Frosted Sugar Cookies

Everyone needs a good go-to sugar cookie recipe! Especially with Christmas around the corner. I made these star cookies as part of the Warriors Super Mario Birthday Party. In half of them I baked them with a lollipop stick and used them as toppers for the cupcakes! They turned out super cute!

FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES

3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 Tbl Vanilla
1 Tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well, scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure they get mixed in well. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, cover and chill in the refrigerator. I like to chill my dough before working with it, it makes it easier. I usually make the dough the night before and bake it the next day.

Heat oven to 350. flour a clean working space and flatten one of the cookie dough balls onto the surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough about 1/4" think. cut into desired shapes and bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes depending on the size of the cookie.

FROSTING
4 cups  powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temp
5 - 7 Tbl milk
1 Tbl vanilla
food coloring

In a large mixing bowl cream butter. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and one Tbl of milk at a time. For a piping consistency make the frosting a slightly thinner with more milk. For a spreading consistency make the frosting slightly thicker with less milk. Frost cooled cookies.

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

Fall Haystacks

Don't these just look like fall and trips to the pumpkin patch and hayrack rides? I think so too! And I was lucky to find White Chocolate M&M's to use as my mix-in! Perfect little treat for the kids! I'm sure the Princess's preschool teachers were happy about all tiny chocolate fingers in the class!

FALL HAYSTACKS

(40 TREATS)

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1 ½ cups Butterscotch Chips

1 bag Chinese Noodles

1 cup mix-in (M&M’s, marshmallows, peanuts)

Pour both chips in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir and continue to microwave in 30 sec increments until completely melted.

Add noodles. Stir until the noodles are completely coated.

Add “mix-in” and stir. 

Scoop 1 TBL balls onto waxed paper or parchment paper until set. 

Lick fingers and enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream

Good ole Nebraska! Monday it was 90 and today I think they are saying a high of 60 and it will probably get down in the 30's overnight. I thought if I want to try this ice cream recipe, I'd better do it now before it's too late!

Coffee Ice cream is pretty much my all time favorite ice cream! And Haagen Dazs is by far the best coffee ice cream in the world!  Add crunchy Oreo cookies and salty peanut butter...need I say more? Don't count calories on this one people, or carbs, or fat for that matter...just eat it and then go run 5 miles, or maybe 8!

Anyway, why is Haagen Dazs so stinking good? Evidently they add egg yolks to their recipe, which is why it boasts it's creamy goodness flavor. Don't see how eggs can make ice cream taste so good? Well, give it a try and I promise you will see!

Look at the bites of peanut butter, Oreo and the Oreo cream! MMM....

Enjoy My friends! Happy Last Day's of Summer!

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream 
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
2 cups whole Milk
3/4 cups sugar
2 Tbl instant coffee
5 egg yolks
10 Oreo Cookies, broken into big chunks
1/2 cup peanut butter

Beat egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside. Combine cream, milk, sugar and instant coffee in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until it's just about to boil, it will be steaming. Reduce the heat to medium-low and remove 1 cup of the cream and sugar mixture. Very slowly add the 1 cup to the egg yolks - make sure you go slow and whisk continually until it's well combined. Now pour the egg mixture into the the remaining cream and sugar mixture on the stove. Cook and stir constantly until it thickens and is custard-like. Remove from the heat and strain into a medium bowl. Set a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the mixture and refrigerate until it is cool.
Pour into the ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturers directions. When you're done "freezing" the ice cream, stir in the Oreo chunks and the peanut butter. Pour into a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer for a couple hours until the ice cream is hard or just until you're ready to indulge!

Warmly,
Mary

Chocolate Chip Cookies

When Superman and I first met, he was living near the beaches of Virginia and I was living near the cornfields of Nebraska. We chatted on the phone...a lot. I think it was actually in our first, maybe second conversation ever that I learned about his love affair with Chocolate Chip Cookies. Being the confident baker that I was, I knew that when we would get to be together, I would woo him with my culinary expertise! Finally together, I had a chance to show him my skills! But every time I tried to impress him with yet another go at a new recipe, they were either too flat and crispy or too dry and hard. Still he could not resist and married me anyway! But every time I tried make cookies for him, epic fail! And to make things worse, when we were served perfect chocolate chip cookies somewhere and he swooned over them, I was crushed! I set out to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie... recipe and finally I succeeded! I was chatting with some friends from our little South Dakota church and a teacher friend offered her recipe. The optimistic but skeptic that I am, I hurriedly ran home to try them, it was Valentines Day and the cookies were what he should have, however I did have a back-up plan. I was pleasantly surprised that each and every cookie came out perfectly! Oh so perfectly, round, fluffy, chewy and flavorful! Needless to say, Superman was impressed and still to this day, he brags about MY cookies and has never had a wandering eye for another's cookies again! Now, years later if he gets to choose what I'll whip up that day, "Your regular chocolate chip recipe" every single time! And I feel honored every time to make perfect chocolate chip cookies for my superman!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (I don't know the origin of this recipe, I received it from a friend)


Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temp
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 pkg (the smaller size) Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375. Beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Mix in flour, baking soda and pudding mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls (I use a cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk! Gotta go, I have a milk and cookies date with Superman!

Warmly,
Mary