Christmas Ideas

Here's just a few ideas for wrapping, gifts, food, etc.

Smore's bars!

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

PS-I doubled the recipie for a 9x13" pan, and got 3 of the hershey bars. Worked perfectly!

Homemade Vanilla

Scroll to bottom for recipe.

As we all know, pure vanilla extract is super expensive...but if you make it yourself it doesn't have to be! And you can make a lot at a time.

All you need is, a glass bottle, three vanilla beans, and some alcohol (either vodka, rum, or bourbon)

(for those of you are freaking out right now because of the alcohol, don't worry because you are using this in really small doses, just like you would regular vanilla extract, and they alcohol content will cook out of your recipe anyway.)

Anyway, I purchased a vial of three madagascar vanilla beans for $8.99 at Penzey's spices here in Clackamas...however I'm sure you can get them at more places. Online would probably also be a great place to get them. As for the alcohol, you can pretty much use whatever you want because you won't taste that much of it anyway.

You'll need to take the vanilla beans and slit them all the way down with a knife, that way the flavor will infuse the alcohol. Then pour in your alcohol, and that's pretty much it. It will need to sit for at least three weeks, giving it a good shake every few days.

The vanilla beans will be good for approximately one year, so you can keep pouring in more alcohol up until that time, waiting about two weeks each time you use it again.

I hope you all enjoyed this!

Tea for Four

Just a little tea party I threw for the girls in my Wednesday church class.

Love & Chocolate...mostly Chocolate

So most of you who know me, know that I'm not the biggest chocolate person. I mean, I like it...but it's not my favorite. But these two kinds of chocolates...are the BOMB!!!

These are available from costco during Christmas time only. Sooooo good!

Belgium chocolates from my parents for Christmas;-)

Paula's Volcano Cake

I found this awhile ago on pinterest. I've made it three times since then. It's that good!

*SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR RECIPE*

Servings: 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 55 min
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Add to grocery list

Cream mixture:
1 8-ounce softened cream cheese
1 stick butter, room temperature
2 cups 4X or 10X sugar

Cake:
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup pecans
1 (18.25-ounce) box German chocolate cake mix, prepare by following direction on box
10 bite-sized almond and chocolate covered candy or candy of choice
Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

For the cream mixture:

Beat ingredients together with an electric mixer. Set aside until ready to use.

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch cake pan.

Line bottom of greased pan with coconut flakes. Sprinkle pecans on top of coconut. Set aside.

Follow directions on back of box to prepare cake. Beat for approximately 2 minutes, using an electric mixer. Fold in bite-sized candy. Pour into cake pan. Evenly space dollops of cream mixture on top of the cake. When the cake cooks, the cream will sink down to the bottom. This will be your “volcano” of flavor. Place in oven for 40 to 45 minutes. While cake is still hot spread the glaze evenly over the cake.

For the glaze:

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in cocoa powder and add milk until you get a thin consistency. If glaze is too thick, add more milk. While bringing the butter and milk mixture to a boil, whisk in confectioners’ sugar and almond extract. Glaze should be thin. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before using.

White Velvet Cutouts: Recipie

This is hands down my favorite sugar cookie recipe. They always turn out so soft and smooth! I think the secret is the fact that there is cream cheese in the batter. My mom found this from a Taste of Home magazine, years ago! And I still make them, because they're that good. 

*SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR RECIPE*

Emily enjoyed helping me!

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  BUTTER CREAM FROSTING:
• 3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• 3 to 4 tablespoons 2% milk, divided
• Red and/or green food coloring, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Cover and chill 2 hours or until firm.
• Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut into 3-in. shapes; place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until set (not browned). Cool 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool.
• For frosting, combine 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk in a large bowl; beat until smooth. Gradually add remaining sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add enough remaining milk and food coloring until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost cookies. Yield: about 7 dozen.

Now, I don't know if it's because I make them too thick, but this only seems to make about 4 dozen for me. Only, hahha.

Easy Divinity

I found this from a website called cooks.com

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1 pt. marshmallow cream
Pinch salt
1/2 c. nuts

Combine sugar, water and salt in saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil 2 minutes. Place marshmallow cream in large mixing bowl and pour hot syrup over it. Stir until candy loses its gloss (about 5 minutes). Add nuts and drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper.

Christmas Crack

All I can say is wow. This stuff is amazing. And very easy.



Terribly Terrific Toffee
1 cup unsalted butter (no margarine allowed)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
40 saltine crackers

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Lay a flat layer of crackers out on the foil. Melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until mixture is thickened and sugar is completely dissolved. Pour this mixture over the crackers and spread to coat evenly. Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the toffee becomes bubbly. After removing the pan from the oven, let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips, let them soften and melt, and then spread them into an even layer. (You can add nuts, cracker crumbs, or whatever else floats your boat at this point.) Let cool and, if desired for expediting purposes, refrigerate until hardened. Break into pieces the size of your choice. I personally prefer a hand-sized chunk.

Day Seven: Fruit

I am doing two days of the challenge today because I'll be gone for the weekend.

Also, the main subject of this photo was actually the tripod which I got for my phone. And for only $3.77 you can get one here. 

But I did think the two bowls of fruit in here was pretty cool;-)

Disney Grub

Shane and I had our date night in California spend at the Jazz Kitchen. Oh it was soooo good. I had some horseradish encrusted salmon with shrimp, cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives. Shane had some kind of brazen beef in a bed of mashed potatoes with some sort of creamy beef reduction. I think it was the most expensive dinner we've ever had.

And this is the chocolate volcano cake. Enough said.
These were both from Rainforest Cafe.

I forget what this was called. But it was super good, it consisted of whipped cream, ice cream, cookie crust, heath bar, and chocolate! 

Add caption

These were both really great. We got these at a restaurant in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. Top, is of course, chowder in a bread bowl. And the bottom, good old Jambalya. Sooo good.

Cleaning House and Playing at the Park

So, I've been helping Aunt Sandi clean her house.
One of the perks is going to Typhoon! MMM
Our Wednesday class went to the park. Here's CJ;-)
And Emily and Hailey.
They enjoyed the swings.

S'mores Cookies

All I can say is that I made 36 cookies and they lasted approximately three hours.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

MMM.
Here are all the ingredients.
Cream together the butter & sugar.
Add eggs & vanilla until well blended.
Or until you get something that looks like this.
Add cocoa, salt, & baking soda.
Gradually add flour. Mix until it forms dough.
You may want to use a metal spoon, or a THICKER wood one.
Add white chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease some baking sheets.
Drop teaspoon fulls onto cookie sheet.
Cook for about 6-8 minutes.
Enjoy.
Holy cow. That's alot!