Our family has been hit with the "1st time in pre-school" sickness!
We prided ourselves on having a healthy kid...one ear infection and one bout with strep throat in his whole 3 years of existence!
Then came pre-school...
Almost immediately, he came down with a cough and runny nose that has now turned into another ear infection, upper respiratory infection and sinus infection...which he has so kindly shared with us! I guess when we were drilling sharing into his little brain, we forgot to add the part that it's ok to not share germs! This is also when we figured out the antibiotics he's allergic to!
Anyway, one sure way to get me out of a funk is to bake! We are hosting our annual "Frolic Bar Run After Party" tonight and this year, I have decided to fatten our guests up with some sweets!
The 1st thing I made was my mom's famous peanut butter blossoms!
Here is what you'll need:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
36 little peanut butter cups...The bag only contains 35 so I had to buy an extra and eat the leftovers!
Get your oven heated up to 350
Mix up your flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Cream up your butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium speed until it's nice and fluffy. Then add in your eggs and vanilla. Reduce your speed to low and add in the dry ingredients until it's just combined.
Shape your dough into 1" balls and place in mini muffin tins. Bake for 8-10 minutes. After you pull them out, sink a peanut butter cup into the centers and let it get all melty. I added the sprinkles for a pretty holiday touch. DO NOT remove the cookies from the pan until they have completely cooled or else you will have a peanut buttery chocolatey mess!
Next up was the White Chocolate Party Mix
For this one, you will need:
10oz mini pretzels
5 C. Cheerios
5 C. Corn Chex
2 C. Salted Peanuts
1 pkg (1 lb size) M&Ms...again I bought 2 bags but didn't use them all and M&Ms are my fav!
2 12oz pkg white chocolate chips
3T vegetable oil
Mix up the 1st 5 ingredients. Melt the chocolate and oil in the microwave on high for 2 minutes, stirring once. Pour melted white chocolate over the mix and give it a good mixing up. Dump onto a few waxed paper lined cookie sheets and let cool.
Last up was my "secret" chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was hesitant to share it because I wanted to be the mom that made the best cookies and I think these would help me achieve that goal! However, since I found the basic recipe online and just added a few tweaks, I thought I'd share it with you...my friends!
Here is what you'll need for these babies
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 t cinnamon
1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (my office LOVES when I make these with peppermint chips!)
Here's whatcha do.
Heat up your oven to 350.
I use my stand mixer with my paddle attachment and cream up with butter and sugars til it's light and fluffy. Add in your egg and vanilla and combine. Mix in your flour, cornstarch, soda, salt and cinnamon then stir in those chips.
Scoop them out onto cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes...I do 8 or they tend to burn on the bottom. When you take them out, they will not look done. The will just start to be brown around the edges and the tops will look soft...trust the recipe and take them out. I like to leave mine on the sheets for about 5 minutes before I put them on wire racks to cool...that is, if they can cool all the way before we dive into them!
Enjoy!
