Christmas Sugar Cookies

I love baking and decorating cookies (and so do my kids)! So each week leading up to Christmas we made a different Christmas cookie. The first cookie was my Grandma's Sugar Cookie recipe. Titan got one cookie with icing and just picked off all of the icing while Matias and I finished icing the rest. It was so much fun and I love all of the memories we made! I've posted this cookie recipe before so here is the link to the recipe... Grandma's Sugar Cookies.

Sugar Cookies

This is my Grandma's Sugar Cookies recipe that has been used in my family for years! I have posted this recipe before. Out of all of the cookies I made for Thanksgiving, these are still my favorite! They also freeze really well. So usually when I bake them I freeze half of them for later.

Berry Shortbread Dreams

I LOVE these cookies! They are delicious! They are the perfect size and perfect sweetness. The tart raspberry jam and the almond extract in the cookie meld together perfectly! 

These cookies will melt in your mouth!

Sorry, I had already packaged these cookies before I realized that I hadn't taken a picture. Not the best picture.

Berry Shortbread Dreams

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

1/3 to 1/2 cup seedless jam

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 to 3 teaspoons water

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the extract; gradually add flour until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle. Roll into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center. Fill with jam. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Spoon additional jam into cookies if desired. Combine powdered sugar, extract and enough water to achieve drizzling consistency; drizzle over cookies. Enjoy!

* This recipe is from Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I have to admit that I do not like these cookies because I do not like peanut butter desserts of any sort. I like peanut butter & apples, peanut butter & bananas and peanut butter & jelly, but no peanut butter desserts. I made these cookies for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. They were the first peanut butter cookies I had ever made! They said they were good! So if you like peanut butter desserts you will probably like these cookies!

The ones on the left have regular cream filling and the ones on the right have peanut butter cream filling.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

1 cup butter-flavored shortening

1 cup cream peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1/2 cup cream peanut butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 to 6 Tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten to 3/8 inch thickness with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes or until golden. Remove to wire racks to cool. For filling, in a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on half of the cookies and top each with another cookie.

*I made my cookies slightly larger so I had to bake mine longer. But I think smaller is better with these cookies because they are so rich! So next time (if there is a next time) I will make them smaller.

*I also did half with peanut butter filling and half with just the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk filling.

This recipe was from Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Theses cookies are AMAZING! They have a chocolate dough and chocolate chips! But the best part is that they are so so chewy and soft! I hate crisp hard cookies so anytime I say a cookie is good that means its soft and chewy! 

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars together until well blended and very light. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, stir dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours. (if you want perfectly shaped cookies) Drop by rounded tablespoons full (or use a cookie scoop) onto greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. (I flip my pan around half way through baking to ensure even baking) Remove from oven and leave on pan for 2 minutes. Then transfer cookies to cooling rack. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love these cookies around the holidays! They are incredibly moist and the nutmeg just adds a little something special! 

Hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup Butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking Powder

1 teaspoon baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, pumpkin and vanilla. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add to pumpkin mixture and blend well. Add chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. (If you want perfectly shaped cookies) Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop) on to a well greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees fro 15 minutes. I always flip my pan around half way through the baking time to ensure even baking. Enjoy!

Make Ahead Breakfast

Pretty much every morning Peter asks me, "what's for breakfast?" To which I respond, "waffles, cereal, oatmeal, pop tarts, etc." He then looks at me with disappointment. See Peter is not a  big fan of breakfast food. And if he is going to eat breakfast food then he wants eggs, bacon, sausage or something hearty like that. The problem is that Peter is not a morning person. So he is not going to get up early just to make himself a breakfast like that and God knows, now that we have kids, I am not getting up early to make him a breakfast like that! (I made the mistake of doing this before we had kids) So today I created a solution to this problem! I made bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches  (12 of them) and froze them! It took me a total of 40 minutes to make all 12! And it was cheaper than buying them premade at the store! It only cost me $11.70 total to make all 12! That makes them $.98 each! Of course I had a $1 off coupon for the bacon and it was on sale for $2.89 at the Commissary so that helped. But even if I had paid $2 more for the bacon, the sandwiches would still be significantly cheaper than buying them at McDonalds. So now when my husband asks me what is for breakfast I have an answer that pleases him and saves us money!

Here is what you will need:
12 English muffins (I used whole grain)
12 slices of bacon (I used thick cut)
12 slices of cheese (I used cheddar)
12 eggs (I used organic)
milk (I used organic)
Cooking spray

Cut your English muffins in half and lay out on the counter. Place one slice of cheese on the top piece of the English muffin. Begin cooking your bacon. (I cooked mine in the microwave for the first time ever! Why had I never thought of this?) To cook in the microwave place a paper towel on a microwaveable plate. Lay bacon slices on paper towel so that they are touching but not overlapping. Place another paper towel over bacon and microwave for about 1 minute per slice. Remove bacon and let cool slightly. Cut each bacon piece in half and place on bottom half of English muffin so that each sandwich gets one whole slice of bacon. Once you are finished with the bacon start on your eggs. Being that I am a perfectionist I wanted to make sure my eggs were the same size and shape of my English muffins so I used a Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup to cook my eggs in. You could make an omelet if you wanted to and just cut the egg in pieces to fit on the sandwich. (that is if you don't want them to look perfect like mine) To microwave eggs in Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup, spray cooking spray into cup, crack one egg into cup, add about 3/4 tsp of milk (give or take) and beat with a fork until blended. Microwave for about 1 minute. Remove from microwave and ever so gracefully flip the egg out onto the bottom half of the English muffin (on top of the bacon). Use a fork to gently flatten the egg so that it almost meets the edge of the English muffin. Continue doing this until you have cooked all 12 eggs. Assemble your sandwiches and place them on a baking sheet. Place them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. (I'm not sure this step is necessary. I might skip this step next time.) Remove from freezer, wrap each in a paper towel and place in a freezer bag. Freeze. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and microwave in paper towel until heated through.

Cooking bacon in the microwave! So easy!

The only thing missing in this pic is the cooking spray. Make sure you use it before putting eggs into cup.

Ta-daa!

Letting them freeze for 30 minutes.

All done!