super Bowl among the 623 recipes, but no. So I skipped the theme and made two recipes just for the heck of it. #24: Brownies in a cone 2/5/12 These are brownies, not cookies - but remember, my book has brownies and bars in it as well. These just looked like fun. It only makes about a dozen in a half, the family is 17 people big, so I thought "perfect"! These are possibly the cutest dessert I've made that doesn't require Martha Stewart craziness. Basically, the average person can make these in less than an hour and not go crazy (unlike those stupid ghost sandwich cookies I made at Halloween). This dessert is harder than brownies from a box but easier than a batch of cookies. You make the brownie batter, pour some into each ice cream cone and bake it. After they're cooled, you dip them in some chocolate sauce (made from melted choc. chips and shortening) and top it with sprinkles. I liked the idea of having an ice cream buster party (my grandparents used to have those for us kids when we were little) without the cold ice cream in the month of February. I plan to let the kids top it with cool whip and a cherry. We'll see how it turns out this afternoon. #25: Giant Peanut Brittle Cookies 2/5/12 These are my Super Bowl Themed Cookies because they are "GIANT". These are large peanut butter cookies with melted peanut butter chips spread on top of 1/2 the cookie with peanut brittle sprinkled on top. This batch also makes about a dozen in a half. This way I shouldn't have any leftovers and they won't be all be eaten by Mike and me. So I guess I'll just forget the Patriots today. That's alright - I really don't like Brady anyways. The Patriots just seem like a snobby sort of team; like the Edina of football teams. They think they're better than everyone else. Plus, the Mannings are like football royalty, I think I'll root for them. Go Giants! Really, I'm just watching the game for the commercials. Go commercials!