Chocolate peppermint bark cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

Today has been a flurry of Christmas baking, but of all the things I’ve made, these cookies are by far my favorites this year.  It’s a delicious blend of chocolate and peppermint topping a buttery cookie.  I have a feeling this will be a new addition to our holiday treats every year.

And since Hershey’s makes so many fun flavored Kisses throughout the year, I can imagine this being a fun dessert with a lot of different flavor combinations.  Can’t wait to try them all!

{one year ago:  oreo brownie cups}

Recipe:  Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

(very slightly adapted from Recipe Girl)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses (or use crumbled candy canes)
2 ounces white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of a 13×9″ pan with long strip foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using electric or stand mixer, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just to blend.

Transfer dough to prepared pan. Using moistened fingertips, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.

Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 25-30 minutes. Remove pan and immediately sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over the cookie crust. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Using small offset spatula, spread melting chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer. Immediately sprinkle chopped candy cane kisses on top of chocolate.

Melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. If it’s too thick to stir, add a tiny drizzle of vegetable oil to thin it out. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

Lift cookie bars from pan and transfer to work surface. Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces to resemble bark candy.

 

 

Pretzel Santa hats

Pretzel Santa Hats

We went caroling for our water buffalo over the weekend and had such a wonderful time.  I’m not sure who was happier – the carolers or the families we visited.  Some knew we were coming by, but others were taken completely by surprise.  It was such a great night!  (If you want to read the story of our water buffalo, you’ll find it here.)

Afterwards, we came back to the house for hot chocolate, sugar cookie bars, and these little pretzel Santas.  They are so easy to make and a perfect snack for spreading some Christmas cheer.

Recipe:  Pretzel Santa Hats

(from Free & Fun Christmas, discovered on pinterest)

mini pretzel twists
white chocolate almond bark
red sanding sugar
mini marshmallows

Melt the white chocolate almond bark according to the directions on the package.  Dip each mini twist pretzel halfway into the melted white chocolate almond bark, then dip pretzel into the red sanding sugar until only a small amount of the almond bark is showing.  Place on waxed paper.  Cut the mini marshmallows in half.  Use additional melted almond bark to adhere a mini marshmallow half onto the side of each pretzel.

 

Christmas cowboy cookies

Christmas Cowboy Cookies

The thing I love about cowboy cookies is that they literally combine all my favorite cookies in one.  Oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chips living in peace and harmony.  As if that wasn’t enough, you can toss in all those little bits leftover from other baking adventures.  Nuts, m&ms, dried cranberries?  Throw ‘em in.  You end up with one heck of a cookie.

Normally, each cowboy cookie is a whopping 1/4 cup of batter, but I made this batch a little bit more normal-sized.  Perfect for dunking in a glass of milk.

{one year ago:  Santa bread}
{two years ago:  chocolate peppermint cookies}

Recipe:  Christmas Cowboy Cookies

(adapted from Southern Food)

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. chocolate chunks or chips
1 c. Holiday m&ms
1 c. coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 c. raisins or dried cranberries

Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars until creamy.  Beat in vanilla and one egg at a time until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.  Stir into butter mixture.  Add oats, chocolate chips, walnuts, and raisins.  Drop cookie by 1/4 cupful onto baking sheet.  (I baked 4 at a time, but 6 would likely work nicely too.)  Bake for 13-15 minutes, until edges are beginning to become golden.  Cookie should be a little under-baked.  Remove from oven and cool on baking pan for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 18 cookies.

♪♪ Everybody’s got a water buffalo ♪♪

I have been so inspired over the past weeks by something we’re doing at church.  The semi-short version goes something like this ~

We’ve been given a trust (our envelope contained $5) to bless someone.  Simple instructions.  Pray, multiply, and put it out into the world somehow.  Our family prayed for several days about where this money should go, but in the end we are being led my our baby girl.

Claudia and Sam had a talk a couple weeks ago while I kinda, sorta eavesdropped.  They were counting their allowances to go to Target and Sam was telling Claudia that they should be donating some of their money to other kids.  He went on to tell her that there are little children dying every day because they don’t have enough food to eat or clean water to drink.  Her response is engraved into my heart.  She said, “What??  But that’s not even living their whole life cycle!”  (See, she had just learned about life cycles in 2nd grade science.)

So to help another child and his/her family (and maybe even neighbors and friends) live a whole life cycle, we turned to Heifer International.  With a little inspiration from a favorite Veggie Tales song, my kiddos decided that we should give a family a water buffalo.  A water buffalo can help farm fields, provide fresh milk, and raise money for medicine and school.

Well, a water buffalo costs a lot more than $5, so we brainstormed ways to multiply our trust.  This weekend, we will be Christmas Caroling for a Cause!  Emails and Facebook posts and empty piggy banks have moved us closer to getting our water buffalo, but more than being excited about that, I’m in awe of my daughter.  She’s got a huge heart and I bet if people listened and prayed with children more often, we’d all be moved to action to send blessings out into the world.  Don’t you think?

Hope our story inspires you to send your own blessings out into the world!

Whole wheat gingerbread pancakes

Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes

We took advantage of Jim being home in the mornings over Thanksgiving break, and got him into the kitchen to make us these gingerbread pancakes.  They were outstanding!  All the holiday flavors of gingerbread, but light and fluffy and perfect for breakfast.  What a delicious way to kick off our Christmas season.

{two years ago:  peppermint white chocolate mocha}

Recipe:  Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes

(from PBS Food)

1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 7-oz. container Greek yogurt
1/2 c. milk
1 egg

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and brown sugar.  In another bowl, combine the egg, melted butter, yogurt and milk.  Combine the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Batter will be thicker than other pancake batter.  Cook batter on a greased skillet until golden on both sides. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Baked potato soup

Baked Potato Soup

My kiddos are home for the whole week for Thanksgiving break, and they’re pretty much hungry all the time.  I don’t know how they manage to get through a whole school day without eating every 15 minutes like they do at home.

Homemade soup is always an easy fix when everybody’s home because it can simmer on the stove and everyone can eat when the mood strikes them.  This soup was warm and comforting and definitely very baked potato-ish.  It is the perfect base to pile high with your favorite baked potato fixins’.

{two years ago:  peanut butter popcorn}

Recipe:  Baked Potato Soup

(slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 head garlic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
5 to 6 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, depending on how smooth you want the soup
2 bay leaves
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, cut into cubes
1/3 cup sour cream
Ground black pepper, to taste

Toppings:  minced chives or scallions, crumbled bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, butter

Rinse the head of garlic to remove any outside grit or dirt, and cut the top third off.  Peel off any loose or papery skins.  Squeeze out the garlic from the tip you cut off and mince to add later.

In a Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook until soft and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute. Add the larger part of the garlic head (whole, not chopped), broth, bay leaves and 3/4 teaspoon salt.  Reduce heat and simmer until garlic is tender when pierced with tip of knife, 30 to 40 minutes.  Add potatoes and continue to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Discard bay leaves.  Remove garlic heads.  Squeeze one or two of the garlic cloves out of the head of garlic and smash them with the side of your knife.  Return the smashed cloves to the pot.  Add sour cream to the soup and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  Adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper to taste.  Using food processor or immersion blender, pulse soup until it reaches your desired consistency.

Sprinkle soup with baked potato toppings.

Pumpkin spice granola

Pumpkin Spice Granola

I hope you make yourself some of this granola as soon as you can.  It’s crunchy, full of Autumn flavors, super healthy, and just plain delicious.  I am completely smitten with it and I think you will be too.

So far, we’ve snacked on it, added it to yogurt, and poured milk over it.  It’s been wonderful every time, but I have to admit that my favorite is in a bowl topped with ice cold milk.  I can’t think of a nicer way to start my day.

{one year ago:  butternut squash mac and cheese}
{two years ago:  chocolate (tofu) pudding}

Recipe:  Pumpkin Spice Granola

(adapted from Baking Bites)

3 1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 c. Rice Krispies cereal
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
generous pinch of cinnamon
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c. honey or maple syrup
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. flax seeds, optional
1/2 c. slivered almonds, walnuts, pecans, or pepitos
1 4-oz. bar of white chocolate, chopped
add-ins:  dried fruit, to be added as granola is eaten

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together spices, salt, brown sugar, applesauce, pumpkin puree, honey, and vanilla.  Add oats and Rice Krispies.  Stir until completely coated, then transfer to baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn granola with a wide spatula and return to oven for another 15 minutes.  Remove tray from oven and add slivered almonds and flax seeds to the granola mixture.  Turn granola with wide spatula again and return to oven for another 15 minutes.  If granola isn’t crisped and golden, continue cooking at 10 minute intervals until it reaches your desired doneness.  (I removed the parchment paper after the 30 minute mark and feel that the granola started to crisp up more at that point.  I cooked my granola for approximately an hour and 15 minutes all together and I’m very pleased with its crunch.)

Cool granola completely before adding white chocolate chunks.
Add dried fruit before serving, to help maintain the crunch of the granola.
Store in airtight container.