Allison: Father's Day and The Perfect Cookie

Hello, and welcome to my third week of posting IN A ROW!  Okay... I'll stop counting.  Let's just assume that I'm back to posting at least once a week.

This week, I wanted to post early in case anyone is totally stumped on what to gift the important fathers in their lives.  I was pretty stinking proud of myself for coming up with the "Cookie of the Month Club", which I wrote about in last year's Father's Day post.  If you missed it, hop on over there and check it out.  Basically, I made a batch of cookies each month, and mailed my father at least a dozen of said cookies, with a little label attached, and a picture of my adorable little one.  The cookies were "from her", though obviously mom did the work.

I really enjoyed creating these packages each month.  I don't always get the chance to communicate with my amazing father as much as I'd like, so this was a great excuse to "correspond" with him regularly.  I only missed one month (April, I think), but made up for it with two packages the next month.  From what I can tell, he's really enjoyed having the packages arrive at his office each month (I don't think my brother, who works with him, is complaining either).

Hard to believe, but I just finished my last batch of "Grandpa's Cookies", as my two-year-old calls them.  Just for the record, your little ones will enjoy this gift as much, if not more, than the person receiving it!  Isla was a great sampler for me each month, and never had anything bad to say about my cookies.  :)  This month, I was scouring my Pinterest "cookie" board, and couldn't find one I was really excited about.  There was an intriguing half chocolate cookie, half peanut butter cookie that I was tempted to try, but the refrigeration time didn't correspond with my slim window to get to the post office before nap time.  But while on Sally's blog over at sallysbakingaddiction.com, I came across a recipe she calls "THE Chocolate Chip Cookie".  I've never been a huge fan of Chocolate Chip Cookies (I know... I'm the only one...), but I figured a traditional cookie might be a good ending to a year of cookie recipes.  So, I gave it a try.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!  For someone that's not a fan of this type of cookie, I admit that this recipe is amazing!  They turned out nice and plump (not flat like most), chewy and moist.  I LOVED her suggestion to add a few chocolate chips to the top of the dough (before baking) to make them more attractive.  I think she and I would be great friends.  :)

I followed her recipe found here to the "T", and found that they turned out just as she pictured.  My only deviation, if you want to call it that, is that I used my cookie scoop.  I LOVE using it for drop cookies, and find that it makes them almost perfectly round with a little less work on my part.  Lazy... don't forget.  :)

Sally described this as her "go to" chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I know it will definitely be added to my favorites.  I hope you all try it out.  I also hope you might consider adding someone special in your life to the "Cookie of the Month" club.  I can't believe it's been a year since my dad's "induction", and definitely plan to send him an occasional package in the future.  He has always been the most supportive and accepting father, always willing to offer inspired advice and to lend an ear to my silly problems.

On top of being lazy, I'm also cheap.  So when I card shop for holidays like Father's Day, I almost can't stomach spending what they charge for cards that seem to be less and less creative each year.  So when I found a similar card on Pinterest, as the one I made below, I knew I had a solution to my card dilemma.  I laughed so hard when I saw this card idea!  It took me about 10 minutes to make my own on my computer, print it off, and put it all together.  I think my dad will get a good laugh, and then have to admit to himself that it's completely true.  :)

Of course I admitted in the card, that my mom had a lot to do with my awesomeness too.  :)

Before I end my post, I have to take a second to give a "shout out" to my second favorite father... my amazing husband, Brent.  The minute he gets home from work each night, my VERY energetic two-year-old instantly wants to play with her daddy, and he always complies... even when his day has already been exhausting.  He's my best friend, and the best daddy I could have possibly imagined for my little girls.  My expectations were pretty high, after having an amazing father, and Brent definitely met that standard.  I love your guts, Brent!

I hope you all have a great week, and look forward to spoiling the men in your life.  Until next week...

Allison

Allison: Fall & Baking

Hello!  Something amazing has happened this last week: Autumn finally arrived in Arizona!  Well, at least in the mornings.  That chill has hit, and I've had to pull out my flannel pajama pants, and socks.  Of course by about 11 am, it turns warmer, and I regret the socks.  Oh well.  But at least for the mornings, I'm happily chilled and ready for hot chocolate and a warm fire.  What else usually hits me around this time of year?  A desire to bake!  So I scoured my "Cookie" board on Pinterest and besides being embarrassed by how many pins are there, I found my new favorite recipe: 5 ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies.

I found the original recipe here, and had serious doubts about how good they could possibly be.  With the base cookie only consisting of peanut butter, sugar and an egg, it doesn't make sense, but it works and I may never go back to the traditional cookie.

Sort of forgot a before picture, but here's the aftermath.  

To make things even better, the cookies are dipped in melted chocolate, and then in chopped peanuts.  AMAZING!  The cookies literally fall apart in your mouth while the chocolate and crunch of the peanuts just add to the experience.

Here's the basic recipe:

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Chill dough for half an hour.

Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

These cookies are a little brittle, but that gives you a chance to sample your work.  :)

I didn't have baking chocolate, so I melted 1/3 of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double broiler on the stove (a glass bowl over a bowling pot of water).  I also didn't have plain peanuts, but I had honey-roasted peanuts.  I chopped them up and they worked perfectly.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying the Fall weather and changing leaves.  Have a great week!


Allison

Allison: Fancy Cookies Part 2 & Giveaway!!

                                     ***************GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED******************


Hi again! This morning my friend, Amanda, and I were able to finish our cookies from yesterday. My two-year-old almost thwarted our plan with a runny nose, but we pushed on.  Modern-day pioneers, huh? :)

After outlining and "flooding" the cookies yesterday, the royal frosting had finished drying completely overnight and was ready for a little more detail. If you didn't read Part 1 from yesterday, here's a link. We used the same piping bag of frosting to add the veins on the cookies today. This part went really fast, though maybe I should have slowed down a little.  :)

I thought this was such a fun activity to learn, that it made me a little sad that I hadn't tried it earlier.  One of the many reasons I'm grateful for this blog, is that it forces me to be creative and to try new things.  We've had this blog up for a little over 6 months now, and just reached 15,000 views today!  That definitely deserves a giveaway to show our gratitude to all our friends, and new friends that take the time to see what we're up to.  So here's the question for today's giveaway:

What is something creative that you would love to try/learn, but have been too scared to actually do?

If you answer that question before Monday morning, you could win a mini-starter kit to decorate your own cookies. This kit will include:

Meringue powder (frosting recipe is on Part 1)
Disposable frosting bags
2-Tips
Gel food coloring

Thanks for sharing in this new venture.  And a HUGE "thank you!" to my friend, Amanda, for teaching me.  I can't wait to try decorating cookies again. Now I challenge you all to go out and try something new. Have a great day!


Allison

Allison: Fancy Cookies Part 1

Hello, again! I'm so excited to share what I did this morning. For awhile now, I've wanted to learn how to decorate sugar cookies. I'm not talking pre-made frosting and some sprinkles. Instead I've wanted to learn the fancy decorating with frosting that wouldn't cause all my cookies to stick to each other, and fun details. I've watched multiple tutorials, and pinned too many pins on Pinterest, but have been too scared and lazy to try (that's a bad combo!).

Then this last Christmas, my good friend, Amanda, brought the cutest cookies to our church cookie exchange, and we made plans to make some together. Then we both got pregnant and life got a little crazy. The cookies would have to wait.

Now that we both have newborns, and our two-year-olds are playing better together, we thought we'd give it a try. Amanda originally learned how to decorate the cookies with this tutorial from Annie's Eats, making cookies using this recipe and the frosting with this recipe, also from Annie.  Amanda jokes that she feels like she knows Annie after watching tutorials and followings her tips.  :)

I think the hardest part to this whole process was actually trying it. I was surprised how easy it actually was, and how fast it went, once we got started. Prepping the frosting with food coloring and getting it to the right consistency can take a bit of time, but they turn out so cute, that the time is worth it.

This middle pic is me trying to help still while I was nursing.  :)

Nap time was quickly approaching so we decided to finish the cookies tomorrow morning. Make sure to check out tomorrow's post to see how they turned out.

If you're interested in trying these fun cookies, I strongly recommend getting a group of girlfriends together and giving it a try. I can't wait to see the finished product! Until tomorrow...  Oh!  I also think we have to have a giveaway to celebrate 15,000 views to our blog!  It's going to be a fun one, so make sure to enter tomorrow.  So mysterious, right?  :)

Allison

Allison: Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Hello, again!  First off, I would also like to send my condolences to Lisa's extended family for the lost of their brother-in-law, son-in-law and father.  I remember Greg from various encounters years ago, and he was a great man.  Any contributions that could be made to support this amazing family, would be incredibly appreciated (see Sara's last post).

I'm not sure where time is going, but another week is here, and I'm still not 100% back to my crafting and baking self.  So for this week, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Fall recipes: Pumpkin Spice Cookies.  They have been a go-to treat each Autumn since I first tasted them in Sara's kitchen.  (Sorry, Sara, if I'm stealing a post idea.  At least I'm giving you credit!)  This yummy treat is incredibly easy and amazingly delicious.  Here's how you make them:

1- box of spice cake mix
1- 15 oz can of pureed pumpkin
chocolate chips (optional, but essential at the same time)

That's it!  You combine all ingredients, spoon onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (until they're set).  Can you think of an easier treat?  They're so moist and delicious and always a crowd pleaser.  I was going to make some, but let's face it... getting to the store is still a little tricky.  But I'll definitely be making them this season, and I'll try to post some then.  Sorry for the lame post!  I'll get back into the swing of things soon.  Promise.  What's your favorite Fall treat??

Have a great week!!


Allison

Sara Jane: Spray Paint

A few years back, I discovered spray paint and all the fun, amazing, creative ways that you can use it.  My last spray paint project was our TV stand.  It is BRIGHT yellow and so very pleasant in our family room.  I haven't used spray paint in quite a while though so I decided today would be a good day to get reacquainted with my old friend.

For this project, I went to our local Goodwill store and found these three great pieces:  two tins (each $0.99) and one ceramic rooster ($1.99).  Then I headed to Joann's (which happens to be next door) and picked out a few colors that I liked.  If you don't want to spend oodles of money on spray paint, Walmart has cans for only $0.99!  Its not the most quality spray but it works fine.

Anyway, here are the three pieces I bought today:

First up was the rooster.  I have a special place in my heart for roosters.  Last year, we bought four chickens.  My chicken's name was Mrs. Pettitoes.  She was absolutely beautiful but one Sunday, when we came home from church, she was crowing at our back door and we realized that Mrs. Pettitoes was actually a MR. Pettitoes.  I was sad....

Anyway, I love roosters.

For my rooster, I wanted him to be a deep red.  To start, I sprayed my first coat and let it dry for about 15 minutes.  Then I sprayed another one.  Remember to use short, even sprays for the most even color.  After that coat, I only had to do a few touch up sprays in little cracks and here is how he turned out...

We don't have a permanent home for him yet but I am hopeful that he will have a nice place in my kitchen one day soon.

Next up were my tins.  I have seen spray painted tins all over Pinterest lately so I thought I would give it a try.  Well, the first tin (the one with the handle in the picture above) didn't turn out so well.  Since it is rather hideous (very gloppy and runny), it is now a small trash pail in the backyard for the kids.  The second time, I remembered to slow down and take my time (something I am constantly reminding myself of).  This one turned out perfectly!  For this tin, I sprayed very small areas to start. It took me about three coats and about 30 minutes to get it just right.  It turned out the perfect color and really transformed the tin.

I will definitely be spraying more tins around the holidays to use as the wrapping for gifts.  I love how they look!

Since I had this beautiful tin, I decided that today was a good day to do the cookie of the month for my father-in-law.  I tried out something new and loved how it turned out.

Using my favorite pie crust recipe, I made little cookies (simply make the dough and shape it how you like, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top then bake them at 450* for about 7 minutes or until lightly browned).

While I could eat pie crust all day long, I know not everyone likes it so I put a small jar of some pear jam my husband just made in the middle.  We had to test everything out before we gave them away and let me tell you, they were scrumptious!  It tastes exactly like you are eating a bite of pear pie.

I have decided that I will one day soon make an entire platter of these pie crust cookies and then put out all my favorite jams - blackberry, strawberry, pear, peach- and just eat pie all day.  Yummmm!

Happy crafting, my friends!

Sara Jane

Allison: Banana Bread Alternative

Hello, hello!  I'm actually going to try to post a "normal" post this week!  My newborn is napping, and my 2 year old is momentarily "happy" (aka not being crazy), so I thought I'd hurry and post.

I've had some bananas getting overly ripe on my counter for the past few days now, but the thought of making banana bread AGAIN, didn't sound very appealing.  For some reason, I keep buying bananas, and they keep going bad.  That equals A LOT of banana bread.  This usually isn't a bad thing, but I wanted another option.

Then this morning, I saw a recipe from one of my favorite bakers over at Cookies and Cups.  This is such a fun blog, where Shelly posts so many amazingly-devilish recipes.  When I saw her recipe for Banana Bread Cookies, I knew I had to try them.  So... I did!  :)  You can find the recipe here.

These cookies aren't exactly what I had imagined, but I really like them!  In Shelly's recipe, she used chocolate chips (which I wish I'd tried).  I used raisins in my version, and thought they came out tasting like a cross between oatmeal cookies and banana bread; two of my favorite treats!  Shelly also posted a recipe for Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (Mmm...), but I didn't have enough cream cheese to attempt it.  You better believe I will next time!

They were so good, Isla kept trying to sneak one.  :)

Regardless of whether you try this recipe or not, you should definitely go check out Shelly's blog.  Everyone have a great week!


Allison

Allison: Go-To Cookies

Hello again! This week I'm feeling particularly pregnant and decided it was a good week to share my go-to cookies: Thumbprints.  I found this recipe a few years ago, and really love how easy it is, but how complicated it seems.  Does that make sense?  I can bust out a batch in no time at all, but they look more high-maintenance than they are.  Here's the recipe that I pretty much copied exactly from allrecipe.com:

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened (I use 3/4 cup butter or 1 1/2 sticks)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raspberry preserves (or any jam/filling you like)
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar for decoration (I omit this ingredient)

• 
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
2. Cream the butter with the white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Stir in the flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine.
4. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make an indentation in each cookie and fill with jam (I use a teaspoon measuring spoon to make the indentation.  Dipping it in sugar will help it not stick to the cookies). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes (13 minutes is my magic number.  I leave them on the cookie sheet for a few more minutes to "set").  Let cool completely and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar (or not.  They're amazing without the sugar).

*Makes about 32 cookies (though the recipe says only 18.  I must make mine smaller).

* I almost completely fill "the well" with jam/filling, as the cookie will spread and so will the jam.  The pie filling didn't seem to spread at all, so I took that into consideration with the second batch.

There you have it!  These cookies are so buttery delicious, that I'm sure this recipe will become one of your favorites too.  Have a great week!!

Allison

Sara Jane: Nutella Wednesday

Would you believe me if I told you I once had an unopened jar of Nutella in my cupboard for a year and a half?!?  

True story. 

I had never had (or even heard of) Nutella before when a friend gave my hubby a jar of it for Christmas.  Having no idea what it was, I stuck it in the cupboard and completely forgot about it (tells you how much I actually clean my cupboards).  When the day came for me to finally clean out the cupboards (moving, I assume), I threw the jar away with out even thinking twice.  

That was nearly 4 years ago.   Now, I would never EVER throw a jar of that heavenly treat out.  We don't just buy Nutella to snack on.  No.  It is a part of our pantry staples.  We eat it on tortillas, on sandwiches, on crackers...heck, sometimes I eat it by the spoonfuls by itself.

The other day while pinning, I came across this recipe for Nutella cookies, by Tasty Kitchen.  I decided to try it out today to give to my father-in-law for his Cookie of the Month.  While they are not my absolute favorite cookie in the entire world (which would be oatmeal chocolate chip, by the way), they are pretty tasty and I think Eric will enjoy them.  The recipe at Tasty Kitchen uses sugar.  I omitted the sugar, as per the Pinterest recommendation.

Nutella Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1 cup Nutella

*1  cup flour

*1  egg

Directions:

Combined all the ingredients.  I then used my cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, rolled it in my hands, and then flattened the dough to about 1/4 inch.  Bake for 8 minutes at 350*.

Something that we have decided to do with our Cookie of the Month is to put it in a creative container.  For this month, I grabbed the following items...a glue gun, fabric, and a Pringles container.

Next, I cut out enough fabric to cover my canister.  To ensure you don't waste fabric, measure around the canister, just like you would if you were wrapping a present.  Then, I started gluing on the fabric.  I started at the top (make sure you don't glue the top fabric over where the lid will fit) and then glued down where the two pieces met creating a seam.

To finish off the bottom, I folded and glued, folded and glued and folded and glued until all the fabric was securely glued down.  

Here's how it should look when it is finished.

Pretty cute, if you ask me.

Is your mouth watering yet???

Happy Wednesday!

Sara Jane

Allison: Cookie Time!

Hello!  Welcome to another Tuesday!  Today I thought I'd bake a little, to switch things up.  I have a bunch of crafts for the girls' rooms to share with all of you, but I think I'll try to space them out a bit.  I can't wait to show off what my husband and I have done to a dresser I rescued from the dumpster at our old house.  I just need to decide what color I want it first.  Decisions, decisions...

But for today, I thought I'd share a recipe that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  I love when a search on allrecipe.com produces a new add to the "cookie" section of my cookbook.  This recipe will also be our July installment in grandpa's "Cookie of the Month" club that I started last month.  Did you miss that post?  Check it out here.  This month will feature the White Chip Chocolate Cookie.  I love chocolate, but I'm not always a fan of chocolate cookies.  That is not the case here.  This cookie is moist, and rich and pretty much to die for.  Here's the recipe (my changes are in parenthesis):

***********************************************

1 cup butter, softened (1/2 cup butter)
2 cups white sugar (2/3 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. white sugar)
(1/2 cup-3/4 cup peanut butter)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups white chocolate chips (1/2 a bag or so)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, (peanut butter) and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture.  Fold in the white chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes (mine took 9 minutes) in the preheated oven, until cookies are set.  Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

***********************************************

I usually alter the sugar in most of my recipes, and still find that they're plenty sweet.   I also thought that 2 sticks of butter was a little crazy, so I reduced it to one and added some peanut butter to balance it out.  Can you really go wrong when adding peanut butter?  I also used a small ice cream scoop to get them on the sheet.  Hence, the very round cookies.  :)  I have used this recipe as written, and I'm not going to lie... the butter and sugar do make a difference.  But they're still good this way, and I don't feel so bad sampling one or two.  :)  These cookies are so easy and sure to satisfy any chocolate craving.  

After making these, I realized that they really have nothing to do with summer or summer projects, but that's okay, right?  Does anyone ever object to cookies?  I hope you try this recipe and love them as much as I do.  Maybe you could snack on them while reading one of Lisa's book recommendations.  :)  Have a great week!!

Allison

Allison: Cookie of the Month Club

Not bad, Lisa!!  Your man is pretty great.   He's helped me out many times.  I'll vouch for him.  :)

Happy Father's Day Week, everyone!  I'm so excited to celebrate (aka gush about) the amazing fathers in my life!  I was blessed with an outstanding father.  I have turned to him countless times when I've needed words of wisdom or a voice of reason.  He is the greatest man I know and I love him very much.

Having this kind of father, raised the bar pretty high when looking for the future father of my children.  It took me awhile longer than most of my sisters, but I did it!  My husband is the most amazing example to me of kindness, compassion and unconditional love.  He can look at me when I'm sleep deprived, unshowered and irritable and tell me how beautiful I am (with a straight face).  I feel incredibly lucky and so blessed to have him as my eternal partner.

Not only is Brent the best husband in the world, he's also the most amazing father to our little "I".  She LOVES spending time with him, and literally paces the floor until he comes home to play with her each evening.  She trusts him like every little girl should trust her daddy.  The love I see in her eyes for her father, is only matched by Brent's love for his little girl.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop now.  Because I'm still tweaking Brent's gift, I thought I'd share the idea I came up with to honor my father.  I know that I don't express my appreciation enough to him for all that he's done/does for me.  So I found a gift that will keep expressing that gratitude each month this year.  My dad has now been enrolled in "Grandpa's Cookie of the Month" club!!  My idea is to send a dozen cookies each month to his office, along with a note from his granddaughter expressing our love for him.  For this first month, "I" and I are sending him my much loved butterscotch, oatmeal and peanut butter cookies.  The official name of this cookie in the Better Homes and Gardens' cookbook is Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Rounds.  But I have put my own twist on this cookie and renamed them Scotchers.  I've tweaked the recipe a bit too.  Here it is:

I promise... these are amazing!  I look forward to trying new recipes as I run out of my go-to's.  Along with the cookies, I'll send this fun little label with a picture of "I" and a note on the back.  

You can download the Grandpa label here.   I also made an option for a Dad's Cookie of the Month label that you can download and print here.  Sorry about the shadow under the label.  PowerPoint and I are still figuring out how to be friends.  I just cut it off.  Problem solved.  :)

                                      

Everyone have a great week, and enjoy spoiling the men in your life!  

Allison