Valentine's Sugar Cookies

Here they are! The cookies I promised. This recipe came from a blog called All Things Thrifty. A lot of people I know have been making sugar cookies this Valentine's Day. I guess those soft, heart-shaped, frosting-covered cookies are a good way to say "I love you," even if only to yourself. :)

Remember how I said something like, "stay tuned to check out how creative I can be with no cookie cutters or sprinkles?" You will see two little heart cookies in these pictures. I made those with a drinking glass to cut out a circle and then I used a butterknife to make a heart. I lost interest after making two. So my husband got round cookies, no sprinkles, conversation hearts, and overly pink frosting. He's so lucky!

Ingredients:
3 sticks of salted butter softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 cups of all purpose flour


Directions:

*Cream the softened butter and sugar together until it is nice, smooth, and fluffy.

*Next, add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture.

*Add the vanilla. 

*Gradually add the flour and baking powder. Make sure that all the flour is mixed into the dough.

*Chill dough for 1-2 hours to stiffen up the dough. (very important step)

*When your dough has been chilled for the alloted time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

*On a clean counter top, generously sprinkle powdered sugar (yep...not flour) onto the counter and begin rolling the dough with a rolling pin. Make sure to add some powdered sugar to your rolling pin and to the top of the dough to prevent it from sticking. (Keep adding a little powdered sugar as needed throughout this process).


*Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes and set them on an ungreased cookie sheet (mine stuck, so I greased it on later batches). Make sure there is at least 1 inch or so in between each cookie.

*Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. They won't look done, but they are. Do not overcook.

My thoughts: This recipe calls for the cookies to be rolled out in powdered sugar. I tried it both ways: powdered sugar and flour. I don't think it really matters. Flour helps the dough to not stick so badly, and you could skip the chilling step more easily if you use flour. The sugar makes the cookies sweeter, but if you are adding frosting on top they are overly-sweet anyway. I say just use flour, especially if little children are involved...that sugar is sticky!

Husband's Reaction:

He is tired and doing homework. His reaction was to keep asking when the cookies would be done and then to eat one in 3 bites. The heart on his cookie said, "my boy." <3

Texas Fudge Cake (from Sarah Page’s family)

I made this tonight for my husband's birthday tomorrow!!! He doesn't know how lucky he is. . . it has 3 sticks of butter in it. . .  yes.

 The top got a little crinkly. I think I had a little too much powdered sugar in the icing, so it got hard faster than I wanted it to. But it doesn't matter, because I know how wonderful it will taste!

Boil mixture:
1 cup water
2 cubes butter
4 T. cocoa

Dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar

Mix top two mixtures together and then add to it:
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake at 370 degrees for 30 minutes.

For the icing, boil:
6 T. milk
1 cube butter
4 T. cocoa

And pour on top of:
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

*put icing on while the cake is still hot*

**hint: it tastes even better the day AFTER it is made!** . . .which is why I made it tonight for his birthday tomorrow.

I also made two of these cakes for my roommate Sarah's birthday one year.  One of them didn’t get eaten that day, and we ate it the next.  It really is better the next day.  This is one of Sarah’s favorite cakes.  I love it too!


Husband's reaction: To Be Determined. . . 

Toffee Crunch Grahams

*From a recipe on allrecipes.com*
Toffee Crunch Grahams:

Ingredients

• 12 whole graham crackers
• 1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups sliced almonds (optional---because I am poor and can not afford such luxuries at this time)

Directions

1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with heavy-duty foil. Place graham crackers in pan. In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Carefully pour over graham crackers. Sprinkle with almonds.
2. Bake at 400 degrees F for 4-6 minutes or until bubbly (watch them so they don't burn). Cool in pan for 4 minutes. Cut each cracker into four sections; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I cut this recipe in fourths (which means I used 3/4 of a cube of butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 3/4 pack of graham crackers), because it is completely unhealthy and two people do not need to have that much butter and sugar in one sitting. :) I was happy this recipe worked out so well. Just make sure the butter and sugar combine together when it is boiling. You don't want a layer of melted butter on top of the sugar (this is how it is before it begins boiling). 

Also, make sure you take the grahams out of the pan while they are still warm and malleable. I can just imagine trying to get hardened toffee grahams out of the pan later...impossible! 

These are addicting and terrible for you, so of course I'm putting this recipe on my blog! 

It was that kind of day today. :)

Husband's Reaction: "This is really sugary. They are really good!"

P.S. the little extra toffee pieces are so good. I didn't share many of those.

FHE and No-Bake Cookies

If you know me and Danny really well, you know we made probably a hundred or so no-bake cookies while we were dating/engaged. And we haven't stopped there!

Danny loves making these from his "ancient" recipe that he used as a teenager. He has it memorized. I think in the last month alone we have made them at least every week. They are easy and we both love them! (sometimes it's not always easy to find a treat we both LOVE). 

We made them for Family Home Evening a little while ago, and I took pictures. You can also see us enjoying our new *old* video game thing (I don't know what it's called. I don't know how to play most of the games) that Danny's brother shipped to us. Danny was very excited to play NBA Jam? Or something like that. Anyway, it's fun!

 See those wrinkles on my forehead? I used to worry a ton in 6th grade, and my teacher told me I was going to have permanent lines on my forehead when I was older because I would scrunch up my forehead when I worried. Don't worry (haha), they aren't permanent yet, but this will give you a visual of what I'll look like when I'm older. . . .you can even imagine I'm missing my teeth the way my mouth looks in this picture.

 We were playing MarioKart. It says "congratulations" on the screen, so Danny must have just beat me again. I never even make it to third place.

And here is Danny's memorized recipe for his favorite no-bake cookies: (I often cut this recipe in half for just us. Half makes about 14 small/medium cookies).

2 cups sugar

1 stick butter

4 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

Stir these ingredients in a heavy saucepan until mixed. Bring to a rolling boil. Let it boil without stirring for 1.5 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat and add:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 1/2 cups oats

2 tsp vanilla

Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper, waxed paper, or we just use saran wrap over a cookie sheet.

Let cool so they harden and enjoy!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Frozen Hot Chocolate

*I found this recipe online at food.com. Luckily, it turned out great! Ever since I worked at Dairy Queen I have wanted to make frozen hot chocolate. We made it for other people there, but I never tried it. Some of my coworkers thought it was great; others hated it. I don't know why I never tried it. But this is a pretty good, easy, and fast recipe that satisfies chocolate cravings and battles heat waves at the same time! (And with my apartment temperature ALWAYS being somewhere in the 80's, it's nice to cool off with a chocolately treat).

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces milk
• 1/2 cup hot cocoa mix (or 2 packets...we use Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate flavor)
• 1 1/2-2 cups crushed ice cubes
• whipped cream (optional)
• additional hot cocoa mix (optional)

Directions:

1 Pour milk into blender.

1. 2 Add hot cocoa mix and ice.
2. 3 Blend first at low speed and then high speed until ice is finely crushed and slushy.
3. 4 Pour into tall glass and top with whipped cream and a dusting of hot cocoa mix, if desired.
4. 5 Serve with a straw and enjoy!
5. 6 P.S. This recipe was originally posted using small ice cubes. At our shop we have a commercial blender that has no problem getting through these. Since most people have regular blenders, I have changed it to crushed ice.

And there it is! Frozen hot chocolate. It's like a milkshake without the ice cream. Nice!!

Platanos Fritos (Fried Plantains)

Guatemalan Platanos

*FIRST OF ALL!!! I must make a disclaimer: I did not make this dish, my husband did. :) He learned to do this on his mission in Guatemala, so of course we made them for Guatemala Day! Only problem: We tried to make them in the mountains over an open fire. It was a lot harder than we anticipated, but still tasted great!

Hint: when cooking over a fire, wear goggles so the smoke does not get in your eyes...it kills!
Note to self: Next time, use charcoal.

1. Buy plantains from the store (can usually find in a grocery store...we went to a latin foods market for fun). The plantains are ready when the skins are BLACK and look gross. Seriously, it's weird but true. Think of it as finding the ones that look like bananas ready for banana bread. Those ones are perfectly ripe!

Black Plantain skin...this is what it should look like!!!

2. Peel the skin off the plantain. This is sometimes harder than it looks, especially if the fruit is not ripe enough. With green plantains it can be almost impossible! Luckily, my husband is an expert. :)

3. Cut plantain at a slant to make fry-able pieces.

4. Put in a skillet with hot oil and fry both sides until golden yellow-brown.

5. Sprinkle sugar over the top and dip in sour cream. Enjoy!

MY REACTION: My husband first made these for me when we started dating. He wanted to impress me with his mission cooking skills...you know how that goes. I was hesitant at first, because  one of the only foods I hate are bananas. Luckily, fried plantains don't taste too much like bananas, and they have a much better texture (I think that's what I hate about bananas the most). Since then I have only been able to have this dish three other times. Two of those times were in the past few days. Cooking the plantains over the fire was such hard work that we saved the rest to cook at home the next day. I couldn't wait to eat it all! If I could have this once a month for dessert, I would be in heaven.

Caramel Popcorn!

Easy Caramel Corn -From Char Mills

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup light Karo

1 square butter

6 qt. popped popcorn

Pop corn. Bring to boil the other ingredients. When it boils, pour over popcorn. Mix well. Enjoy! 

Very easy, even if it's not very healthy. 

Husband's Reaction: ...well, he didn't say much. His mouth was full, and his fingers were very sticky. Actions speak louder than words, right? :)

One Crust Pie Recipe (From High School Foods Class)

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

½ cup shortening*

3-4 Tb water**

*Keep shortening cold.  You don’t want it to melt before baking.

**Use very cold water to keep shortening 
from melting.


Mix flour and salt together. Cut shortening into dry ingredients.


 *TIP: "Cutting in" is a technique used to put tiny chunks of butter or other fat into dry ingredients. A pastry cutter is my favorite way to do this, but two butter knives can be used if you don't have one. Simply cut across the butter, running the knives against each other like you are sharpening them. You are trying to cut the butter into tiny pieces to create pockets of air and make your crust flaky. The end result should be a corn-mealy texture with no big pieces of shortening left in the bowl.


Add cold water to form a dough. Roll out on floured surface and place in pie tin. Be sure to gently sink the crust into the tin. Do not stretch the dough. Poke holes all over the dough with a fork to prevent big air pockets from rising. Do this unless you are putting filling in the pie before baking. Make the edges of your pie look pretty by trimming off excess dough and crimping with your fingers or a fork.


Bake 8 min at 350 degrees or until slightly brown.