Thursday, December 13, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Christmas Crafts

To get you in the Christmas spirit, here are some nice crafts for little and big kids to do together. Fun!
Thumbprint reindeer cards, here.

Christmas with baby, here


DIY snow globes (secret ingredient is glycerine), here.


So sweet! Santa hand ornaments out of salt dough (including recipe), here.
A felt Christmas tree for a toddler to decorate over and over again, here.



A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is my holy grail.


I ate the best chocolate chip cookie of my life at a 7 year old's super hero birthday party. The best. Luckily the mom shared the recipe with me. This recipe trumps any other chocolate chip recipe I've made. Easy does it, don't over bake these beauties (like I did, even though my oven was set to 350 and I bake for 8-9 minutes)...don't even brown the tops, just brown the bottoms, a little. The BEST (singing like Tim Gunn from Project Runway).

I copy pasted the recipe from this website in case I can't find it later. Note the 427 5 out of 5 oven mitt ratings. Bravo! 


Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 out of 5 427 ratings
Prep:
15 mins
Cooking:
9 mins
Level:
Easy
Cooling:
15 mins
Yields:
60
This famous classic American cookie is a treat no matter what the age or occasion. Enjoy it with a glass of cold milk.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
PREPARE
 dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Craft Fail...

I saw this website, called Craft Fail, on Steven and Chris and honestly, it's hilarious. I have a few items I could add to the postings indeed.

I love that there are "supposed to look like" photos, stories about the craft endeavor and then after photos. This one made me laugh out loud:

When reader Jennifer saw these delicious cookies she knew she had to make some.
She’s an activity director at a home for seniors and thought they would love a special treat. 
Unfortunately, the grocery store was out of candy corn, 
and she thought that perhaps M&M's would be a fine substitute.
No problem. Drop a few M&M’s where the feathers would be, 
add a little frosting, glop on a little beak….


 Do you think the seniors cared if their turkeys had cobbled feathers?
Naw, they probably enjoyed the cobbled goggle.

Funny, right? Enjoy!





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