See you later

Well this was VERY short lived!!! I just couldn't do it the way I pictured it so there is no sense in doing it at all! Back to posting what I make on Facebook!! Thanks to those that checked it out! If you found me by Pinterest follow me there :o) If you found me by Facebook we are already friends! {{{hug}}}

Remember to enjoy a cupcake or cookie once in awhile!!!

Cookie dough

So I haven't baked much lately too much going on but I did decide to whip up some cookies, in haste so, I didn't get pictures of everything. So I thought I'd just show the difference in my cookies start to finish!
aka boring boring post

Forgot to take a pic before I stuck them in the oven so here they are as they go in!!

 

 

Soon as they come out!!

 

After resting 4 minutes!!

Nice soft cookies! Actually got a text today from a co worker saying they were the softest cookies he ever had!

Anyhow that's what I do for 99% of the cookies I bake ... bake for the recommended amount of time then let rest on pan for 4 minutes then transfer to cooling racks. 
These were my chocolate chip cookies but I didn't have vanilla pudding so I used the white chocolate pudding instead just a slight difference in flavor but still yummy.

I made these last night (5 dozen) and they are gone today!! I took 10 to work the rest went in my kids & I had a few!!



Friday Dinner

Cheating on my kitchen ... AKA going out to dinner!
We found a restaurant we really like ... maybe it's just me that likes it but everyone agrees to go so they must not hate it! I have been there 3 times now ... the first time with my husband & daughter ... the second time with my son ... and tonight with my husband! All 3 times I've gotten the same thing

I *attacked* my plate then remembered I wanted to take a picture lol so some of it is gone already! I inhaled it

 

It is called chicken limone ... it is so amazingly good!!

sauteed broccoli and the bottom picture is the bread & potato thingy

potato thingy = mashed potatoes coated with something thin and deep fried!

Dinner was awesome ... better than anything I make in my kitchen!!

 



FUDGE Brownies

  These brownies are not only fudgy they are F-U-D-G-Y! (apparently according to spell check fudgy is not a word, oh well I'm sticking with it) They have a dense, moist texture definitely not cake like brownies! More like pieces of fudge! I almost wish I drank milk because you might need a good quart of milk to get them down!
I don't know about your house but in our house a 9X13 pan of brownies might yield, oh maybe 4 - 6 servings lol well these we cut into 2" little squares!

Part of the heavy chocolate taste is my own fault.  I was in a big rush and I just poured the cocoa out of the can into the measuring cup, I'm thinking I should have sifted it first then measured! I literally had about 5 minutes to get them in the oven!!

If you like chocolate you should like these! *hint* maybe sift the cocoa!

Let's get started:

melt

 (recipe called for butter I almost always use margarine!)

 

add

 

stir :o)

can't get any more simple than that!

 

eggs & vanilla in the mixer ~ give them a spin

 

very slowly ~ tiny amount at a time add the butter/ sugar mixture to the eggs

seriously don't rush this step you don't want scrambled eggs!!

 

dry ingredients ~ give it a stir

 

This is before it is cooked ... you'll notice it looks about the same after it is cooked it is soooooo thick it doesn't really move while cooking! I forgot a picture of the chocolate chips!

 

Cooked! See not much different!

 

Thick ~ heavy ~ dense

 pick an adjective!

 

 

RECIPE!!

 

2 sticks of margarine

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 T vanilla

1 1/4 cup cocoa powder (see my mistake)

1/2 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups milk chocolate chocolate chips

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 9X13 pan

 

In a medium sauce pan melt the margarine and add the sugar

stir ~ Make sure you don't burn it! Cook for a few minutes

Crack your eggs and put in your mixer bowl along with the vanilla

give them a spin to combine

S L O W L Y

add hot mixture

Did I mention SLOW???

Let them go while you measure out the dry ingredients

Add the dry to the wet

mix until all combined

Add the chocolate chips ~ stir by hand!

Pour into your greased pan

Bake for about 28 - 30 minutes!

Let cool

&

Grab some milk!!!!

 

Orange Cookies!

These are soft orange glazed orange cookies! This is the first time I've made them and I have to say I will most likely make them again but I wasn't so sure last night.  This is another one of those cookies that are better the next day!
I'm not so sure oranges are in season so I'm guessing they would be even better when they are! I thought there would be a much stronger smell when I was zesting them.  Maybe it was just what I bought, who knows. I bought a package that had 4 oranges and 2 different varieties of apples.  The recipe I followed I had to change quite a bit so I'm just going to write what I did.  Again I took pictures throughout most of it! The picture above is the final product! Three bite dessert? My big mouth says yes!

 

 

 

Here are all of the ingredients together ... I have never made orange cookies or cookies made with sour cream.  Like I said I had 4 oranges they weren't very big and it was plenty of juice but I would have probably liked to have more zest. 

 

 

 

This is the first 4 ingredients ~ hard to see them all but sugar,eggs, shortening & sour cream

 

 

This step took longer than I thought it would ... see all those lumps? They just had a hard time blending in and it was at room temperature too. So I let it keep mixing.

 

 

Here is the orange zest & orange juice which again you can't see ...

 

 













This is what it looked like after adding all of the dry ingredients. I never mix much after adding the flour just until it comes together.

 

This was the only way I could think of to show you the size cookie scoop I use ... just purchased it at good ole Walmart ... it makes the perfect size for what we like!

 

Scoop them out and bake!!

 

 

This is when they are done ... they don't really spread ... light golden brown on the bottoms and puffy ... Not done yet ~ Time for the orange glaze!!

 

 

Now I thought this was going to be wayyyyyy too much but in order to dip them it was just right I did have some left over but worth not trying to scrap up the last bit to try to cover them!! I also had to increase the amount of orange juice by what I thought was a lot compared to the recipe!! When the cookies cooled and it didn't take very long I just dipped the tops in and set them on the cooling rack with wax paper under to catch the drips!

 







 

Fresh dipped! The glaze stiffens up (it doesn't get hard) and like I have said they were just ok when they were made but then we ended up at the hospital for my daughter (she's ok) so today we ate them and they were really good! Has that hint of orange but it isn't a sickly sweet cookie even with all that powdered sugar! Now I don't have an actual count because part way through my son came through and took a plate to bring out to his friends but I think I got about 6 dozen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Orange Glazed Orange Cookies

 

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

 

2 T orange zest

3 T fresh squeezed orange juice

 

4 cups + 2 T all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

 

 

Beat eggs in mixer bowl add sugar, shortening & sour cream

Beat until smooth & creamy

Add orange zest & orange juice ~ mix well again

 

In a small bowl combine all of your dry ingredients give a good stir then add to the wet mixture mixing until just combined with a couple of extra turns but not too much

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

Using cookie scoop drop onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper

 

Bake for 12 minutes (that's what I did in my oven but ovens vary!)

 

I always let my cookies sit on the pan for about 4 minutes then move to cooling racks.  Let cookies cool completely.

 

Orange Glaze

 

(These are the measurements I used)

 

2 pound bag of powdered sugar (confectionery sugar)

2 T orange zest

3/8 cup orange juice

1 t vanilla extract

 

Combine all ingredients until smooth should be fairly thick but not as thick as frosting ... the picture above shows it pretty well how thick ribbons fall. (Depending you may need to add more powered sugar or orange juice.  The original called for 5 T I did 5T then added 3T then 3T then another 3 T which brought us to 3/8 cup!!)

 

Enjoy!

 







Homemade Chinese...

Beef & Broccoli

 

 I came across this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and thought it looked good so I'd try it.  I got to thinking as much as I love broccoli I have never ordered this, I tend to just order sweet & sour chicken or fried dumplings.

 

Here is the site Pinterest linked back to here yup right here it has great step by step photos since again I made this awhile ago and didn't take pictures except for the one above at the very top that is my photo!!

 

We ordered chinese a few weeks after trying this and I thought hey I'll give it a try ... big huge mistake.  This recipe was soooooo much better!! Really pretty simple too!  *I didn't use the tablespoon of sherry ... *next time I make it I plan to double the sauce!!!  Give it a try some night 



Cookies and Cake Balls Oh My

I'm just a wife & mom who likes to bake & cook (hate to clean up tho but no one else is going to do it that's for sure)
I started posting everything I was making on Facebook and an old friend asked me to bake for her daughters baby shower! I was thrilled but it was one of the most stressful things! You know how you can make something a hundred times but soon as you have to you just know something will go wrong! Baking isn't something you can do in advance so I just planned out my week and went with it on a wing & a prayer! I wanted everything to be as fresh as possible of course. Some of it I could freeze, some I knew stayed fresh longer than others etc so I had a plan! Oh I should mention what I was making ~ 100 cake balls, 100 "thin mints", 100 M&M cookies and 200 oatmeal cookies with filling!
This was back in January before this little blog idea entered my empty head I have pictures but they aren't great ... sorry about that!

 

This is 200 oatmeal cookies!!

I only bake 12 cookies at a time ... I need to get over that if I'm ever going to do this again!

 

 

This is one of the little cuties with pink filling put together

 

 

These are my version of cake balls ... not round and not on a stick ... can I still call them cake balls? Oh well, that's what I call them! These are better, they won't roll around and no need to find a place for the stick when your done!!

They are my cake version of chocolate covered cherries! YUM!

 

 

 

These are my super simple "thin mints" ~ the plan was to drop the heart in the center of each one but of course I dropped the first one and it landed on the side like this and I thought it actually looked a lot better so I went with it!

 

The last cookie I didn't get a picture of but it was just a M&M cookie

using pink & white M&M's ...

Thank goodness Valentine's day was coming up.

 

 

 

 

The cookies for the baby shower were given out like this ... I just boxed everything up for her but was happy she shared what she did!!

 ~OH and her daughter did have a baby girl and

 she is beautiful!!

 

I will post these recipes soon!! Oh and the other day I had another friend ask me to bake cookies for her! She is having a combination birthday party & graduation party for her two son's! That order is for about 600 cookies!

Bring it on ...