Cookies for Santa

A few days before Christmas, Elizabeth asked if we could bake some cookies for Santa. She likes making the sugar cut-out cookies because she gets to sprinkle the flour and use the rolling pin. I like to make sugar cut-outs too, but I admit that I can get a little particular about the whole process. In the spirit of the holiday season, I let her do whatever she wanted. That included using way too much flour, getting it everywhere, and making the biggest mess you've ever seen on the counter, on the floor and all over herself. Incidently, I did buy the Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and canned frosting. That helped me get over the waste. (It's just money. Not time spent measuring and mixing.) And in the end, her cookies turned out quite well for a five year old, don't you think?
If you're going for taste, though, make your own dough and frosting. This stuff is yucky. But kids don't care. And I don't think Santa did either.

Christmas Breakfast of Champions

Although I got into the Christmas spirit early this year--shopping the day after Thanksgiving, putting up the decorations that weekend, and going ice skating with the family--somewhere between then and Christmas Eve, I just wanted Christmas to be over. Maybe I became jaded after our camera disappeared. Or maybe it was because the family of reindeer on our lawn was violated by a bunch of little punks. I'll spare you the details but let's just say two of our innocent reindeer were moved into less-than-wholesome positions involving a broken candy cane from the neighbors' house. Too many details?

Anyway, after shopping, wrapping and baking the final week before Christmas, I finally found the spirit again. We enjoyed a lovely, if not fancy, Christmas Eve dinner with GiGi and our neighbor's mother/housesitter/petsitter. Even with Matthew's and my colds, Christmas turned out pretty well. GiGi was here to watch the kids open their gifts in the morning, the kids loved their presents, Brian was surprised he got a Wii, and most of my presents were items for my kitchen. Oh happy day.

One of the many highlights of the morning was our breakfast. I made a French Toast Casserole and some sausage links. Someone asked me for this recipe last week and I got hungry for it. I hadn't served this casserole for a while because Matthew can't eat it, but I made him a separate mini-casserole with soy milk. It's a winner. It's so easy and you do all the work the night before.

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French bread, cubed

8 eggs

3 c milk

4 t sugar

1 t vanilla

3/4 t salt

Topping: 2 T butter, 3 T sugar, 2 t cinnamon

Place bread cubes in a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt; ladle evenly over bread. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Dot with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until center is set. Serve with pure maple syrup.

It's Better to Give

...than to receive.

I had an epiphany this week. As much as I like to bake, I realized that I really love to wrap up the baked goods in pretty packaging and give them away. Sure, there's nothing wrong with making a variety of cookies at Christmas, arranging a sampling on a holiday plate, wrapping it in plastic wrap and topping it with a bow. But that's what everybody does. Why not add a little flair? A little fun? I little style?

My good friend Jennifer introduced me to Nashville Wraps last year. She learned about the company from her good friend Alexis Stewart. (She's not really friends with her. They'd never get along. Or maybe they would. What do I know?) Nashville Wraps isn't paying me to say this (I'm open to negotiation though, guys), but they have everything for your gift-wrapping needs--paper, ribbon, bows, boxes, tissue, bags. Everything. Check them out. They're starting to discount their Christmas selection so you can start getting ready for next year already. Or just buy cute boxes and wrapping paper you can use all year long.

I baked enough cookies to give 31 boxes to our neighbors, the kids' teachers and Brian's co-workers. Here's my assembly line.

And a close-up of what's inside each box: spicy, chewy molasses cookies, buckeyes, and chocolate chip cookies.The above photo is of the wrapping process. I admit to buying the cheap ribbon. It wasn't what I thought it would be. The satin ribbon would have been ideal, but I chose the Berwick ribbon because the price was right and it turned out to be stiff and a little crunchy. Not the best kind of ribbon to make pretty bows. With a little time, effort and Scotch tape, I made it work, though. Here's the finished product.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

The last few months, I've experimented to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I even threw a taste-testing party in hopes of nailing down the one recipe everyone loves. I must note that Nestle Tollhouse reigned supreme at the tasting party, but it was close to being a three-way tie. After much deliberation, these chocolate chip cookies from Cooking Light are my personal favorite--for both taste and appearance. Try this recipe if you love the taste of cookie dough and if 90 calories per cookie makes you smile.

What's a Buckeye?

All I know is that every year my family enjoys eating peanut butter & chocolate candy/cookies that we call buckeyes. Seems the rest of the world calls them peanut butter balls, but I find no fun in that name at all. I remember making these cute little spheres of deliciousness for my friends at work nine years ago (my first Arizona Christmas). Sure, they'd all heard of the Ohio State Buckeyes, but they had no clue what a real buckeye was or why I would name my little cookies after them. Well, how about because they look just like buckeyes?!

Maybe it's because I'm from Pittsburgh which is oh so close to Ohio, but we do have buckeye trees in Pennsylvania, too. I just did a little research and the Native Americans named the nuts on these trees 'buckeyes' because they look like the eye of a male deer. In any case, these treats will be made in my house every Christmas and we will always call them buckeyes.

Buckeyes

2 sticks butter, softened
4 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs, ground fine
2 c creamy peanut butter
12 oz melting chocolate

Mix the first four ingredients together. Rolls into 1 inch balls. Refrigerate overnight. When ready for dipping, melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Insert a toothpick into the cookie and coat all but the top. Place on waxed paper to harden. Store in the refrigerator and allow cookies to come to room temperature before serving.

The Baking Has Begun

I officially started my holiday baking this week. In fact, I've made so many cookies that, oddly enough, I have two blisters on my right hand from the cookie scoop. Hmmm. Am I over-doing it? Nah. It's Christmas! And the best part is that we got our new camera yesterday so I can share what I've been up to the last couple of days.You may remember that I tried these Spicy, Chewy Molasses Cookies last month, but I think they came out better this time around. Instead of using honey, I just used more molasses and I rolled the cookies in turbinado sugar just before baking. The difference was a darker-colored cookie with a crispier outside 'crust.' You don't miss the honey because the turbinado sugar gives them all the extra sweetness they need. This recipe is a keeper.

Recipes

Here are the recipes from yesterday's post:

White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 eggs
3 squares Bakers white melting chocolate
1 Oreo pie crust
3 T raspberry preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix just until blended. Stir in white chocolate. Pour into crust.

Microwave preserves in small bowl on high 15 seconds or until melted. Dot top of cheesecake with small spoonfuls of preserves. Cut through batter with knife for marbled effect.

Bake 35-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Store leftovers in refrigerator.



Tomato-Basil Dip
1 8 oz package Neufchatel cheese
2 plum tomatoes
2 T Italian dressing
2 T shredded Parmesan cheese
1 T finely chopped basil

Spread Neufchatel cheese onto bottom of 9-inch pie plate. Mix tomatoes with dressing; spoon over cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan and basil. Serve with crackers or vegetables.



Blue Cheese Mushrooms
1 lb medium fresh mushrooms
1/4 c chopped onion
1 T butter
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
3 oz cream cheese, softened

Remove tems from mushrooms; chop stems. Cook and stir stems and onions in butter in small skillet on medium heat until tender.

Add blue cheese and cream cheese; mix well. Spoon evenly into mushroom caps; place on rack of broiler pan. Broil 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Cream Cheese Party

Yes, I hosted a cream cheese party a few weeks ago. And no, it wasn't as lame as you might think. Even though only six people responded that they'd come. And even though only two people actually showed up. Thanks, Erika and Kristin! We had fun anyway and enjoyed more food and wine than we probably should have.

The party was held through a website called House Party. You apply to host a party and if you're selected they mail you a party package. This party was sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Aerobed, and others. Everyone who attended got some recipe cards, a party CD, lots of coupons and a bunch of door prizes. Because, again, there were only two guests so they got all the door prizes. Except the Billy Idol Greatest Hits CD. I kept that for myself.

All I had to do was play up my party on my party website (obviously, I did an awesome job) and make a few appetizers and desserts with cream cheese. You can see the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake above. Here are the photos of my Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms and Tomato & Basil Dip. The mushrooms were the big hit of the evening (and the easiest to make). I'll post the recipes here as soon as I get a chance.

Just Right

I received my spices in the mail from The Spice House last week. I got Madagascar vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves for baking. I also got a garlic pepper spice blend for grilling and I'm sure I'll find a lot of other uses for it. It smells delicious. When I opened the package, the scent of all those freshly ground spices was heavenly.

I was so anxious to use my new spices that I served my family porridge for breakfast and I spiced it all up. Oh, be quiet. I know you're thinking Goldilocks and those three bears and all that, but have you ever had porridge? I tried it for the first time last year in Helen, Georgia, of all places. We visited my in-laws in Atlanta for the holidays and Brian and I took a day trip to northern Georgia. It was mountainous, snowy, cold and the whole trip exuded Christmas. In fact, here's a picture of us there:

Helen was a German settlement back in the day and they're holding strong to their roots, I suppose. It may be a little kitschy, but this Alpine village is what I picture the North Pole to look like:And then we went to a small town called Dahlonega filled with antique shops and little boutiques. I mean, look how cute:

Okay, back to the porridge. On our way home to Atlanta, we stopped at a real, working Grist Mill, The Nora Mill Granary. We tried samples of their grits, porridge and cornbread and bought bags of all three. If you've never had porridge, give it a try. You can order Nora Mill's online or maybe the grocery store has it. (Sorry for the lack of research.) I've found a 9-grain cereal at Sprout's that is similar, though not as tasty, as the mill's. On Saturday, I added cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, and butter to our porridge. When Brian came into the kitchen he asked if I was making an apple pie. It smelled that good...and tasted even better.

Leftover Turkey Recipe

Because I currently have no camera (but will soon--in 5-9 days), I'm going through all my photos and finding ones I never got around to posting....

If you have any turkey from Thanksgiving (and you've frozen it, of course), here's a great recipe for Turkey Bolognese from Giada. I make it every year a few days after Thanksgiving...you know, when you don't want leftovers anymore. The flavors are amazing and although you use leftover turkey, it doesn't taste like Thanksgiving dinner at all.

You can use any marinara sauce, but I like to use her Quick Marinara recipe. It makes 6 cups so you'll use half for the bolognese and then have at least 3 cups for another recipe. I wouldn't recommend just putting the sauce on spaghetti because it's a little bland by itself. But it comes in handy when you need it for another pasta dish (like her delicious lasagna rolls that I'm making tonight!).

Save, Save, Save---My New Mantra

I hosted a Shopping Cents Workshop this weekend. Kristin, a friend from MOMS Club, has a blog about saving money on groceries, toiletries and household items and she also offers workshops to teach us how to maximize our savings. Now, I thought I was good at saving money by using coupons, buying things on sale, and planning menus around what meats are on sale each week, but Kristin has it down to a science and she knows every trick in the book. The six of us who attended the workshop learned so much and I think we're all excited to try out our new strategies. It's all about stacking sales, store coupons, and manufacturer coupons to save as much as you can. She told us all about the 'Wave of Savings' and how stores and manufacturers plan their sales and coupon distributions and how we can make the most of it. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone!

Jennifer took the CVS plunge over the weekend and made out like a bandit. See the details of her shopping trip on her blog. I, on the other hand, am more familiar with Walgreen's so I used my new knowledge and headed there, coupons in hand. I started out on a much smaller scale than Jennifer. I got 4 bags of Hershey's Kisses for $2.50 (that's $.63 a bag!) after the sale, internet rebate and manufacturer coupons. I actually made money on two 3-packs of Scotch tape. They were 2 for $2, Walgreen's had a $2 internet rebate, and I used a $1 off 2 manufacturer coupons. After the sale and manufacturer coupon, I paid $.75 each for two cans of Carnation evaporated milk. And finally, a $9.99 Schick Quattro Disposable Razor 3 pack (I found one that had a bonus 4th razor!) cost me only $2 after the $6.99 sale, $3 store coupon, and $2 manufacturers coupon. That's 50 cents each for razors that sell for $3.33 retail! All in all, I paid $10.98 for $34.68 worth of stuff. That's a savings of more than $23! Not bad. Not bad at all.

And my other proud moment today: I went to Target and bought 5 packs of Rayovac batteries from their $1 Spot. I used 5 printable $1 off coupons and got them all for free. Yay me!

Geez oh man!

Within the last week, I've made three kinds of cookies--lemon ricotta, oatmeal chocolate chip, and gingersnap sandwich cookies with lemon cream. I took pictures of them all and I wish I could show them to you, but I'm having trouble with my camera. And by trouble, I mean that it was stolen out of the top of our stroller at Chandler's Parade of Lights and lighting of the tumbleweed Christmas tree. What the heck is wrong with people? Yes, it would be nice to post those pictures, but what I really miss are the pictures of my kids on Santa's lap. Because we took them to the mall yesterday morning to visit Santa. And yesterday afternoon, Matthew discovered his shadow and I took a cute little video of him talking to it and pointing to it on the wall. Gone. All gone. I'm really trying to get over it but I'm just so mad at this person. And the timing! Well, okay, no time is a good time to lose a camera, but right before Christmas? It just doesn't seem too Christmas-y.

I'm taking a deep breath and letting it go. I'll try anyway. On to something else....

Giada's Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze were okay. Since I have a lemon tree in my backyard that goes crazy this time of year, I'm always looking for recipes with lemon. These cookies could be a little more lemony, but they're super moist because of the ricotta and the glaze is a nice touch, so I might make them again. The Oatmeal Chocolate Chip recipe was from the newspaper. Some lady (Wendy) said she made the best chocolate chip cookies so I had to try her recipe. I hate to burst Wendy's bubble, but it's not very original and they weren't the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. There was a note that her recipe makes a huge batch so I halved it. Her recipe is Nestle Tollhouse's plus 2 cups old-fashioned oats and a half cup wheat flour. That's it. Oh, and she said to use Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. I didn't so maybe that's why I wasn't impressed?

I'll tell you about the gingersnaps with lemon cream when I'm in a better mood. Until then....

Waxing Philosophical

I feel like I haven't been here in forever. I've abanadoned my blog! Sorry. I just watched There Will Be Blood and although it's a very serious movie about a very serious subject and Daniel Day-Lewis's performance was seriously good, there are some strange quotes in that movie. Maybe it's because I've seen those particular scenes too many times in trailers and parodied on SNL, but they just sound so silly to me. Sorry, Friend. I know you love your Danny Day.

Anywho...you probably weren't, but just in case you were wondering where I've been all Thanksgiving weekend and why I so far seem to be doing no baking during the holiday season, I do have my reasons. The first is that I placed my order with The Spice House and I'm waiting for my spices. They should arrive Friday. Secondly, I did bake. For Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin pie. I even took a picture of it and was going to post it. But see, my friend Jennifer made a pumpkin pie with real pumpkin and then my friend Valerie posted a picture of her pie on her blog and it looked better than mine. Hmmpf. Call it sour grapes. Call it pride. I just didn't feel like showing off my plain old Libby's Pumpkin Pie when my friends clearly outdid me.

That whole experience made me question why I'm even doing this blog. Is it just to hear people tell me how great my baked goods are? And am I more of a perfectionist than I thought? Then I thought about my granola bar attempts and my blueberry cake and all the other recipes that certainly didn't come out perfect and how I honestly shared my mistakes and disappointment. Then I felt better. I'm not doing this for validation after all. If anything, I might be making mistakes you'd make but now you won't make them because I made them. You're welcome.

Wow. This is why I can't be kept out of the kitchen. I get all philosophical and stuff. Hurry, Spices, hurry! And here's my pumpkin pie with the burned crust. Yum.