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!

Shirt & Tie Cookies

I made these super soft buttermilk sugar cookies an LDS missionary homecoming. I made the dough, cut them into rectangles, baked them, covered them with white chocolate and piped on the lines and tie with white chocolate. I added food coloring to white chocolate for the blue tie. It does not get as smooth as the poured fondant or cookie icing, but it tastes delicious! 

2 C sugar

1 C shortening

2 eggs

*cream these together, then add

2 tsp vanilla 

1 C buttermilk

*mix, and add

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

5 c flour (one at a time)

*mix well

Roll out on floured surface, cut, and bake on ungreased cookie sheet @ 350* for 8-10 min. 

Don't over cook! Golden edges make for crisper cookies.

White Chocolate glaze

 1 pkg Guittard white chips 

 3 Tablespoons shortening 

Melt together in double boiler (or microwave)

Dip cookies face down in mix. 

Let excess drip off then gently shake cookie from side to side to smooth out the look of the chocolate.

 Let cool until firm. 

Then take extra melted chocolate and pour into piping bag and draw lines/ties or whatever detail you want.

Cookie Boy

When I asked my little boy what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said, "I want cookie!"

My little cookie monster got his cookie :)

I baked a regular choco chip cookie recipe in a parchment lined cake pan. I let it cool completely in the pan before flipping it out. The carefully flipped it right side up and decorated it with chocolate frosting. 

Gingerbread 2012

T & M's house.
Love the double doors of gum & the peppermint fence! 

C & B's house.
Had to mark his territory with the "T".

 (C &B) Love the HO, HO, HO!

S & J's house.
Can't beat a pebble sidewalk & of course shutters.

By my 4 & 7 year olds.
They had soooo much fun! They were quite proud of the garden hose (the dark green coil of a twizzler). 

My 4 year old was quite proud of her fenced in area for the dog (pretzel balls).


Everyone should have a gingerbread night with their family.  It so much fun, you can't beat the memories :)

Mint Choco Chip Sandwiches

I made these for family night last week and they were delicious!

Cake mix cookies, (recipe here) and mint chocolate chip mousse.

Basic mousse:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese softened

1 8oz container cool whip

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

approximately 1 cup melted chips (any flavor) cooled slightly- too hot will cook the cheese!

* I prefer Guittard or Ghiradelli

Mix cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth.

Then fold in cool whip.

Slowly poor in some of the melted chips and fold in.

Poor in remaining chips and fold until incorporated.

The mix with blender until smooth.

This will be thick!

For this cookie, I used mint chips for the mousse and then chopped up regular chocolate chips and mixed in after mousse was made. 

The mousse should be refrigerated or can be frozen if not using right away.

You can use this with cakes, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, fruit, etc...

Cake Mix Cookies

                        

 

I had to make a treat at the last minute for my daughters last soccer game, so I went for cake mix cookies.

Recipe:

Any flavor cake mix

2/3 c shortening

2 eggs

Mix ingredients well, roll into balls, place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart, bake @375 for 7-8min. 

(just until the tops look dry, don't overbake!)

The best ones are made with devil's food cake & sandwiched together with cream cheese frosting, mmm.

I did end up buying frosting from the store, especially the black tube of decorator frosting.

Go Pink Panthers!!!!

White chocolate ganache spider web cupcakes, delish! The kids were loving this for halloween, we took them to the party at our church and they were gone before I knew it.
Whoopie pies! I used to love going to Kinsingers Kitchen when I was little and getting their ginormous whoopie pies.

Fit & Fabulous!

My girls wanted to make their Grandma Janet something special for her birthday. Since she had already had cake the night before we decided to make her a giant birthday cookie! I baked it in a square cake pan, and tried to take it out before it was cool, hence the cracks on the right side of the cookie. It turned out very yummy, and Grandma seemed to like it... success!

Happy 50th Janet!!!!

Christmas Treats

Here are some of the treats we handed out for Christmas to some neighbors. Thanks Heather for the recipe for chocolate candy cane kisses!

Cookie Bouquet

Yet another heart surgery that needed some cookies. Healthy Heart Diet: 1. Lots of love, 2. Room for more love, 3. AND the best sugar cookies you've ever had ;)

Blakes Cookies

These cookies were especially for Blake (a cousin). He is going in for heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart this week and we wanted to do something cute for him. I made the cookies and wrote on them 'Our Hearts are with you' and then put everyone in his family's name on them. He got a kick out of the ones that had holes in them. Good Luck Blake, our prayers are with you!