Mint Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

 I made these with my son for St. Patrick's Day. 

They would also be perfect for Christmas and Halloween!

Mint Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

2 C sugar

1 C shortening

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 C sour cream

3 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 package Guittard milk chocolate chips

Cream sugar and shortening together. Add egg. Then sour cream. Mix in vanilla & peppermint. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Then add in chocolate chips. I use a 1 1/2" cookie scoop to place even amounts of dough on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake @ 375* for about 7 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE! They will not look done when they are done. Take them out when they look dry. Golden around the edges means they are overdone. Let them cool completely. You will have chewy, moist, delicious cookies!

Mint Brownie Cookie Pizza

 Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix

3/4 C shortening

2 eggs

1 package mint chocolate chips 

1 package andes mint pieces (or just chop some bars up)

2 Tbls coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix brownie mix, shortening and eggs until it forms a soft dough. It will be very dry at first, keep mixing! Now, I baked mine on a pizza stone because I wanted a crispy crust. A regular cookie sheet will do just fine. Roll dough into one big ball. Cover stone/cookie sheet with parchment. Shape dough into a flat round circle on parchment about 1/2-2/3 of the size you want it to be. It will spread while baking. Bake for about 15 minutes, give or take due to size of cookie. You want the top to look dry and barely begin to crack, then it's done!

While your brownie pizza is baking, melt your mint chips with the coconut oil over double boiler until melted, then set aside. When pizza is done and mostly cooled spread your melted chips all over like pizza sauce. Sprinkle with Andes bits. Let cool until set. Slice & Serve! This is a very easy, fun, rich dessert for St. Patricks Day or even Christmas.

Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Valentine's day cookies!

 Chocolate covered chocolate sugar cookies you say?!?

 Pucker up baby!

Soft Batch Chocolate Sugar Cookies

2 C sugar

1 C shortening

2 eggs

1 C sour cream

2 tsp mexican vanilla 

4 C flour

1/2 C cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 tsp salt

Cream sugar, shortening and eggs. Then add sour cream and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients and mix well. I like to chill the dough for a few hours or overnight so I do not have to add as much flour when it's time to roll, cut and bake. You will need an additional 1/2 -3/4 cup flour for rolling out, about 1/4" thick.
Don't forget to lightly flour your cookie cutters before cutting! 

Bake @ 350* for 8-10 minutes. 

These will spread a little, to decrease spreading use 2 tsp baking powder and omit the baking soda.

Icing: I used chocolate!

I melted 1 bag Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips with 2 T coconut oil in a glass bowl over simmering water. The oil doesn't ruin the flavor of the chocolate but solidifies after its cooled and is still soft enough that it doesn't crack. Gently place the cookies face down in the melted chocolate mix until just the face of the cookie is covered. Let the extra chocolate drip off, because it is runny, then place on parchment covered cookie sheet to cool. 

Then decorate however you like...frosting, sprinkles, chocolate, etc.
 (I used royal icing on the chocolate)

Enjoy!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

 Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla, ivory colored frosting, and mauve fondant hearts.

I was asked to make monogrammed cupcakes. I thought about making royal frosting hearts and piping the initials in it and having it look very "christmas cookie-ish". I even thought about making fondant hearts with royal frosting letters for a 3-D effect, but didn't have a lot of time that weekend for piping really good looking letters. So, I found some stamps that I had in my craft supplies. I cleaned them thoroughly!!! I cut out one heart then took a smaller heart and made the indented outline. Then I pressed the stamps (each letter individually) very carefully so they were even into the fondant and let harden. It really did not take very long and they turned out looking so clean and classy. Congrats Daniel & Jane!

Peanut Butter Ball Brownies

We always made peanut butter balls growing up and they were so good! 

They also took a little bit of time standing over the stove dipping each one in chocolate.

 This recipe is nice because it takes a little time but you don't have to stand over the stove dipping each ball. 

I made my favorite brownies (boxed will do just fine) and then added 

the peanut butter ball topping:

1 stick butter soft/partially melted

about 1 cup peanut butter

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix these together and spread on cooled brownies. 

**Some people would add crushed graham crackers to the peanut butter mix for texture, 

I don't because I love the creaminess of this recipe!

Topping:

Then I melted a bag of chocolate chips (any kind, milk, semi-sweet, dark, etc.) I used dark

with about 3-4 Tbls. butter 

and about 3-4 Tbls. of milk

Gently spread chocolate over peanut butter mix and let set up in refrigerator. 

Cut into 1" bites and serve on mini cupcake liners for a sweet treat. 

Blue flower

I made these over a year ago. I was going through some of my old cake pics and realized I never blogged these! They were delicious, vanilla on vanilla. Sweet & simple

Ladies Night

Bite sized desserts are easy and you don't get caught with your mouth full as easy :)

Recipes from- Hershey's Best Brownies, Pampered Chef's Chocolate Silk Mousse, Costco Raspberries....mmm.

Mini Cheese cakes: FIlling-1 pkg cream cheese, 1 egg, 2/3 c sugar
Crust- 3/4 pkg crushed graham crackers, 4 T butter melted
1 can cherry pie filling (or fruit of choice)

Strawberries to go along with the colors.

I had some girl friends from my hometown over one night to catch up, 

the food was great, the company was great, it was a blast!