Copy Cat on Jenny's Randomness

I can't seem to remember to bring my cable to work so I can upload my photos from St. George. Therefore, I haven't bothered to blog since I've been back.
My friend, Jenny, blogged yesterday about random stuff. Is it just me, or can random stuff be just as interesting as interesting stuff? Her blog made me laugh out loud when she talked about how much money she spent/saved at the store and then she showed a picture of the "loot." I loved that. Well, I can't even show you that, so that makes her blog more interesting than mine. Maybe you should just go read hers.
Even though I returned my King Arthur Cookie library book, and even though I only made one recipe from it, I decided to buy it from Amazon and it was waiting for me when I got home from St. George. Now I need to start making some things from it to really test it out. Did I tell you that I thought my first flop was baker's error? I think I did.
Also from Amazon, I bought some Christmas music. It's Pandora's fault. I don't usually buy Christmas music before Christmas. I wait until it's half price after the holidays are over. My favorite cd that I bought is called "Christmas Break - a relaxing classical mix." I've decided that I like Christmas music without words. Songs get stuck in my head, sometimes for days. For example, while in St. George, the girls watched Beauty and the Beast multiple times. I had those songs severly stuck in my head. I was singing them (in my mind) when I went to bed and they were still "playing" when I woke up. Come on! Give me a break already! So, music without words can sometimes be my friend.
We're not going anywhere for Thanksgiving weekend. I know my counselors will be happy to hear that, since it's my turn to conduct R.S. this month. Does anyone want to invite us over for dinner? If not, maybe we'll go to Golden Corral. I'm not really serious about an invitation. Maybe I'll cook something and kidnap someone and force them to eat my cooking.
I'm almost done Christmas shopping. My goal is to get done before Black Friday even arrives. My kids have made it easy for me this year. I'm only shopping for half my kids. The other half are receiving monetary donations. Samuel's family is buying Disneyland passes so that was an easy contribution. A couple of online purchases and a trip to the post office and I'm done.
I'm going on Friday to decorate my mom's house for Christmas. My delimma is whether or not to decorate my house this year. Since we're taking a cruise in December, is it really worth dragging everything out for the few days we'll be home? Cheryl says I have to at least decorate the entryway and front door. I guess I can manage that much. Can I really not put up the tree?
My birthday on Monday was awesome. It was the best birthday I've had in a long time, and for no particular reason. We exercised in the morning at the gym. I came home and exercised a little more on the Wii. We went shopping but didn't buy anything until the next morning because Macy's was having a super sale on Tuesday and we saved a boatload of money by waiting one day. After shopping we went hot-tubbing. From there it was out to dinner and then we hurried home to spiffy up and get to Bud's "Joseph F. Smith Family Reunion" where I got to shake hands with Elder Ballard and Elder Oaks. Great day.
I just got a phone call from Cheryl. I knew it was coming and I even said so to Bud this morning on the way to work. She's complaining that my blog hasn't changed in over a week.
And best of all, I get to go to lunch in two hours with my great friends!
Okay- I'll get the pictures uploaded today without fail so you can read a real post tomorrow. I promise. Thanks for putting up with me until then.

My Birthday Present

Tomorrow I get to see this girl...
and play with this girl...
and hug this girl!
What a great birthday present (a little early!).

Girl Talk

I thought you needed a break from all the recipes flying around here from last week. Here's what we did a few weeks ago.

Bud was telling my mom a joke, but then we kicked him out so the rest of us could chat- just girls!
Mom told us lots of great advice!
Kyanna has that deer in the headlights look, but it's just coincidence.
Wait a minute! I see a white-sleeved elbow in the corner- we must not have started "the talk."



We talked a long time! Get this baby a blanket!
It was a fun night. Thanks for hosting, Cheryl! I wish we could do it again sometime, but I don't know when we'll have all those girls back here at the same time.

Volunteers Needed

I've wanted to make these for a super long time, especially around this time of year (or actually a little closer to Christmas). Since I made that caramel the other day, I've been wondering what to do with it. Well, here's what I'm doing with it.
I added a little coconut to it, and a few chopped almonds. I sliced it into strips.
I wrapped it around a pretzel rod.
Then dipped it in chocolate. The chocolate was heated in the microwave until soft, and then I spooned it over the caramel, let it drip a bit and set it on the parchment paper to dry.
I got out my white chocolate (which probably isn't truly chocolate)...
and put a few discs into a freezer Ziplock.
It took about one full minute to melt them.
I snipped the tiniest piece off the corner and drizzled away.
Now I have to find someone who will eat them. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?

Ignore The Soup

We've already talked about the soup. Look past that to see the roll. The comment these got was "these are dessert!" These rolls are so good. SO good! Light and fluffy, even two days later!

In fact, they're called "World's Best Dinner Rolls." I wouldn't disagree. I was inspired by the recipe here, from Our Best Bites. They really have superb recipes over there. Stop by, you won't be sorry.

I only made a couple of changes, which I'll point out as I go.

World's Best Dinner Rolls

2 cups whole milk (I didn't have that, so I mixed 1 cup half and half with one cup 1% milk)

1/2 cup plus 1 T. sugar, divided

1/3 cup (5 1/3 T.) butter

2 tsp Kosher salt

2 pkg. active dry yeast (I used 4 tsp instant yeast)

2/3 cup warm water (105-155°F)

8-9 cups flour (I used about 7 1/2 cups)

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup canned pumpkin (that's my own addition)

Dissolve yeast and 1 T. sugar in a medium-sized bowl with the 2/3 cup warm water. Set aside. Melt the butter in the microwave. Measure out the milk and put that right into your standing mixer bowl (those are fancy words for Kitchen Aid bowl, at least in my house). Add the melted butter to the milk to warm up the milk and cool down the butter. Now add the 1/2 cup sugar and the salt.

We're ready to start adding the flour (yes, I know the yeast mixture is still sitting in time-out). Start with three cups of flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds. If you have one of these...

you won't have to stop and scrape the bowl, otherwise, stop and scrape at this point.

Now add the yeast mixture (which should be bubbly and frothy and happy by now. If it's not- you're in trouble, and you shouldn't even keep going until you get happy yeast). Beat on high for 3 minutes.
Add the beaten eggs. They say over at Our Best Bites that the reason you beat the eggs first, rather than just cracking them into the mixture is to ensure an *even* dough. We certainly don't want an *odd* dough, so just hit those cracked eggs with a fork for a minute and beat them up.
Switch out the paddle for the dough hook at this point (did you know that if you're using the dough hook you shouldn't put the speed higher than 2?). Stir in as much flour as you need to make a soft dough. Don't add too much flour or your rolls will end up heavy and dense. I don't know anyone who wants to be heavy or dense. So just add enough flour to make the dough soft and a little bit sticky when you touch it with your fingers (my high-altitude book says less flour at high altitudes).
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and put it in a warm place. I'll usually turn my oven on for about 45 seconds and then turn it off again, and then put the dough in there. Let it rise for an hour.
Punch down the dough. Lightly flour your work surface and scoop the dough out of the bowl. Spray two 9x13 pans with Pam. Divide the dough in half (you may have to add a little flour to it at this point so you can handle it more easily, but go easy with it! Roll out one half and cut that into 12 equal pieces. A pizza cutter works pretty well for this job. Shape each piece of dough into a ball and place it in the prepared pan. Then do the second half and place it in the second pan.
Cover it again with the kitchen towel and let it rise for another 30 minutes. If you have a double oven, you can put the rolls back in the oven that's still kind of warm. Otherwise, just let them rise on the counter.
In 15 minutes, start pre-heating your oven (the OTHER oven) to 375°F.
Bake the rolls for 15-18 minutes, or until the tops are nicely brown (Cheryl, I won't do the Brown joke this time).
When they're done, take them out and rub some butter over the tops of the rolls. I use my silicon pastry brush and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for this job. Pop the rolls out of their pan or they will start to sweat. After all, they've just spent at least 15 minutes in the oven. Wouldn't you sweat too?
I used that little bit of pumpkin in my rolls, but honestly, I couldn't taste it at all. I don't know if it helped to make the rolls any more moist or not, but I'm betting they're just as good without the pumpkin as they were with it.
Don't be afraid of this recipe. These rolls are worth making. Trust me.

Butterfinger Cookies

You know that stash of candy Bud bought a few days ago? I knew the Butterfingers wouldn't last until next Halloween, nor should they! Especially if you can use them making these cookies!

Inspired by this recipe, I adapted it slightly and came up with a really tasty cookie!

Butterfinger Cookies

1 stick of butter, slightly softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped Butterfingers (8 miniature Butterfingers will do the trick)

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs for about five minutes. In a separate bowl, add flour, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. Add dry ingredients to batter. Stir just until flour is incorporated.

You can either chop the Butterfingers or place them in a large Baggie and smoosh (do you use that word? I do.) them with your rolling pin. Add Butterfingers and chocolate chips to batter. Stir just long enough to blend everything together.

Drop by small cookie scoop onto "Pammed" cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes (mine were done consistently at 9 minutes). If you have any leftover Halloween candy, and if they happen to be Butterfingers, make these right now!

And to give credit to King Arthur, I think the reason my last batch of "flopped" cookies was actually baker's error. In thinking back in my mind, I believe I added twice the amount of butter called for in the recipe. It's incredulous, I know! I'll for sure have to give the book another chance, just as soon as the Butterfinger cookies are gone (so...in about 20 minutes???).

Bud didn't buy nearly enough Butterfingers to get me through the year, now that I know what to do with them.