Toffee Crunch Cookies

Okay, I know I’ve been away for a short while… I tend to start things and forget about them : ) I’m trying really hard not to do that with this blog, and couponing, and starting my baking business. WHEW!!! That’s alot of stuff to start and not forget about all at once… and on top of that, the new school year is upon us! But, that’s a whole other post altogether…

The point is…. I’m back! : ) So, on this lovely Sunday I decided to whip up a batch of some yummy Toffee Crunch cookies. I saw these cookies on one of my favorite food blogs, Two Peas and Their Pod. Cindy and I hosted a coupon class for some friends and family at our house and I thought these cookies would make a great snack. I was right…. they were a hit!

This is what you will need to make the cookies:

• 2 sticks Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups Flour
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 cups Quick Oats
• 1 cup Crispy Rice Cereal
• 1-¼ cup Milk Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup Mini Marshmallows

Preparation Instructions:

Beat butter with sugars. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Beat in flour, baking soda and baking powder. Fold in oats, cereal, morsels and marshmallows.

( I forgot to take pictures until I had it all mixed together : )

Drop by 1-2 tablespoonfuls onto a parchment (or wax paper)-lined cookie sheet. I use a handy-dandy scoop for all of my cookies.

Bake in a 350ºF oven for 12-14 minutes. 12 minutes will give you a chewy cookie, 14 will give you a crispy cookie.

My puppy, Cooper, wondering:
A. when are you gonna be done so you can play with me?
and/or
B. are you gonna drop any of that down here for me? : )

Let the cookies cool on the pans for a few minutes, then peel them off the paper. The marshmallows melt and stick to the paper, and if you’re not careful, you can either tear the cookies apart or get pieces of paper stuck to your cookies.

Enjoy!!

Interesting weekend

I thought the most interesting part of our weekend was going to be playing games at Dave and Busters on Saturday night. Boy, was I wrong!!

We had dinner plans with 5 friends for a couple of birthdays. The plan: eat dinner, have some drinks, play some games, go home. Well, you know what they say about planning…

It was all going according to the plan until we decided to go home. So we went to say goodbye to our friends and ended up inviting them all over for an after party at our house. Now, keep in mind that we are, by no means, after-party people. We really aren’t even before- or during-party people. Yet there we were, headed home with 2 cars following us and a fridge full of alcohol awaiting us. That’s right, we had booze and plenty of it! Okay, so all but the wine and champagne in the fridge were left overs from our housewarming party in April. Nevertheless, there was booze. And there was enormous amounts of drinking of that booze. I personally stopped after I downed the bottle of my favorite champagne. Oh, but the others kept going. And going. Aaaand going!

Let me just say…there was Wii dance competitions, various strange discussions, a multitude of shots were taken, secret confessions were told, shirts came off (drunk boys, not girls!), and ultimately, at 6 am, a very sober Cindy and I were driving our very wasted friends home.

Yes, you read that correctly. 6 in the morning!! Now, I will be the first to admit that I have had MANY crazy, drunken nights ending with me stumbling to bed at 6 am. But that was in my early and mid 20′s!! I know I didn’t have kids to take care of or a job to go to the next day, but still! Am I really that old that I can’t hang like that anymore? Apparently yes and yes.

We spent the whole next day sleeping, either in bed or on the couch, while poor Cooper was left to fend for himself. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure we’ve fully recovered yet. *sigh*

At least I revisited my 20′s – and I can truly say that I am happier than ever to be in my 30′s!

Until next time….

peace : )

mindy

Snickerdoodle Muffins

OH EM GEEEE!!!!  I just stumbled across what could possibly be my most favorite recipe EVER!  Okay, so I thought having soft, warm, cinnamon-y snickerdoodle cookies fresh out of the oven was a little piece of heaven….until I made these.

I found this recipe as I was stalking reading one of my new favorite food blogs, Two Peas & Thier Pod, and instantly knew that I was going to love them.  How could I not?  Sweet, pillowy, rich (but light) cupcake with an intoxicating crinkled, cinnamon sugar crust… seriously?  I was originally going to wait and make these tomorrow because my mom, sister, and nephew are coming to visit, but I had the recipe pulled up on the iPad and Cindy saw it and convinced me to make them yesterday (not that it took much to convince me : )  After a quick trip to the store, I was on my way to baking up these yummy muffins.

The recipe says that it makes 1 dozen, but I got 2 dozen from it.  It is quite messy at first, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 2-¼ cups Flour
• ¾ teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¾ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¾ teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• ¼ cups Buttermilk
• _____
• FOR THE TOPPING:
• ⅔ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Prepare a muffin tin with liners. If you don’t use liners, they might fall apart.

In a mixer, combine the butter and sugar and cream until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the sour cream and buttermilk and mix to combine. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until you have a smooth batter.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.

Use scooper and plop a scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Gently roll the batter in the sugar and cinnamon. Place the ball into the muffin liner.

When you have completed all the muffins, sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops of all the muffins.

Bake the muffins at 350ºF for about 15-18 minutes or until they are golden on top and just baked through.

Enjoy!

I invited my dad and stepmom over to test these out with us, and I took the rest to the neighbors this morning.  What?? I needed an excuse to whip up a fresh batch tomorrow when my mom comes over! Don’t judge me! I promise you will become just as addicted to these as I am.  Just make sure you have some of these ready when I come over to visit!

scrumptious scones

When Cindy and I spent the night at The Gold Coat Inn Bed and Breakfast outside of Austin last month, we were treated to a yummy,  hearty country breakfast made by the fabulous Catherine of Eudora’s Cusine.  My favorite part of the meal was the perfectly baked cranberry scones.  Now… I consider myself to be one of the best scone bakers I know, so they must have been good!  Since then, I have yearned to toss some flour on my very own countertop and bake up some scones myself.  Saturday felt like the perfect day, so I preheated my oven and found my favorite recipe.

I like to use Craisins in place of the fresh cranberries, mainly because they keep longer.

Cranberry Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 5 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup (plus 1 tablespoon) half-and-half
• 1/2 cup halved cranberries, drained on paper towels

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

 

2.  Stir in 2/3 cup half-and-half until just moistened. Gently fold in cranberries.

3.  On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times. Pat into a 1-inch-thick round.

4.  Cut into 8 wedges; place on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Brush tops with remaining tablespoon half-and-half; sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar.

5.  Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

 

These scones are perfectly crumbly and tender; they make a great addition to breakfast or a yummy snack.  Cindy and I each ate one fresh out of the oven and then nibbled on the rest over the weekend.

And speaking of the weekend….it was an interesting one!!

More on that later….. let me know if you make the scones and how you like them!

 

Mindy

 

 

 

Hello, world!

Well, well, well…. it’s about damn time!!! I have been talking (and obsessing) about starting a blog for a LONG time, so I’m happy to actually be starting it!  This will hopefully be an entertaining, insightful, and sometimes crass outlet where I can talk about what’s going on in my life, things that I love, stuff I like to make and eat, and things that make me laugh!

 

Thanks for visiting!

Peace,

mindy