Sugar Cookies

Yummy is all I'm gonna say! This is actually my mom's recipe. I remember making these pretty much every Christmas. After I moved out, I pretty much make them every year as well. For some reason, this year these taste EXTREMELY good! Not sure what I did different, or if anything? :)
I didn't have a chance to make any frosting, so will post that later when I get that part done!






As you can see by looking at the beater, this makes alot!


Yummy! (I saved some for Curt in a roll, it's in the freezer... Wonder how long it will take him before he notices it? :)) Cover and put in frig overnight.


Sprinkle some flour and get ready to get messy!


I make the dough into a ball and then roll it in the flour so it covered in flour


I am not sure just how thick I rolled these, but you don't want them super thin. And then again, you don't want them too thin...


All ready to bake!


All done! Nice and golden brown, perfect! I can't wait to try one of these scrumptious cookies!


Bottoms of the cookies, what it should look like! :)


YUMMY!!!! (Must get the Wii Fit out for sure now!!! Ate a couple too many! Happy to say that none of the "men" got away, but we did have some snowflakes that melted and a couple shooting stars... :oP)

These are good without frosting, but are SUPER good with frosting! I usually make my own, and when I do, I'll get the recipe I use up here. I am going to let the kids help me frost them, so will be fun to see how they will turn out! :)


Sugar Cookies

Cream these ingredients together:
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Once mixed together and nice and smooth, add:
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (see bottom on how to make your own)
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Mix until nice and creamy, then add:
7 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

It will be kinda stiff. Chill, works best if chilled overnight.
Roll and cut out and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.


*You can cut this recipe in half if this is too much. Or you can cut them all out and put the baked (unfrosted) cookies in the freezer for another time. OR, you could make rolls of this dough and wrap in waxed paper. Just cut and put on pan and bake.
You can just sprinkle sugar over the tops of these if you don't want to frost, but they are oh so good with frosting!
I don't always add the salt either.
Sometimes I just use regular 2% milk. You can also make your own buttermilk by taking 1 cup milk and then add 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes and viola, you've got your own buttermilk! But like I said, you can use regular milk too.
Will post the recipe I use for frosting when I make it up tomorrow. Or I hope to make it up tomorrow! :)

Crunchy Peanut Butter Balls

Who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate? Hmm, yummy! These are absolutely delicious!!!!!!!!



Peanut butter and butter


Peanut butter and powdered sugar


Shh, don't tell anyone I used these!!! :)


I ended up putting it on a piece of wax paper and got my hands dirty and mixed it with my hands


Mmm, lookin' pretty tasty, but not quite finished!


Oh here it is, melted chocolate!!!


Drop that delicious peanut butter ball into that melted chocolate goodness!


Use a fork to shake off the extra chocolate


Finished product, well, almost. I put them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to harden up!

I had some leftover chocolate, I can't just throw it away, and I can't possibly eat all of it, or I would need more than the Wii Fit this week... Hmm... what to do with it? Ah, I found some oreos...


YUMMY!!!!!


Here's the finished product after getting them out of the freezer... Hmm, looks like somebody tried one, I wonder who that someone is? Won't mention any names, won't mention the fact that hubby wasn't home and kids were in bed taking a nap...


The oreos


I had leftover crushed peppermint candies, so I sprinkled some of the oreos with the crushed candies...


Looks like someone got ahold of this one too!



Crunchy Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup shortening

In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and peanut butter together. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Stir in the cereal. Shape into 1 inch balls, refrigerate until chilled.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave on high until chocolate chips are melted. Stir until smooth.
Dip balls into chocolate and place on waxed paper lined pan.
Refrigerate until set.


*I used coconut oil instead of shortening when melting the chocolate. ALSO, make sure you heat the chocolate chips for 30 seconds and then stir, keep doing it for 30 seconds until melted and nice and smooth.
You can also drizzle melted white chocolate chips over the peanut butter balls to make them look more "pretty". I couldn't because I didn't have any and NO time to run out and get some! Next time!
You can also omit the rice cereal and just keep it "smooth".
I put them in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes to set up instead of the frig. Goes quicker if you are in a hurry!
Same thing with the oreos.

Cinnamon and Sugar Toasted Almonds

I LOVE walking through the mall and smelling these DELICIOUS almonds! BUT I do NOT like spending 7 bucks on a little packet of these things! So, I figured, why not make them myself and have my house smelling SUPER delish? SUPER easy to do too! I got a big bucket of almonds for 10 bucks at Target and the rest of the ingredients I already had. SOOOOOO good!!!!!!!!! Infact, I am munching on these as I write this out! They are SUPER good warm, but also good at room temperature.



Beat the egg white until "frothy". I consider this "frothy"


Almonds covered in egg white and water mixture


Yum, look at all that cinnamon and sugar!!


Dump all that cinnamon and sugar goodness over the almonds


Lookin' good!


All covered with cinnamon and sugar...


Dump onto a greased baking sheet (or a very well seasoned Pampered Chef stone, like I did! :)) and put in the oven for an hour.....



YUMMY, just look at those almonds!!!


Cinnamon and Sugar Toasted Almonds
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
3 1/4 cups almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease jelly roll pan.
Lightly beat egg white, add cold water and beat until "frothy", but not stiff. Add nuts and stir until well coated.
Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon together and sprinkle over nuts. Toss to coat, spread evenly over prepared pan.
Bake 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes, or until nuts are golden.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.


*I didn't toss these, I ended up stirring them. Next time I will toss them in my big bowl... I think either way would work just fine! Let me know what ya think!!!

Peppermint Meltaways

Sorry that this is so late! I was going to post something last nite, but my little man got sick and had to take care of him. So I never got the chance to make anything last nite and post for today, then I was going to try and make something fast this morning, but I didn't have the one MAIN ingredient, so that wasn't going to work either! I JUST finished these cookies tonite! And man, let me tell you, they MELT in your mouth! They are really easy to make and oh so good!!!!! There is just enough peppermint to make it good, not to strong and not to weak!
GOTTA try these!!!





My bubby helping me!!!





He's a wiper! (all you Harshberger's know what I mean!!! LOL)


Bake until lightly browned on the bottom!



SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Peppermint Meltaways

Cookies:
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Frosting:
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoons peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

In a small bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light a fluffy. Beat in the extract. Then add the flour and cornstarch. Mix well.
Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, milk and extract. Beat until smooth. Spread on completely cooled cookies. Add the crushed peppermints on top of frosted cookies.
Store in an airtight container.


*Oh my goodness! Just writing this out makes me want to go eat another one! I may not have any of these left to give to my hubby's managers! I will also FOR sure need to break out the Wii Fit!!!! LOL
I mixed these by hand, very easy. Even the frosting is easy to mix by hand. Infact, my little guy helped me mix the cookie dough!
I know it's alot of butter, but yum, they melt in your mouth, seriously!!!
ENJOY!!!! :oP

Sunday Post

So I couldn't come up with a better title! Too tired to think!! :)

I figured I would leave Sunday's open, well, not open, but no recipe today. Sorry folks... Just as we need food to nourish us, we also need God's word to keep us going as well. Ok, we need God's word and food everyday to keep us going.

As important as it is, food is not the chief ingredient of life. “Man does not live by bread alone, but...by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord ”

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deut 8:3


Failure of food should not destroy faith in God!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Hab 3:17 ,18


Life is more than food

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Matt 6:25

Make sure you take some time this week get some food for your mind, heart, and soul! Get a cup of tea and read God's Word!




This week I am going to do all cookie or candy recipes! That way you will have enough time to do some before Christmas so be sure to check back for some yummy recipes!!! Make sure you comment and let me know what you think too! (I fear this week I will gain about 20 pounds trying all the goodies!!! Better get that Wii Fit out moe often!!!)

Whole Wheat Bread

Who doesn't love the smell of fresh baked bread? And whole wheat at that? This is a pretty easy recipe, as long as your kids don't go jumping around and make it drop down (like mine did) BUT it still tastes and smells GOOD!!!



Yeast in warm water


First mix it up with a regular beater, then use the bread hook...


What it looks like before letting it rise


I like to turn my oven on to about 350d for about 10 minutes, turn the oven off, then set the bread in the oven. That way it's nice and warm and will rise nicely


It usually gets a bit higher for me, but with the running around, this is best I got!


After it has risen in the bread pans




It isn't supposed to have that big indent in the middle, but that's what happens when you have 3 kids running around! I even told them that they wouldn't get any bread if they kept running around, but yeah, they listened... It still turned out, so I'm not gonna complain! :)




Whole Wheat Bread


4 cups whole wheat flour
1 heaping tablespoon yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey

Mix all these ingredients together for 3 minutes.

Add 1/3 cup oil, 2 teaspoons salt and remaining flour, anywhere from 4 to 6 cups more. Beat for 7 minutes. Raise in warm draft free place until it doubles in size, about an hour and 15 minutes. Punch down and put into 2 bread pans. Place in a draft free place again and raise until doubled, about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Or until golden brown.


* I use coconut oil in place of the oil. There is no taste and it is healthy for you. Also don't always add the salt. Also, if you want a more "airy" and lighter bread, use some (vital) wheat gluten. You can purchase it at your local Health Food store and I am sure some grocery stores. (I can't out here, but you may where you live) There are directions on how much to put in a recipe, but I used about 5 to 6 tablespoons of gluten powder to my 2 loaves of bread. I don't always add it either. I just put it in when I put the flour in.