Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have never made peanut butter oatmeal raisin cookies. I know I love all of the ingredients and I LOVE monster cookies, so why wouldn't these be good?
Norris reminded me that I often eat my morning oatmeal this way--with peanut butter and raisins mixed in--so of course it's good!
This is just a link so I don't forget about these because they are one of my favorite cookies I've ever made or eaten.
http://www.food.com/recipe/peanut-butter-oatmeal-raisin-cookies-446915

Cranberry Orange Pistachio cookies

During our holiday break (which was nice and long), we took breaks from packing to cook and bake. Pretty fun way to spend the day! This made our Christmas treat list and I loved the flavors in them. Don't skip the orange sugar--really adds to it. Plus, they're pretty and festive!

Cranberry Orange Cookies

Orange Sugar:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

Cookies:
1 cup sugar
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
½ cup pistachio nuts
1 tbsp freshly grated orange peel

Heat oven to 350F.
Combine all orange sugar ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well mixed. Set aside.
Combine 1 cup sugar, butter and egg in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until well mixed. Add all remaining ingredients. Continue beating just until mixed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in orange sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass to 1 ½-inch circles.
Bake for 7 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.(DO NOT OVERBAKE). Cool 1 minutes; remove from cookie sheets.

Source: Adapted from Land O’Lakes Holiday Cookies 2005
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Apple Cider Baked Donut Holes

Fall in a bite! These are really great. We couldn't keep our hands out of them. If you run out of butter or don't want to use butter, you can roll them in cinnamon and sugar without it, but be warned you won't get as much coating. We also made a pumpkin version and they're amazing as well. They're baked, so they're healthy, right? :)
Link to recipe

Light Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

I spotted bags of key limes at my grocery store for $1 a piece, so I had to snag a bag. No idea what I was going to do with them, and didn't realize how much extra time it would take to juice that many little limes instead of a couple big ones, but I was determined to make something out of them. Same store sold blood oranges for super cheap in the spring. Just have to know where to look there!

I really liked this ice cream--tangy and tastes a lot like key lime pie. I think it definitely needs a little crushed graham cracker on top of each serving just to make it taste more like the pie. It was so easy and doesn't require the patience of cooking the mixture, then waiting for it to cool, THEN freezing it. Just mix and freeze, and you could even eat it as soft serve if you don't want to wait for the second freezing step...you could have homemade soft serve key lime pie ice cream in less than thirty minutes! This is a perfect summer treat!

Light Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

serves 6

 

1 1/2 c 2% milk

1/2 c key lime juice (can use bottled)

1/2 c heavy whipping cream

dash of salt

14 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk

2/3 c crushed graham crackers, divided
lime wedges, optional

Combine milk, lime juice, cream, salt, and condensed milk with a whisk. Freeze in an ice cream maker, then stir in 1/3 cup graham crackers, then freeze until solid. Serve with remaining crushed graham crackers and lime wedges.

from Cooking Light

Marshmallow Pops/Rattles

My mom has a good friend and coworker who tears it up at cake pops. Her creations remind me of Bakerella's site--all sorts of cute things. I made them once and I couldn't get the shape right and they were a ton of work and I gave up! I admire her patience and skill! Since I don't have that, I went with marshmallow "rattles" for the shower. These were a fun table centerpiece and really could take the place of flowers if you were trying to cut a cost. We (well, it was really my mom's idea!) bought a super cheap sand pail, put a can of green beans and some tissue paper in the bottom to weigh it down, then jammed a tissue-paper-covered styrofoam circle in the top to poke the sticks in. Right before putting the stick in the styrofoam, we put a little square of colored saran wrap for some extra pretty at the base.It worked out great! These are a rush of sugar, so don't plan on more than one per guest. They would make a great back-to-school night or birthday party treat. One suggestion I saw online was to dip them in chocolate, then coat with graham cracker crumbs. Like a s'more on a stick!  

Marshmallow Pops

enough lollipop sticks for your marshmallows
however many marshmallows you need
white almond bark (I needed about 2/3 of the regular sized package to do 30 "jumbo"--not throw pillow!--size mallows)
sprinkles (more than you think you'll need! we used about two containers of them)
waxed paper

Put mallows on sticks--don't put the stick all the way through, but as close to the top of the mallow as you can.
Melt almond bark according to package directions.
Dip and roll mallow on stick in melted almond bark. Shake off as much excess as possible. Roll in sprinkles, then place stick side up on waxed paper to cool.


Fiskars

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

One of my very favorite people is going to have a baby soon, so we recently had a baby shower to celebrate! I hosted with two other girls and it was a breeze to plan (all via email from different cities!) and so fun to have so many of her friends in the same place. We had it at 11 AM, so we went with brunch food and the theme was the colors--bright-ish coral, pink, yellow, orange, and green. I'll share some of the decor pictures, too--I hope I can figure out how to make the poms like she did!!
When I was looking for a muffin or bread to try for the shower, I had a few different recipes picked out. Heath bar coffee cake, cinnamon-sugar muffins....they all sounded good but weren't quite right and weren't sounding like something the mom-to-be would just love. We went to the lake for a weekend with the family and our cousin made this cake and I knew I had to make it and that mom-to-be would love it! Well, we all loved it and there was only a tiny bit left, and that was probably because we were all being too polite to eat the last. This stuff is excellent! It's also really pretty with the blueberries throughout and the sugar sprinkled on top. It's definitely not a healthy breakfast by any means, but it's a great indulgence that you'll probably pull back out for dessert the very same day!

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon

7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**

1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup buttermilk (or 7 1/2 Tbsp milk + 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar..stir and let it sit for about five minutes before using)

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

from Alexandra Cooks

Monster Cookie Dough Dip

It's almost a joke now...."did you see that on Pinterest?" It seems like every time someone brings something new to a get together, it's from Pinterest! I have found lots of great things on there (and, as I was talking about with my cousins, plenty of totally wrong things that we hope people don't actually believe!). This was one of those great things. My parents hosted a great 4th of July party and they made all sorts of great food. My dad made this dip and it was really, really good. I have told my monster cookie memories before, so I'll just get straight to the recipe. Make this for a crowd because you won't want it all in your house...dangerous:)
I feel like you could pack some more oats into the recipe, too. The site I saw it on suggested forming half of it into a ball and freezing it if you don't need the whole recipe. Great idea!
It was great with graham cracker sticks, regular animal crackers, and chocolate animal crackers.

Monster Cookie Dough Dip

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Cup Oats (regular or quick)
1 Cup Miniature Plain M&Ms
1 Cup Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips


Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth. Stir in brown sugar and powdered sugar, mixing well. Next fold in oats, m&ms and chocolate chips


as seen on Skip to my Lou...no idea of the original source

Happy 30th Anniversary to my parents (and buttercream icing recipe)

My parents celebrated 30 years of marriage on June 5, so we celebrated them with a family dinner. Norris smoked chicken breast, which was the best chicken I've ever eaten in my whole life (no stretch...it was that good), my grandma brought a blueberry spinach salad with an excellent blueberry vinaigrette (will get the recipe from her!), my aunt brought macaroni and corn, and we rounded it out with garlic bread, soy glazed green beans, and wedding cake. I saw the idea for the cake decorating on Pinterest when searching for yellow cakes, and had to run with it. I think I got pretty close! (used Wilton #104 tip) We all loved the cake. We did the whole bit--the champagne toast and the cake feeding. Happy Anniversary to my lovely parents!

For the cake, I did three 8-inch layers with buttercream in between. I froze the layers, then leveled them, did a crumb coat, then a final coat, then used the tip and two slightly different shades of yellow for the decorating on the outside. It was my first time working with the #104 tip and it was fun to use!

Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, room temperature
~4.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (clear if you are making white icing)
1/2 tsp almond extract
~2-3 tbsp milk or cream


Mix butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add flavoring and cream until you reach your desired consistency (I use a little thinner for the icing of the cake, then a little thicker when using decorating tips).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

Swimsuit season doesn't seem like the ideal time of year to make cookies, but the way I look at it, it's like portion controlled dessert since they're packaged into portions already!! :)
These were great--both the guys and the girls loved them. Perfect combination of sweet and salty, especially when you add in the chocolate chips. As with most other cookies, underbake these just a touch, then let them cool about a minute on the baking sheet to set up, then cool on a wire rack and you'll not only have the perfect taste combination, but you'll also have the perfect texture combination--chewy on the inside with the crunchy pretzel on the outside!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

makes about 30 cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chips
~8 cups mini pretzels, chopped

Cream butter, sugar, and peanut butter for about five minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
Add in eggs and stir until combined. Add in flour mixture and stir until combined.
Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips.
Place dough in refrigerator to chill for at least thirty minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Place chopped pretzels in a small bowl.
Make dough ball using small ice cream scoop. Place dough ball in pretzels and roll around, sticking the pretzels to the outside of the cookie. Place on lined/sprayed cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for about one minute, then finish cooling on cooling rack.

adapted from Rachael Ray

Chocolate Class

Another soccer season and school year is over and summer has begun! I ate a lot of cheese quesadillas and sunflower seeds for dinner. With Norris coaching track at the same time, there were weeks where one of us was gone every night, so on Sundays it was pretty much a "see you Friday!" planning of our week.
The end of this school year was bittersweet. I am moving on to a new district next year. I have been teaching in 259 since I started, but am excited to move on to my new school. It's the same district Norris teaches in and I have a great department waiting for me there. I'll miss having my sister at the same school. It was fun having two of my closest friends in the building with me with her and another friend. I'll miss my department, also. I'll really miss a lot of my kids, especially my advocacy class. I've had them since they were freshmen and they just finished their junior year. I've watched them grow up a lot and have really enjoyed them. The day they left was the day the tears started flowing! However, I am certain I'm making the right move and am anxious to start the new journey.
Enough sap, on to the fun stuff. We had ProStart teacher training two days this week and one afternoon was spent at a local chocolate shop. The owner is a master chocolatier and was really knowledgeable about her stuff. It also helped that she's pretty funny and easy to be around! They had things set out for us to create our own chocolates and we had fun doing that. We made champagne truffles with sparkle sugar and chocolate truffles covered in ganache with colorful transfers on top. I definitely didn't perfect the process, but it was fun and I got a few good ones!
We also got to try the rarest chocolate in the world, Fortunado (top center...the only one that doesn't look like a piece of candy). It was so, soooooo good. I have no idea how much it costs and know that we can't get it from anywhere, so I'll just enjoy it while I have it. She told us that this is "what chocolate is supposed to taste like" and everybody else is just trying to get theirs to taste like this. It was awesome!

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

We had this at a coworker's baby shower and everyone wanted the recipe--it's so good and perfect for showers and get togethers (perfect because then you don't eat it all yourself). She got it from her sister in law, who got it from Pinterest, so I don't know who to give the credit to, but I wish I knew so I could personally thank them! I am so guilty of licking the bowl of cake batter when I make a cake...I like it better than the baked cake. This is just like it, but without the risk of foodborne illness from raw eggs. This is great served with vanilla wafers, animal crackers, pineapple, and strawberries. I am sure it would be good on just about anything!! Also, you could use any flavor of cake mix that you like--devil's food would be a great fluffy chocolate dip for the same dippers, lemon would be a pretty springy option, or whatever your favorite flavor is would probably be really good, too!

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

2 (6 oz) cartons fat free vanilla yogurt
1 (8 oz) tub light cool whip
2/3 of a box of funfetti cake mix (she said she used the whole thing, but I thought it was plenty flavorful with just 2/3 of the box....plus, this way I can make it in tiny batches in the future:)

Beat all ingredients together for about three minutes. I liked it better after it was refrigerated for at least an hour. It gets fluffier and I thought it was better that way. But hey, I'm not saying I didn't eat it right after I made it...

Blood Orange Sorbet

The two grocery stores closest to our house are Walmart and a locally owned grocery store. I prefer to give the local grocer my business and go there as often as I can, but sometimes they just don't have what I need. They do always have a better produce section and I was surprised and excited to see bags of blood oranges on sale for 49 cents (per bag!!) a few weeks ago. I don't know why they were so cheap, but I was really excited to see them and for that price! I had seen some different blood orange recipes, but the sorbet immediately popped in my head when I saw them at the store.
Sometimes the freezer is where things go to die in our house...leftovers that we didn't love that I think I'll take for lunch in the following weeks, leftover pancakes, even items from friends freezers as they were moving that we thought we would use instead of waste. This sorbet did not go to die in the freezer. I enjoyed it thoroughly and was a little sad when it was gone because I don't know when I'll be able to purchase blood oranges again. You could use any citrus fruit juice--regular oranges, grapefruit (yum!!), lime, lemon, whatever you think sounds good. It's a great dessert for this warm weather--it's perfectly light and refreshing. Plus, it's easy to make!

Blood Orange Sorbet

1 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons sparkling white wine, optional (I used some leftover Riesling)

First--be sure you freeze the container of your ice cream maker for the recommended amount of time!
Combien 1/4 of the blood orange juice with the sugar over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in remaining blood orange juice and white wine. Chill thoroughly, then freeze according to ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions.

from Dave Lebovitz via Annie's Eats

Dark chocolate espresso mousse with coffee zabaglione

The title is a mouthful and you'll be happy when you get a mouthful of this. I'm not supposed to play favorites, but this was my favorite part of all of the competition recipes (and you can tell I liked all of them and really loved some others). The kids really enjoyed this one, too and most were surprised they liked dark chocolate so much. It takes more time than stirring up a boxed cake mix and tossing it in the oven, but it's so worth the extra effort. You can easily divide into steps and have it prepared ahead of time. Do yourself a favor and indulge in this sometime soon!

Dark chocolate espresso mousse with coffee zabaglione

Serves 4

Mousse:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 cup Ghirardelli espresso dark chocolate (use bittersweet chocolate if you can't find this)
1 large egg white

Zabaglione:
1 egg yolk
1 whole egg
1/8 tsp sugar
1/3 cup hot water
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup half and half

Whipped Cream:
use cool whip or hand whip 1/2 cup cream with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp honey

4 chocolate hazelnut straws ("pirouettes")

Chop two hazelnut straws into 1/2 inch long pieces.

Mousse:
Put chocolate in a heat resistant bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the cream, sugar, and espresso powder until the sugar is dissolved and the cream mixture is hot, but not boiling. Pour hot cream over the chocolate and blend until the chocolate mixture is smooth. Add the egg white and beat for one to two minutes, until thick. Stir in the chopped hazelnut straws. Transfer the mousse to serving glasses and put them in the refrigerator to chill until firm, about two hours. (can leave overnight)

Zabaglione:
Combine water and espresso powder and set aside.

Set up a double boiler. In a metal bowl, combine egg yolk, egg, sugar, 2 Tbsp of espresso (from the water/powder combination), heavy cream, and half and half. It should become frothy. Continue whisking until it reaches a batter consistency.


Transfer the bowl of zabaglione to a bed of ice to let the zabaglione cool and set. Stir periodically to keep a smooth consistency. Once zabaglione is cool, place in refrigerator.

Assembly:
After mousse has set, top with zabaglione and return to refrigerator. Allow to set for thirty minutes. Top with whipped cream and garnish with hazelnut straw. Return to refrigerator until ready to serve.

Pink Lemonade Cookies

Spring is clearly here--it's soccer season and our first tornado watches were this week. We'll have a few more days of cold weather (and maybe even some snow, who knows), but it seems as though we escaped a bitterly cold, snowy winter this year. Signs of spring and summer are also popping up in stores--swimsuits and Easter treats are out and I spotted this NEW product last week while walking the baking aisle! I normally like to make cookies from scratch, but I was so pumped to see pink lemonade cookies that I had to have the mix. They were selling lemonade frosting in cans to go with, but I already had leftover canned frosting from cake balls, so I made my own. These were so good! Mom, since our grocery store always has all the good flavors, I'll have to get you this here if you want it:) (she never can find the good flavors of marshmallows I'm always telling her about!)

I just followed the instructions for the box of cookie mix, except I used 75% of the butter it called for and they turned out just fine. Underbake them a little--you want them to be soft!
For the icing, I took a 1/2 can of vanilla icing and added the zest and juice of a lemon (depending on the size of your lemon, you may use less. start with half and adjust to your taste preferences). Perfect pair!


In cute dog news, this is the way they rode back from Topeka last weekend. Always have to be touching each other!! (they're at my feet right now sleeping and, of course, are touching each other)

Little Slugger's Baby Shower (and cream cheese icing)

My friend/coworker is having a baby within the next few weeks and our department was honored to host a shower for her. They are doing the nursery in baseball/Yankees theme, so we went with it for our party. Another friend/coworker made some cute invitations with a baseball theme and then we got together to make the sweet treats for the shower. It was right after lunch on inservice, so we just served dessert. The shower turned out great and the mom and dad to be both enjoyed it!

We used scrapbook paper in baseball themes to decorate the table. The punch was supposed to be blue, but once we mixed in the flavorings, it was green, so we went with it. We decided it tied in the green of the grass on the cupcakes:) We rimmed the punch cups with a little corn syrup (hard to get sugar to stick to plastic) and blue sugar. To make blue sugar, I just put 1/2 cup of sugar in a mason jar along with about 5 drops of blue food coloring and shook it up. It looked like our department was serving margaritas at a school baby shower:)

For the treats, we made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and devil's food cupcakes with buttercream. The friend I decorated with had the great idea to make grass as the icing and then put our baseball picks in them. I found the baseball picks at Hobby Lobby for a great price and the monogram picks in the clearance section! We were planning on making them, so I was a little relieved to find them already made at a great price.

Cream Cheese Icing

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp butter, softened
~4 cups powdered sugar
~3 tbsp milk
splash of almond or vanilla extract

Cream together cream cheese and butter for about two minutes with electric mixer. Add in powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, then milk. You may need more milk depending on the consistency you're going for. Add in the flavoring. Whip icing for about two minutes to incorporate more air. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Owl Birthday Cake

A fun night with a girlfriend making a first birthday cake definitely went better than either of us expected! Her sweet baby girl is turning one in a couple of days and was an owl for Halloween, so an owl themed birthday party was a perfect fit. We made a two layer lemon cake with chocolate buttercream between the layers, iced it with white buttercream, then put store bought pink fondant over it. We made the owl out of rice krispies, then iced her in different colors of buttercream (we stuck the head to the body with toothpicks and those are the only stabilizers we needed to use). The letters are glittery sticky letters that we "glued" with buttercream. We made about 30-40 cupcakes in varying colors to go with her and they turned out really cute! This was a really fun project!

White chocolate peppermint fudge brownies

This title seems wildly inappropriate for a January 3rd post, but I forgot to post it during the holiday season and don't want to forget about these!

A friend posted a picture of her holiday treat plate on facebook and I had to know what these little beauties were. She shared the source with me and we put them on our holiday baking list. I am sure glad we did because I really enjoyed these and I finally have a homemade brownie recipe that I really like! 

In the past, I've tried homemade brownies and they just never quite did it, but these are it: fudgy, rich, decadent...all the qualities of a perfect brownie. I definitely won't wait until next holiday season to make these brownies again, but I'll try out some new toppings...the caramel/pretzel topping I've seen floating around sounds pretty spectacular!

The parchment overhang is a really handy technique for taking the brownies out without butchering them. But if you're like me and want to pretend you didn't eat any because you just ate the ones that didn't come out very well, forget the overhang and just spray that pan!

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge Brownies

from Real Simple

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/3 cup chopped peppermint candies (about 15 candies)
• 
  
• Heat oven to 350° F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with 2 crisscrossed pieces of parchment, buttering in between and leaving an overhang on all sides; butter the parchment.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and semisweet chocolate. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined (do not overmix).
• Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.
• In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave the white chocolate and oil in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Spread on top of the cooled brownies. Sprinkle with the candies and let set.
• Holding the paper overhang, lift the brownies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares (4 rows by 4 rows).

By Dawn Perry,  December 2011

Fruitcake Fudge

Another Gram and Granddad special! I think Granddad would eat fudge every day if he could:)
When I was little (actually, I was never really "little" since I was 5'2" in 4th grade,, so let's say "younger":), my uncle Steve owned a store called the Fudge Factory. Gram and Granddad would let me help work the cash register, which I remember thinking was so cool. They would pour the fudge out on those giant marble tables and it was a thing of wonder as a kid. I'm sure now somebody would complain about child labor if they saw me back there, but I'm so glad I have those memories!
Here is a new fudge flavor. I love the idea of dried cherries, pistachios, and apricots all in one place. Gram says the sour cream adds just enough balance to the sweetness of the fudge and has just enough of a taste to make someone wonder what it is, but definitely not taste the sour cream. Plus, it's pretty colors! This would look beautiful on a holiday sweets tray. Grandma, maybe we should add this to our holiday treats list????

White Fruitcake Fudge

(from a magazine or newspaper...we were looking at it over Thanksgiving break!)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pistachios 

3/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup raisins (used dried cherries)

2  cups sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter

12 oz. white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

!.  In a bowl combine walnuts, apricots, cherries. Reserve 1/4 cup.  

   Line a 9 X 13 baking pan with foil; extend foil over edges of pan. 

  Butter the foil.

2.  Butter sides of a heavy 3 quart pan.  In pan combine sugar, sour cream

  and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils.

  Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan.  Reduce heat to medium - low; 

  Continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, stirring occasionally, until

  thermometer registers 236 degreesF  (18 to 20 minutes)

  Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil.

3. Remove pan from heat.  Stir in chocolate and marshmallow creme. 

   Continue stirring until chocolate is melted and mixture is combined. 

   Stir in fruit  and nut mixture.  Immediately spread fudge evenly in prepared pan.  

   Top with the reserved 1/4 cup fruit and nut mixture.  Chill fudge until firm. 

   Use foil to lift fudge out of pan.  Cut fudge into squares.  Store in refrigerator. 

   Makes. about 3 pounds or 117 one-inch pieces.

Almond Toffee

Gram and Granddad (my grandparents on my dad's side) are always trying out new recipes, especially sweet ones around the holidays! I'll share a couple of the most recent ones they have sent me. I always wish I had these treats already made and sitting on my counter! :) I love love love toffee, so I was really excited to see this recipe! They even put the toffee on a Santa plate to photograph it:) The journalism teacher in Granddad was definitely coming out for this shot!

Almond Toffee

from Better Homes & Gardens

(click the words "almond toffee" to go check out the 5-ingredient recipe!)

Happy Thanksgiving!... food crafting

We made a different kind of "turkey dinner" in class today. The kids had a great time making them and they turned out so cute!!

I got the idea from the internet and changed up some of the suggestions. What we used:
sliced almonds for the turkey
caramel ice cream topping for gravy
white icing for mashed potatoes
yellow food coloring gel tube for butter
round sprinkles for peas/corn/cranberries (cranberries not on this one)
the sprinkles that come on the top of the funfetti icing canister are multi colored and shaped, so they picked the orange discs out of there to make sliced carrots
yellow cupcake with a little icing "glue" to glue one of those super cheap cookies on (which worked perfectly size and structure-wise!), then icing for the plate to get the food to stick.


These were a hit! They would be fun at the kids' or adults' table:)
Happy Thanksgiving!