Peppermint Sugar Cookies

These need to make it onto your Christmas cookie platter. I put them together three different ways and loved them all. Bake up your favorite sugar cookie recipe. I have a couple of favorite recipes that I really like. Try this one, or this one or try this one, depending on whether or not you have any sour cream or cream cheese in the house. Once you have the cookies baked, it's time for the frosting!

You can sandwich two cookies together

or you can pile some frosting on top

or you can omit the frosting and dip one edge in melted white chocolate and just sprinkle on some crushed candy canes (apologies for the weird lighting on the third photo. It was late which made for an off-red coloring). My favorite cookie was the middle option.

Peppermint Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar, divided

8 regular-sized candy canes (with more for decorating, if desired)

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

5-10 drops of peppermint oil (or extract to taste)

2-4 T milk

1/2 cup Cool Whip, thawed

In a food processor, add one cup of powdered sugar and the candy canes (I got that idea from my friends at OBB from this post). Pulse until you hear only small crunching sounds instead of major crunching sounds. You want the candy canes to be fairly small in size, but not turned entirely into dust particles. You can see the bits of candy in the photos. 

Cream butter for about a minute. Add the extract(s) and/or oil, and add the remaining powdered sugar (3 cups). Beat until it is well blended. It will be quite stiff at this point. Add 2 T of milk and continue beating. Check the consistency and if you want it a little thinner, add a little more milk. Fold in Cool Whip. This makes a nice light, not too sweet frosting that you can sandwich between cookies or pile on top of cookies. Then either roll the edges in crushed candy canes, or sprinkle on top of the cookie. 

To make a great tasting cookie without making the frosting, melt about 1 cup of white chocolate discs in the microwave for one minute. Stir the chocolate and melt for 30 more seconds if necessary. Dip one edge of cooled cookie into the chocolate and set on parchment paper. Immediately sprinkle with finely chopped candy canes. Let set for at least 15 minutes. 

Karen's Requests

This past weekend went much too quickly. I picked Karen up from the airport on Wednesday evening. Even when I was just giving her the first of many hugs, my heart was already a little bit sad because I knew the days would fly by much too quickly and I'd have to return her to the airport before I was ready to let her go. That's exactly what happened.
She had a few requests for when she was home. The first was that she wanted Strawberry White-Chocolate cupcakes "waiting" for her when she got home. I did her one better, and had one waiting in the car! She also wanted scones for breakfast one morning, and she wanted caramel apples to take home with her. I was able to make all these requests happen for her.
I know I've shown these cupcakes on the blog before, but I've never written out the directions, which makes it hard to find when I'm looking for it (which, by the way, is the total reason this blog exists- so I can find my own favorite recipes).

Strawberry White Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Your Cup of Cake)
(Makes about 24 cupcakes)
4 egg whites
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sour cream
1 T vanilla extract (yes, a tablespoon)
Vanilla cake mix (I usually use Duncan Hines)
White chocolate ganache
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
Strawberry Buttercream
1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp strawberry flavored gelatin powder
4-6 cups powdered sugar
strawberry freezer jam (which is still frozen), to taste (I used about 1/4 cup, maybe a little more)
sprinkles or slices of fresh strawberries to garnish, if desired
Preheat oven to 350°F and put cupcake liners in pan. In mixing bowl, add egg whites, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Add cake mix and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then at medium speed for 2 minutes. Scoop into prepared liners, filling about 3/4 full (I use a large cookie scoop for evenly-filled cupcakes). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until tops are just beginning to brown (or test with a toothpick to come out clean)
To prepare ganache, place cream in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in the microwave until it is very warm but does not boil. Add the chips to the bowl and stir until they are melted and incorporated into the cream, adding more chips if needed if it's too thin, and adding more cream if it's too thick (it's not rocket science). Dip the tops of the baked cupcakes (which have cooled somewhat) into the ganache, letting the excess drip off the cupcake before setting it upright to cool completely.
To make the frosting, beat the butter for two minutes until completely creamy. Add vanilla extract and gelatin powder and beat until the powder is no longer gritty (about three minutes). Add 4 cups of powdered sugar to start with, and beat until it is smooth. Add about 1/4 cup of frozen jam (if you don't have freezer jam, you may use plain ol' jam instead, but it won't be as awesome. Beat until incorporated. Now taste the frosting and see if it is to your liking (or licking!) and adjust as needed, adding more jam or more powdered sugar depending on how it tastes (more non-rocket science). When cupcakes are completely cool, frost cupcakes and add either sprinkles or a fresh strawberry slice.

 Since Karen wanted to take the caramel apples home with her to give to her friends (and keep a few for herself), I had to wrap them up before she could pack them away. She put them in her carry-on bag, "just in case of emergency" on the way home.

I loved having this girl back home with me. I'm sad that the time went by so quickly. 

Come back soon, Kake. 

Matthew's Photo Shoot

Last week I was finally able to go back to Provo to see my new little angel baby, Matthew. 

Laura set up a photo shoot in his bedroom. It was a rainy day, so there wasn't as much sunlight coming into the window as Laura would have liked. She made do though.

While she was borrowing my camera (her's is having problems focusing. I have that problem sometimes too. I hear they make drugs for that) I took some photos with my 'purse' camera. It has focusing problems sometimes too. 

I love this little guy. He's one of my greatest blessings, and I am "thankful" for him. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Chocolate Orange Brownies

I only had one picture's worth of battery left in my "purse" camera, and Laura is borrowing my "good" camera and in the "good camera's" case is the charger for the "purse" camera. That means, this is the only picture of these brownies that I could take.

That layer of awesomeness is orange. Here's how they were made, in case you need a break from all the pumpkin recipes circulating right now.
Chocolate Orange Brownies
1 9x13 pan of your favorite brownies
Orange filling-
1/2 cup butter, softened
zest of 1/2 an orange
1 tsp orange emulsion
3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 T orange juice

Chocolate frosting-
1/2 cup butter
2 cups milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar (or more, to make the consistency as spreadable as you want)

When the brownies are nearly cool, start mixing together the orange filling. If you don't know what orange emulsion is, here's a picture.

I like it better than orange extract. Way better. Beat the butter until it is creamy. Add the zest, emulsion and powdered sugar. Add 1 T of orange juice and check the consistency. You want this stuff to be really spreadable, but not runny. Add the second tablespoon of juice if it is too thick. When the brownies are completely cool, spread the orange filling over them. Place the pan of brownies in the freezer while you mix up the chocolate frosting. 

When you're making the chocolate frosting, you want this to be really spreadable too. I think I got mine too thick. The recipe which inspired these gave only butter and chocolate chips as the frosting ingredients. That made it quite grainy, which is why I added the powdered sugar. That helped to smooth out the texture, but it was still not what I was hoping for. In the end, they turned out super-tasty, but if you want to go with a different chocolate frosting, feel free. This one would work well, as would this one but on that one, leave out the peppermint extract and cut the ingredient amounts in half unless you want a lot of leftover chocolate frosting. Or, just open a can of your favorite frosting (if you own such a thing) and spread it on top of the orange frosted brownies. Keep in mind that you want a very thin layer of chocolate frosting over the orange frosting. Cut 'em up and chow down. I took four of the brownies to an ailing friend and took the rest of them to the missionaries at the employment center. I was surprised at how fast they disappeared! 

In Time Out, Once Again

This weekend was Time Out For Women. It was held in the Maverick Center this year, for the first time. It is a bigger venue that the Salt Palace and could hold 3,000 more people, and the place was filled! Don't ask me how Cheryl and I scored front row seats for Saturday's session. It was amazing sitting dead-center in the front row. We had better seats than the presenters! This is the little art do-hickey they shined onto the floor, right at our feet.

We took a moment to take a picture and have it "framed." 

Yep, Cheryl was framed too. 

Then someone offered to take one of us together. I'm hogging the shot. Sorry, Sister. 

Friday night's first speaker was Sheri Dew. To top off the evening, Sheri interviewed Ann Romney.

On Saturday, I was thrilled to hear my very favorite singer, Hilary Weeks. See the guy behind her? That's Michael Dowdle. I have some of his cd's too. 

I could listen to Hilary's music all day. Oh wait, I DO listen to her music all day. Or at least whenever I'm in the car. Sometimes that is an all-day event.

She graciously pretended like we are friends, and she signed my cd jacket of her music.

Since we were front row goddesses, we got to hang with all the popular speakers. This is S. Michael Wilcox. He's taller than I realized. He was very generous with his time, and the women all seemed to want to chat with him. We spoke with him about three or four times. That's the perks of the front row!

Cheryl got Sheri Dew to sign her book on Friday night. She thought I grabbed my camera as we went up for the autograph. All I was doing was tucking my purse under my chair. We remedied the lack-of-photo-op on Saturday. Sheri Dew is the kindest woman when it comes to star-struck fans. But she is also rather business-like and keeps the line moving along so everyone gets a chance to hang out with her for a few moments. 

I believe this was the best time-out we've been to (although hanging out with Sara and Kate was pretty awesome). Next year I will have both of my sisters with me, and maybe even a daughter as well. We all deserve to be in Time Out! 

Close, But No Cigar

I serve as a missionary at the LDS Employment Center. Today was my first day back since my grandson, Matthew, was born (11/11). I wanted to pass out the proverbial cigar, but needed to come up with an alternative. Here's what I did.

I made a paper with the pertinent information

 and wrapped it around a snack-size bag of peanut M&M's. You can see a few of the wrapped candies
 (I didn't take a close-up shot. Sorry).

Speaking of chocolate...I've got 25 pounds of milk chocolate chips waiting to be turned into some great creation. 

I'd better put on my thinking cap! 

New Kid On The Block

Yesterday I got to meet my grandson, Matthew, for the first time. He's adorable! His mommy did such a great job bringing him into the world. It was a very difficult pregnancy for her for about the last eight months, but I'm sure she feels he is worth it now! Time of birth: 12:01pm. Weight: 7 lb. 3 oz. Length: 20 inches.

After taking Agnes and Eliot to school, Olive and I went to the toy store while waiting for Matthew to be born.

"Hi people!"

Congratulations, Matthew- you have an awesome mommy!

first bath- he's not a fan

This is my favorite picture

Eliot gets a brother!

Agnes will be a wonderful big sister, again. 

The girls!

The boys! 

Getting acquainted. I think Laura looks fabulous!

We went to great grandma's house and then she and Walt took the kids and me to dinner.
Agnes' choice...Chuck•A• Rama. 

Four generations apart, but a direct link in love. I think my mom looks fantastic at age 82!

We are so happy to have this little guy in our family! Welcome to the world, Matthew Paul Read!

Side note- today is 11/12/13. There is one woman scheduled to have a c-section today at 2:15 pm so her baby can be born at 11/12/13-14:15. Wow.