Merry Christmas!

M&M Christmas Cookies

I 

 I absolutely love M&Ms. I grew up getting spoiled on them from my Grampie. In fact, in their house, even to this day, there is a little cross stitched thing that says I love getting M&M's at Grampie's House. While my Grampie hasn't been around for the last ten year and this is my first Christmas without my Grammie, I wanted some small way to celebrate my memories with them. (My sister is going to cry if she reads this, so maybe I should just tell her not to right now!)

This is my part of the What's Baking? group for December. Our theme this month was Holiday colors and these cookies definitely fit the bill. I also have a habit of baking cookies every Thursday for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!!

M&M Christmas Cookies
(recipe adapted from this recipe on Sing for Your Supper)

 

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 tablespoons milk, optional

2 cups Holiday M&M’s

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.(I used my Silpat- honestly, these are a great investment!) Cream together the butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined. Add the egg, mixing until smooth.
Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat again until smooth.

Add the flour, mixing it in completely. 
Stir in the milk, then carefully stir in the M&M’s.

Drop the cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2″ apart.

Bake the cookies for 14 to 16 minutes, or until they’re a light golden brown, and a bit darker around the edges.

Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool right on the baking sheets.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Crackers

I had a quest this year to make one homemade treat as a present for my family members. My sister's boyfriend had asked me to find a recipe for Caramel Puff Corn a few years ago and I had never found one until this year. However, time has gotten the best of me. My sister had told me that he was currently in love with Chocolate Covered Ritz Peanut Butter Crackers.  The crackers were definitely something I had to make! They were super fast and easy and I hope he loves them!

(Luckily for me he doesn't know I found the Caramel Puff Corn recipe AND his birthday is next month so I can make it then!)

Recipe can be found here

(I used chocolate candy bark though because that's what I had in my pantry!)

Help! Me! Please!

I entered the December Kitchen Corners Cookie Cook Off and I would LOVE your votes. I entered the Red Velvet Cookies!

To enter you need to go to 

www.kitchencorners.com

and VOTE for the Red Velvet Cookies...

please... puh lease..... pretty please

Homemade Gift Idea-- Candied Pecans

I LOVE these darn things. In fact, I've been making these pecans since I was married to my ex-husband (Cam's dad). Every year he would get a 5 pound bucket of pecans for Christmas and his mom and I would try to find every way we could to use those pecans up! We would be making praline pecans, pecan pies, pecan whatever we could find with the name in them! 

They are very similar to the ones you find at the mall but so much better!

Candied Pecans

1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups pecans
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg white, vanilla, and water until frothy with mixer. Add pecans to egg white mixture and fold together until well combined. Mix sugar, salt, and cinnamon together and coat the pecan mixture with the sugar mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheet for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. You will want the pecans completely dry when they come out of the oven.

Recipe from Homegrown Heaven Bound Cookbook

Week 12 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies- Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

Week 12 has finally approached. I really can't believe that we have made it all the way here! It has been a blast seeing everyone's cookie traditions and getting to know the different bakers!

I have a tiny tradition when I go to Cracker Barrel, that I always get one or two of those lovely chocolate andes mints. I love those little mint chocolates and loved them in this recipe! The cookies were a great blend of mint and chocolate!

Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

(recipe adapted  The Novice Chef)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Andes mint chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (flour through salt).

In a seperate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, and mix until combined.  Gently fold in the mint chips.

Drop the dough by teaspoon-fulls onto a greased  baking sheet.  (I used my silpat!)

Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack.


Linked up to I'm Lovin It at Tidy Mom

Thursday's Homemade Gift--Hot Cocoa Bread

I am so happy to have found Abby's Sweets and the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies. I have found many great friends and enjoyed a wonderful experience blogging with everyone! Abby had posted this recipe a few weeks ago and I thought it would be a great bread to make into mini loaves.

It made a very thick batter, which I was surprised at but I loved how the marshmallows added a fun experience to the bread too!

Hot Cocoa Bread

(adapted from Abby's Sweets)

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together with a mixer the cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix again. Add the cocoa powder and about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk; mix well. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the marshmallows) and stir to combine. Stir in the marshmallows.


Spoon into a greased loaf pan. 

This makes a large loaf–use your largest loaf pan. I made mine into mini-loaves and made approximately 5 loaves.
Bake at 350-degrees for one hour.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

So as a mom, I have to do this post.

My oldest son, Cameron, is TEN today. I really can't believe that he's as old as he is because he still wants to be my little man sometimes but I am so proud of the young man that he is becoming. The last 4 months have been tough on him. He lost a great-grandparent, a grandparent and then moved all within a month of each other but luckily he's been great through it all. 

I LOVE YOU CAM AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

P.S. He is my child that isn't shy and loves that I have a blog so if you want to say Happy Birthday I will show him the posts! 

Wednesday's Homemade Gift-Peanut Butter Fudge

 There is nothing better at the holidays than a really good piece of peanut butter fudge. My mom would always make a peanut butter fudge at the holidays but it was more of a Chocolate Peanut Butter fudge because it was just melted Peanut Butter and creme drops candy.

I loved this fudge and loved how easy it was to make!

Peanut Butter Fudge

from Erin's Food Files, who adapted from Alton Brown, Food Network

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Directions:

Microwave peanut butter and butter together for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high again for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Pour into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Place another piece of waxed paper on the surface of the fudge and place in fridge until cool. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Homemade Gift Idea #2 -- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

Yeah. I know. Not much of a ball. BUT they are sooooo good and this gift was someone specific. The person these were made for likes Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies so I hope that she likes the dough balls. It reminds me of the chocolate chip cookie truffles but more of a cookie form. It was also nice that the recipe didn't call for anything out of the ordinary (for my house anyway).

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

adapted from What Megan's Making who adapted from Peas and Thank you

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer until fully incorporated.  In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flours. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl and mix until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Scoop dough with a mini ice cream scoop, roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. They’ll still be soft and look much like they did going in, but don’t overbake. The bottoms will be very lightly browned. Let the dough balls rest on the pan for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Fabulous Fudge--Homemade Gift Idea

Homemade Gifts!

I can remember as a child my mom always trying to rush around and make some holiday treats for her co-workers and our teachers and never really had the opportunity to make my own until this year. Some of my friends that live far away will be getting these treat boxes. I love the design on them!

I'm making quite a few items this year and will be featuring each item on a different day this week! So Stay Tuned for all the recipes!

Monday- Fabulous Fudge

Tuesday- Peanut Butter Dough Balls

Wednesday- Peanut Butter Fudge

Thursday- Hot Cocoa Bread

Friday- Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

Saturday-- Candied Pecans

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and has all their Christmas shopping done (because I sure don't)! 

 

 

 Fabulous Fudge

Ingredients

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (eagle brand is what we call it down south, whether it is the "brand" or not!)

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I just added Kosher salt)

1 cup chopped nuts- (This is optional- however, fudge is so much better with nuts! I added Walnuts to mine)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions

In a heavy bottom  pan over low heat, melt all of the chocolate chips with the sweetened condensed milk and the salt. Remove from the heat, stir in the nuts,  and the vanilla. Spread evenly into a foil-lined 8 or 9-inch square pan. Chill for 3 hours, or until firm. Remove the wonderful fudge you just made from the pan and place onto a cutting board. Remove the foil from the bottom of the fudge and cut into squares. Store, covered, in the refrigerator or freezer. 

adapted from Anne Thornton's recipe on Food Network 

Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to....

Liz at the Flowering Dogwood!

I've sent you an email!

And thank you to everyone who entered! It was fun seeing what everyone is and wants to bake this Christmas Season! 

P.S. My boys want the Star Wars Cookie Cutters too!

Week 11 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies-- Red Velvet Cookies

Welcome to Week 11. We are now officially in the heart of the Christmas season! What a wonderful collection of cookies we've had and we are finally on the next to last week!

Sometimes there is nothing better than a big, fat, slice of Red Velvet Cake. And the best part is the CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. So why not in a cookie?!?!?

I've had this recipe bookmarked for the entire time we've been baking cookies and the planets, stars, the good Lord's intervention whatever you want to call it has finally come together that I have all the ingredients in my house to finally make these cookies. I really wanted to send these to my friend Brian, as his birthday was last week and he loves red velvet cake, but the girls at work got them instead because I was afraid of what would happen with the cream cheese frosting!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends Saturday!

Red Velvet Cookies
(adapted from this recipe on Betty Crocker's website)

1 pouch sugar cookie mix

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon red food color

1 egg

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 tbls. softened cream cheese

4 tbls. softened butter

1 tbls. milk

2 cups confectioner's sugar

Pre-Heat oven to 375°F.

In large bowl, stir cookie mix, cocoa, butter, sour cream, food color and egg until soft dough forms.The dough will be very thick.

Roll cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool a few minutes and remove from cookie sheet to a wire rack.

Cool completely (about 15 minutes).

Combine cream cheese and butter until well combined for frosting. Slowly add confectioners sugar and milk. Beat until well combined.

Frost cooled cookies with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and store tightly covered at room temperature.



Also Linked to Christmas Cookie Exchange on Life in Grace and
Pleasant Home and I'm Lovin It Fridays on Tidy Mom and the Kitchen Corners December Cookie CookOff and Tasty Tuesdays on Beauty and Bedlam

Help Me Win a Bet

My dear, loving husband doesn't think that I can use all of this within 6 months. So we made a bet. And he doesn't make bets unless he knows he is going to win. Now we didn't really set terms of the bet so I don't know what will happen if he loses (because I am going to win!) ..... BUT

I need help!

How can I try to use this up?!?!? Any ideas!?!?!?

Pumpkin Muffins (that might change your life)

(Please don't judge this recipe by my horrible photography skills.)

A good friend sent me this recipe and the original post says that this recipe will change your life. Living in house where I am the only one that likes pumpkin, it's not that life changing BUT it is still a wonderful recipe! I took these into work and we all loved them! The muffins have a cake like texture but are still moist and the cream cheese just adds a little something to them.

Pumpkin Muffins

(adapted from Little Birdie Secrets)



2 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. coriander ( I didn't have any so I increased the cinnamon to 1 tsp.)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 eggs

2 c. sugar

1 c. pumpkin (puree not pie filling!)

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling

6 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

1 Tbsp. sugar

Topping

3/4 c. coconut

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Mix in dry ingredients, stirring until moist.
 
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add egg and sugar. Beat until well mixed.
 
Combine all topping ingredients together.
 
Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups until about half full. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese filling on top. Fill muffin cups with remaining batter. Muffin Cups will be extremely full. Spread batter to edges of cups. Sprinkle generously with topping. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and let cool. Enjoy!





Also Linked to Tasty Tuesday on Beauty and Bedlam

Making Lists

Most people that know me in real life, know that I am HUGE list maker. Sometimes these lists get accomplished and sometimes they don't but having a list is at least my attempt at doing things I want to do.

This is my list of things I want to bake (in the next week too-- and this is just HALF of my list!)

Pumpkin Muffins (that will change your life)

Hot Cocoa Bread

Homemade Marshmallows (maybe some eggnog or chocolate covered ones too)

Candied Pecans

Caramel Corn with Fleur De Sel (I won a Foozie box and this was in it and OMG SOOOO GOOD!)

Week 10 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies! -- Meringue Surprises

As unhealthy as it is, I could literally eat my weight in meringue.

I love the fluffy white stuff (but not on banana pudding)!

Have you ever heard it as cow slobbers?!? 

(Yeah, me either until I moved to Kentucky but that's the only place I've ever heard it called that!) 

As I was looking for a recipe for this week, I am really happy I found this one. These little gems are like little puff balls of sugar with bits of chocolate in them!

Meringue Surprises
(recipe adapted from Home Grown,Heaven Bound cookbook)

2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

(I used a few squirts of food coloring to give some color to them which of course is optional)

Combine egg whites, vanilla, and salt. Beat until stiff. Beat sugar in gradually until satiny and stiff. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Drop by teasponfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees.

Chocolate Crescents

 While some people may not consider this a holiday dish, I first remember seeing it in the December issue of Southern Living 2003.This recipe has always been a favorite of mine and something that I wanted to serve at my Crescent party but I ran out of time! This would be something great to make with leftover Christmas candy. I remember making them one time for a Valentine's Day treat! 

 

 Chocolate Crescents 

(recipe adapted from this recipe on My Recipes)

Ingredients

• 1  (8-ounce) package refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 24  HERSHEY'S KISSES or HUGS Chocolates, unwrapped
• Powdered sugar

How to Make

Unroll crescent dough and separate each dough portion along center and diagonal perforations, forming 8 triangles. Place 2 chocolates, points up, on wide end of each triangle; place a third chocolate between the 2 chocolates, point down. Starting at wide end of triangle, roll dough over chocolates, pinching edges to seal. Place rolls, sealed sides down, on an ungreased baking sheet. Shape into crescents.
Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve crescents warm after cooling for about 3-5 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.

My First Giveaway!

 Contest is now over!! Winner will be announced soon!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it is on to my favorite time of year! I have a long list of things I want to bake, of gifts I need to get and what my family wants for Christmas and I need to get my Christmas tree up! But in honor of the holidays I am holding my first giveaway!


This is what you will get if you win!!


-- Your choice of the Winter or Classic Baker's Bootie from Bake It Pretty






-- a McCormick's spice baking set



AND





-- a $25 Williams Sonoma gift card!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

Tell me what you can't wait to bake for the holidays!!

If you want extra entries:

-- Follow me via Google Friend Connect

-- Tell me what you would buy with the Williams Sonoma Gift Card

-- Blog about the giveaway and link back to your blog post

(The giveaway will end Saturday, December 11th and winner will be drawn by random.org. I personally purchased all of the items for the giveaway.Please be sure to include an email address somewhere- in the comment or blogger so I can contact you if you win!)