Cookie Mix in a Jar

As gifts for my Baby Shower Hostesses, I made these and thought they turned out great!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix In A Jar
by:Nestle Meals.com

Ingredients In the Jar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Quart Canning Jar


Filling the Jar
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Place flour mixture in jar. Layer remaining ingredients in order listed above, pressing firmly after each layer. Seal with lid and decorate with fabric and ribbon.


Recipe to Attach 
Preheat oven to 375° F. Beat 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter or margarine, 1 large egg and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until blended. Add cookie mix and 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional); mix well, breaking up any clumps. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.


Tips:

• After a test run, I measured out all my ingredients into separate bowls so that I could setup an assembly line… Mom was helping. 
• I found that it was best to slightly pack the flour after placing in the jar. 
• When layering in the chocolate chips, spoon them in gently (as opposed to pouring them in fast) so that they don’t sink into the flour. 
• You can play with the layering… I did two jars as flour, chips, brown sugar, flour, chips, brown sugar and two jars as flour, chips, brown sugar.  The second approach filled the jar better, probably because I packed the flour too much in the first approach (pictured). 
• The key is to always pack brown sugar on top of the chips if you are going to put flour on top.  Otherwise, the flour seeps down into the cracks between chips. 
• And always pack brown sugar as the last layer to seal everything together.

I did a test run of the full recipe before starting the project to make sure the cookies were actually good… they were.  To finish off the jars, I tied a cute spatula around with cute ribbon.  They turned out pretty cute!


Thanks to Suz, Jenn, Whit and Steph for a great shower!

Happy Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras!

I had white, yellow and green leftover icing from my Super Bowl Cookie Cake so I decided to make some purple to celebrate Mardi Gras and some pink for Valentine’s.  I think the two events go together perfect… I know that there is a lot of LOVE going on down in the Big Easy with more than just Mardi Gras to celebrate.  With the Saints Super Bowl win so close to Mardi Gras, no doubt the past week and the coming weeks will be some of the craziest ever in New Orleans!
These are nothing fancy… Slice and Bake cookies, Wilton Butter Cream.  But oh so good!

Baking for Sports... Will this be the year?

Will this be the year that the Rockets finally make it past the first round of the playoffs? I know they have done it before -- they've won the whole thing -- but not since I have been a fan. It's time... I'm ready.

Last year, I made a NBA Playoffs Cookie Cake to support two of my teams... the Rockets and the Hornets. They both won the night I made the cake so I am hoping it works this year too. The Rockets are one game away from the Second Round. They have to win this game or it's back to Portland and I fear what that will mean.

My cookies are nothing new for me... Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix with Wilton Buttercream Icing (medium consistency). I didn't work too hard on my decorations... you can see the white icing is pretty messy but I thought my Rockets logo was pretty good for a quick, late night project.
Of course, the most important characteristic is that they taste DIVINE! I know my co-workers will be very pleased with me!

Go Rockets!

A Red Velvet Valentine's Day

Last week I posted about finding Bakerella's blog and making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies.  Since then, I added Bakerella to my Google Reader so I can see what new goodies she posts.  This week, she posted a couple of different Valentine's treats.  One was a little above my skill level since I haven't moved to Fondant yet -- and to be honest, Fondant is not my favorite.  

Then she posted Easy and Easier Valentine Treat and I was sold -- Ryan likes red velvet cake, red is perfect for Valentine's, a cookie sandwich always wins me over.  And, the recipe used a box cake mix so I didn't have to buy much.  It was very easy and the ultimate reward... Ryan said it might be his new favorite cookie!!!  I think they will become a regular for "red holidays".

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

from Bakerella

1 Box red velvet cake mix

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Roll spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls and place on baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool.

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.

Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Ice bottom of one cookie and place another cookie on top.

Since I didn't know how the cookies would turn out, I decided to split the cake mix in half and make half cookies, half cake.  I followed the cake mix directions (cut in half) and reduced the baking time by about 5 minutes.  I used the remaining cream cheese icing and sprinkled with red sprinkles. 

Christmas Baking - Part 2 - Ginger Cookies

Everyone's family has that one thing that IS Christmas.  And most have some sort of baked good that their Mom or Grandma always made.

Growing up, at Christmas time, Mom and I really only baked one thing with consistency--Iced Sugar Cookies.  Mom always made Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I think she would often make her Brown Sugar Cookies.  But the old faithful was the sugar cookies. 

Grandmother (my dad's mom) always made Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They were my dad's favorite and she could make them like noone else... no matter how hard we tried.  She put pecan's in them and they were always so evenly cooked and NEVER flat like mine.  She swore that all she did was follow the Nestle's Tollhouse recipe only changing one thing... she "twice baked" them, flipping them over halfway through.  I've tried, but its just not the same.  I think she had a special ingredient that she never shared with everyone else.   After she moved to Virginia after Granddaddy died I remember she would send them to my dad in the mail.  Always in the same, old, gold cookie tin (Dad always returned it so he would get cookies again).  Most of the time, no matter how well she packaged them, they arrived broken and crumbly.  But Dad would eat every last crumb (and I am sure I helped some too!)

In Ryan's family, his mom would bake all kinds of treats during the holidays.  Ginger Cookies, Pepppermint-Oreo dessert, Choc-o-mellow Logs, Snickerdoodles, Fudge, and more.  Their house at the holidays is heaven for a person with a sweet tooth!!!  The two items that have stood out to me as the ones all the boys fight over and love are the Ginger Cookies and the Peppermint-Oreo dessert (I made this over Thanksgiving and will write about it soon!)

So this year, I asked Ryan what Christmas treats he wanted, knowing I couldn't make them all.  His requests were Ginger Cookies and Fudge... and that is what he shall get.

Diane's Grandma D's Ginger Cookies

(I hope its okay to share this recipe... there were no disclaimers when it was given to me!)

Mix these ingredients:

3/4 c. Crisco

1 c. Sugar

1/4 c. Molasses

1 egg

Sift these ingredients together:

2 c. Flour

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

3/4 tsp. Cloves

3/4 tsp. Ginger

Add dry ingredients to mixed wet ingredients until well blended.

Roll dough into balls and place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes -- they should be a little soft and chewy

Dip or Sprinkle with powdered sugar (I put a spoonful in the sifter and shook it over the cookies).

A happy husband tonight!

Christmas Baking Part 1 - The Lazy Method

Before I start my baking story, I thought I'd share another piece of the holiday decor.  This is the table behind one of our couches.  I realized I had an extra lighted garland this year so I found it a home!  I bought some $.50 red berry picks from Hobby Lobby (love their big half off sales) to spruce it up a bit.  It turned out nice!  

Now, to the baking.  I really wanted to make some iced sugar cookies.  That always gets me in the holiday spirit.  But, I didn't have the time or patience tonight to make dough, roll it out cut cookies, bake and ice.  So, in the spirit of Sandra Lee, its "Semi-Homemade".  Pillsbury has these nice new baking sheets of their sugar cookie dough, perfect for cut out cookies.  I had Pillsbury coupons this week so I picked these up instead of the pre-shaped sugar cookies.  This made me feel like I was doing a little more of it myself.  

I cut out Candy Canes, Trees and Stockings.  The only downside of this sheet dough is that it doesnt re-roll very well.  I guess if I sprinkled some extra flour, it would but that was too much work for tonight.  I used the package suggestion and rolled the dough into balls, then pressed them out into circles using the bottom of my wine glass.  I turned these into ornaments so that they fit the Christmas theme.

16 minutes later (2 batches of 8 minutes) I had a nice rack of sugar cookies. 

While the cookies baked, I made a batch of the Wilton Butter Cream Icing that I have written about before.  I made this instead of Grammy's Creamy French Icing for two reasons: (1) I didn't want to do the boiled sugar/water thing--one less thing to clean--and (2) I wanted white-white icing.  I have not done sugar cookies with this icing so I was a little nervous.

I used a variation between medium and stiff using 1/2 stick of butter and 3/4 cups shortening. Then, I colored the icing red and green, leaving a little white for my stripes and stocking tops.  And the results turned out great.  Ryan gave them the seal of approval.  Half are going to work with me tomorrow and the other half staying here!


I am sure I will make some "real" sugar cookies this year, but I do really love a Pillsbury "Slice-n-Bake" cookie!