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This is that cookie baking and eating time of year and as a matter of fact, Monday is National Cookie Day! When I asked everyone what their favorite cookie is, I got two answers from my daughters. Chocolate chip, or Oreos. Even with all of the gingerbread and sugar cookies around for Christmas, those two still were the hands-down favorites. So, we decided that for today's Friday Faves, we would take our two favorite cookies and turn them into holiday cookies, festive enough for gifting! Not only that, I will give you my time tested tips on having your kids help with the cookie decorating. (By the way, this is Friday Faves #42!)
How do you turn your favorite cookies into holiday cookies?
Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Lindsey and I decided to take on this all time favorite. Chocolate chip cookies are so delicious and never get old. Especially when you eat them with a glass of cold milk to dip them in. Everyone has their favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I pretty much use the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag with just a couple of variations.
Now, here is how Lindsey takes chocolate chip cookies and gives them some holiday flair!
She says, "I bought some holiday Alpine mints and mixed them into the cookie dough with the chocolate chips. In the past I have also added some peppermint extract and red and green M&M's
You could also crush up starlight mints and mix them in, or sprinkle them on top before you bake them." Peppermint is always such a good holiday flavor and these would look great on a holiday platter of cookies! I decided to use my gingerbread people pan for my chocolate chip cookies. Some people love the idea of decorating gingerbread people, but don't really enjoy eating it. So, here is an idea for chocolate chip people instead! It all starts with this baking sheet:
I can't find one just like it, I have had it for some time. But here is a similar one by Wilton that has gingerbread men and trees.
I just spread the cookie dough into the mold and baked at 375 degrees for about 10 min. You will have to experiment with the mold you have. Click on the photos below to explain it all.
I did one extra little thing with some chocolate chip cookies, since I had the chocolate frosting. I made smaller round cookies and turned them into sandwich cookies and piped on a wreath of frosting. They came out super cute!
Oreo Cookies:
Maddy came up with a sophisticated look for her Oreos. She piped on a little more frosting around the outer edge of the cookie and rolled them in silver and gold sprinkles. They would look great on the table at a nice Christmas party! You could use red and green sprinkles as well and they would look so festive!
Alicia also used sprinkles, but first she dipped her Oreos in chocolate! I like how she sprinkled just half of the cookie with sprinkles and let the chocolate show on some of them.
Alicia also thought of making reindeer with pretzel antlers, but she has a 2 year old who got in on the act. Well, his reindeer became a Halloween/Christmas mashup! I am glad she got a picture of it because this will be a great memory!
Speaking of decorating cookies with kids, I have some experience with this. I have done it with my own children, with my school children with church children and with my grandchildren and I have come up with ways to keep the mess down, and still have lots of fun. Here is what I have figured out over the years:
What is your favorite cookie that you would love to turn into a holiday cookie? How would you do it? I gave one other idea here. It is December 1st! Day 1 of Light the World! How will you light the world this Christmas Season?
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Happy Black Friday!
Do you go shopping on Black Friday? How do you feel about retailers starting Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day? For me, it kind of ruins it. When my kids were little and I wanted to get them a major gift like a bike or a guitar or other large purchase, Black Friday saved me so much money. I lost sleep, but I did get some good deals. It was fun for me to wake up super early while everyone was still sleeping and sneak out for some maniac Christmas shopping. I haven't really needed to shop like that for awhile now that my kids are older and since they put some of the best deals on Thanksgiving when I am trying to enjoy family time, I don't participate as much in Black Friday as I used to. Besides, now in the cyber space age, we can get great gifts online and have them delivered to our door without even paying shipping. (Thank you Amazon Prime!)
Thinking about Black Friday shopping got us all thinking about some of the favorite gifts we have received over the years. The fun thing is that some of them were purchased items and some were homemade, but all of them touched our hearts in some way. We thought that maybe you could be looking for just the perfect gift for someone and maybe some of our Friday Faves will give you an idea that you hadn't thought of before. So, here goes!
Gifts Kids Can Make & Give:
Painted salad tongs and tongue depressor clip picture frames!
Kids would love to make these adorable ornaments from Dollar Tree Toys! There is even a video to show them what to do!
Small Gifts Kids Can Afford:
Large Ticket item Gifts for Kids:
More Great Gifts for Kids of All Ages:
As we have gone through our memories to think of the favorite things we have received, I also think of the little school ornaments each child has made us, the poems they have written, the songs they have sung and my heart warms as I think of them. I could go on and on with our favorites. I find it kind of cool that we didn't really mention video games or other electronics, except the keyboard, on our list. We have spent some fun family times with those things though, so I am not discounting them. It just goes to show that gifts are great and we love to give and get them, but it is the time that we spend together and the memories we make that makes Christmas special! I hope our faves have given you some ideas if you have been stumped! What have your favorite past gifts to give and get been? We would love to hear your stories. And, if you are doing Black Friday shopping, have fun and good luck!
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First let me apologize for not putting up last week's Friday Fave post! Last week was Lindsey's baby shower and I just couldn't get to the computer to put up the post! But, her shower was a lot of fun and she was truly "showered" with some great gifts. I will post about that later But, today we are in true Thanksgiving mode. Earlier this week I posted about my best tips for a less-stress Thanksgiving. I called it Thanksgiving Prep 101, and even though there is even less time now, you can still pull out a super meal if you follow those tips.
One of the obvious things I suggested that you to do to get ready is to plan your menu. It is always important to include family favorites and make sure that there is something each person loves on your Thanksgiving menu. It is great to make a list and to plan your shopping list so that nothing is forgotten. Obviously there will be the turkey, but what about the rest of the dishes? That is exactly what we are talking about on this edition of Friday Faves:
What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish? (Besides Turkey!)
If you are really not sure how to cook all of the dishes you need to cook for this Thanksgiving, you can always turn to Panna and watch their teaching videos so that you can make an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. I have shown you some of the things that I have learned from them on posts here and here. It is so enlightening to cook along with a famous chef! They have classes to cover all of your favorite foods!
Remember, once you print off your recipes from your favorite bloggers, keep them in a binder to keep them all organized for a later date. You can use our printables from our shop to make your Bloggelicious Binder to keep all of your baking recipes in one place. Not only is it practical, but it is so cute, too. An organized binder like this one would make a great gift for the holidays! Also, up in the collage, I included our free printable from last Thanksgiving. "Eat Your Pie!" It is still available and would be a lot of fun to put up on the dessert table! The picture is a short cut to the PDF file! Just click on it to print.
Those are some of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes. What are yours? Let us know in the comments! We would love to hear from you!
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We've all heard the story of John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, popularizing eating meat between 2 slices of bread and that meal taking on his name. The sandwich became very popular in England from that point on, but after the Revolutionary War, American cooks avoided making food that reminded people of their British forefathers, so the sandwich didn't really become popular again in America until the 1800s. (source)
Since that time so long ago, we have made up for lost time and statistics say that Americans eat over 300 million sandwiches a day! I guess that is why the sandwich gets a day all to itself! Today is National Sandwich Day and therefore, the subject of Friday Faves!
What is sandwiches do you think are the best?
Two of my kids work at competing, well known sandwich/soup/salad restaurants. That means that we get to try some of the newer creations out there on some of the tastiest breads! Choosing favorites can be difficult, but we came up with a few for you and some of our choices are easily made at home. Not only that, my husband even weighed in this week when he heard about our fave topic for the week!
His absolute favorite sandwich is the grilled cheeseburger! He loves the pickles, the onions, the melting cheese. As a matter of fact, not only does he consider the cheeseburger to be the best sandwich of all, it is his favorite meal over all! Of course home grilled burgers are the best because you can control the thickness of the patty, the amount of all of the other ingredients and so forth. I have to agree that a good, home grilled burger is hard to beat!
A couple of years ago my husband and I gave all of our sons-in-law panini makers for Christmas! This one from Sunbeam is a really great price and they work very well! We know this from experience! Shortly after that Christmas, Lindsey and her husband had us over for dinner. She made her own ciabatta bread and we had delicious sandwiches made in the panini maker! They had chicken, cheese (she offered a variety), spinach and pesto on them. We had strawberry-spinach salad on the side. It was all so delicious. The panini sandwich is now one of Lindsey's faves. I was so impressed with her ciabatta bread making skills. I think she should do a Renny's Recipes post about it!
Can I just say that I am getting really hungry talking about all of these sandwiches?
Alicia couldn't decide which is the best between two kinds of sandwiches. Her first choice was a good French Dip. I know the appeal of this sandwich, it is also a fave of mine! Alicia says, "I like French dips because they are so delicious. I love the flavor of the roast beef with the cheese. Then when you dip it in the au jus it’s so perfect." I couldn't agree more. One caveat is that the au jus has to be flavorful and not bland. When it is good, it makes the sandwich! The Pioneer Woman has a great recipe here!
Alicia's other choice is grilled cheese. She said,"I like grilled cheese because melted cheese is the best. And they are so good with tomato soup. And if you get just a little char on there the flavor works really well together. I mostly like to use white cheese for my grilled cheese. Monterey Jack or for a fancy one I would use gruyere." It seems so simple, and it is, just cheese on buttered on the outside bread, then toast it up until the cheese is melty. I use a small nonstick skillet. Of course, serving it with a creamy tomato soup in mandatory. Tomato-Basil is great with a Provolone Cheese sandwich.
Our resident vegan, Madalynn says, "I like veggie sandwiches. Any veggies are good but I like to have spinach, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and spicy mustard on mine. It’s a lot of good flavors and I like the crunch." I think she left one thing off of that list that I know she loves, pickles! When you have all of those good flavors and crunch on a sandwich, you don't really miss the meat. But, if you feel you still need a little meat, you can add a few slices of turkey a some cheese to round it all out.
Well, now it's my turn and I must say it is becoming impossible to choose the best sandwich with all of the good choices out there. Here are a few that I have had that I would love to try to make at home or just make again.
Finally, when it comes right down to it, there is one sandwich that I just crave sometimes, along with a tall glass of milk, and that is a nice Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. It has to have a nice thick layer of peanut butter, (I like creamy) and a good amount of my homemade strawberry jam. (click the link to learn how to make it.) Now that is real comfort food. When I was a kid, I didn't like the crusts, but now they make those store bought kind without crust. Meh! Who needs to spend money on that when you can make these sandwiches more deliciously yourself. If you want to cut off the crust and seal the sandwich at the same time, you can even buy the gadget that does that here or here. Now that I am an adult, I love the crust, but I think one of those gadgets would be great for my grandkids!
So, there you go! Some of our favorite sandwiches and how to put them together. What are your faves? Do you like creamy or crunchy peanut butter? Whatever you enjoy, eat it today in honor of National Sandwich day! |
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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