Last Week

I'm not entirely sure I'd make these again. I had a heck of a time with the batter. After I mixed it up, it was not dough, and very dry, so I added and egg, then it became batter and very sticky, so I added flour, that was better, but still sticky, so I added butter (to make it greasy). By that time I was just ready to give up. As you can see in the picture some of the cookies are spiky, because the dough was sticking to my hands.

Red Velvet Cookies
1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon red food color
1 egg
3/4 cup to 1 cup Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup chopped nuts.

1. Mix cookie mix, cocoa, butter, sour cream, food color and egg in bowl until soft dough forms.

2. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet

3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely about 15 minutes.

4. Frost cooled cookies with frosting. Sprinkle with nuts.


I know it says to frost, but I am still freezing mine, so they're not frosted in the picture, but I did frost one to try, it was delicious.

So, that's the end of my Holiday Baking, I will post one last post to show all the cookies/bars together with links to their recipes.

Week Five

Chocolate Mint Creams
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
6 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon water
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
Pastel cream mint kisses

1. In a small bowl stir together flour and baking soda; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, and water. Cook and stir over low heat until butter is melted. Add chocolate; cook and stir until chocolate is melted. Pour mixture into a large bowl; cool for 10 minutes.

2. Using a wooden spoon, stir the egg into chocolate mixture. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Immediately place a mint kiss on top of each cookie. Bake about 2 minutes more or until edges are set.

5. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool until melted mints are firm. Makes about 48 cookies.


I ended up using Hershey's Candy Cane kisses, I also didn't chill my dough, I felt it was easy to handle after mixing everything up.

Next week will be my last week, as I was making these to share with my aunt who I will be seeing on the 17th, and to share with my coworkers at the library, I decided to take them to a holiday party that will be happening on the 13th.

Week 4

Almost didn't get these done either. Saturday I was shopping all day and had a trivia thing that night. Sunday I had to work, but made myself make these afterward. Only 1 month til Christmas, I have about 3 more recipes.

Tri Level Brownies
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For bottom layer, in a small bowl stir together oats, the 1/2 c flour, brown sugar, and baking soda. Stir in the 1/2 c melted butter. Press evenly into bottom of an ungreased 11x7x1 1/2-inch baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, for middle layer, in a medium bowl stir together egg, granulated sugar, the 2/3 c flour, milk, the 1/4 c melted butter, the 1 oz melted chocolate, the 1 t vanilla and baking powder until smooth. Fold in walnuts. Spread evenly over bottom layer. Bake about 25 minutes more or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack.

3. For top layer, in a medium saucepan combine the 1 oz chopped chocolate and the 2 T butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Stir in powdered sugar and the 1/2 t vanilla. Stir in enough of the hot water to make a mixture over middle layer. Sprinkle with the 2 oz bittersweet chocolate. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Makes 16 to 24 brownies.

This picture is to show the layers. It's not a great picture, but you can kind of pick out the oat layer, the brownie layer and the chocolate layer.

Week Three

I almost didn't get these done this weekend. I had to work both my jobs on Sat, and didn't have enough time inbetween, by the time I got home Sat night, it was 9PM. Sunday, I had one job and then went shopping with my mother afterward, and completely forgot until I was in the shower.

Creamy Peanut Butter Bites

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
21 bite-size chocolate covered peanut butter cups, halved
unsweetened cocoa powder


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl combine butter and peanut butter. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Bead in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. If necessary, cover and chill about 30 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

2. Shape dough into 42 balls, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Press a halved peanut butter cup into each ball and shape dough aroung peanut butter cup to enclose. Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool. If desired, sprinkle cookies with cocoa powder.


I love this recipe, I am not a big fan of peanut butter, but these are great. I didn't get 42 cookies out of it, I got about 28. Maybe I made my dough too big, I don't know.

Week Two

This week's cookies, weren't what I had originally planned. My first plan was to make chocolate chip cookies, but then I thought those were boring. My second plan was to make Chai Crescents, but then I realized they are cut out cookies, I don't have a rolling pin, wax paper or cookie cutters. I may borrow those things from my mother and make them later though. So, this is my third plan, Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies. And the picture doesn't do them justice, they are supposed to be (and are in real life), the color of mint ice cream.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4-1/2 teaspoon mint extract
6-8 drops green food color
1 egg
1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

1. Mix cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg in bowl, until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

2. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.


This is supposed to make 36 cookies, when I mixed up the dough, it looked very small, so I made 2 batches, and now I have tons of cookies. I used 1/2 t mint extract in the first batch and thought it was very minty, but after tasting the cookies when they were done, they weren't overly minty. I used 1/4 t in the second batch, and haven't tasted those yet, but with the creme de menthe chips, I bet they're still fine.
I used the 8 drops of food coloring and liked the color.
I didn't realize that creme de menthe baking chips are actually just Andes mints chopped up, I used a leftover bag of chocolate chips instead of chopping up chocolate.

Baking Time

I decided to try and bake some bars/cookies for this holiday season. Every year my aunt has done this for me, so I thought I'd repay her, plus I get more practice baking.
I decided to make a different recipe every weekend (starting the first weekend in November) until Christmas. This week it was Chocolate Revel Bars:
I will post a picture and the recipe here for anyone who reads this to enjoy as well. All my recipes are coming from 100 Best cookies by Better Homes and Gardens. It's a magazine I bought last year.

Chocolate Revel Bars
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Reserve 2 T of the butter for filling. In a large bowl beat the remaining butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and 2 t vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in oats.
2. For filling, in a medium saucepan combine the reserved butter, chocolate pieces, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and 2 t vanilla.
3. Press two-thirds (about 3 1/3 c) of the oat mixture evenly into bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Spread with filling. Crumble the remaining oat mixture evenly over top.
4. Bake in preheated oven about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned (filling will still look moist). Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 60 bars.
To Store: Cover pan and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.