Patriotic Dessert Round-Up

(A few weeks behind Independence Day, but that's okay!)

I picked up this star ice cube tray in the dollar section at Target, thinking it might be good for chocolates. Dora helped me fill them with red, white, and blue chocolate melts.



Turns out, it's not as smooth as a candy mold would be (lesson learned!), but it still made some neat-looking treats.



We also tried it with sprinkles, just for something different.



Oh, and some Han Solo-frozen-in-carbonite molds just for fun. These were white chocolate mixed with crushed cookies ... super yummy!



Almond sugar cookies got the star treatment ...

And one of my favorites, soft sugar cookies with red, white, and blue frosting. Happy America Day!

Baking Thursday - Peppermint Cookies

I usually make these - along with three or four other varieties - for our family cookie trays. This year, I had a pleasantly low-stress Christmas prep week, and I decided to enjoy it! So my baking list got cut down from three kinds of cookie to one. (PB Chocolate Chip, if you're interested.) There was still a huge variety for the trays, and the only person who complained was my sister, because there were no mint cookies this year. Guess what? I missed them, too, so I made them tonight.

This was originally a recipe for candy cane cookies, and back many, many, years ago, my sister and I would painstakingly roll each cookie into candy cane shapes, only to have most of them break apart during baking and/or on the trays. One year we had a lightbulb moment and opted to make them as pinwheels instead ... and never looked back!



One of my favorites ... also cute in green and white ... enjoy!

Peppermint Cookies

3/4 c sugar
3/4 c butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add egg, vanilla and peppermint, mix well.
• Add dry ingredients, mix until dough comes together.
• Remove half of the dough, add several drops of food coloring to remaining dough and mix well.
• Pat dough into rounds of equal size, stack and roll (1/4" thick) on floured surface into long rectangle shape.
• Roll long edge into dough, making a long roll about 2" diameter.
• Wrap in wax paper and freeze 2 hours or overnight.
• Cut into 1/4" slices and bake at 375 until just lightly browned.

Ornaments 2010

For ornaments this year, I gave the kids a choice of these or stamped clay, and they all went with the clay. (I was really expecting Theo to want to chop things up in the blender, maybe next time.) We used air dry paper clay, and it was fun to work with.



I just bought my first set of clear stamps and an acrylic block, and I'm addicted, they are so fun to use. The kids stamped patterns into the clay, and after they were dry, painted them with gold, silver or glitter paint. Kind of a variation on last year's ornaments, but a different look.



These are Clark's. He stamped a penguin (had a tough time using a light touch, but I can still tell what it is) and a "C for Clark." I kind of like the minimalist monogrammed look - very Martha Stewart. He also did the shape cutting, which is why the star is missing a point, oops. He did this project 100% by himself, which is pretty good for Clark and crafts.



Theo's snowflakes.



Dora's stars. She chose the words to print on each one, I am loving "laugh a lot", I never would have thought of that. The snowflake stars turned out very thin and delicate looking.



And these are mine! Just for fun.



Happy Holidays, everyone ... see you next year.

Christmas Cards

No Baking Monday this week, as I'll be doing giant baking for my family cookie swap on Thursday. We've been busy over here - the kids made Christmas cards for their teachers this week. I've found that it works well to have a couple ideas in mind, then they can choose to do those or their own thing. Family Fun to the rescue again! We used these cute cards for ideas.





Theo selected the tree and candle designs.



Clark also liked the candles, and the thumbprint reindeer.



Really, throwing googly eyes on anything makes it adorable.



And Dora, of course, did her own thing.





And this was my card for Jeff ... he's getting a hockey jersey for Christmas, but unfortunately it won't arrive until after the new year.



We'll be tackling ornaments today!

Baking Monday - Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake Squares

I am not a big cheesecake fan, but if a dessert looks good enough, I will try it! This is the first time I've ever made cheesecake, and this recipe is a winner.

A few notes: if you forget to buy chocolate wafers at the grocery store, chocolate Teddy Grahams will do just fine. The squares are decorated with teddies as a memorial to those brave little guys who gave their lives in the food processor to make the crust.

Also, the recipe calls to bake with wax paper and it occurred to me (too late) that I should have used parchment paper instead. And I think mixing an entire stick of butter with the chocolate chips for the piping is way overkill, I scaled it back to two pats of butter instead.



Verdict: Good stuff. Would be perfect for a holiday party if you want to impress!

2-14-10

Christmas Highlights

Finally starting to go through pictures from the holidays. Here are some highlights ...



Cookie trays 09. Supposedly, there are fewer varieties this year, see how skimpy the trays look?



Two of the cookie helpers, my adorable aunts.





Christmas Celebration #1.



Getting ready for the pageant.



Santa!!!





Christmas Celebration #2: Favorite gift of the year: Lazer (with a "z") Tripwire. Theo is now much more calm and relaxed, knowing that his stuff is protected.



Red and purple box of goodness.



Christmas celebration #3: trying on new slippers.



Another favorite gift, Bakugan Xbox game.



Dora's awesome gift from Grandpa. It's purple!



Onsie for baby Elijah.



Mini golf morning.



Moments before the meltdown. We're now two-for-two with meltdowns and mini golf. Do we keep trying, or avoid mini golf forever?



Me giving Clark a KO while playing soft block boxing.



New Years' Eve toast, a rare moment of sibling happiness. Of course, alcohol is involved. (Just kidding!! It's grape juice!!)



Dora got her birthday wish ... snow for sledding.

Christmasing

The tree is decorated ...



Stockings are hung ...



Snowmen have come out to play ...



Little touches everywhere ...



Even if I'm not ready for Christmas, the house is and it feels good.

Thumb Bunnies

Leftover from Easter cards, idea from Family Fun. This was a cute, easy project and Dora's turned out way cuter than mine did.