Baking for the Holidays Part 3

Cocoons~~

I've saved the best for last!!

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 tbsp. water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 tbsp. sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Cream butter, add sugar, water & vanilla. Blend well. 

Mix in flour. Add pecans.

(And one more time with the happy face!!)

One spoon of mix rolls into size & shape of "cocoons" or peanut shape.

Bake on cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar

Here is the finished product! Minus a few cocoons from my husband & son eating them up!!

These are incredible!!

And so easy to make~~

Enjoy~~

Baking for the Holidays Part 2

Chocolate Chip Cookies~~

Another "So Easy~So Good" recipe~~

~~Ingredients~~

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

(to dissolve baking soda)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

(I left the walnuts out~I like my chocolate chips with chocolate chips only!!)

~~Directions~~

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with the salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips (and nuts if you are adding them).

And there is my happy face again helping with the Holiday baking!!

Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. I use this 

medium size scoop. It makes the perfect size cookie~~not to big, not to small.

Bake for about 10 minutes in preheated oven or until edges are nicely browned                                    (that's what the recipe calls for but I had to bake my cookies longer than this)

This recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies!

I have one more recipe to share with you and I promise~~I saved the best for last!!

Baking for the Holidays Part 1

~~Sugar Cookies~~

I don't bake every Christmas but when I do I bake a lot...A LOT! It seems that I spent lots of time in my kitchen this Holiday season. I baked before Christmas for Christmas gifts to friends. I baked for Christmas Day to bring desserts for our family get together and I baked for New Year's Eve to bring sweets over to a friend"s house. 

Besides baking a chocolate cake (from a box mix) and ordering pecan pies, there were 3 recipes I used for my Holiday baking. 

Here is the 1st one (I'll post the other 2 in the next couple of days)~~~

Sugar Cookies~~

Ingredients~~

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions~~

In a large bowl, cream together butter & sugar until smooth

Beat in eggs & vanilla

Stir in flour, baking powder & salt

It helps to have a happy face in the kitchen to help out!!

Chill dough for at least 1 hour (or over night)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface

1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.

Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet.

(I put mine fairly close together because they don't spread out that much while baking)

And I added sprinkles (because I really like sprinkles!!)

Bake for 6 - 8 minutes in preheated oven

Cool completely.

This recipe makes LOTS of cookies!!!

I even added a little lemon flavoring to half of one batch. My husband loves lemony desserts

so I made these especially for him. 

So sugary good

and so easy to make!!

These would be great for Valentine's Day treats!!!

Let me know if you try this recipe!!

Enjoy!!

Red Velvet Cakes!

I found this fun, cute recipe in the Jan./ Feb. 2012 issue of Phyllis Hoffman CELEBRATE magazine. I attempted to make them exactly like the cover photo. (Yea Right!) But they did come out pretty good and they taste great!

Here is the recipe:


RED VELVET CAKE HEARTS WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

Ingredients~~


1 (18.25 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Garnish: confectioners' sugar


Direction~~


Spray a 15 x 10 inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick baking spray with flour. Line pan with parchment paper.


Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a cutting board and cool completely. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 24 hearts. Cut hearts in half horizontally.

In large bowl, combine cream cheese and butter. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

.


Turn hearts cut side up. Pipe cream cheese onto center of 12 hearts, and top with the remaining  12 hearts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Garnish with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Behind the scenes shots~~~

I tried using a large Fleur de Lis cookie cutter but it didn't work out so well.

A last minute thought was to use a small circle cookie cutter along with using the heart cookie cutter. 

The small cutter works best. I'll have to get a smaller heart cookie cutter for next time!!

And of course there is always the big mess left behind. But I think it was worth it! My husband thinks so too!!

One more thing~~~

The cute bookmark I used in the 1st picture is from

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/index.jsp

I got them for Christmas. Not sure if they are still available

They are so cute and so retro looking!

Love them!!

Hope you try this recipe for your Valentine!!

I am linking up to 

http://www.niftythriftythings.com/