25 Days of Treats: My Thoughts

I hope you all enjoyed these 25 Christmas treat recipes! Although there were some days or nights I did not want to bake, I am actually glad I did it! I am already making plans for next year.

One thing that really makes me laugh is the amount of eggs, butter, chocolate chips and sugar I went through. I think I could have fed a small family for a year. Luckily I was stocked up, and I will remember to do that again next year.

Some treats on the list for next year (because if I don't write them down now, I will forget):

• mint brownies
• my mother-in-laws cool whip balls
• chocolate covered snow peaks (meringues)
• pumpkin roll
• peppermint bark
• homemade peanut brittle
• almond toffee
• rolo cookies, but made with peanut butter cups
• Hershey kiss cookies with a different kind of Hershey kiss
• peanut butter cup cookies (perhaps made with rolos too)
• fudge
• caramels
• pretzel turtles
• Dark Chocolate Ganache Filled Brown Sugar Bars

The recipes I will repeat:

• Sugar cookies (of course)
• Cinnamon and sugar almonds
• Peppermint Pinwheels 
• Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies  
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles or Peanut Butter Cool Whip Balls 
• Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
• Carmel Pecan Brownies (maybe I will have better luck) 
• Hopscotch 
• M&M Cookies 
• Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Perfect Hot Cocoa 

25 Days of Treats: Perfect Hot Cocoa

We ran out of hot chocolate on Christmas Eve. It was a sad day. But then I remembered the slew of hot chocolate recipes in my December issue of Food Network magazine. Have you ever seen the movie Chocolat? In the movie the main character makes this hot chocolate that is so rich and creamy it literally changes people lives. This is how I feel about this hot chocolate. I took a sip and it was like drinking liquid heaven. It is super rich though, so you cannot drink a lot of it, which is sad because you want to.

Perfect Hot Cocoa (and it is) from December 2009 Food Network Magazine

Bring 4 cups whole or low-fat milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 3 to 4 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl, then whisk into the milk. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring, until the chocolate melts and the cocoa is thick, about 2 minutes. Divide among 4 mugs and garnish with marshmallows and/or whipped cream.

25 Days of Treats: Sugar Cookies

Everyone thinks they have the best sugar cookie recipe, but unless they have Alton Brown's recipe, they don't! I love this recipe because you can make thin crunchy sugar cookies, or you can make them thick and fluffy. They are very good. We made ours tonight to give to Santa. We are a little weird at our house though, our sugar cookies rarely get frosted because we love them unfrosted. Honestly, I think the recipe is so good that they don't need frosting.

Sugar Cookies from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough 

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

25 Days of Treats: Rugelach

I wanted to make at least one "out of the ordinary" treat for my 25 days of treats. We had a neighborhood cookie party tonight, so I thought I would try out this recipe I found on food network by Ina Garten. I was a little hesitant because I am not a fan of fruit type desserts, and I do not like raisins. But, I was willing to give it a try, and I substituted a little. In the recipe it calls for apricot preserves and raisins. I used orange marmalade and orange flavored crasins instead. I also made half of them with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. I actually liked the orange marmalade ones better! They are very good, and not too hard to make. The dough does get very sticky, so I would suggest refrigerating it for an hour, and then working with one section at a time, leaving the other sections in the fridge. Also, make sure you use a lot of flour to roll it in!

Mine also didn't look very pretty, so I didn't want to scare people away by my picture. If click on the link below, you can see what it is supposed to look like.

Rugelach from foodnetwork.com

 Ingredients
nocoupons

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2-pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 9 tablespoons
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves, pureed in a food processor
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Add the cheese and butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins, and walnuts.

On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circles into 12 equal wedges-cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Arrange the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet(s) lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool. Arrange on a large platter and serve.

25 Days of Treats: Snickerdoodles

This is my mother-in-laws snickerdoodle recipe. Not much else to say other then, they are amazing and you will love them ( and they are easy too)!

Snickerdoodles

                                       

1 c. shortening

1 ½ c. sugar

2 eggs

2 ¾ c. flour

2 tsp. bkg. powder

¼ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar & 2 tsp. cinnamon  }   mix together

Cream shortening and sugar; add eggs and cream again. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min.

on ungreased baking sheet. (until top begins to crack)

25 Days of Treats: Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was a teenager I had a youth leader that made the best chocolate chip cookies. They were huge, soft, fluffy and delicious. She would not share her recipe, so I have tried for the past ten years to recreate it. I have failed over and over again, but in the mean time, I developed my own recipe that is pretty dang awesome. So, this is my baby, treat it well, and enjoy.

Why in the world am I making chocolate chip cookies at Christmas? I am sending these to my grandpa who loves my chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter flavored shortening
3/4 c sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 2 if you are feeling naughty).

Heat oven to 375

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugars, and milk. Then add vanilla and eggs until combined (over stirring here can cause cookies to go flat after baking). Next add the flour and stir until combined. Then add chocolate chips and again, stir until combined.

Bake on parchment paper lined baking sheet for 9-11 minutes. If your cookies are going flat, one thing you can do to save them is stick the dough in the refrigerator in between batches and make sure your pan is cooled before you put on more dough.

25 Days of Treats: Crunchy Peanut Butter S'more Bites

This recipe falls under my category of  not worth the hassle. This recipe tricked me. At first glance it looked like this simple little recipe that just took a few 30 min refrigerations in between steps, no big deal. But, in turned into a gooey,crumby, chocolaty  monster!

First off, you have to make the peanut butter coin. I halved the recipe so I wouldn't have to make 230 peanut butter coins. So, then I thought if it is halved then I should be making 115 peanut coins. Somehow I only ended up with 50 (I apparently didn't squish them down flat enough). Anyway, so then you refrigerate these peanut butter beauties for 30 min, and then dip them in chocolate. I think 2 hours is more like it. After 45 min they were still soft, so when you dipped them in the chocolate, they just kind of melted and got squishy. Then, you refrigerate them again (which really was only 30 min this time), and you are to pipe marshmallow cream on them. Have you ever tried to get marshmallow cream to cooperate? It doesn't. It just got all over the place, and I could never get it to actually squeeze out of the bag like it was supposed to. In the end I spooned it on.

Are they good? Yes they are. Though there is a reason they are so little, they are very rich (hence the reason why I don't think I flattened them down enough), Will I ever make these again? No I will not.

Crunchy Peanut Butter S'more Bites from FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups crunchy peanut butter ( I used creamy, maybe that was my problem)
  
• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 24 ounces (4 cups) milk chocolate chips, melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup marshmallow fluff
• 1 cup coconut flakes, optional
• 2 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal, optional

Directions

In a large bowl, add the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar and beat with a whisk or electric beater until smooth. Using a teaspoon measure, scoop the mixture and form into balls, then press into a coin shape the diameter of a quarter. Refrigerate to set up dough cookies, about 30 minutes.

To make bites, dip peanut butter coins in melted chocolate then toss in graham cracker crumbs until coated, double dip and double coat if you feel dangerous. Arrange the coated coins on a wire rack and refrigerate for about 30 more minutes to set. Add the marshmallow fluff to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Remove the coins from the refrigerator and squeeze about 1 teaspoon of marshmallow fluff into the center of half of the coins. If you don't have a pastry bag, use a plastic bag, fill it with fluff and cut 1 corner off and dollop that way. Then top each half with another coin to make a sandwich and place return to the refrigerator to set, about 1 hour.

Options: chop coconut flakes and add them to the graham cracker crumbs to use for coating.

Add puffed rice cereal into the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar for a bit more texture and crunch.

 

 

25 Days of Treats: Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies

I failed to mention something when I made my gingerbread cookies. I do not like cloves in any way, shape, or form. When a recipe calls for cloves I usually just use pumpkin pie spice in it's place. So, in my gingerbread cookies and in this recipe, I have replaced to ground cloves with pumpkin pie spice. It makes the flavor a little more subtle. And these are delicious.

Also, I took this recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. In the post the author mentions that the blondies get kind of raggedy on the edges, and then fall in the middle. I messed with the cooking temperature and time a little bit, and it turned our really well. The outside is a little dry, but who likes to eat the edges anyway?

Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies

2 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 ¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 ¾ cups white chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a 13x9 baking dish by lining with aluminum foil and then spraying the aluminum foil with cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, soda, salt, and spices in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until creamy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and molasses and mix on medium speed until combined.

Add flour mixture on low speed until combined. Stir in white chocolate.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake until golden around edges and toothpick comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan; cut into 24 squares.

25 Days of Treats: Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

I have this friend who is amazing at a lot of things. One thing she is amazing at is dipping things in chocolate. Her kids brought over a neighbor treat the other day, and it was chocolate dipped pretzel rods. They were beautiful and delicious. I felt inadequate to make mine, except I bought all the ingredients so I felt obligated. My goal is to someday dip things in chocolate as well as she does.

At the end I had some left over chocolate. It would have been a travesty to waste it, so I dipped oreos in it. There is nothing better than oreos, and even better, oreos dipped in chocolate.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

One Bag of Pretzel Rods
About 3 cups of melting chocolates
Any type of topping you might like: sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, coconut, crushed nuts, more chocolate to drizzle over the top...

Melt chocolates in microwave for 1 minute, stir, and then microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted. The easiest way to dip is to pour chocolate in to a tall, skinny container. I used a vase and it was perfect. Lay on wax paper or parchment paper. Sprinkle whatever extras over the top and let the chocolate set.

Follow same steps for the oreos!

25 Days of Treats: Peppermint Pinwheels

Last year I watched a Food Network special on Christmas cookies called Paula's Cookie Swap hosted by Paula Dean. I was so inspired that I made a few of them, but the peppermint pinwheels were by far my favorite. I changed it up a bit though, and use finely crushed candy canes instead of peppermint extract. I like it because it still gives the peppermint flavor, but you also get a nice crunchiness that goes well with the softness of the cookie. As I mentioned before, I do not like candy canes so this is something I can do to use up all those unwanted candy canes laying around the house.

Peppermint Pinwheels

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 finely chopped candy canes or 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 teaspoon red food coloring
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
• Special equipment: 24 lollipop sticks (optional)
  

Directions

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in another large bowl. Add egg and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and the candy canes or peppermint extract. Gradually add the dry mixture, beating until combined. Remove half of the mixture from the bowl. Add food coloring, beating until fully combined. In waxed paper, roll out dough to form a large rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat this step with the other half of uncolored dough with no food coloring. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Tear out 1 sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Sprinkle the surface of the paper with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Very carefully, slide the red dough on top of the white dough. Trim edges if uneven and patch if necessary. Roll dough into a log, creating a swirl effect.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the dough into 1/2-inch slices and place on a parchment lined sheet tray about 1-inch apart. At this point you can place a lollipop stick about 1-inch through the flat side of the dough. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

25 Days of Treats: Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

I am a little picky when it comes to gingerbread cookies. I have only had a few I actually like. One recipe I like is my mother-in-laws, but I think I have harassed her enough this week. I found this one on My Kitchen Cafe's Sugar Rush: 12 recipes in 12 days. The "thick and chewy" made me hopeful. Luckily, I was not disappointed, these are soft and chewy deliciousness.

I have discovered that I have issues with food that has eyes. The monkey cupcakes freaked me out a little, and these decorated gingerbread men scare me a little too. I was sure to put the Tupperware lid on tight.

Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies taken from My Kitchen Cafe

3 cups (15 ounces) flour
¾ cup packed (5 ¼ ounces) brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature, cut into 12 pieces
¾ cup light or dark molasses
2 tablespoons milk

With an electric mixer, stir together the flour, brown sugar, soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and add the butter pieces. Mix at medium-low speed until the mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and with the mixer running, gradually add the molasses and milk; mix until the dough is evenly moistened about 20 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.

Scrape the dough onto a work surface and divide it in half. Working with one portion at a time, roll the dough ¼ inch thick between 2 large sheets of parchment or wax paper. Leaving the dough sandwiched between the parchment or wax paper, stack the dough on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. (Alternatively, refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or overnight.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners.

Remove one dough sheet from the freezer and place on the counter. Peel off the top parchment or wax paper sheet. Gently cut the dough into 5-inch gingerbread people or 3-inch gingerbread cookies, transferring the shapes to the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough until the baking sheets are full.

Bake the cookies until set in the centers and the dough barely retains and imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake!! Cool to room temperature and decorate as desired! Makes about 2 dozen gingerbread men.

25 Days of Treats: Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

My mother-in-law has an awesome recipe for "cool whip balls". I begged her for it, and in all her business she sent it to me. I was so sad when I realized I did not have the ingredients (I am refusing to go to store again this month). But, then I remembered I made a recipe last year that my husband said tasted a lot like cool whip balls. I found it, and I had the right ingredients. These are so much fun to make, and very versatile because you can roll them in anything you want!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles or Peanut Butter Cool Whip Balls

1 pkg. (8 squares) Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping, thawed

• Microwave chocolate in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring every 30 sec. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
• Add peanut butter; stir until well blended. Cool to room temperature. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 2 hours.
• Scoop truffle mixture with melon baller or teaspoon, then roll into 1-inch balls. You can then roll in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, coconut, crushed nuts, finely chopped white, milk, or semisweet chocolate, mini chocolate chips, finely chopped cookie...
• Store in refrigerator or freezer 

25 Days of Treats: Croquembouche

I am cheating a little tonight. I did not actually make this tonight, but my husband made it over Thanksgiving. This is one of those recipes that you make when you are feeling adventurous, and you have a lot of time on your hands. This is a fun recipe though, and it i really good, and looks pretty impressive!

We found this recipe in the November edition of The Food Network Magazine.

Croquembouche from Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 8 to 10 eggs
• Filling, recipe follows
• Caramel, recipe follows

Filling:

• 4 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 12 egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Caramel:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to evaporate some of the moisture.

Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and working 1 egg at a time, add 6 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add 1 or 2 more eggs, and mix until incorporated.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the dough in big kisses onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Whisk 2 eggs with 3 teaspoons of water. Brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash to knock down the points (do not use all the egg wash.) Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375-degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet. The recipe can be made up to this point and frozen in plastic bags. Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 10 to 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.

Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and any flavorings if you want to make a different flavor like chocolate or coffee. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Poke a hole with a plain pastry tip in the bottom of each cream puff and pipe it full of the custard.

Caramel: Dissolve the sugar in a saucepan with the water, making an "X" through the sugar with your finger to allow the water to slowly soak into the sugar. Boil to make a light golden caramel then dip the bottom of the pan in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Dip the sides of the puffs in the caramel and stick them together (approximately 20 cream puffs) in a circle, tops facing out. Make a second row on top of the first but a bit smaller to draw the circle in and create a tower of cream puffs. Check it from all sides occasionally to make sure it's straight. When it's finished, drizzle it with caramel all over. You can also stick on decorative elements with the caramel in the crevices, like candied violets, gold balls, gum paste flowers, sugar covered almonds, etc.

 

25 Days of Treats: Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Lets be honest, these are just giant Oreos, and they are delicious. For some reason I always thought these were hard to make, but they are the opposite of hard! These are another treat my mother-in-law makes around the holidays, though this is not her recipe. I found a recipe for these in two different ward cookbooks, so I sort of merged them together to make my own.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

• 1 cube margarine (or butter)
  
• 1 box devils food cake ( I used a dark chocolate cake mix, and taste great! I am now imagining what it will taste with other flavored cakes mixes...)
  
• 1 large egg

Melt the margarine and cool to room temperature. Add cake mix and stir together. Add the egg and mix until cookie dough forms. Roll into one inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet (parchment paper worked great!). Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes. Do not over cook, these cookies are meant to be soft. Let cool before putting on filling.

Filling:

• 1/2 (4 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
•  2 TBSP butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread filling on the bottom of half the cookies and top with remaining half of cookies. Store in the refrigerator, but they are also very good frozen!

25 Days of Treats: Cinnamon and Sugar Almonds

I love making these, they are so easy and they make your house smell wonderful! I have a tried a few recipes for cinnamon and sugar almonds, but this one is the closest (if not exact) to the ones you can buy at those cinnamon almond stands. These are better though because they are cheaper and it makes a lot! My favorite thing to do is eat a few right out of the oven, the outside is hot and the almonds are still a little soft in the middle. Don't get me wrong though, they taste just as amazing cooled off.

I like to buy my almonds in the bulk section at Sunflower Market when they are on sale, but I have heard Costco's almonds are a great deal also!

Cinnamon and Sugar Almonds

1 lb salted roasted almonds (I actually prefer to use raw almonds)
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Beat egg white and vanilla until fluffy and mix with almonds. Combine all the dry ingredients and add to almond mixture. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 225 for 1 hour, stir every 15 minutes.

25 Days of Treats: Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

I hate Hershey Kisses. I would rather have no chocolate than eat a Hershey Kiss. However, sometimes they taste good in cookies. When I was at the store I saw a display of Hershey Kisses in about 15 different flavors, and I thought " I bet one of these would be good on a cookie". Picking the flavor was the hardest. I personally wanted the dark chocolate kisses, but that is kind of boring. Then I thought caramel would be good, but I have already done a lot with caramel. I have made these cookies with the meltaway kisses before, and they were amazing, but I wanted to try something different. So, I chose the festive candy cane kisses! This is such a sacrifice on my part because not only do I not like Hershey Kisses, I also do not like candy canes. But, these cookies are cute, and they actually taste pretty good!


For the cookie part of this recipe I used the dough from my amazing chocolate chip cookies!

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

2 ½ cup flour

1  tsp baking soda

1  tsp salt

1 c butter flavored shortening

¾ c granulated sugar

1 c brown sugar, packed

1 TBSP vanilla

2 eggs

1 package of candy cane Hershey Kisses (or any flavor that tickles your fancy)

Pre-heat 375. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt, mix well and set aside. In another larger bowl, cream together shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined. Then, add in flour mixture and mix by hand until all combined. Bake from 9-11 minutes. As soon as you pull the cookies out of the oven, squish a kiss right in the middle! Let the kiss re-harden before you attempt to move the cookies, or the chocolate will run.

25 Days of Treats: Rolo Cookies

This is my new favorite cookie recipe. If the chocolate cookie part wasn't good enough, you then bite into a creamy chocolate caramel surprise! Even better, I taught my kids how to unwrap the rolos, flatten out a piece of dough, stick the rolo in the middle, wrap it up into a ball, and roll it in sugar. S I kicked back and watched tv while they went to work.  






Rolo Cookies from The Sister's Dish
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine (I use butter)
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
13 oz. bag of Rolos


sugar (for rolling the pre-baked cookies in)


Directions: Blend sugar, brown sugar and butter together in a bowl. Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture and blend well. Sift together in a small bowl, flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and blend well. Take a spoonful of cookie dough and wrap around rolo. Roll into ball so that the rolo is completely covered with dough and roll in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

25 Days of Treats: Caramel Pecan Brownies

Do you ever have a day where you feel like you should be banned from the kitchen? Well, today was that day for me.

I was really excited to make the caramel pecan brownies! This is another recipe from my Mom that reminds me of Christmastime. I got the recipe from her about two years ago and I attempted it that year, and failed. I randomly left out the flour and eggs. I still remember my husband asking me "and what what point did you realize that your brownie batter had no eggs or flour?" So fast forward to this year (I did not attempt last year, I had a newborn, I did little or no baking), I was really excited to successfully make them and share the wonderful goodness with everyone. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make my own caramel to go in them. I am just telling you now, it is not a good idea. just deal with store bought caramels and unwrapping them. That is all I am saying about that. Oh, and I left out the chocolate chips... which is good in the end, I didn't waste them.

Then I cut two fingers on our new bread knife... so I have banned myself from the kicthen the rest of the night.

So here is the delicious recipe and I hope you have more luck than I do with them. Maybe I will have to have my mom mail me some this year.

Caramel Pecan Brownies

4 squares  Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1 pkg. (14 oz.)  Caramels, unwrapped
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups Pecan Halves, divided
1 pkg. or two cups chocolate chips
 

Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, extending over edges to form handles. Generously grease foil.

Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Stir sugar into chocolate mixture until well blended. Mix in eggs. Stir in flour until well blended. Spread 1/2 of the brownie batter in greased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until batter is firm to the touch.

Meanwhile, microwave caramels and cream in microwavable bowl for 2 minutes or until caramels begin to melt. Stir until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of the pecan halves. Gently spread caramel mixture over baked brownie batter in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pour remaining unbaked brownie batter evenly over caramel mixture; sprinkle with remaining 1 cup pecan halves.

Bake an additional 30 minutes or until brownies feel firm to the touch. Cool in pan. Run knife around edges of pan to loosen brownies from sides. Cut into 24 squares.Theses are super rich, so be sure to make the servings small!

25 Days of Treats: Hopscotch

I am in big trouble. I have purposely never asked for this recipe from my mother-in-law for a reason. Here is the story:

I was 7 months pregnant with my first child, and we were spending Christmas with my in-laws. My mother-in-law always has lots of good treats at her house during the holidays, but I didn't care, I was pregnant! So, for some reason there were treats stashed away in the laundry room, I am assuming they were there so he counter wasn't filled up with treats and goodies all day. Anyway, I found the hopscotch, and anytime I felt the need, I went into the laundry room and ate one. Well, near the end of our stay, someone asked where the hopscotch was, and I was like, "oh in laundry room, didn't everyone know that?" Silence... "Am I the only one whose been eating them?" More silence.... then laughter! I ate almost all the hopscotch by myself. Now that I think about it, I don't remember my in-laws having any hopscotch any other time I have been in there in the past 6 years... I wonder if they hide it from me?

Finally I have the recipe, now I need to not eat them all. Not only do these ooey gooey treats taste great, they are super easy to make! This recipe has been handed down from my husbands grandmother, and one that I will be sure to pass along to my grandkids someday!

Hopscotch

1 cup butterscotch morsels

½ c. peanut butter

2 cups chow mien noodles

2 c. mini marshmallows

Melt peanut butter and butterscotch morsels in a double boiler, (or in the microwave).

Stir until blended. Add noodles & marshmallows until coated. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto

waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Chill until firm.

25 Days of Treats: Butterscottch Cookies

This is another favorite cookie recipe from my mom. She makes these the same way she does the cranberry white chocolate chip cookies: tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough, squish in the butterscotch chips. Tonight I also made them just like I made my cranberry white chocolate chip cookies! These are very delicious.

click here to get the basic dough recipe, just substitute the white chocolate chips and cranberries for butterscotch chips !