Naptime...or not

Yesterday, Grant had the chance to lie down next to Marissa for a little nap. Sounds fun, right? Cuddling with your sweet child, both drifting off into restful slumber?
Well, Marissa decided that wasn't what she had in mind.

In her words: "Daddy, you need to sleep with your wife."

Unfortunately, I wasn't napping at the time, so that just wasn't an option. Poor Grant had to rest by himself.

Fudge Puddles

If you haven't had enough sweets yet, here's another one! I made these little goodies for a cookie exchange a couple of weeks ago and they were a big hit. Personally, I decided I prefer the Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, but these are still worth the effort and are delicious. You just can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!

Note: The original recipe can be found here, but this is how I made them, based on other reviews. This should have produced 96 cookies....I ended up with 77. I guess some of them were too big??? Well, I thought the bigger ones came out of the pan easier, so it worked out for me just fine. If I HAD ended up with 96 cookies, I wouldn't have had nearly enough filling, because I had about 4 cookies without some as it was. SO, if you make small cookies and have more than 70, I would say increase the filling amount or just be happy with some plain peanut butter cookies!

Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (some whole wheat substituted is fine)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Filling:2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk-chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups pecan halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
Cream butter, peanut butter and white and brown sugars. Mix in eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir the flour mixture into creamed mixture. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Place each ball in one compartment of a mini muffin tin.
Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately make wells in the center of each using a melon baller or a tablespoon. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then carefully remove to wire racks.

For filling, melt the chocolate chips with the condensed milk in the microwave and stir until smooth. Add vanilla. Take a ziplock bag and spoon in some filling. Snip off one corner (not tiny like drizzling, but fairly large) and squeeze chocolate into the cookies. Top with a pecan half if desired.

Rare proof of me in the kitchen. Rare because I'm the main photographer around here.

Annika the Laugher

This is Annika's new thing....covering her mouth with her hands and laughing, sometimes fake laughing. She's a funny girl!

Taken Dec. 6, 2008.

This is What We Do At the Table....

For your viewing pleasure:

Taken on Dec. 5, 2008.

Toffee (made easy)

Welcome to the newest addition of my "gain as much weight as possible over the holidays" theme going on here!

Last year I slaved over the hot stovetop for over an hour making English Toffee, and after all that, the result was rather disappointing. The taste was good, but the texture was less than desirable, in my opinion, and I was too embarrassed to give it away as intended.

This is NOT that recipe! This is so much easier, and while not authentically "toffee", it is amazing and addicting and is sure to add a couple of pounds to your hips. And it's totally worth it. (Grant would not agree, by the way. He's not the biggest fan of toffee in any shape or form. Despite the chocolate, he doesn't even care to eat this stuff. Just keepin' it real, here.)
I got the original idea from Allrecipes and made it as written last year, but this year I made some improvements. I think this is a Christmas candy/cookie staple and WILL make it every year.

Recipe:

1 1/2 sleeves saltine crackers (about 6 oz)
1 1/2 cups butter (Yes, that is 3 sticks. I told you this would add the pounds. I really can't remember for sure, but I think I only used 2 1/2 sticks.)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1-1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts (or pecans)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Line a 10 x 15 inch pan (with sides) with foil and spray generously with non-stick spray.
Arrange crackers in a single layer on the pan.
Bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat (takes awhile, be patient). Stir frequently, and don't worry if the mixture separates. It will come back together.
Boil for 3 minutes. Pour evenly over the crackers. Be careful; it's extremely hot and sticky.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes.
Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over hot mixture. Wait a few minutes for them to melt, then spread evenly with the back of a spoon. While still hot, spread finely chopped walnuts over the top. Chill until completely set. Break or cut into desired size pieces. Does not have to be refrigerated, but will stay fresh longer if it is.

This is one of the plates of cookies we distributed to our neighbors.

The kids loved helping arranged the crackers.

Happy little helpers!

Cranberry Coconut Bars

I have been drooling over this recipe from my Taste of Home Cookies cookbook for over a year now and finally made it for my MOPS group. It was the perfect occasion to try it, since it contains several ingredients that Grant doesn't care for much. Plus, it's festive looking for Christmas-time. I think it's a real winner.....and apparently others agreed, as I received numerous recipe requests.



Recipe:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 0z) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups dried sweetened cranberries

1 cup flaked (sweetened) coconut

1 cup pecans (original recipe said to use halves.....I prefer chopped for more even distribution)

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter well; press into a greased 13 x 9" pan.

Gently stir other ingredients together and carefully spread over crust.

Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

Cool on a wire rack before cutting and eating.

That's it! Could it be any easier? Now if only it was low-fat..........

Pumpkin Roll Cake

This is another Thanksgiving dessert favorite around here, although it's easy and yummy enough to make year round. I ended up making two of these over a period of four days.....because you don't even use half a can of pumpkin for one cake and I hated to waste the extras.....and the first one went WAY too fast anyways. We needed another one. "Needed" being a relative term here.

One important thing to know about making roll cakes is to use a towel or napkin that doesn't have fuzzies. I've made that mistake before and ended up with not-so-nice little chunks of fuzz stuck to my cake. This time I used a 100% polyester napkin, coated generously with powdered sugar, and it worked GREAT. Linen would work just as well.

Recipe:

3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs on high for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in white sugar until thick and lemon-colored. Add pumpkin and lemon juice.
In another bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg (and cloves and ginger if using....I recommend it); fold into the pumpkin mixture.
Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; line with waxed paper. Grease and flour the paper. Spread batter into pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Carefully unroll the cake. Spread filling over cake, almost to the edges. Sprinkle with nuts if desired. (Again, I highly recommend them, but if you have nut-dislikers in your family like I do, it's fine without.) Roll up again. Cover and chill until serving. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Apparently these freeze really well....although I can't say I've tried it. We'd rather just eat them as soon as possible.


Obviously I didn't take the time to coat it evenly with powdered sugar....we were in too great a rush to eat it. But you get the idea.