Independence Day Cookies

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow American's this weekend!  If you are still looking for a fun treat to make with your kiddos, these patriotic tie-dye swirly cookies are a blast to make (and eat!).  I posted these last year and we still love making them.  You can get the recipe and instructions here.

I was recently contacted by Rebecca, an editor over at LilSugar (of PopSugar network fame) who asked if I would let them feature these cookies in their round-up of ideas for fun desserts for the holiday.  They have a lot of great, fun, kid-friendly ideas, so if you are still stumped you should head over there and see what they came up with.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and very happy holiday!  I'd like to send out my heartfelt gratitude to all the men and women in our armed forces, and their families, for their contribution in keeping us safe to enjoy the privileges and freedom that so many are still denied.  I want to send a special thank you and round of much hugs and love to my brother who is in the Army and headed to Korea for a year after just recently returning from his second tour in Iraq. He always did want to be a Super Hero.  Mission accomplished.  Love you Bubba :)

Sparkling Sugar Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day! My kids love making sugar cookies for the holidays - every holiday really - and this is our favorite go to recipe for a slightly crisp sugar cookie that is still somewhat soft, delicious and retains shapes well. The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan, so you know it is going to be good. You may remember these cookies from last Independence Day when we made tie-dyed stars. This Valentine's Day we also actually made Dorie's recipe for Chocolate Roll Out Cookies (links below for both recipes) as well and tie-dyed them with red and white royal frosting. The kids loved them and the cookies were really delicious! In fact, they were gone and passed out before I had the chance to take a picture of any of them.

Have a great day!!

Vanilla Roll-Out Cookie Recipe with sparkling sugars in red and pink

Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House - Happy Holidays!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I have long wanted to try to make a homemade Gingerbread House and my six year old and I had already determined that THIS was the year we were going to do it. We've been planning and plotting since, well, pretty much since Halloween and hadn't gotten around to doing too much about it. When this month's Daring Bakers' challenge was announced I was so happy and relieved - especially since it has been a while since I've been able to get my act together enough to participate.

We stayed pretty traditional in our house shape (though we did want to try this Manor House version) mainly because I wanted to make two small houses - one I could attempt to decorate, and one I could just let my boys have their fun with - not that my decorating job was much better - LOL!

I hope everyone's holiday season has been all they hoped it could be and then some. We are hanging in there on the homefront here - just trying to wait out this third trimester and get as close to our March 1 due date as possible. Honestly, for the most part, it has been pretty good so far... which half the time makes me feel like I'm waiting for the axe to fall. The other half of the time, I just try to stay positive and think good thoughts!

Thank you again and again and again for coming back here and checking up on us - I truly do appreciate it so much! I hope that as the holidays wind down I'll have the chance to start finding some time to relax and catch up on visiting and catching up on my blogging friends lives. In the meantime, please know I am thinking of you and hoping for the very best for you all!

TWD: Sables - Two Ways - Nibby Almond or Orange

Almond Sables with Hand Roasted Cocoa Nibs

Tuesdays with Dorie this week is hosted by Bungalow Barbara who chose the Sables. These are a classic French cookie and the name comes from the French word for "sand" which refers to their texture - which is a crumble in the mouth kind of texture.

While generally this type of cookie isn't my favorite, I've been waiting and waiting for someone to choose these cookies. I could have made them in the mean time, but just never seemed to get around to it. Though I say they aren't necessarily my favorite type to eat (I'm more of a classic chocolate chip gal - unless we are talking World Peace Cookies that is!)

Orange Sables with Demerara Sugar

I decided to use some of the Playing Around options provided by Dorie and do two versions. For the first version I varied just a bit from the Lemon Sables variation and subbed the lemon zest with about 1 Tablespoon of orange zest. For the sugar coating on the outside of the cookies I used some good Demerara Sugar I had on hand, which is why the coating is so dark. I just love the extra crunch and flavor that raw sugars have!

For my second variation though I decided to play around on my own. I have some really incredible cocoa nibs that I've been wanting to use that I bought (and have been hoarding) at a local Italian grocer's here in Salt Lake called Caputo's. The cocoa nibs come from another local Utah company that I love, Amano Artisan Chocolates. For these cookies I used the Ocumare Hand Roasted Cocoa Nibs which are just ridiculously good. I also subbed out a portion of the flour in the cookies with Almond Flour I got from the wonderful folks over at Oh Nuts! (who have great deals on their nuts by the way - thankfully because I am just about out of the Almond Flour now!). To boost the almond flavor just a bit more I added some good pure almond extract to the dough as well. For a bit of a more festive look I coated the dough in some vibrant red sparkly sanding sugar I had on hand.

I really loved how these turned out. The almond flavor was detectable, but still subtle and didn't overpower the cocoa nibs. Likewise, the little spattering of cocoa nibs (which you could add more if you wanted, but I just wanted a few in there) didn't over power the almond either. It was sweet, sweet harmony.

Believe it or not, while my boys are always happy to have baked goods on hand, my husband often refrains - mainly because he wants to watch his weight I guess (he doesn't really need too, but I guess he thinks he does). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when I called all my boys into the kitchen for some cookies after we decorated our Christmas tree and lo and behold - he ate one, then another, then put another whole one in his mouth, then later came back for a couple more. He liked both versions quite a bit on their own merits, but it is always a real joy to me when there is something that really tempts him.

We will definitely be adding these cookies into our regular rotation and have lots more fun coming up with other variations. I also see these cookies in the near future for our holiday gift boxes to friends and family.

Be sure to check out the TWD blogroll for many more variations I'm sure!

Also, for some more really great cookie ideas you can visit my recent post about the group of local food bloggers I got together with for brunch this past weekend. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and lots of really great treats!

Please check back a little later this week for my next giveaway to celebrate the holiday season! You won't want to miss this one!

Holiday Cookie & Treat Swap plus Brunch!

Brioche French Toast at Wild Grape Bistro

This past Saturday a small group of local food bloggers, most of us who had already met a few times before, got together for brunch at the Wild Grape Bistro near downtown Salt Lake City. It was my second time at Wild Grape, but my first time for brunch. I don't know what it is about the idea of brunch, but I have to tell you, it is something I absolutely adore - probably over any other meal. Maybe it is the slightly decadent feeling I get since it isn't one of the 'everyday' type of meals, but always feels like a special occasion in and of itself.

The staff at Wild Grape couldn't have been more wonderful and friendly to us if they had tried. They were so gracious and accommodating to our little group and I am so very grateful to them for letting us hold our Holiday Cookie & Treat Swap at their restaurant. I feel terrible that the name of our particular waiter now escapes me, because I would love nothing more than to mention how perfectly wonderful he was! Anyway, he knows who he is and I hope they enjoyed the plate of cookies and treats we left for the staff to enjoy. If you haven't been to Wild Grape yet, you really should. The food is delicious and the staff is always delightful - I really couldn't imagine having had a better experience!

I was really excited when Wild Grape treated us to their fresh Beignets with Chocolate Sauce and House-made Apple Butter as well - I had wanted to try these as well as the french toast and they made it so I didn't have to choose! The Beignets were absolutely delicious and still fresh and warm - heavenly!

My hubs was a sweetheart and came with me and our kids to the brunch, even though he had to leave for work as soon as he was done eating, and even sitting out in the warm truck with our 2 year old when he had fallen asleep right before we got there. He was such a good sport! He ordered the (shown above) Ham n' Cheese Sandwich which was Black Forrest Ham, Cheddar Cheese, Roasted Apple and Horseradish Mustard - delicious!

I probably went the most decadent of anyone at the brunch and went ahead and ordered the Brioche French Toast (first picture in the post) which is stuffed with Nutella and crusted with chopped hazelnuts, dusted with a generous amount of confectioners' sugar and served with a silky creme anglaise - yes, it was just as good as it sounds too!

I also can't resist an order of good breakfast potatoes - and I was just sure that Wild Grape would have really good ones - I wasn't disappointed!

Be sure to check out everyone else's links below to see not only their holiday treats, but what delicious dishes they ordered from Wild Grape as well - it was a time of gorgeous food and amazing company!

On to the Brunch and the Treats!

While I had the best of intentions to make something new and really spectacular, reality caught up with me this last week and there was just no time to get any kind of big cookie project together. I opted to make a standard favorite here at our house, the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie. I love to make a huge double batch of dough, shape the cookies and keep them in the freezer to bake off warm and heavenly chocolate chip cookies whenever the mood strikes us (which at our house equals out to at least a couple of times a week as an after school or movie night treat!).

Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod, who was kind enough to be drafted to help organize our little get together, made Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies. They were chocolatey and had a chewy kind of crunch from the melted candy on the outside of the cookie that was unique and wonderful. Maria is such a wonderful person and always so willing to help!

Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen was there sharing her wonderful wit and wisdom about blogging, photography, writing and food. It is always a pleasure to spend time with Kalyn - she is so generous with her knowledge and I always leave feeling like I have learned so much!

Dara of Cookin' Canuck came to brunch and is always so fun and happy that she is just a joy to be around! She was even able to get my overtly shy 6 year old to share some answers while he was hiding behind his DS games. Her cookies were these gorgeous Cinnamon and Almond Meringue Star Cookies which were delicious, as well as so pretty!

Tiffany of Food Finery joined us with her stunning and festive colorful Shortbread with Cranberries and Green Pumpkin Seeds - I just love Tiff - she always makes me smile and her cookies were so festive that my son just couldn't get his eyes off them!

Christina of Mele Cotte, was great to meet in person - she has such a fun personality. I know she had a busy day (and I think even a flight to catch!) but I'm so glad she was able to come and visit with us before heading back East. Though she didn't really have a workable kitchen anymore, Chris put together some gorgeous and delicious little Chocolate Mascarpone and Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Mini Tarts to share.

Barbara of Barbara Bakes, who is a great friend and a perfectly lovely woman whom I am so grateful to have gotten to know in person, brought these perfectly delicious Pecan Squares to share - they have a delicious cookie base with a sweet pecan topping - like having a delicious piece of pecan pie - but only all the best parts and more of it! I can't wait to make these, but I don't think I'll share!

Becky of Vintage Mixer, who is just absolutely darling and just as personable in real life as she is on her blog, joined us and brought her lovely petite little Ginger Creams, which are a family favorite of hers.

Cristie of The Table Runner also came to brunch and also made a cherished recipe, this time from a friend of hers. I was so intrigued by her Cherry Chocolate Crisps (no surprise since they were sandwiched with chocolate!). Cristie is such a sweet lady and is super talented and always willing to share her talents and expertise as well.

Candace of A Little Blog, who happens to be Cristie's daughter, also joined us and my only regret is that I sat so far from her and her mom that I didn't get to spend more time with them! That is just something that we will have to rectify in the future at some more fun events! Candace used her mom's recipe and brought a fun twist on the chocolate chip cookie with her Sweet 'n Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Pretzels.

TWD: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Thank you everyone for your nice get well wishes last week! I really appreciate the support and virtual hugs! We are all feeling a bit better around here finally and hope that it lasts for a little while. Hopefully that means I will be able to get a bit caught up on my blog reading as well!

We are back on track with this week's recipe for Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies, chosen by Ulrike of Küchenlatein. These cookies offered lots of fun options for what to do with them. You can add flavors in, slice and bake, roll and make cutouts to decorate, add sprinkles or sprinkle on sugar, frost them, or leave them plain. Pretty much there was an option for just about everyone. My thanks go out to Ulrike for choosing such a fun cookie to make during the holidays!

I decided to add a little bit of really good almond extract (about 1/2 tsp) to the dough and about 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, finely grated. I also decided to make them into slice and bake cookies so that I wouldn't have to worry about trying to figure out a good way to decorate them with icing (which I am not that great at). I rolled the dough into two cylinders, wrapped them up really well in plastic wrap, and stashed one in the freezer for a later date. When the other roll was nicely chilled (about two hours in the refrigerator, just to be sure) I unwrapped it and rolled it in some ground almonds. I sliced the cookies about 1/4-inch or so thick and sprinkled them with some raw sugar and baked them up.

I thought the recipe was nice and easy, and the cookies were extremely delicious. Mine turned out nice and buttery and soft, but I did cut them a little thicker and also only baked them for about 9 minutes so they didn't get crispy at all. I just prefer softer sugar cookies, though I think this recipe would be good no matter what. We pretty much inhaled that first roll and I'm glad I stashed the other in the freezer to keep me from baking (and eating) them all in one sitting.

Make sure to check out how all the other Dorie Bakers did this week - I'm sure there is a lot of fun and beautiful cookies running around out there today!