Lemon White Chocolate Dipped Cookies

 

I'm always trying out new cookie recipes. My favorite has always been the chocolate chip cookie, but for a recent bake sale, I really wanted to try something new. This recipe was adapted from the Nestle Toll House white chip bag. The original recipe seemed a little time consuming and had refrigeration involved... (you know I don't have patience for that, so I simplified it a little!) 

Here's what you need:

• 1 c butter
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1/4 c grated lemon peel (I didn't use this much, I added a little zest and some lemon extract)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used lemon instead)
• 2 c flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 c Premier White Morsels a.k.a white chocolate chips
• 1 tsp oil or shortening 

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, lemon peel and extract until fluffy. Gradually add flour, salt and 1 cup chips. Drop cookies on cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes. You don't want these to brown, so take them out when they look just a little brown around the edges. Let cool. When they are cool melt the remaining cup of chips with 1 tsp oil or shortening in microwave about 1 minute. The chips will keep their shape but you should be able to mix them together to melt all of them. If they aren't all melted, microwave in 15 second intervals. When cookies are cool, dip half of each cookie into the melted chips and let cool. Refrigerate 20 minutes until they are set up. These would be cute to add a little food coloring to the melted white chips for a party, holidays, baby showers etc. Makes about 64 cookies.  If you want the original recipe you can find it at the Nestle Toll House web site under Premier White Lemon Cookies.

~Simply Angie

Cake Pops..the Easy Way

Most of the time I really like making things myself and not using processed food, especially when it comes to anything I can bake or cook. However, there are the times when it's just cheaper and quicker to buy the cake mix in a box and call it a day!  My daughter picked out a Fun-Fetti cake mix with frosting for Valentines Day (I thought "how sweet she's baking a cake for the family!" after all, she is 18...as she reminds us almost daily :) Unfortunately she had plans on Valentines Day, so guess who ended up making the cake... I made the cake but I was also doing 3 other things and forgot to check on it until the timer went off and by that time it was a little over baked...I hate dry, over baked cake...so there was only one thing to do...make cake pops!  Luckily my son was here to help me roll, dip and sprinkle.  These aren't hard to make but they are just a little time consuming. So this is the impatient, easily side tracked person way to do it.
Here's what you need:

• box cake mix, follow the instructions on the box to make and bake it
• container of frosting, or you can make your own, but for these, the canned frosting works really well to hold the balls together.
• almond bark or chips to melt and dip them into
• Optional: sprinkles, food coloring, lollipop sticks, etc.

I took out my over baking frustration and crumbled the cake it into little pieces, then let it cool. I put it in a bowl in the fridge to speed the cooling process up. After it had cooled I took it out and added almost a whole container of the frosting (15.6 oz) to the cake crumbs. (This is why there aren't more pictures) once you start mixing the frosting with the cake crumbles, you really need to use your hands and mix it in, then roll it into little balls. Mine got bigger toward the end, I was getting tired and just wanted to be done! Now some people let them cool, I am not one of those patient people. So I melted my almond bark, it works better for me than white chips, but use what you like. I left some white and added pink for the rest. When I started, I intended on making cake pops..you know..with the stick, but as the process started I was once again side tracked and then forgot to put the sticks in them! If you want to put sticks in them, do it at this point. Dip the stick into the melted bark so your ball doesn't fall off. Then hold it over the bowl and with a spoon pour the melted bark over the ball. (It turns out, you can make them without the stick...and they taste the same! It also took a lot less time). Mine never dip and look beautiful and smooth like the pictures in magazines, but if you put enough sprinkles on, no one can really tell. Let's just say, it didn't stop my family from eating them!
 ~Simply Angie

Valentine Crafts For Kids

 

If you have infants or toddlers, you know it can be a little tricky to make gifts, or craft projects that they can actually "do themselves". In my daycare, I have a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old. Here are a couple projects that they can pretty much make on their own..with a little supervision, of course. The first one is golf ball painting. I put a piece of construction paper into a box (you can cut it into a shape or leave it the size it is, you will want a box with high sides). Then add a little paint and a couple golf balls, you can also use marbles if you have them. Then have them tip and shake the box to roll the ball around to spread the paint on the paper.  When it's done, you have a cute gift or decoration that they made "all by themselves!"     

                                                            

The second project I did with the 1 year old. I cut out a heart shape and taped it to the middle of a larger piece of paper. Then let them smear paint around all over the paper. When they are done, remove the shape in the middle...your infant just painted a masterpiece! Of course you can do these with kids of any age, but these are just a couple ideas that the "littles" can do that's simple and fun.   

~Simply Angie

Valentine's Day Corn Flake Treats

It's been a tradition in our family that we all make our "specialty" goodies for Christmas. One of my sister's treats that we all love are her Christmas tree wreaths made from corn flakes and marshmallows. Well, this year she brought the ingredients to my house so we could "whip them up" when we had a minute. To make a  long and dreadful story short, this did not happen. We both came down with the awful influenza that has hit the country and we laid around for 3 days. We thought it might be one of those things that's funny to reflect back on and laugh someday ...but that day has not arrived yet!  So anyway.... recently I noticed that I still had the ingredients for the wreaths in my cupboard and decided I would use them to make heart treats for Valentine's Day. I'm not really into using food coloring so I left them white, but you could a couple of drops of red food coloring if you want. (These can also be gluten free, check your labels).
Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups corn flakes, slightly crushed
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon candies (optional)
Directions:
Melt butter in a large pan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until they have melted. Stir in vanilla. Remove from heat and stir in corn flakes.
Apply butter to your hands and using a medium size cookie scoop, drop them on parchment or wax paper. I used my finger to push the top in so it would shape a heart. The recipe made about 20-24 hearts, depending on the size you make them, mine starting getting bigger toward the end! They were delicious, too bad we ate them before the children came over!! Guess I'll have to make some more! Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi