WW: Heart Cookies {Linky}

Reminiscing to when I worked in the office. I would have made cookies for Travis' work and my own, had I been at work in an office. Instead these go to just my husband's work. 

They got more than what's pictured. I made chocolate cherry chip cookies as well. 

I planned on writing words on them like: Cute, Hawt, Sexy, and Empowered. It's not hitting on anyone if they get to choose their own cookie. BUT I ran out of frosting. Oh well! I still love the colors. 

Dandelion Shortbread Cookies

I continued on with making dandelion everything I could find online. Mica and Isaak rolled their eyes when I had them pick as many yellow flowers as they could. In my deep freezer I have a back stock of dandelion flowers.

Some recipes I added, or subtracted this or that.

Dandelion Shortbread Cookies did not disappoint. I was expecting the boys to put their nose up at me, instead they asked for a 2nd cookie.

What I added from the original recipe: 

Vanilla!

What I love about this recipe: 

There isn't a lot of ingredients. 

There is no need to frost them.

Dandelion Shortbread Cookies by AlissaSpiehs-Apel on Scribd

I love putting a tie on cookies. Seriously it takes something bland, and turns it into being cute!

Travis said that he couldn't even taste the dandelion. 

Why Add Dandelion?

• Highly Nutritious
• Contain Potent Antioxidants
• May Help Fight Inflammation
• May Aid Blood Sugar Control
• May Reduce Cholesterol
• May Lower Blood Pressure
• May Promote a Healthy Liver
• May Aid Weight Loss

They probably won't help with weight loss because of the flour and sugar, but at least you know it has that power.

What is your favorite type of cookie?

Chocolate Maraschino Cherry #cookies #holidaybaking

It's been awhile, since I've posted a recipe. I love holiday baking. I made a ton of cookies before I went on Jury Duty. They are in tins, that are tucked away in the deep freezer. Ready for my work, Travis' work, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am giving a tin of them, for my White Elephant gift at work.

I love cherries, and knew I wanted to incorporate some in with cookies! 

These cookies are very easy to make. No rolling dough, no cutting cookies out, and no decorating needed. They are pretty as is! 

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter    

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour  

2 to 3 tablespoons Maraschino Cherry juice

1/2 cup Maraschino Cherries chopped

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper.  

3. In a mixing bowl add the ingredients in the order listed.

4. Roll into 1" balls, or use a cookie scoop.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. 

6. Let cool for 5 minutes.  

I flattened mine with a meat tenderizer. I sprayed it with a flour spray first, so it wouldn't stick.

Then the boys begged for them. I let them each have a cookie as a taste test. After that they went in the deep freezer. The next day I found out Mica had his own little stash of them right by his bedside. Nope! Ha! In his defense he is growing like a weed!

Are you a fan of Maraschino Cherries?

Fall Cookies

Travis was supposed to have an artist help him haul his designed chair home. It weighs a ton. The artist that was supposed to help him, had a funeral to go to.

His work let him borrow an employee, and their truck to haul it.

In return Travis made them pizza, and I made them fall cookies.

I only allowed myself two cookies, to go with coffee.

My weakness: Sweets! Especially chocolate! 

What's your weakness?

An April Fools Idea - Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies #recipe

I had a thought one day...to make Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Why haven't I heard of anyone making spicy chocolate chip cookies before? We have Mexican candy that's both sweet and spicy. Their hot chocolate is the same. 

Travis helped me figure out what to add. He's quite a bit Mexican, so I trust his judgement. I didn't want to make them too spicy.

I added a little cayenne pepper, cloves, cinnamon, changed the crushed walnuts to Brazil nuts, and changed the semi sweet chocolates to dark chocolate chips. 

Travis, Isaak, and I all love them. Mica said, "Do you have to keep putting cayenne pepper in everything?" I have to admit I've been putting it in a lot of dishes to help clear up my sinuses.

April Fools:

I made the Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies for reals! To me they are amazing. What if say someone at worked picked one up to eat, not knowing they were spicy?

I'll be making a second batch very soon, to send off to the places where we work. They LOVE my cookies! Some may or may not like the Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This is when I want to say, "Man up, and eat the flipping cookie! Go outside your box you smuck!" In all reality I know not everyone likes spicy things.

If you like spicy things, or just want to play a trick on someone here's the recipe to Mexican Chocolate Chips: 

Ingredients:

8 ounces of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour    

1 cup all purpose flour 

2 1/2 cups dry quick oats

12 ounces dark chocolate chips 

1 1/2 cups Brazil nuts

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons cayenne peppermint 

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Directions:

1. Cream the sugars with the butter and eggs.  

2. Combine the rest of the ingredients one at a time.

3. Crush the nuts before adding them. 

4. Spray a few cookie sheets.  

5. Use a scoop to put them on the pans. They will spread out, so leave room in between them.

Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies by AlissaSpiehs-Apel on Scribd

Do you like sweet with spicy? 

Chocolate Gingerbread Rollout #cookies #recipe

We're not done with celebrations. We have New Years Eve, and New Years Day to celebrate!

I decided to make Chocolate Gingerbread Rollout Cookies to celebrate! 

They are super easy to make!

Start out by setting out 2 sticks of unsalted butter and 1 egg. They need to be room temperature.

Use a mixer to combine the 2 sticks of unsalted butter, 1 egg, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Add In:

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 Tablespoons of melted Chocolate Chips
• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
• 1/2 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Keep mixing until everything is mixed together throughly.

Chill:

Cover the dough, and put it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Roll Them Out:

Flour a clean surface, roll out flat with a standard roller. I followed up with using a decorative roller.

One thing I like about this dough, is that it can be reworked, and reworked. It doesn't loose anything. You know how some doughs get brittle as they keep getting worked? This one didn't seem to.

Cut Out the Cookies:

I chose to use a star and a snowflake. I didn't want my cookies to be too Christmas(y), and more winter(y).

Spray a pan with cooking spray.

Bake in an oven set to 350 degrees, for 12 minutes. I do 6 minutes on the top rack, and 6 minutes on the bottom.

To Pipe or Not to Pipe?

I had left over frosting, but after asking my family if they needed to be piped they said, "No. They are freaking good as they are!"

If you choose to pipe them, wait until the cookies are cool of course.

They are the perfect combination of ginger and chocolate!

Chocolate Gingerbread Roll ... by on Scribd

Random Tid Bits

1. I've been kind of away from blogging more so this week. It's the week before finals. This week is just as busy as finals week because many things are due.
   
2. Mica's been struggling with his honors Algebra. Travis asked his teacher if she thinks he should go back to the regular math class. Nope! He just needs to practice more. If we could get him past thinking he knows it all. Typical teenage attitude.
   
   Travis is brighter in math than I am, so he's been a very patient tutor. He's had to relearn things.
   
3. Isaak has had about 2 hours or more of homework each night. I'm just not happy with his last year of elementary school. Every week I shake my head about something he says, brings home, and so on. The latest is that his teacher gave him a word to look up, find synonyms of, and use it in a sentence. He couldn't find the word in his not organized notebook. We snapped at him for not being organized. Then we learned that she gave him his word to write down, while he was in the middle of a test. Say what?! I've been helping Isaak with his homework.
   
   On the side meal prepping, snow shoveling, and basketball practice.
   
4. All weekend last weekend and the weekend before I baked, and decorated. We have one less holiday function, so I made less sugar cookies. I broke about 7 of them that the boys ate. I also made Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies - that taste a bit like the Girl Scout ones, Chocolate Malt Cookies, and Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies. Lots of work, but 1 plate goes to Travis' work, 1 plate goes to my work, another batch goes to sell at the elementary school, another plate for Christmas Eve, and we typically have a New Years Dance Party for kids.
   
5. I've also been working on my Christmas card, which will be a Christmas photo this year. I didn't get my rear end in gear to get postcards made. They are still cute. I'll share the flop, and will share the real one next Tuesday on here.
   
   I wanted to do a Parody on The Scream By Edvard Munch. It wasn't turning out as I envisioned. I played and played with it, then I played with something different that I liked better. So...I went with that.
   
   Here's my flop that never got finished:
   
   
   
   
   

Fall Sugar Cookie Recipe

Colorful fall leaves didn't happen in Nebraska very much this year. Were leaves all colorful where you live? It's like the leaves went to brown, fell off, and dried up. I do love the crunchy sound under my feet when I step on them.

As much as I would have loved to collect leaves for their colors, I didn't. Someday I'd love to go to a place that has an array of colors. I'll iron them, and put them flat in a book.

This cookie craft will show up on ParentSavvy's Website. Different pictures and writing of course.

Before Thanksgiving happened I made some Fall Sugar Cookies:

I only ate 3. The rest went to coworkers. Travis and I joke that the only reason he was hired at his current work place is because they missed my cookies. He worked at a place for years. His boss ran the company into the ground. Then he was hired on by a company in the same building. His boss asked almost as soon as he was hired, "Can you ask your wife to bring in some cookies?" Ha!

Fall Sugar Cookies by Anonymous Nh7KbE4hof on Scribd

Making them is really pretty easy! Whisk the softened butter, milk, sugar and eggs. I often use almond milk, and sometimes use Costco's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I only do that because I have a coworker that's prone to having Celiac Disease. Other times I make it how I want, and she just won't eat any.

Then start to add the rest of the ingredients.

Often times I just start making them. If I'm in a cookie mode, I don't want to stop. Other times I chill them.

I sprinkle flour all over a clean surface to begin rolling the dough out. Try and cut the cookies as close to one another as possible. I roll the dough to be as thin as I can. The more you work with the dough the harder it gets to roll. I have added a tiny bit of water just to make the dough rollable again if it gets difficult.

Sur La Table had the fall leaf and acorn cutters I'm using. I know they are pricy, but these cutters weren't so bad.

Lightly spray the pans with a cooking spray. The two I like to use for cookie are the butter spray and the flour spray. Any will do. The flour spray can be a pain on the nozzle of the spray. If you do use that one, plan to use it for lots of baking things. Then it won't have time to clog up.

I fill 2 pans full of cookies before I turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Then that way while those 2 pans are baking, I roll and cut more. I alternate pans. 4 min in the bottom for one, 4 min in the top for the other, and switch them.

Any broken ones that happen the boys get to eat. I caught Mica accidentally dropping one to eat it.

Decorating:

Let them cool all the way before frosting them. I mix up colors, and add coco powder to make them neutral.

I found Wilton Sprinkles - Turtle Crunch that's perfect for the tops of acorns.

I put some sprinkles in a small snack bowl for Isaak. I frosted them with a rubber baby spoon, and he dipped the tops of the acorns in the sprinkles.

I think the plates turned out nice! I have 3 plates: 1 for each of our works, and 1 for my 1st year students. While I'd love to make the red more vibrant, I hate adding a whole lot of red food coloring. It's the worst color health wise for you.

Did you make any fall recipes?

Today We Close a Chapter in Our Life Book

Today is my husband's last day of employment. I think I've cried more times than he has worried. When he went in on Monday he handed 2 of his co-workers thank you cards. They've been with him for 14 years. The act of him just purchasing the thank you cards made me cry. 

When he came home he told me that his boss didn't tell his 2 coworkers about him being let go at all. I think that his boss is so ashamed that he had to let Travis go. The thank you cards were unexpected. His coworker Steve got teary eyed. When I heard this I cried again. 

*I'm not even at that hormonal point in the month. I remember making fun of my mom for crying over movies and shows. Here I am a slobbery mess. I'm turning into my mom, only worse.

The thing is, I'm not crying over money really. Well maybe a little. Mostly it's the closing of the chapter that's lasted so long.

Tuesday night at the Y we went to a Family Fitness class. Mica and Isaak automatically want to play tag with me every time. Maybe it's because they know they can tag me much easier than their Father. We played tag, and kickball there. Guess who hurt his back at some point during the process? Dad of course. At the end the girl in charge asked if we needed a card to fill out? If you go for a certain number of times you get prizes. I looked at her, shook my head and said, "After this month we won't be going to the Y for awhile. My husband lost his job." I explained what happened. I don't want anyone thinking my husband did anything wrong, because he didn't. I know tears filled up in my eyes. 

We went home, and Dad grabbed a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer to put on his back. In the process of putting them back in the freezer a giant bag of berries fell out, busted and went all over the floor. At that point I had to laugh. Sometimes laughter has to take over tears. Your life is comedic after a certain point of disasters around you.

At Ju-Jitsu tears happened again. We're on a 3 month hold after this month. We won't have to pay a sign up fee if we decide to go back. We can close our account completely if we decide to go that route. I know they have scholarships for those that make less money, but right now if I spend anything I want it to go towards camps in the summer to keep the kids busy. It's just sad because Mica's been going there since he was 6, and now he's 9. Both boys are getting better at the martial art. 

My little {what used to be selfish} Mica said, "Dad if I win that writing contest you made me enter; you can have the money." Last night Mica said, "I want to start delivering papers for the family." We said, "Why?" He said, "You know to bring in some money." - I love that kid! Of course he's only 9, and we're not waking up at some crazy time in the morning to deliver papers. It's the thought that counts. This proves we've done something right with our kids. 

Where Travis works there's 2 businesses inside the building. They are pretty close to the other business. One lady said last week, "Hummm...I wonder when cookies will show up again?" That translates to, Your wife Alissa should bring in some cookies for me to eat.

As soon as he was asked to leave I made cookies. I don't over eat when I'm stressed, but I do want to bake. Conversation heart cookies were made. For one of the first times in Travis' life, he helped me pipe the words on. I said, "We should write typical things for my work: Cute, Sexy, Love, Hot... For your work we should write: Bye, See Ya, It's Been Fun..." He loved that idea.

For My Work:

For His Work:

He said, "If I'm doing this I'm going to write some naughty ones. I'm losing my job anyhow." I said, "That's perfect." He used his imagination in regards to "FAH Q" and "AH SOUL". You may need to use your imagination as well to figure them out. I said, "I hope your boss doesn't think you are calling him those words. He said, "They'll laugh. Who cares if he does think that."

 
Do you get sad/happy when your life changes? I cry over happy times to. Like when we got married, and had our babies. I've cried at sad times like when my Grandma passed away. I think it's human nature to be scared in regards to change. It's not like I think we're going to drown in a lake. I just know that what we're used to is going to change now. 

Travis has an interview on Friday, he's going to the unemployment office to fill out that stuff that day to. On Saturday he is modeling for a local art place. I just hope his back is better by then! Luckily for us a fellow friend/mom owed us a favor. The boys get off school early on Friday, so she's taking them. They'll love it because they love her, and she's taking them out for ice cream. 

Human nature is interesting. Change is vital to get better. Change is also very scary. I know I'll be a slobbery mess when my kids leave the nest. 

Aussie Bites

We tried Aussie Bites at Costco. They were in between muffins and cookies.

I decided to look online to see if I could find a recipe for them. I found one here. I made them last night. The boys and I liked them. Daddy said, "You're turning into some granola girl." He said they were ok though.

Set you oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together. Mix everything together. Spray little muffin cups and put them in them. The recipe I found said to cook them for 12 minutes. I found that they needed to be cooked for 20 minutes.  I also replaced in the original recipe some butter with coconut oil.

I had three on my plate for a late breakfast. I was actually pretty satisfied with two. They are pretty filling, even though they are small.

They made 37!