Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
1/2 c. real butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 12 ounce bag Guittard chocolate chips can also throw in some mini choc chips
 Candy Cane Kisses

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together softened butter, shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar for 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Meanwhile, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

 Use cookie scoop and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until just set, but centers are still soft, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 min.   Top each cookie with an unwrapped Candy Cane Kiss.  Allow to cool completely, long enough for the Kiss to harden.     Yield: 4 dozen cookies

1st day of Summer

High School and Middle School is over!  SUMMER Awaits us.....

Thought I'd kick it off with Orange Creamcicle Cookies

Orange Creamsicle Cookies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (maybe 1Tbsp more)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract I also added a little orange extract
2 tablespoons orange zest (for me that was the zest of 2 oranges)
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and white chocolate chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump. Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Reeses Peanut butter bars

These are so easy and great for Summer because there's no oven involved..

1 cup butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Lime Bars

I'm a sucker for lime.  Right now I have a great Lime -Bath and Body works lotion in my purse and all the "plug Ins" in the house are lime scented.

I found these on pinterest and I've craved them ever since I saw the picture.  I made them.  At first I didn't think I would make them again, I thought they were just OK.  But they taste better the second day.

for crust—
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
for creamy lime filling—
2/3 cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
4 eggs
2 tsp lime zest
green food coloring (enough to produce desired green color)
powdered sugar for serving
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
To make the crust, combine the confectioners sugar, flour and sea salt in a large bowl. Cut in the cold butter and work with your fingers until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Press into a greased nine inch pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
To make the filling, whisk together the granulated sugar and flour in a bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add the zest, lime juice and enough green food coloring to produce desired green color (but not enough to make your filling neon! watch out) and mix until everything is smooth and combined.
Pour filling over hot crust and return to oven to bake for another twenty minutes. When done, the filling will no longer jiggle. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing and dusting with powdered sugar.

Fall Friday

It's the Friday before Thanksgiving - so since I know these favorite fall days of mine will soon be gone I made some yummy oatmeal cookies.  They were two-in-one.  After I made the cookie dough,
I divided it.  In one bowl I stirred in Guittard Chocolate Chips and Butterscotch Chips to make oatmeal Scotcheroos.
The other bowl I stirred in leftover fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips.  They turned out to be my favorite.  The tart cranberries with the sweet, white chocolate is just perfect for my tastebuds!

I got the recipe from Melanie over at My Kitchen Cafe

Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Printable Version

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add Baking soda, powder, and salt and mix. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

I also went to the Temple this morning and did initiatory and then I went to the hospital to visit Mom.  She is doing OK considering her difficult surgery on Tuesday. 

Kaitlyn is such a character!  This afternoon she has dressed up as "Savanna", a made-up neighbor girl and she is visiting us and charming us with her Southern Drawl Accent.  Brycen and Ty Geddes are playing right along ....   I asked Brycen who left their cookie on the counter and he said, "That's Savanna's"

Meet Savanna:

Yes That's grandma Lynne's old old wig....  and Chris' old pair of glasses

Joseph and The amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

Jenessa, Kaitlyn and I had a lot of fun in our Ward's mini musical version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.


Jenessa was in a short dance number, where they danced with ribbons.  Kaitlyn and I were in the Choir.


We hung out most of the night in the "green room" and had sandwiches and snacks.  I made some yummy chocolate chip cookies and 7 layer taco dip.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Cook’s Illustrated
Makes about 30 cookies

2 1/8 c bleached all-purpose flour (about 10.5 oz)
1/2 t table salt
1/2 t baking soda
12 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (I don’t use unsalted butter because I never buy it – salted butter works just fine in this recipe when I use it!)
1 c brown sugar (7 oz)
1/2 c sugar (3.5 oz)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 t vanilla
1-2 c chocolate chips (I use a full 12 oz. package of semisweet chips)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Form dough into balls (I use my handy-dandy cookie scoop –
Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes – these cookies really do need longer baking time than most average cookie dough recipes). Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

Chocoholic

Today I really tried to say NO chocolate.  But by 3 pm I gave in.  I saw a mix for chocolate crinkle cookies at Costco but I didn't buy since I knew I could make my own.


The recipe is easy:


1 box chocolate cake mix
1 egg
1/3 cup veg oil


Mix together.  Roll in balls and then roll each ball in powdered sugar.  Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes.

Off Track School

Kaitlyn has more energy and creativity than anyone I know.  Today she transformed the family room and kitchen into a school, starring herself as teacher.  She invited all of the neighbor kids over for assignments, recess and even lunch time.  

To go along with the school theme I decided to make Sour Cream Apple Bars
Happy Fall!!

Sour Cream Apple Bars

Crust:
1 C butter, softened
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 C uncooked quick cooking oats
1 C flour
1 C chopped pecans
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice

Filling:

1 C sour cream
3/4 C sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 egg
2 medium (about 2 cups) apples, unpeeled, shredded (I missed the unpeeled part and peeled mine)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add remaining crust ingredients and beat until well mixed.

Press HALF of crust mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

While crust is baking combine the filling ingredients; mix well. Gently pour the filling over the hot, partially baked crust. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fill and press down lightly.

Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set. Cool. Cut into bars. Store refrigerated