Day 8 Holiday Baking: Mormon Chocolate Chip Cookies (MONSTERS)

These cookies are MONSTERS. And they are delicious. My dad got this recipe years ago from a woman he worked with and she called them Mormon Chocolate Chip Monster Cookies. She was a Mormon as well, and said she made them for every Youth conference and Stake Activity. My dad tried one at a work function and said he was walking away from the potluck table with like 6 cookies in his pocket.

CREAM TOGETHER:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks pre softened butter
1 TBSP Vanilla
2 eggs

In a separate bowl, combine the following:
3 cups flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda

Add this dry mixture to the creamed butter little by little.
Dough will be HEAVY.

Add :

3 cups Chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Drop Large scoops onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, or until done.

these need a large, COLD glass of Milk.  And when I say they need milk, I mean like 2%. Skim milk wont cut through these babies!!
Santa will really appreciate a nice hearty chocolate chip cookie like this one!!

Day 7 Holiday Recipes: CAKE MIX COOKIES

3 ingredients. Thats it.  You choose your flavor, you choose your toppings. These are so easy, yet delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box of cake mix. (You choose flavor.  White, Yellow, chocolate, they all work)
• 4oz Cool Whip
• 1 egg.

Mix everything together until it forms a ball of sticky dough.
Using powdered sugar on your hands, roll dough into balls and then roll them in the topping of your choice.(powdered sugar, chopped nuts, coconut, cinnamon sugar, sprinkles etc). Or you dont even need to roll them, they are good plain as well.
Bake at 350 on a greased baking sheet.  10 to 12 minutes.
Cookies will look soft, they will continue baking off the sheet. Cookies are chewy.

Great combinations:  Chocolate cake mix rolled in chopped pecans
                                 yellow cake mix rolled in powdered sugar
                                 strawberry cake mix in powdered sugar
                                 chocolate cake mix rolled in coconut and pecans
                                 White cake mix rolled in Andes peppermint crunch baking pieces
                                 carrot cake mix rolled in white sugar
                                

                                

Day 6 Holiday Recipes: BEST EVER BROWNIES

This recipe is courtesy of my sophomore year at USU. We were looking for some brownies and kind of followed a recipe on the back of a generic chocolate chip package. It was good, but after a little tweaking, this is what we came up with. YUM!

Semi Sweet chips work best, but you certainly can substitute the milk chocolate if you choose.


INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 cup chocolate chips, whole.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In mixing bowl beat together softened butter,  and sugars. Mix until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, beating well.
Add melted chocolate and mix. Gradually add flour mixture. When all flour is incorporated add the whole chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until edges have set and knife test comes out clean.

Dust with powdered sugar.

HOLIDAY VARIATION:  A great Holiday variation is to stir in 1/2 cup  whole chocolate chips and 1/2 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips.  It gives it a nice minty zing to it. Or you can do 3/4 cup of the Andes pepperming baking chips only.

Day 5 Holiday Recipes: Peanut Butter blossoms with hershy Kisses

This is a recipe that everyone knows and loves. These are the Thumbprint Peanut Blossoms with Hershey Kisses. These are my brothers favorites. My mom makes them just for him every year and gives him the Lions share of them.

These are pretty simple, the unwrapping of the kisses is the hardest part of the whole process.
Actually the hardest part is keeping my kids form eating the unwrapped kisses before I even get started baking.



INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 TBSP milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

You will also need a small dish set aside with a few TBSP of granulated sugar in it AND a bag of Hershey Kisses, unwrapped and ready to go.

Beat together shortening and peanut butter until well mixed and smooth. Add the sugars, beat until likght and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla, beating well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt, gradually add to the Peanut Butter mixture. When all the flour is incorporated, roll the dough into 1" balls, and roll in the white sugar you had set aside.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  you want the edges to be golden brown. Immediately upon removal from the oven, press an unwrapped Hersheys Kiss into the center of the cookie.  The edges will swell up around the kiss slightly and crack.

Cool Completely.

ENJOY!

day 4 Holiday recipes: PB and Butterscotch deluxe krispie treats

This is a recipe my grandmother made EVERY CHRISTMAS.  These were the treats that got devoured first. they are so delicious and addicting.. Not your traditional Krispie treats, as there is no butter or marshmellows. Trust me when I say there will be no leftovers and people will be licking the pan trying to get the last few crumbs.


CHOCOLATE/PEANUT BUTTER and BUTTERSCOTCH KRISPIE TREATS

1 cup corn Syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup creamy peanut Butter

6 cups rice Krispies


In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter. Stir until melted and smooth.  Heat until boiling, , let boil for 2 minutes only, stirring constantly,  then remove from heat and pour over  the rice krispie cereal. Mix well until all the cereal has been coated evenly.
Press into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

On top of this sprinkle chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, place in oven set at about 250 or so.
When these chips melt enough to spread, remove from oven and spread the chocolate/butterscotch over the top It will all swirl together, creating a most delicious topping.
Cool completely and then cut into squares.
prepare to not be able to resist these.

Day 3- Holiday recipe: Sweet Potato Bread

This delicious recipe is a variation of Pumpkin Bread that I found in the Lion House Cookbook. I used their bread as a base and "tweaked".
Thanks to excess rain, courtesy of Mother Nature, there was actually a pumpkin shortage this year. No biggie, just substitute sweet potatoesor squash for the pumpkin.
Cut sweet potatoes in syrup make a nice hearty bread, and it isnt the vegetable you use, it is the spice you use to season it. the sweet potatoes are a little sweeter than pumpkin, so you dont need as much sugar as regular pumpkin bread.  Your can will say Cut Yams, but they are sweet potatoes.
.
This bread is so moist, and stays moist thanks to a secret ingredient. The crust kind of carmelizes a tiny bit, making it even better. It goes exceedingly well with walnuts (nuts are optional. Some like them, some people dont or are allergic. It is up to you)
This makes 2 loaves.

SWEET POTATO BREAD

1 1/3 cup vegetable oil
5 eggs
15oz can of  cut yams/sweet potato (drained and mashed. If you want, you can even rinse the potatoes)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large box Vanilla instant pudding (about 6 ounces or so)
1 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Mix together oil, eggs and sweet potatoes. add flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and baking soda. Mix well. Mix in the vanilla and  vanilla pudding. If adding nuts, do so at this time as well.

Put into 2 greased loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Dont let it get too dark. If the knife comes out clean, take it out. Let it sit in the oven too long and the crust gets really dark and chewy. So just watch your loaf. All ovens are different and I start checking mine at about 45 minutes.
Let bread sit for a few minutes before dumping out of pan.
It is VERY moist, so be careful about cutting it to quickly after removing it from the oven.
after cooled, wrap in Plastic or foil to store.

ENJOY!
If you arent adventurous enough to try the sweet potatoes, remember you can use pumpkin and increase the white sugar by 1/4 cup.

Day 2 Holiday Baking- 7 Layer cookies

Day 2 Holiday recipe-

These are a hit ANY time, not just the holidays.

7 Layer Cookies

Crush a 1 block package of Graham crackers to make crumbs (about 8 or so)

melt 1 stick of butter and mix with cracker crumbs.

Press this mixture into a 9x13 pan, making a bottom crust.

On this crust evenly distribute the following, in the order as listed:

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

Take 1 can eagle Brand condensed Milk and pour over entire pan, making sure everything gets covered evenly.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 30-45 minutes until the milk has become a golden caramely brown.

these will be bubbly and sticky when you first take them out, so let them cool!

Cut into squared and enjoy!!

2 weeks of recipes. DAY 1 SNICKERDOODLES

It is the Holiday Season and so  this is the time of year I do a lot of baking.  I like to make a large variety of treats and put together goodie plates and take them around to friends and family.
This recipe, I believe I posted it last year, is always a super duper hit.  These are the most delicious snickerdoodles. They are just the right amount of sweetness, without being overly so.  They are puffy and crackle the right way on the top. They are moist and buttery and the cinnamon and sugar is just perfect.

Try them for yourself.

So for the next 2 weeks I will be posting various Holiday goodie recipes, please check back for more and let me know if you make anything and how they turn out!!


SNICKERDOODLES

1 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Put flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla.
gradually stir in flour mixture. Your dough will be stiff, yet slightly sticky.

On a plate combine 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 TBSP ground cinnamon.
Flour your hands and take heaping tsp of dough. Roll into balls and roll in the sugar mixture.

Place on baking sheet 2" apart. (I usually spray my pan with Pam first)
Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges have set and bottoms are a golden brown..

To keep these soft I place them in a gallon size ziplock with a slice of white bread.

Lafayette, LA Day 2

So Saturday morning we met at a place called T-Coons for breakfast. It is called "zydeco cooking".
We had Beignets. Then i had a sweet Potato Pancake with pecans and a local syrup, which was a brown sugar and molasses concoction (called Steens). It was delicious.
We then went to the conference and with the Legers told our story, and thanked the coroners who "said yes".
I was crying, the Legers were crying, the coroners were crying. It was really a great experience. Hopefully this will be something they will remember when they are faced with organ donation possibilities.

We went to a place called Incredible Pizza for dinner.  It was kind of like a Cici's Pizza buffet mixed with a dave and busters/chuck e cheese.  They had bowling and mini golf and bumper cars and go carts and a zillion games. It was fun.

This morning we are meeting the Legers at Meches Donut King for some donuts and they are sending us home with a King Cake.  We are heading home this morning.
I am sad to leave. I always wish we could stay longer when we see them.

Lafayette, LA Day One.

http://www.katc.com/player/?video_id=1395&zone=4&categories=4


Long Story Short: We are in Lafayette, Louisiana right now at an Organ Donation Collaborative.
Today we went to Lafayette General hospital and awarded them with a National Medal of Honor.
We did a little interview with several news stations, and this was the first story to air.

ugh stupid double chin. And Finn INSISTED on having that d*** balloon with him the whole time. I feel like I spent half the interview pushing it out of the way. he is lucky I didnt pop it...but I didnt want a meltdown of epic proportions on camera for the world to see.

After the meeting at the hospital we went out to Lunch at Prejeans  we had fried Crawfish(yum), Frog Legs (it DOES taste like chicken) and Alligator. It was delicious. A very cajun meal, complete with Boudin balls, etouffe, and gumbo.

We finished off the night going Bowling. It was so much fun and the boys LOVED it.  We stopped off at Whattaburger on the way back to the hotel.

right now it is snowing and sleeting outside. Tomorrow morning we are meeting everyone for breakfast and heading over to the collaborative.

a busy, emotional day today but I am so glad we are here doing this.

HEY!!!! I NEED YOUR HELP...CALLING ALL BLOGGERS!!!

so perhaps I'm an enabler, but I cannot stand watching the withdrawl anymore. The shakes. The irritability, the whining and crying. The constant trips to the store., the hunting high and low...
My husband is ADDICTED to the Dollar Tree Wintergreen mints. We have only been able to find them at Dollar Tree.
They are called Icy Breeze wintergreen breath mints.  They look like tic Tacs.
We can no longer find them anywhere around here. They are very hit or miss. They come in a 4 pack and are in a white and green packaging.  We can find the orange flavor and sometimes the peppermint, but the elusive wintergreen is making me crazy. If I have to stop by the DT one more time "just to check" I will kill myself.
I was hoping to find some for christmas to give to him. They dont sell them online, trust me I have googled everything. I have gone to various websites, ebay, candy companies, even to dollar tree online. They are not to be found. Of course the employees at DT dont know when they will get them in either.

So if anyone happens by a dollar tree and sees them, please pick up 5-10 packs(depending on what is available) and I will reimburse you for everything plus shipping and send you some lip balm as thanks as well.
Shoot, if there is only 1 or 2 packs available I will take what I can get. 
I need all the help I can get. I want to get him like a year supply.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!