Sunday, November 27, 2011

Caramel Apple Cookies



The first time Cami made these, I fell in love and knew I had to get the recipe. They are THE BEST on a cold autumn day, with a mug of tea or cider while it rains outside. Or for breakfast. Or anytime really.

Ingredients
  • Parchment paper
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz) 
Directions
  • In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
  • With your mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy. (And try not to breathe in too much dust from the cider mix!)
  • Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
  • Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
  • Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it soooo much easier to work with.)
  • When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!) Unwrap your caramels.
  • Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
  • Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
  • Bake 10-12 minutes, or until VERY lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, immediately slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.
  • Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.
If they get hard, pop them in the microwave for 5 seconds and they'll be good as new. Ü

Saturday, November 26, 2011

We live in a Christmas House!!


Levi strongly believes that Christmas belongs only in the month of December, no sooner, and no later. This year though, I broke down his defenses and we started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. :D As we hung silver garland strands around our living room and dining room, I heard him singing “We live in a Christmas house, we live in a Christmas house!”


We even bought stockings this year, hung over the TV with care.
Last year I just did silver and red decorations since most of the wedding presents under our tree were wrapped in similar colors. Levi really wanted blue ornaments though, so this year our Arbon tree ended up looking pretty Patriotic.


To go along with the Christmassy sights, we had to add taste and smells. My absolute FAVORITE cookie recipe this year is for Caramel Apple Sugar Cookies. I drool just looking at these pictures…


That recipe will soon be posted too. It’s too good not to share!
We are SO ready for Santa to come!


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Cookies and Cream Fudge

Just kidding! Kinda. Do I make fudge? No. But I am slightly addicted to this fanTAStic version of "cheaters' fudge". Who knew sweet and condensed milk could be so great? I got the recipe from here and it is now a family favorite!

(FYI: My cell phone takes atrocious pictures. Someday I'll change this to a pic that will
make your mouth water properly. But for now, you get the general idea.)

Ingredients:
A bag and a half of white chocolate chips
1 can of sweet & condensed milk
10-15 oreos, broken up

Directions:
Line a 9×9 inch square pan with parchment paper.

Put the white chocolate and condensed milk in a large pan and heat very gently over a low heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate has melted. The mixture should be smooth and stick to itself. Stir in the broken oreos.

Scrape the mixture into the pan and level it, pushing it into all the corners (you’ll probably need another set of hands here to keep the parchment paper in place until your mixture gets in there). Put the pan in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight, for the fudge to set. Cut into squares (I did 8 by 8).

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Ohhh October!



October proved to be a month of random firsts. For example, it was the first time that I attended a live session of conference...


The choir was amazing and made me cry.
 

In other news, it was also the first time that I came home and found a snake sitting by my front door…


That sucker was BIG, ok! I debated on whether or not this was a large enough emergency for the police to be called. But when I went back outside, he’d disappeared!! Please oh please let him be gone for good…

 
Another first: I helped Levi butcher a deer. Right in my tiny kitchen. But I also learned that God answers unspoken prayers, because that happened to be the day I got a massive cold so that I at least couldn’t smell anything. My gag reflex only kicked in a few times thankfully.

 
Hooray for my mighty hunter!


Eventually those antlers will be up on a wall somewhere in our apartment. But I’ll worry about that when the time comes.

 
I also made Halloween treats for the first time ever. My V.T. ladies were the guinea pigs for my witch hat cookies.
  

Keebler Elf Striped cookies, orange frosting, and a Hershey’s kiss to top it off. Levi tried to eat all of them before I could deliver them, and he doesn’t even like chocolate!
And lastly, I dressed up for Halloween for the first time since I was 11. Levi and I brainstormed for weeks before he came up with:
 
 
Bandit and Frog, from “Smokey and the Bandit”. (Sorry for the extreme blurriness, I think Cody’s blowup fat man suit made his hands a little unsteady.) Levi made a very convincing Burt Reynolds with his felt mustache and faded bell bottom jeans (old Vanity jeans of mine that he somehow squeezed into. I will never wear them again.)
We had a ton of fun at a Halloween party with lots of friends at Cody & Chelsea’s, eating, carving pumpkins, and watching the classic “Hocus Pocus”.




A week later, we celebrated my 20th birthday! I’m officially no longer a teenager. :D
Levi surprised me with a great present.


New scriptures! With my married name on them. :) They’ll get a lot of use over the next many many years. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts!

And lastly, did I mention I got a job? Wahoo!! I did! Having a jacked up back has paid off. I was going to the chiropractor through October and at the end of the month, the doctor said he needed a receptionist. (He's only been open for a few months, so he's just now getting busy enough that he really needs a receptionist.) And so, I started work last week. :D