Grinch Cake

When I saw this recipe on Oh Bite It I knew it had to be made.
I don't care what time of year it is, we all need a gooey green cake in our lives!

We brought this to a friend's house for a party, and it was certainly a conversation starter!

The ripe banana is not a powerful flavor, but it adds so much moistness, especially when dealing with a boxed cake mix.

I did mine in a 9 x 13 (easier to transport), but I think two 9 inch rounds with the frosting between the layers would be pretty cool too.

Ingredients:

1 Box yellow or white cake mix

(additional ingredients required per cake box)

2 Ripe bananas

Green food coloring

Frosting (white or green)

Chocolate sprinkles

Directions:

1. Mix cake batter per box instructions

2. Mash bananas with a fork and add to batter

3. Pour cake mix into desired pan size

4. Drop a few food coloring drops and swirl around batter

5. Bake per box directions for your size pan

6. If using white frosting, dye it green

7. Add 2 Tbsp chocolate sprinkles to the frosting

8. Frost cooled cake with goopy frosting

9. Sprinkle with additional chocolate sprinkles

Print

Come party with me HERE!

Hot Chocolate Cookies

I love a good cookie any time of the year.

These though, due to the inclusion of hot chocolate, make me feel Christmas-ey; or maybe just winter-y.

Either way, while making them, I started thinking about some memorable Christmas/Winter memories.
Like the time we were all sledding at a hospital (they had a huge hill out front. They don't allow it anymore, poo.) and my dad had a friend of my mother's on his lap.
The idea was, you were supposed to roll out of the sled before you hit the bottom of the hill. She panicked. My dad couldn't move because she didn't. One broken leg later (hey, at least we were already at the hospital) and those sledding days were done.

Another year, we were driving from my grandmother's house to my uncle's on Christmas day. A car backed out of their driveway right in front of my hubby. He started yelling at the car about not paying attention.
Then we realized there was no driver in the car. It had slipped into gear and just slid out of the driveway. We stopped at the house and knocked on the door. The guy came running to collect his car from the middle of the road.

Ahh...cold weather memories!

Ingredients:

2 Sticks butter (softened)

1 Cup sugar

⅔ Cup brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 Tsp vanilla

3 ¼ Cups flour

4 Packages hot chocolate mix

1 Tsp salt

1 ¼ Tsp baking soda

1 Cup white chocolate chips

1 Cup milk chocolate chips

1 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy

2. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients

3. Add eggs and vanilla to wet mixture

4. Slowly add in the dry ingredients

5. Add all chocolate chips

6. Chill dough for 1 hour

7. Drop onto parchment lined cookie sheet

8. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes

Print

Adapted from Baked Bree

One Bowl Chocolate Fudge

My Auntie A makes the best fudge.
Not sure if it really is the best...or if we just love the tradition of it all. She makes pans and pans of it every year from October to January.

The girl says I don't make fudge often enough.

People were coming over...men that just want sweet, don't care about fancy.
I see fudge in this picture!

Enter this easy peasey one bowl recipe.
It makes a sweet, creamy fudge.

The girl even said it rivals auntie's!!

Ingredients:

16 oz semi sweet baking chocolate

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Line 8 inch square pan with foil

2. In microwave safe bowl, place chocolate and milk

3. Microwave until chocolate is almost melted (2-3 minutes)

4. Stir until chocolate is completely melted

5. Add vanilla

6. Spread into prepared pan

7. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until firm

Print

Come party with me HERE!

Double Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

A group of us decided to do a cookie exchange...via USPS!
We all are scattered around the country, so we talked about all the virtual ones you see online...but we missed that home touch.

I gathered a list of everyone who wanted to participate, put their names in a hat and matched people up.

We had a two week window in which to create, bake, and ship.
It was about 80% successful, not too bad all in all.

A long time friend, whom I have not seen in years participated. Through email we decided that since neither of us were randomly selected to send to each other, that we would just send them on our own.

In true fashion, life got in the way. We thought we had given each other enough time, but as it came down to the last few days, we both remembered our promise.
A quick email and we are back on track!

This Hershey's recipe sounded like the perfect, yummy, comforting cookie to send to my dear friend.
She won't notice that I stole one...

and shhh...don't tell Hubby and the Girl that I did, I have been telling them that I need this exact amount to send. hehehe.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ Cups all purpose flour

½ Tsp baking soda

¼ Tsp salt

1 Egg

½ Tsp vanilla extract

¾ Cup sugar

⅓ Cup creamy peanut butter

½ Cup butter (softened)

1 Cup milk chocolate chips

1 Cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Beat butter, sugar, and peanut butter until creamy

3. Add egg and vanilla, beat well

4. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt

5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing well

6. Stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter chips

7. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet

8. Bake 12-14 minutes

Print

Come party with me HERE!

Apple Butter Snickerdoodles

It's that cookie making time of year again!

Bread Booze Bacon is co-hosting yet another Blogger Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap!
I last participated in 2013 and had so much fun, I couldn't resist joining in again!
(See the original 2013 post here)

This time around I was paired with The Lawyer's Cookbook
She shared a Pumpkin Butter Snickerdoodle, along with the hint that I could use any type of fruit butter I happened to have on hand.
That being said, I decided to tap into my southern roots and break out the apple butter!

Mmm...the thought of apple cinnamon type cookies was very appealing.
As we know, my hubby is a little snickerdoodle obsessed !

The obstacle in front of me though, was the fact that I was not down south, and apple butter isn't as common up here in New England.
I hit up the local grocery for my normal weekly shop and decided to check out the jelly isle and see what could be found.

Can you believe, I found ONE jar of apple butter....right under a "Clearance, discontinued product" sign! Come on now, this just does not happen to me! Psyched!

So, please, feel free to try her original pumpkin butter, or any other fruit butter!

Ingredients:

3 Cups Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

¼ Tsp Salt

¾ Cup Butter (softened)

1 ¼ Cup Sugar + ⅓ Cup Sugar (divided)

2 Eggs

1 Tbsp Vanilla

½ Cup Apple Butter

½ Tsp Cinnamon + 1 Tsp Cinnamon (divided)

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. To mixer, add 1 ¼ cup sugar and butter
3. Cream until fluffy
4. Add in eggs, vanilla, apple butter, and ½ tsp cinnamon
5. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients
6. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours
7. Preheat oven to 350
8. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
9. Mix 1 tsp cinnamon and ⅓ cup sugar into shallow dish
10. Roll dough into 2 tbsp sized balls
11. Roll balls into cinnamon sugar mixture
12. Bake 13-15 minutes

Print

Chocolate Oatmeal Nut Cookies

This is yet another recipe from that old Digital Equipment Corp cookbook. It was simply titled "Chocolate Chip Cookies".
These are not simply chocolate chip! I feel the name should be reflective of what you are actually eating...so I changed it to Chocolate Oatmeal Nut cookies.
(I used pecans, but feel free to use whatever chopped nut you favor)

This is a pretty dry dough, I was uncertain that I had followed the recipe properly, but it is what it is I guess.
Also, the top of the cookies do not get brown. I used hubby as a "checker" to see if it was actually cooked on the inside.
:::whew::: happy to say it was.

So, these cookies try to be tricky tricky and fool you...but in the end, they are yummy and worth it!

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter (softened)

1 Cup brown sugar

1 Tsp vanilla

2 ½ Cup oatmeal

1 Tsp baking powder

4 oz Hershey bar (finely grated)

1 Cup sugar

2 Eggs

2 Cups flour

½ Tsp salt

1 Tsp baking soda

12 oz chocolate chips

1 ½ Cups chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla

3. Add flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda

4. Mix well

5. Mix in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and chopped nuts

6. Drop teaspoonfulls onto baking pan

7. Bake 6-9 minutes

Print

This recipe was shared with:
Monday:  Flour me with Love, Pioneer Momma, Homemaking with Style, Uncommon Designs, Kitchen Table Art, A Pinch of Joy, The Modest Mom Blog, Huckleberry Love , Jambellish, I Should be Mopping thee Floor, A Mama's Story, All Things Fee, The Chicken Chick,Feeding Big, Boogieboard Cottage, Say Not Sweet Anne, Skip to my Lou, Mom Favorites, Sew Can Do, Mom's the Word
Tuesday: Kathe with an E, Pint Sized Baker, The New Mrs. Adventures, Cornerstone Confessions, Inside Bru Crew Life, Memories by the Mile, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Lou Lou Girls, Our Table for Seven, Time Warp Wife, Mini Van Dreams, Mandy's Recipe Box, Hope Studios, Stone Gable Blog, Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
Wednesday: Dizzy Busy and Hungry, Milk and Cuddles, Buns in my Oven, Raising Homemakers, Recipes for our Daily Bread, White Lights on Wednesday, The Newlywed Pilgrimage, Crafty Allie, A Peek into my Paradise, Ginger Snap Crafts, Mom's Test Kitchen, Lady Behind the Curtain, Mostly Homemade Mom, Lemoine Family Kitchen, Gooseberry Patch
Thursday: Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Sweet Haute, Lambert's Lately, Sweet Bella Roos, What's Cooking Love, Saving 4 Six, Embracing Change, Katherine's Corner
Friday: The Grits Blog, AKA Design, Coffee with us 3, O Taste and See Blog, Daily Dish, The Better Baker, Endlessly Inspired, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Craft Dictator, Thirty Handmade Days, City of Creative Dreams, Diary of a Real Housewife, Craft  O Maniac, The Girl Creative, Morsels of Life, Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom, Cooking with Curls
Saturday: Beauty through Inspiration, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Six Sisters Stuff, Weary Chef
Sunday: Denise Designed , Three Mango Seeds       

Gingerbread Cookies

'Tis the season to eat lots of cookies
Stuff your face and eat more cookies...

OK, I won't quit my day job and try to be a jingle writer, I promise.

Julie from White Lights on Wednesday put out a call for her second annual cookie recipe swap. This is something new to me and I couldn't wait to jump right in!

I was excited to find out that I was paired with Jordan from Jordan's Journey. We swapped recipes and the rest is history!
(I cannot wait to find out if she liked mine as much as I liked hers!)

She sent me her gingerbread cookie recipe (below) which made me a little more excited than I should have been maybe. See, I have an unhealthy obsession with gingerbread. I like it in cookies, cakes, bars, soft, hard, crispy, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Jordan's original recipe called for gingerbread man shaped cutters.
Yeah, I am not in possession of anything of the sort. I have biscuit cutters (which I considered) and this mini star shaped one.

The mind set (at the time) was that stars were a bit more "festive" than boring ole circles.
Oh...my...goodness.
Can I tell you how many bajillion million cookies my tiny little star cutter made?

Holy schnikes!

We have been eating cutie patootie stars for a week now!
I brought a gallon sized ziploc bag of them to work...we are still eating the ones at home.
I think I finally see the bottom of the container!

These cookies came out crisp and spicy.
Not the heated, burn your tongue spicy, I mean cinnamon and ginger yummy spicy.

Thank you for sharing Jordan, I am pleased to add this to my recipe box!

Ingredients:

1 Cup shortening

¾ Cup honey

1 Egg

1 Cup molasses

1 ½ Tsp baking soda

½ Tsp salt

2 Tsp ginger

1 Tsp cinnamon

5 Cups flour

Directions:

1. Mix shortening, honey, egg, and molasses

2. In large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon

3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients

4. Roll dough on lightly floured surface until ¼ inch thick

5. Cut with cookie cutters

6. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes

Print

This recipe was shared on: White Lights on Wednesday. Gooseberry Patch, Lady Behind the Curtain, Sugar and Dots, Cooking with Curls, Your Homebased Mom, Simply Gloria, The Weary Chef, A Peek Into my Paradise, Tumbleweed Contessa, Future ExPat, and Livin the Mom Life

Nutter Butter Snowmen

These cookies have been all the rage on Pinterest. I adapted my version from here.

These are just super cute, kid friendly, fun little cookies! I am bringing mine to a party and just KNOW everyone is going to go "awwwww"

Ingredients:
Nutter Butter Cookies
White candy melts
M&M Candies
Orange tic tacs
Black decorator icing

Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper, set aside
2. Melt candy melts based on directions
3. Dip cookie in chocolate and place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookies.
4. Add decorations using tic tacs for the nose and M&M for the buttons. Use the decorator icing to dot on eyes and mouth
5. Set cookies in fridge for candy to set

Print

Ingredients

This recipe was shared on: Let's Dish and Tumbleweed Contessa

Almond Snowballs

Isn't it funny how certain things can evoke a memory...even if you don't really have a specific memory?
Did I confuse you?

I was playing around online and found this recipe. As soon as I saw the picture I remembered these cookies...from where though? I don't know anyone in my family that has made them...I don't remember ever trying them before...they just looked, familiar.

Well, we can't have that whole "confusing, maybe imagined memory" thing going on...so I made them.
Now they are more than a pretend memory, they are ingrained!

Just as a note, I did not have slivered almonds. I used whole and chopped them up tiny. Seemed to work just fine!

Ingredients:
½ Cup slivered almonds
1 Cup butter (room temperature)
1 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup powdered sugar
2 ½ Cups all purpose flour
¼ Tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Bake almonds in a single layer in a shallow pan for 6 minutes
3. Process almonds in a food processor for 30 seconds or until finely ground
4. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy.
5. Gradually add vanilla and powdered sugar, beating well. Dough will be crumbly
6. Shape dough into ¾ inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets
7. Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
8. Cool on baking sheet
9. Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar

Print

Ingredients

Remember the snowballs!