Staycation 2023

One delightful thing about being with one company for so long is that I have accrued quite a bit of vacation time. The downside of this last year has been the constant employee turnover, which led to having one full week of vacation left as the year is winding to a close. So, here I am, on vacation with nowhere to go. That’s not a complaint! I have so much I want to do around the house and never the time (or sometimes motivation) to do it.

I started my vacation out in a bit of a panic. I completely forgot that Cookie Day 2023 was scheduled right at the start of it. In fact, if it wasn’t for a chance call from my aunt, I would have missed it completely. Queue my first few hours off planning two recipes and an early morning trip to the store for ingredients. But I made it! (Only 14 minutes late.)

What is Cookie Day? A few years ago, I was invited by a few bakers in the family to join their little baking club. They meet one day before the holidays and bake their little hearts out. Each person brings two recipes. We bake them up, decorate if need be and split the goods. That means each person brings home 8 dozen cookies at the end of the day.

After that panic (and being stuffed full of cookies), I relaxed all day Sunday. Monday, I went Christmas shopping with my friend and Tuesday, my lease being up on my car, entailed figuring out what to do about that situation.

Yesterday, I was able to stay home and start working on some of those projects I mentioned. First project being to finally decorate for Christmas. I usually do this the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I was busy, and it didn’t happen.

I had the brilliant idea to decorate the tank stand that my uncle and I created together and I’m very pleased with the turnout:

Edgar approves of his festive space.

For now though friends, it’s time for me to spend a minute catching up on fellow blogs and then get back to work! I could truly take a second week off to get things done, but whatever I do now is at least a dent in it. 🙂

Are you done Christmas shopping yet??

Best Baking Recipes of 2021

It’s that time of the year! Time to make lists of the good things that happened in 2021. Now, baking wise, I didn’t go crazy but I still had some really great recipes happen. Here they are in order of greatness:

1. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles with Vanilla Chips

2. Apple Butter Cookies

3. Soft Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Eggnog Bread

5. Easy Banana Bread Pancakes

2021 was the year of the cookies!

What was your favorite recipe of the year? Are you going to be trying out any of the ones I made?

Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies

‘Tis the season to hit the baking HARD. I don’t know that I will actually get too because work is burning me out so bad but I am trying people.

These cookies were awesome. They even go well dipped in coffee. Exceptionally well. Just don’t let it hang out in there too long because they break off fast and then you end up with cookie crumbs in the bottom of your coffee and well, that’s not all that bad really. 😉

Recipe here.

Soft Batch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

THIS RECIPE IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT INVOLVES RISK-FREE COOKIE DOUGH SNACKING. (NO EGGS!)

I mean, that should have sold you right there BUT if it didn’t, the cookies come out super tasty too.

Recipe here.

Apple Butter Cookies

Look, this recipe made about 2 dozen cookies and they’re about to all be gone in 2 days. So, that should tell you all you need to know about this recipe. (Not bad for the first new recipe of the new year!)

Recipe Here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I don’t actually contribute much to Thanksgiving Day cooking, usually just mashed potatoes. That particular dinner is my husband’s jam. BUT, this year I baked a little goodie for snacking first thing in the morning.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES FOR THE WIN.

It did require all caps since they are that freaking good. Probably one of my new favorite cookie recipes. Goes great with milk. 🙂

The batter was incredibly sticky. To the point I had to dust my fork with cocoa powder in order to flatten and achieve the famous criss cross pattern.

Recipe Here.

Now off to bake some more!

Banana Spice Cookies w/Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Here’s what I ended up making for the Super Bowl party. The picture isn’t too pretty because I forgot to take a photo until later after the cookies had been layered in a travel container. They received praises from everyone who tried them so we’ll label this recipe a win!

One thing I will note, don’t try this frosting recipe unless you have a hand mixer OR prepare to pump your muscles up with intense whipping action.

Cookie Recipe Here.

Frosting Recipe Here.

Thick & Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Good morning fellow food fiends! I had a great weekend with my dad and let him picked what I baked since he doesn’t get to enjoy it very often. He choose cookies, but I choose the exact recipe.

These were very good. I recommend reading the entire recipe through before starting. Nothing particularly difficult but I had preheated my oven and then read that I needed to refrigerate the dough for a half hour before I could continue. I found the sweet spot with my ancient oven which was 10 minutes, flatten with spatula and then allow to continue to bake on the hot baking sheet for another 10 minutes. (The recipe makes more cookies than it says. I doubled the recipe and had overflowing plates of cookies.)

Recipe Here.

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

It’s about time for the holiday parties to begin! Here’s an easy homemade cookie recipe that you can bring to impress all your relatives and friends. (Makes a large batch.)

 

Recipe Here.

Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

I tried two new recipes this past Fourth of July and was annoyed with both of them. Doesn’t happen often so the fact that I had two less than awesome recipes in a row, had me slapping things around in the kitchen. Both tasted better than they look so that was a small plus.

This recipe requires you to let dough set in the fridge for 30 minutes. 30 minutes did nothing to harden it up. (That’s what she said.) I stuck it in the freezer for 15+ minutes and that seemed to do the trick. EXCEPT, after about 2 minutes of scooping dough, it went right back to being tacky. I was so annoyed that I just started flinging it on the cookie sheet with zero fucks about what it looked like. I was also so annoyed that I didn’t even do the last step of giving it a lemon glaze.

Recipe here.