Cookie Party

This week we will be trying out some Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars. Wednesday, 315.

I Was THAT Guy

Early Saturday afternoon I found myself enjoying New Moon with a couple in-laws. It was great; I enjoyed it all. Although there was one part that was not my favorite and caused a few dirty looks and I'm sure numerous bad thoughts to be directed at me.

I turned off the volume on my phone before the previews - all the way down, not even set to vibrate. And then, what happened? Near the end of the movie, my phone started singing!! I couldn't believe it. The people next to me did a few huffy breaths "How DARE she!" And as I struggled to open the zipper pocket that held my phone (and conveniently, it was stuck and took me several minutes to get it unstuck). Of course, I didn't try to answer the phone - I turned it off before I got the pocket open - and then decided that I had better turn it off all the way to avoid any more ringing. Too bad I didn't remember that my phone sings as it powers down!! Ridiculous!!

After the movie was over, I looked and guess what?! NO MESSAGES, NO MISSED CALLS!! I couldn't believe what was going on!

So I did a little investigating, and what did I find? I had an appointment on my calendar, complete with an alarm set so I wouldn't forget the note that I left myself. Too bad I didn't know that silencing the phone only silences the ringer - not any other alarms.

If you happened to be in the Lewiston theater for the 1 pm show, I apologize for the interruption, and have turned off the extra ringers permanently on my phone.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Filling

Sorry, no picture today - I forgot until it was too late. But the cookies turned out to be delicious, and the red color was very pretty.

1/2 c butter, soft
1 c packed brown sugar
2 Tbls unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour (I added an extra 1/4 cup after the 1st batch came out of the oven)
1 1-ounce bottle red food coloring, or 2 Tbls

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Alternately add flour and buttermilk in several increments, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Stir in red food coloring.

Spoon dough from a rounded measuring teaspoon 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool on sheet 2 mins, then move to wire rack.

When they are cool, spread Peppermint Filling on flat sides of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, flat sides down, pressing lightly together.

Peppermint Filling -
In large bowl, combine two 3-ounce packages of cream cheese**, softened; 3 Tbls butter, softened; and 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. Beat with mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 3 cups powdered sugar. Add milk, 1 tsp at a time, to make a filling of spreading consistency. We also crushed up some peppermint candies and added it to the filling (the recipe says to put them on top, but we liked it inside).

**I think this is too much cream cheese - our filling turned out pretty good, but you could definitely tell there was cream cheese in it. I think next time I would use 1 1/2 packages of cream cheese.

To store, layer the cookies between sheets of waxes paper in airtight container. Store in fridge up to 3 days. Let stand at room temp 15 minutes before serving.

Next Cookie Party

This week we will be making Whoopie Pies!! Isn't that a great name for a cookie? My magazine has about six recipes to choose from, and the one that won out this week is Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Filling.

Come on over Thursday at 330 to play, talk, and enjoy some delicious cookies.

Latest & Greatest

We've got great things happening at the Grossman house!

James has been offered and accepted a job for after graduation in May!! We are super excited to know what we are doing and where we are headed.

Where, you may ask? Michigan! We've never been there, but hear it's a great place. And next summer we will know what it's like to live there.

And who is this great job going to be with? Leprino Foods, a major mozarella cheese manufacturer. We have heard and seen great things about them, and James is looking forward to working for them.

Woohoo!! What a great feeling.

Mint Crinkles

Obviously I messed up the name in the last post, BUT the cookies are pretty good.

3/4 cup finely chopped layered chocolate mint candies (about 24) - I used Andes mints

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

extra mints for the tops, chopped (I think I used 12 or so, but next time I would use a few more, probably about 15-17)

In a heavy small saucepan, heat and stir the 3/4 c chopped mints until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on med to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt; beat until well combined. Beat in cooled chocolate, eggs, and vanilla.** Beat or stir in the flour. Cover and chill 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

(** So my bowl is kept in a cupboard that stays really cold, and it was still cold when I was using it, and it made the chocolate get hard pretty fast when I added it, so some of the cookies had big chunks of chocolate when I was rolling them into balls - just something to watch out for)

Preheat oven to 350. Roll into small balls, about 1 1/4". Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, or until edges are set (the tops should crackle - hence the name). Sprinkle a few pieces of the remaining mints on top of each cookie and pop them back in the oven for 1 minute. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 36 cookies (this is pretty accurate - I ended up with 33).

Store between layers of wax paper in tightly covered container. Store at room temp 24 hours or freeze up to 3 months.

Enjoy!

Cookie Party #2

It's about that time again...we will be doing Mint Crispies (or something that is really close to that) on Friday at 330. Come on over and bring your kids if you've got them!

Thankful Advent Pieces

I know a few of you wanted to get the list of "We are thankful" activities for my fall advent calendar. If you are interested, you can get the list HERE.

Even if you don't put together a calendar or a book like I did, it's still a fun list of things to do during each November.

Ginger Cookies

Thanks to everyone who came over yesterday to make cookies; Maiby and I had a great time, and the cookies turned out really well. I had to change recipes because right before people showed up, I looked at it again and saw it was supposed to be chilled for 2 hours, but I had another Ginger Cookie recipe that I'd never tried before. They are delicious! (We didn't use the glaze.)

Frosted Ginger Cookies

3/4 c butter, softened

1 c white sugar

1 large egg, beaten

3 Tbls molasses

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 c flour

1/4 - 1/2 c white sugar for rolling

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350

In mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Mix in beaten egg. Add molasses and stir until the mixture is uniform in color.

Add the baking soda and salt, and stir well.

Sprinkle in the spices. Stir until they're thoroughly incorporated.

Stir in one cup of the flour, mix it all up and then mix in the 2nd cup of flour.

Measure out 1/4 c sugar and place in small bowl. When it gets low, add more as needed.

Break off pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls. Roll in sugar and place on greased sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the sheet and then move to wire rack.

When they are cooled, make the glaze.

Combine the sugar and juice. If it's too thick to drizzle, add more juice. If it's too thin, add more sugar.

Drizzle the glaze on the cookies.

Let the glaze dry before you store them. It should take 20-30 minutes.

YIELD: 6-7 dozen (although we ended up with 4 1/2 dozen yesterday)

This recipe came from one of my favorite authors, Joanne Fluke. She writes murder mysteries about a lady that runs a cookie shop in Minnesota, and after every few chapters, there is a recipe. I have copied down about 30, but only tried 3 or 4, but all that I have tried have been delicious. I definitely recommend the books. So far there are twelve, and she has a website: HERE.

This recipe was found in her latest book, Plum Pudding Murder.

Christmas Cookies

I have a magazine that is filled with a ton of recipes for different Christmas cookies, and I have decided to attempt making a new kind each week to test them out. If anyone is interested in coming over tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) at 315, you are welcome to chat and have the kids play and test some cookies fresh from the oven.

This weeks cookie: Gingersnaps

Halloween & an old project

So, almost 2 months later, here is a picture of the project that I was asking for the fabric scraps for. I made a doll blanket for Maiby, using yoyos and buttons to sew them on. I have never quilted a blanket before, so don't look too closely; it was made with love.
For Halloween, Maiby and I dressed up as Thing 1 & Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss. I figured that since she likes matching so much that the only way to get her to wear a wig was to wear the same thing. I made the wigs from some yarn (and if anyone in Moscow wants the remaining yarn, I don't crochet, so it's available). We had a great time at the ward party, but we didn't take any pictures there.

You can see a bit of the baby bump in this one.

Such a cheesy grin!