Christmas 2013 Cookie Treat Boxes

I love to bake and show love through baking, so it is no surprise I love making cookie treat boxes this time of year! I spent all day yesterday baking away for my husband to deliver treats to the clients and suppliers he works with. It is always a fun day for me to crank up the music, turn on the oven and bake!

We put the treats in tins from Hobby Lobby this year. They are a great inexpensive and quick option. If you plan ahead, check out Garnish or Shop Sweet Lulu. Both have cute packaging items. 

Let's talk about the yummy goodness contained within our tins!

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I posted this picture on Instagram and commented this bacon was going into cookies. My friend Kathy proclaimed she trusted my judgment, but this didn't sound good. Kathy, trust me, it is good. Most of the candy recipients are men and men love bacon.

I chopped it up really fine so you wouldn't get a big piece in one bite. Honestly, they are just good chocolate chip cookies and every now and then you taste a little salty. I liked them- something different.

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

I love the bright red color of these cookies! And, red velvet is always a good nuetral cookie. It isn't really sweet unless you get a white chocolate chip bite in there. These are beautiful colorful and really plump cookies. Plus, it makes a TON!

Southern Pecan Bars

These bars are the most requested, so they are always in treat boxes. They taste like pecan pie in an easy, non-messy, bar form. I make them often and they always turn out perfect. You can't go wrong with these bars.

Cranberry Bliss Cookies

I had my first Starbucks Cranberry Bliss bar a few weeks ago and suddenly knew why people love them. The sweet cranberries and the tart cream cheese are perfect together. These cookies are a great copycat of the Starbucks treat. I am submitting them in my Sunday School class' cookie contest Sunday night. If they don't win best tasting, they may win best looking! 

Candy Cane Oreo Peppermint Bark

It isn't Christmas without peppermint in it! This bark was easy and tastes delicious. My husband said it will give you "the diabetes". It is really rich, so break the bark into small bite sized pieces.  Mine turned out really gray in color. Next time, I want to add a little red food coloring and not crush my Oreos and peppermints so finely. I think they'd taste and look better with more big chunks.

Happy Holiday Baking!

"Simply" Cookies

 Are you like me and looking at ingredients more than ever? A little freaked out by how many ingredients are in things that look so simple? I only eat plain potato chips now instead of sour cream and onion or Cheetos- they have three ingredients. Potatoes, oil and salt. As it should be :)

So, I was pretty excited to see these new cookies at the grocery store. Corn syrup gives me a wicked headache within an hour of eating it, so I am always looking for corn syrup free foods. I love when it is real ingredients and still quick and easy.

These cookies were wonderful! They tasted like homemade and were big! We made 6 each night and gobbled them up. They also make these in chocolate chip and peanut butter.

I would highly recommend them!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

My daughter has a pretty severe peanut allergy, so we are a peanut free house. But when she stays with my parents, we go all out. Some parents may go to fancy restaurants when alone, we eat all things peanut and peanut butter! I found these on Pinterest and couldn't resist. I seriously need a peanut board :)

Here is the original recipe from Two Tiny Kitchens; however, I will warn you to make the peanut butter filling not stick to your hands, there is a lot of sugar and it gets really sweet. I want to make them next time with just straight up peanut butter in between two pretzels and dipped in chocolate. I think it will be just as good! 

No Bake Raspberry Coconut Balls

These no bake balls were very popular among my grandmother's generation and I can see why. They are quick, easy, and very versatile. I love how brightly colored they are and that you can make them in the summer without heating up the oven!

Raspberry Coconut Balls from The Homesteading Housewife

1 7 oz. package flaked coconut.
1 large box Raspberry jello gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 small box Raspberry Jello gelatin (for coating finished balls.)

Mix first 4 ingredients together in large bowl. Using wet hands, roll into small balls. Next, roll into small package of Jello powder. I poured the jello into a cereal bowl. Refrigerate in an air-tight container.

Cran-Pistachio Cookies

I made these cookies last week for my husband to share with his customers and oh my heavens, I will be making them again and again and again. They have great flavor, are colorful and are unexpected! I just loved them! They would be great at Christmas time with the chunks of green pistachios and the red cranberries.

Cran-Pistachio Cookies
recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker

1 (1 lb 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir cookie mix, pudding, and flour. Add melted butter and eggs and stir until
incorporated. Add pistachios and cranberries and mix well.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten a little with your fingers.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. They will be slightly brown on the edges and still look light green on top. They are done- I promise. You want them soft and light.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Cookie Extravaganza 2012

 It has become a tradition for me to bake for my husband's customers at this time each year. I honestly look forward to the day. I get to be domestic all day long- I start with empty tubs and a big pile of baking supplies and as the day goes on the supplies become delicious treats and the tins become full of color!

This year I filled 10 tubs- a total of about 300 cookies were made today! Each tub is filled with 6 different cookies, all favorites of mine that I have made before. Don't they look yummy?

Here are the recipes, starting at the top left....

Cherry Jello Cookies

Ginger Spice Cookies

Orange Zested Cookies

Andes Mint Cookies

Southern Pecan Bars

Lime Jello Cookies

Enjoy making your own cookies- I am done baking for a few days :)

Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies

While in LA on vacation a few weeks ago, my friend Katy and I had lunch at a place called Misfits in Santa Monica. It was an older office building with a really cool vibe. After lunch, they brought over chocolate chip cookies with our bill. Both Katy and I wanted more- they were so good!

Here is the thing- they were simple chocolate chip cookies with a special salt on top. It seemed to be a shaved sea salt. It was amazingly delicious!

I made my own version last night and they are almost as good! I bought plain generic chocolate chip cookie dough and then dipped the top of each cookie in fine sea salt. The great thing is that these are inexpensive and quick and people will think you made them homemade!

Yummy twist on a chocolate chip cookie!

Valentine Goodie Boxes and Southern Pecan Bars recipe

My husband had such a good time delivering cookies and Christmas that I mentioned I was game to make Valentine goodie boxes. Really, I am game to make sweets most any time of the week. I just love to bake and share sweets with others. I show love through flour and sugar :)

So, this time around, we ordered gable boxes from Shop Sweet Lulu. I love her site. These boxes were perfect for holding about 2 dozen cookies. I added two shipping labels on the boxes- one had the contents of the box and the other a Valentine poem:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Business is Sweet

Especially from You

James and Oranges

I am doing the study of James by Beth Moore at my church on Wednesday nights, like many women across the country likely are. I have never done a formal Bible study through my church. I have done numerous little studies at homes and coffee houses through my Bible life group. It has been nice to have homework that focuses me on the Lord daily and to be with a group of women I have never met before, that are both younger and older than I am.

Many of my friends told me that James was their favorite book of the Bible and I now am beginning to see why. It is very practical, a guide to living if you will. James challenges you to be better, act out, and do it more than you say it. I'm liking him. It has also given me a new favorite scripture:

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. - Romans 11:36

Carmelitas

I saw this picture and recipe for Carmelitas and I had to make them. I thought about them for days, looked at them on Pinterest, and even dreamt about them. And, then I made them.

And, they are divine. The gooey caramel in the center is perfection!

A couple of tips- this makes an 8x8 pan which seems small; however, these are rich and you eat a fudge sized bite rather than a brownie sized bite. Also, they take forever to cool. I would put them in the refrigerator and think it would be best to make them overnight. If you cut them too early, the caramel center is still liquid and comes out. Enjoy!

Boxes of Goodies with Recipes

This Christmas season my husband wanted to take goodies to his clients that he doesn't get to see every often. Since I love to bake and am home now, we decided it would be fun for me to make them baskets of yummy treats! I think people love getting homemade goodies these days when everything else is quicker and easier.

I made 6 of my favorite holiday treats. You can click on the links below for the recipes for each. All of them are simple- they are low ingredients, mix and bake types of recipes. They are all tested year after year by our family and we love each of them.

Rolo Turtles

Choco Chip Cookies

Peppermint Snowballs

Cheese Crisps

Rosemary Walnuts

Oreo Truffles

We placed the goodies in boxes from Garnish and wrapped them up with twine. I love Garnish! If you think the package and presentation is just as important as the gift, check them out!

I made simple labels for the boxes and included a list of all foods on a matching label inside the lid. What fun it was to bake all day and support my lovely husband in the process!

UPDATE: My Cheese Crisp dough was really crumbly this time around. Add a little milk to the mix until you have a dough and they'll taste great!

New Cake Ball Flavors

I made cake balls this past weekend for 4th of July parties and while they tasted fabulous, they didn't look pretty!

I made red velvet with cream cheese icing and french vanilla with caramel icing and sea salt. I opted to use candy melts from Wilton this time around instead of dipping chocolate and it made them much smoother and with such vivid colors!

Here is my issue- how do you get them evenly covered? You can see lots of caramel cake shining through the white ones. I dipped the balls using small tongs, rolled them around and then sat them on wax paper. I don't want to use the sticks and make them cake pops.

Suggestions? How do you dip and roll your cake balls for good coverage?

Cookie Dough Truffles

I have a friend who loves raw cookie dough. Seriously, don't we all love raw cookie dough? Chocolate chip cookie dough is the best and this recipe recreates it without the eggs PERFECTLY!

Once you mix it all up, you add in mini chocolate chips and then roll the dough into small balls. Those are refrigerated for just a few hours and then dipped in chocolate.

How could this not be good?

Get the full recipe here. I think I need to share a big bowl of this safe cookie dough for my next girls' movie night. Enjoy!

Milk and Cookies Party: Food with Recipes

A milk and cookies party has to be all about the food! I tried to create a soda shop look from many years ago and keep things homemade and simple.

For the milk, I purchased replica vintage milk bottles from Crate and Barrel. They were placed in this white metal 6 pack carrier from Target's summer line. We had organic whole milk, fat free milk and 2% milk. To make it fun, we had 4 different types of straws and chocolate, caramel, or strawberry syrup to flavor up the milk.

We also had lemonade and bottled water. I covered the bottled water labels with matching #2 labels. They are super easy- just measure the height and length around your bottle's label and design something for it you like. I printed 5 per sheet on a color copier and taped them onto the bottles.

Let's talk cookies.... I had about 400 of them for this party! We had about 50 people. Since they were the main food, they were set up like a buffet and we had to go boxes, I did not want to run out. We only ran out of 1 cookie... you'll see why! In total, we had 12 different types of cookies. I made 10 of them and had my friend (a tasty baker on the side) make 2 of the cookies I didn't think I could do well.

Kelly made the cute blue sprinkled #2 cookies. I am certain my 2 year old ate her fair share of these. Great for the kids.

Kelly also made red velvet whoopie pies. These were decadent!

To pull off 10 different types of cookies in 2 days, I made a mix of my favorites, premade doughs and new recipes from the internet. Nothing was complex. I just looked around and starting bookmarking recipes I liked a few months out. When it came time to narrow it down, I focused on the variety I wanted- nuts vs. no nuts, chocolate, colorful, etc.

Here is the mix:

Fudge Crinkles- super easy, tasty, simple!

The contrast of powdered sugar on the dark chocolate is pretty. I would not make these ahead of time- the powder sugar gets sticky at day 2.

Homemade Oreos- these were the best and we ran out quickly. The recipe made 2 dozen, so I think lots of people missed out. I'll make these again!

Lemon Sugar Snaps- I looked high and low for a lemon cookie and these did not disappoint. I have eaten my fair share of leftovers of these. Note, I couldn't find lemon cake mix with pudding and the non-pudding version worked just fine.

Caramel Chocolate Cookies- these are pretty and appear much more complex than they are. Hiding a Rolo inside a chocolate cookie is genius!

For the classic chocolate chip cookie, I made the mini cookies from Nestle Tollhouse dough. I thought I couldn't go without the staple cookie, but wanted them small since people would be trying other things.

same thing here... standard peanut butter mix from the grocery store. These are the one cookie I'd like to go back and bake. They were a little crispy.

Grasshoppers- a new family favorite! I wanted to have Thin Mints at the party, but the Girl Scouts aren't selling cookies just yet. These will work whenever Thin Mints aren't within reach.

Ranger Cookies- a good number of people didn't know what a Ranger cookie was. They are one of my favorites because they are filled with so much stuff- nuts, cornflakes, coconut, raisins, and oats. They also make about 5 dozen because of all the stuff inside!

Our local grocery store has an organic cookie dough line and they make Cranberry Walnut cookie dough. Abby loves dried cranberries so I added these in for her. Then I remember she has a nut allergy! We enjoyed them for her!

Finally, I made the Oatmeal Raisin cookies from the Quaker Oats container. You can't go wrong, that recipe must be 100 years old.

Since it was early January and many people resolved to eat better in the new year, we also had a large veggie tray with dip and a meat, cheese, cracker tray. Both were wiped out so I think they were a good balance to the sweet cookies.

I baked for this party with love, but I am also in no mood to bake for quite a while. I had powdered sugar everywhere for 2 days!

Peppermint Snowballs

This is a plate of yummy goodness right here. You want yummy goodness? You must be willing to make a big mess.
To consume 2 sticks of butter and visit your local Williams and Sonoma store or spend a day crushing small candy canes?

You must be willing to roll dough over and over and get it all under your fingernails!

Then, you must wait 11-13 minutes when you are just dying to dig in!

You don't have to be willing to share, but I recommend it. Someone once shared these with me. I promise these cool, refreshing, buttery little balls of Christmas are worth it!

Here is the recipe just for you- make them for Christmas, New Years, your next party, or anytime really. They are that good!

Peppermint Snowballs

Heat oven to 325.

Mix 1 cup butter, 1/4 cup crushed peppermints, 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Add 2 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Mix well.

Shape into balls and bake at 325 for 11-13 minutes.

Let cool slightly and roll in powdered sugar and crushed peppermints. Cool and roll again, just for fun!