In Whoville They Say...

WARNING: After the consumption of these tasty Grinch Cookies, your heart will definitely grow three sizes and you'll be overcome with the true meaning of Christmas. Side effects may include speaking in rhyme, changing your last name to Who, and possibly eating a roast BEAST.

You can't say I didn't warn you. 

Grinch Crinkle Cookies

Source: Cookin' Cowgirl

You'll Need:

1 18.25oz box French vanilla cake mix

6 T butter

2 eggs

Green food coloring (I used 60 drops)

1 C powdered sugar

1 t corn starch

Now click here to follow the Cowgirl's procedure for baking these little gems. 

I hope everyone's holiday has gotten off to a great start. Squeeze your families and keep them close. I know I will!

Sweets are Good For the Soul

In a past life, Paula Dean and I were sisters. We both have a knack for making things that are just terrible for you.  Like Paula, you probably won't find many recipes around me that will help you with your diet. Oh well! I enjoy making sweet treats and bringing them to group gatherings. I also enjoy eating them myself.  

For the first day of school (a month ago -sheesh!) I made a batch of red velvet crinkle cookies. By the end of the day, the plate was clean. Which could mean one of two things: 

1. People were so hungry on the first day of school they ate the first thing they found (aka my cookies)

2. People enjoyed the sweet little treats!

Let's hope for conclusion number 2. 

Here's the recipe I followed thanks to the Novice Chef. Hats off to her blog and brilliance. 

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

• 6 tablespoons of butter (If Paula followed my blog, she'd be smiling right now)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 box of red velvet cake mix
• powdered sugar 

Click HERE to follow the chef's directions. 

A Newly Converted Baseball Fan

I've never really been a baseball fan. Now, before you throw darts at me... hear me out! Okay, I admit it, I don't have a great reason for not liking baseball. I just never really got into it. Sorry! Sorry! I've seen the light, I'm a changed woman.

Now, I've turned over a new leaf and vowed to enjoy baseball. I am pretty excited about this! Especially since I was invited to attend Opening Day festivities this weekend for the Cardinals! Lucky me, huh? I took my first step as a Cardinals fan and bought a new t-shirt and tonight I took step numero dos. I dipped a batch of oreos into almond bark and made the ugliest looking cookie baseballs, ever.

I love baking and trying out new things, but I'm certainly not a culinary artist. If a chef walked into my house right now, they would slap me silly for torturing these poor cookies. I've never preached "perfect" or "beautiful" with anything I cook, so this was just another cooking day for me! The uglier the better I say.

Keep in mind, I only photographed the decent ones.

I surrendered to the icing and failed to put the extra lace on the baseballs.

Icing you win this round! I'll conquer you next time. (Maybe. Let's be honest, probably not.)

Gooey Thursday

Yesterday, I wrote a nice little poem wishing that we wouldn't have a snow day and apparently my poems and door decor have reverse affects. So, that means I'm sitting on my couch watching Hoda and Kathy Lee updating my blog on a Thursday morning.  I was supposed to be teaching my kiddos about animal life cycles, but I got a nice little phone call at 6:00 that said, "Stay in bed, Ms. Furnell." Just kidding, it didn't sound exactly like that. 

I'll be staying indoors today!

This weekend, I experimented with a couple of yummy recipes. Since I've got time to burn today (and laundry to fold ..yuck!) I'll be doing a few posts to catch up on lost time!

Prior to college, I had never had the infamous "Gooey Butter Cake". If you're a native of the St. Louis area, you probably want to slap me. Why did it take me so long to find out about this cake? Don't ask me! My good friend Ali took it upon herself to introduce me to Gooey Butter Cake on my 20th birthday and there was no looking back.

Merriment Design posted an easy to follow guide to making your own batch of Gooey Butter Cookies.

Gooey Butter Cookies
What You Need:

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 package of yellow cake mix
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Now click here to follow Merriment's post to make your own yummy batch! I highly recommend eating them as soon as they come out of the oven with a glass of milk.

Who wants to take bets on whether or not we have school tomorrow?

You Spin Me Right 'Round

One thing that I've never been able to do is make sugar cookie cut into cut little Christmas shapes. No matter how hard I try to roll out the dough and cut neat little designs... it just doesn't work out in my favor. I will leave the sugar cookie cuttin' to my sister. She's practically a pro and I can always look forward to her delicious cookies at Christmas time.

Despite my inability to make cute little cookies that look like angels and reindeer, I've been determined to find Christmas cookies I CAN make. I like to call that persistance with a dash of procrastination (I wasn't exactly ready for the weekend to end).

As always, I found a blog to save the day! Baked Perfection posted her spin on Hershey's classic Candy Cane Blossoms. While chatting on the phone with my friend Ginger, we decided to bake together from miles away. She oh-so-rudely moved to Orlando and out of my driving zone. Sheesh! I still love her anyway!

Baked Perfection

Candy Cane Blossoms

recipe from Hershey's

1 bag Hershey's Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Red and Green colored sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies.

My KitchenAid and I seriously had a moment (or two...or three) during this cookie making experience. If you are a reader, you may recall the day I got my KitchenAid. It was a glorious and happy day! Since work/school/life has been so hectic lately, my 'aid has been put on the back burner. Not tonight! We made a mess and had a splendid evening. Ahhh.. Feels good to have her back. 

Etsy

Quickie Cookies

Back to Schoolio

Today was the first day of school! Not only was it the first day but it was my first day in 5th grade!! Well second if you want to get technical.. I was a school child, once! Since Alissa wasn't here to take my photograph before I headed out the door, I was forced to set my camera on my microwave and photograph myself. At 6:30 this morning I realized that my camera doesn't "stand alone". Oh well! here you see my first day photo at approximately 6:40 AM.

For some odd reason, cooking and crafting have always been a de-stresser for me. A short break from reality where I can enter into a weird twilight zone. After school, I was in the mood to bake.... so I went for it!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that I love me some Nutella. It's delicious in every way. I'm having deja vu... oh that's right, I've already had my "dedication to Nutella post". I'll spare you the details.

Guess where I found this fantastic idea for Nutella Cookies? Oh yes, you guessed it! PINTEREST! Click here to visit A Busy Nest to view her site and recipes.

The best part about this recipe is it only requires 4 ingredients. Woot woot! Four is a pretty easy number to handle (even for me).  I had to use splenda because my sugar was MIA.

Runaway Egg

Four Ingredient Nutella Cookies

1 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingedients together well. Form into 1-inch balls.  Place on cookie sheet. Press down firmly with bottom of floured glass. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool.

A Busy Nest photo

Is yum even necessary? You know these bad boys were/are t-a-s-t-y.