A Cookie Cell

Kais had to do a project for science class, and she had several options. She could choose between a written report, a power point, or an edible creation. Of course, she chose the edible one. She told me last week that she wanted to make cookies. All she had to do was draw a cell on the top of a sugar cookie with icing. Sounded easy enough.

Until the night before last, when she showed me the picture of the cell she needed to draw. It was insanely intricate, and there was no way she would be able to draw it on one cookie.

So Junior helped her figure out how to make a 3D version using several different sizes and colors of cookies. I have to admit, it came out pretty awesome.

She took it to school today, and came home proud of the 100 she received on it. As usual, I am so proud of her!

Making Sugar Cookies

This year, I put the girls in charge of making their own cookies. I bought some bagged sugar cookie mix, handed it to them with a big bowl and a wooden spoon, and let them go at it.

They added the butter and egg, and started trying to mix with the spoon. After about thirty second, I saw little hands mixing the dough, and it came out perfect.

It was then time to get it on the cookie sheet, and start the decorating. They had a ball! They made some that had the sprinkles on the inside, and they called those their "surprise" cookies. They were delicious!

I am glad I let them do it all on their own, too. Next year they are going to want to try and do more, and I am going to let them. It will be interesting to see what they will want to make!

More Cookies

I made a batch of my flourless peanut butter cookies with chocolate, and added some holiday sprinkles to make them a little more festive. I really like making these cookies, but my mixer doesn't. For some reason, every time I make these, the beaters pop out of the mixer as i mix the ingredients. I usually end up mixing it by hand, which is kind of sticky and frustrating. But, they are worth it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chips cookies. I love them warm, right out of the oven when they are all gooey and delicious. These are not necessarily a "Christmas cookie", but I only make them this time of year. The ones I made today came out extra good, and I have already eaten too many. Thankfully I had to fill a few tins to give out as gifts, so I couldn't eat them all.

And trust me, if they stay in my house, I will eat them all.

Failure

Junior bought me the cutest cookie pan. It has gingerbread houses and gingerbread men shapes where you can put cookie dough. I am thinking I should have used gingerbread cookie mix instead of sugar cookie mix, because the sugar cookies just didn't come out right. I think they were too thick, so they didn't cook all the way through.

Since I am not a fan of gingerbread, I did what I did at Halloween and made some with brownie mix. Those came out great, and as soon as I decorate them, I will post some pictures.

Peanut Butter Balls

Today was cookie day! This is an annual tradition with my mom and sister, where we pick a day and do nothing but bake. All day.

It is so much fun!

I was worried this morning that I wouldn't get to go, because they were predicting winter weather. The kids had half a day, and when I walked outside to get Brandi off the bus around 11, I stood in a sleet storm.

Colleen decided to come get me anyway, and since Junior works about two miles from my moms house, he met me there when he got off. (I didn't want mom or Colleen to have to drive me home if the roads got bad) Ryan and Kasi were home, and about 3 he called me and said the roads were getting white here, and that our little bridge (driveway) was a sheet of ice. My moms house was just getting a mixture of rain and ice, but nothing was sticking.

We decided to leave before it got too bad to drive. The closer we got to our house, the worse the roads got. By the time we got home, we had seen two cars that drove off the road, and the roads were all icy. But while we were at my moms, I got two different cookies made. One of them was peanut butter balls. I found the recipe online, and it was horrible. It didn't call for graham cracker crumbs, so I added those in for texture. Apparently I didn't add enough, and they are mushy inside the chocolate. But, they taste like a reese peanut butter cup, so I am not complaining. Brandi helped, too, which was fun.

Hopefully next year we can pick a better day to bake!

The Turkey Cookies

What you need:

sugar cookies
hershey kisses
red hot candies
chocolate frosting
candy corns
a really cute seven year old

That last ingredient is really important, because no one can put as much love into each cookie as a child who is allowed to do it all herself.

The finished product:

I wish you could see the kisses better, but they serve as the nose/beak.
They came out so cute, and she is so excited to serve them to our family tomorrow.

Turkey Cookies

Yesterday Brandi made cookies at school. The kids took regular store bought cookies and made them look like turkeys with chocolate frosting, candy corns, red hots, and hershey kisses. She asked me if she could make some for tomorrow, so I am going to get the supplies and let her go nuts. I am curious to see what they look like when they are finished. Don't worry...there will be pictures. :)

The BEST Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe I Have Ever Found

I have never been able to find a great peanut butter cookie recipe. In fact, I have been using a bagged mix for years. Every "from scratch" recipe I try comes out dry and un-peanut butterish.

In a recent Woman's Day magazine, I found a recipe that looked pretty good, and it was so simple. In fact, there were only 5 ingredients in the cookie itself...peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, baking soda, and peanuts. That's it.

I tried making them today, and...I don't even have the words to describe how good they are. The recipe said to make a chocolate ganache, but I didn't have heavy cream or chocolate. I did, however, have some meltable white chocolate and cocoa powder, so I made my own chocolate sauce.

Oh, it was like a mouthful of heaven, I'm not kidding.

Here's the recipes:

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped peanuts

Throw it all in a bowl and mix until combined. Mine never really combined until I got my hands in the and started making balls, but it didn't matter. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on the pan before moving them to a cooling rack. You can add chocolate on top, or leave them plain. They are delicious either way!

Oatmeal Cookies

Over the weekend I felt like doing some baking, The kids have been so good this past week, I thought they deserved a treat.

I found an oatmeal cookie recipe here, and added little chocolate candies to it. They came out yummy!

Brandi wants to make her play dough recipe, so maybe I'll do that with her next weekend...we just never got around to it on her break.