Community Ed Cookie Swap

Continuing on the theme of all things cookie related…

Last Thursday was the date that I taught my monthly cooking class for Community Education. (Check out my November recap here) I debated on doing some sort of “How to Make Your Christmas Meal Memorable” class, but then I got the brilliant idea of hosting a cookie swap instead, where I not only teach how to make a few of my favorites, but have every student bring 2-3 dozen of their own favorite Christmas treat and recipe cards to swap. I wasn’t quite sure how it’d go over being that so many people are already overwhelmed by all the to-do’s during the month of December, but luckily I had a great handful of students sign up. I love the group of people that keep attending, they are some of the nicest people I’ve met, and definitely make teaching enjoyable!

I finally got some pictures of where the classes are held and how things are set up!

 

I really like having one volunteer to help out with each recipe too—it keeps things more interactive!

I really enjoyed not only sharing my 3 top Christmas recipes of 2010, but it was so much fun to see all the goodies everyone else brought—they blew me away in both presentation and taste! Some people made more than one kind, and I am planning on featuring each recipe in the coming months, so keep an eye out for those—you won’t want to miss them, trust me!

Here’s the trays for everyone to fill…

All the goodies brought by the students..

Loading up their trays…

 

And now a drum roll for the final results..

What a great selection, huh? I told you that you’ll want to stick around for the recipes!!

And I suppose you’re wondering what recipes I chose to make/share with the class. Two of them you’ve already seen..

• Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies (recipe here)

• Cinnamon Roll Popcorn (recipe here)

And the third recipe I decided on is new to the blog—short, sweet, and simply stunning on cookie platters!

Holiday Gift Package Cookies

Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4
  cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

Frosting

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 to 2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk
• Food color

Line 8-inch square pan with plastic wrap. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat all cookie ingredients except flour at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour, scraping bowl occasionally, until mixture forms a dough. Press dough firmly and evenly in pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350°F. Using edges of plastic wrap, lift dough from pan. With sharp knife, cut into 8 rows in each direction to make 64 squares; carefully place squares 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.

In medium bowl, mix all frosting ingredients except food color until smooth, adding enough half-and-half for desired spreading consistency. In small bowl, mix 1/3 cup of the frosting and enough food color until desired color and well blended; place in small resealable food storage plastic bag and partially seal.

Spread uncolored frosting over cooled cookies. Cut small hole in bottom corner of bag of colored frosting. Squeeze bag to pipe frosting onto each cookie to resemble bows

And here’s a behind-the-scenes shot after all is said and done.

I think it’s time to call it a night!

Have you ever attended/hosted a cookie swap?

Cookie Monster

 

I think we all have an inner cookie monster persona, am I right? Ok, so maybe not as cookie crazy as say, Cookie Monster, but to the point where we each have our favorite cookie and like to enjoy it occasionally.

It’s Friday, so it’s an excuse to relax, bake some of these cookies, and have a few!!

Recipe for cookies shown in video here.

What’s your favorite cookie?

Mine are spritz cookies!

No S’more Summer

At the beginning of summer, and towards the middle, I am always dreading the colder months ahead. But once the last humid days of August fade away, and the cooler days of September make their way into northern Minnesota, I am actually looking forward to the fall leaves, fall festivities, and of course the fall flavors.

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Even though this past week was short, it sure seemed long! I was glad to have Monday off though. I made a trip up to see my parents and we took off to the Black Bear Casino to go to their great buffet. I honestly adore the all-you-can eat style restaurants—especially when they include peel-and-eat shrimp..yum!

Shrimp, jo-jo potato fries, corn on the cob, grapes, shrimp and scallops mix, steamed carrots, battered cod, beef pot roast.

This weekend, my mom, grandma, and I headed to Little Falls, MN and attended the annual Arts and Crafts Fair. It actually turned out to be decent weather—mid 60’s, slight breeze, and plenty of sunshine. The great fall weather brought out thousands of people looking to find a few homemade treasures; it’s a great place to shop for unique holiday gifts!

Lots of local Minnesota food vendors—and lots of samples of course!!

Loved this personalized bird house—how fun!

An authentic ice cream truck—couldn’t pass this up!

I bought this pretty wire twisted ring—loved how unique it was!

After walking all afternoon, we worked up an appetite and headed to Perkins for dinner. I wanted a protein-packed meal, so decided on the Steak & Eggs combo with a baked potato. I was a little skeptical about how Perkin’s steaks would measure up compared to somewhere like Applebee’s, but I had no complaints—the meal overall was a great choice!

 

I grabbed a double-scoop frozen custard from Culver’s with strawberries and blueberries..I think I like frozen custard better than ice cream!

But back to summertime, there are some things that I just can’t leave behind from the June, July, and August months, one being s’mores. There’s just something about the smooth chocolate and melted marshmallows sandwiched between two crunchy graham crackers that still seems to beckon at me throughout the winter months. But even when you can’t head outside in your sandals to the campfire, you can still create s’mores indoors—how? With this recipe!!

s’mores cookies

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows, plus extra
• About 3 regular-sized Hershey bars, cut into pieces
• 2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay out 12 large graham cracker squares.

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
• In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add flour mixture slowly to shortening mixture. Mix until combined.
• Add chocolate chips and marshmallows and stir together.
• Form into golf-ball size balls and place on top of graham crackers.

• Bake for 5 minutes, then remove and press Hershey pieces and an extra marshmallow or two on top.

 

 

What are some things you can’t leave behind from the summer months?

Winding Down

I can’t believe I went back to school as of yesterday! This summer went by faster than any other summer I recall. Now starting my Junior year in college, I realized I’ve made it 2 years, and 2 to go!

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The last hurrah at the Healthy Living Summit. We met these two glorious ladies the first night at the cocktail party. Lisa, myself, my mom, and Lindsey!

Coming back from Chicago last Sunday, the 15th, was a long ride. I think just knowing that I had to come home and all the Chicago fun had to end made me sad. But at least my mom and I got to make one last stop at Wisconsin Dells to extend our vacation into Monday.

The trip from Chicago to the Dells is actually quite beautiful. Wisconsin has a lot of beautiful landscapes, and it was definitely worth the extra hours of driving to see it all. I spent the majority of the time digging through my swag bag from the Healthy Living Summit, and of course had to try a few snackaroos.

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll know that I am not a huge chip fan, but give me some Popchips and I can easily down the bag—they are by far the best chips. Light, airy, flavorful, crunchy, and best of all they are baked vs fried which means they’re healthy!

We also got a miniature N’Oatmeal Raisin Cookie made by Mary’s Gone Crackers, which is basically an oatmeal cookie made without the oats. I am still not 100% sure of how I feel about the folks at Mary’s taking the oatmeal out of the typical oatmeal cookie, but they were chewy and still had the “oatmeal cookie taste”. Would I buy em in a store? Probably not.

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We made it to the Dells around 5-ish and wanted to find somewhere to eat—I always jump at the chance to try new buffets, so we made are way to the Chula Vista resort and ate at their Market Fresh Buffet, which prides themselves on having 90 feet of buffet to choose from!

Beautiful salad bar

Flank steak, buffalo shrimp, mahi mahi, salmon with wasabi, mashed potatoes, and peas.

Then I got to work cracking crab legs—yum!

We stayed at the Black Hawk Motel downtown Dells, which I highly recommend by the way, and it was conveniently located by all the little shops—and this place that caught my eye right away!

Good thing I went inside—my head started spinning when I saw this sign!!

Take a guess what flavor I chose!

Cheesecake!

Wow, I wish our town had 24 flavors of soft-serve somewhere..actually I take that back—if we did, I’d be broke!

After get a good nights rest, we headed out bright and early Monday morning, but first relied on Denny’s to fuel our day.

I started with this lovely fruit parfait…

Then I got a glorious all veggie omelet with no cheese, and a side of red-skinned potatoes!

So picture more driving—6 hours to be exact—a few stops to shop and stretch, and finally making it back into Minnesota by five o’clock, which was perfect timing to stop at The Outback Steakhouse. This was my first time eating here, and definitely won’t be my last!

The brown bread was really good and hearty!

I ordered the Outback Special which is a 9 oz sirloin steak seasoned with bold spices, and seared just right. I also got a baked potato on the side to round of a great meal—sometimes I just want a big, juicy steak to call it a day!

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So overall, I loved Chicago—the city, the lights, the sights, and the smells. The Healthy Living Summit was definitely worth the drive and I will be attending next year for sure! Spending all that time with my mom and being able to go on a vacation before summer was over will be a memory that lasts far beyond the lazy days of 2010 summer!

However, I am so glad to be home to the slow-paced northern Minnesota lifestyle, family, friends, school, and a HOME COOKED MEAL!!

What was your best memory of summer this year??