(Happy) St. Patrick's Day Cookies!

Pin It now! Me and the kids made these cookies a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time decorating with royal icing! (I got the cookie and royal icing recipes from Bake at 350) I definitely need more practice but I think the cookies turned out pretty cute. And they were definitely yummy!

Here are the ones that the kids decorated. They both love to help in the kitchen!

Ashlynn got to try out her new Snow White apron that Dave's mom made for her. It's so cute!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! :)

Mickey Pops

Pin It now! We went to Disneyland last week and before we left I made some cute little Mickey pops that I saw over at Three A's and a C. They were super easy and turned out super cute! I used oreos, mini nilla wafers, chocolate bark and lollipop sticks.


They are not as cute as the Mickey cake pops that Bakerella posted on Sunday (thanks a lot Bakerella for making these little guys look so plain! *lol*) but they are quick and easy for when your not in the mood to bake, but still want a cute little treat.

I think I am going to make these again sometime in the near future and I am going to add a face to them using the instructions that Bakerella did on her cake pops.

I'm going to post pictures from our trip to Disneyland later this week so make sure to check back to see those. And there will be an adorable video of Dawson dancing with Goofy in tomorrow's Wordless Wednesday post.

Chocolate Covered Oreo Reindeer Pops

Pin It now! We had another family Christmas party to go to last night, this time it was for my dad's side of the family. Last week was the Christmas party for my mom's side of the family and I made cake balls to hand out to everybody. Those were a big hit, but I wanted to try something different this time, something a little easier.

I decided I would make Chocolate Mint Oreo Pops...that's not really a great name, is it? I'm not sure what else to call them though! What I am sure of, they are super easy to make. No baking or rolling involved.

I was just planning on decorating them with Christmas sprinkles, but then I saw these cute reindeer cake pops that Christina from Three A's and a C made. I have seen them on Bakerella's site before, but it didn't hit me that I could do something like that with the chocolate covered Oreos that I was making until I saw them in Christina's blog. (Or maybe it was when I saw how cute her reindeer turned out I knew I had to make some reindeer, too!)

What you'll need:

• 1 package of Oreos
• 1 package of chocolate bark
• lollipop sticks
• wax paper

For decorating:

• sprinkles (or anything else that would look cute)
  

For reindeer:

• pretzels
• M&M's
• white confetti sprinkles for the eyes
• edible marker

Melt a piece or 2 of the chocolate bark, stick your lollipop stick in the chocolate and then place it in the creme filling of the Oreo. (If at all possible don't take the sides off the Oreo, just push your lollipop stick in between the cookies. That way you don't risk breaking one of the pieces and it stays together a lot better when they haven't been pulled apart.


After you have all the sticks in place wait about 30 minutes or until the chocolate is completely dry before you start dipping the Oreos in the chocolate, that way they won't fall off the sticks. :-)

Once the chocolate is completely dry, melt some more of your chocolate bark and then dip the Oreo into the chocolate until it is completely covered. Tap off any extra chocolate.

Decorate them however you want and then set them on wax paper to dry. (Or you can stand them up in styrofoam. I put mine in styrofoam after they were dry just for picture purposes.)


I ended up only making 5 reindeer because Dawson came down with an awful cold and needed some extra kisses and cuddles the day that I was making these and the reindeer were just too time consuming. (It really doesn't take that long to put the reindeer together, but when you have a sick baby you need to cut all the corners that you can to get finished quickly!) I needed to hurry up for my baby boy. :-)

Putting sprinkles on them was much quicker.


I made sure each family was going to get one reindeer and then a whole bunch of ones with sprinkles.


After I was finished making all of these, I realized that I had delicious melted chocolate and pretzels... I think you know what happened next!


Yum! And I had the perfect thing to put them in... Super cute Santa cupcake liners!


I was really happy with how everything turned out and everybody at the party loved them, too! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Cherry Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

Pin It now! A few weeks ago I made these cake mix Christmas cookies. They were so easy and so good that I knew it wouldn't be long before I tried them again. I used yellow cake mix the first time, this time I used milk chocolate cake mix. Yummm...

Last week during the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash one of the themes was Christmas recipes and that is where I stumbled upon this Cherry Chocolate Christmas cookie recipe from Our Front Door. I did change things up a little bit, she used white cake mix, I used milk chocolate, she used almond extract, I didn't...



Here is the recipe that I used:

• 1 box milk chocolate cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (last time I used 1/3 cup, I wanted to try using less this time and they came out perfect.)
• 1 cup candied cherries (well chopped)
• 1 bag of Hershey's Hugs

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together first 4 ingredients

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet

Bake for 10-12 minutes

*Makes about 3 dozen

While cookies are baking start unwrapping the Hugs

Place Hugs on cookies immediately after they come out of the oven. Allow them to rest for a couple of minutes and then carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

Make sure the candy is hard before packaging. It will take a few hours for the hugs to re-harden, you can speed up this process by sticking them in the freezer. I was in no hurry, and my freezer is FULL so I just waited a few hours. :-)

And of course you can use this recipe to make the cookies without the candied cherries and hugs. I think I actually prefer the cookies without the hugs, which is surprising to me because I LOVE hugs. I guess I just love them when they are by themselves.

Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies

Pin It now!
I am so excited to share this recipe! It's another very easy recipe and the cookies are so good! It's definitely my new favorite cookie! I found this recipe at Delightful Delicacies and I knew I had to try these cookies ASAP!

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 cup milk chocolate chips (the original recipe called for bittersweet instead of milk chocolate, I used what I had and think they turned out perfect)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
48 Andes mints

In a large bowl - melt together the butter, brown sugar, water and chocolate chips (Microwave in 1 minute intervals, stirring in between)

Beat in the eggs and then add in sifted remaining dry ingredients until blended

Chill for at least 1 hour

Shape into 1 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. (I let them bake for the full 10 minutes)

Place a mint on top of each cookie and place them back in the oven for about 10 seconds.



Use a spoon to spread the melted mint on top of the cookie


And if you'd like, add some sprinkles to make them a little prettier. :-)


Let them cool and then enjoy!

Makes about 4 dozen

I usually like my cookies best when they are right out of the oven -- warm and gooey! But these cookies taste a million times better when they are completely cooled. To me anyway. I tried one right out of the oven and thought, yeah these are good, but they aren't great. Then I tried another one an hour or two later and I was in heaven!!!

Best. Cookies. Ever.

Cake Mix Christmas Cookies

Pin It now! Let me just start off by saying that these were the easiest cookies that I have ever made. Seriously. And they were so yummy, too!

You just need 3 simple ingredients:

• Cake Mix (I used yellow cake mix, but I'd imagine that any flavor would be great. I plan on trying chocolate next!)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix together the ingredients

Roll the "dough" into small balls (about 1 inch or so)

Bake for 10-12 minutes @ 350

Makes about 2 dozen



Before I put them in the oven I rolled a few of the balls in red and green sugar. I also rolled one in sprinkles, and another in confetti, just to see how they would turn out and honestly there isn't a single cookie that I didn't like.

I also used Wilton's Cookie Icing and Holiday Mix Sprinkles to decorate some of the cookies.


I love this time of year! I have a lot more baking and some Christmas crafts that I want to do and I'll be posting everything in my blog. So check back often because there will be new stuff up at least a few times a week. :-)