Gram's Christmas Cookies

I took some time off from blogging to enjoy the Christmas holiday, and enjoy our east coast travels. More on that later, but right now I want to share my Gram's famous crinkle cookies. My Grandma has made these cookies every Christmas for us, and we love them! Ironically, I was on the phone with my sister while making these, and we both laughed when we said we were making crinkle cookies! They're delicious, fudgy cookies, and I love watching them magically crack while in the oven. I made these for my coworkers and a couple neighbor friends, and I was happy with our Christmas gifts this year!

Ingredients:

Makes 6 Dozen

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. I like to use a number 50 size scoop. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

The Week(end) and a dessert

Last week we went to the BYU rivalry basketball game against Utah, and it was so exciting. We are definitely going to miss BYU and attending their sporting events. 

We went to Cheesecake Factory and saw the SLC temple lights with our friends. One of the couples is moving to Ogden, so we had a little "farewell" before the holidays, but we've already planned plenty of dates to "meet in the middle"!

We were feeling very festive at church on Sunday. Gettin in the spirit!

I made THE most delicious Gingerbread cake for Sunday dinner. These pictures are such poor quality, but really, trust me. The cream sauce-to die for. Then, top it with some homemade whipped cream and you're set! This is the best dessert for the holiday season. 

Happy Holiday baking!

Gingerbread Cake with Cream Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the above mixture for the streusel topping. To this, add 1/2 cup chopped pecans, if desired.

To the remainder, mix in

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

Pour batter into a well-greased 13×9 baking pan. sprinkle with the reserved streuseltopping. Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Watch carefully so you don’t overbake. Let cool slightly, and serve warm with Cream Sauce.

Cream Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup butter

dash ginger

Combine and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Stir 4 minutes. Serve and warm sauce over gingerbread. Refrigerate any remaining sauce.

The Best Pumpkin Bars You Will Ever Taste

Today calls for another fall recipe: Pumpkin Bars. These are the absolute bombest. And, don't forget about that amazing, addictive cream cheese frosting! MMM!

Pumpkin Bars

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup oil (I use coconut)

1 can (15oz) pumpkin 

Frosting:

1 8oz. package of cream cheese 

1/3 cup softened butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk

sprinkled ground cinnamon

Directions:

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. 

Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.

Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

Once your bars are cooled, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.  Mix on high speed until smooth creamy. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on frosting, or leave bare. I think they look cuter with cinnamon! 

 

Dish up those suckers, and make sure you have people to share them with, or I promise you will eat the whole pan!

I've been wanting to make some cookies & cream cookies for a while now, and I thought what better time than for my husband's intramural football game! I then had the great idea to use orange halloween Oreos to have some orange chunks as well. Sadly, the orange mixed in, and they ended up looking pretty pink, but the color didn't matter, they were so yummy! 

Grab your ingredients & preheat your oven to 350:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 package Cookies n'Creme pudding mix

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

10 Oreos, chopped

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

I got home pretty late, and needed to start making the cookies quick! I'm sure I'm not the only person this has happened to... so, open up the wrappers, and cut into chunks-they'll get soft in no time!

Cream together butter and sugars.

Stir in the pudding mix.

Add eggs and vanilla to cream mixture.

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt into mixture.

Crunch up some Oreos (10-14) and add, along with the white chocolate chips.

Look at the pretty colors! I'm so sad it got so mixed in.

Bake for 7-9 minutes.

Happy weekend baking!