COOKIE Butter (or Biscoff) Cookies

Cookie butter or Biscoff is pretty popular.  I always hear others rave about it on other blogs or on Instagram.  So a few months back while at Trader Joes I had to pick up a jar.  But when I tried a spoonful I didn't really care for it.  I am a Jif Reduced Fat kind of girl.

 

Last weekend I stumbled across a recipe for Cookie Butter Cookies and figured it was a great use of the cookie butter or Speculoos (the name on the Trader Joe's jar) that was still in my cabinet.

 

 

 

 

I got the recipe from The Coterie Blog and tweaked it a tiny bit.

 

Let me just say... these were a big hit.  My husband brought the leftovers to work and the guys at work also enjoyed them.  My husband may have also requested I make him a cookiewich after dinner tonight with vanilla and a bit of chocolate ice cream smashed in between two of these great cookies.

 

 

 

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Cookie Butter Cookies -

 

3/4 c. cookie butter/Trader Joe's Speculoos
1/2 c. butter - softened
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

 

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and cookie butter on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add in 1/2 cup of the flour, the sugars, the egg, the baking soda, baking powder, and the vanilla.  Beat until thoroughly combined.  Beat in the remaining flour until well incorporated.

 

And if you like to eat raw cookie dough... have a nibble.  This dough is fabulous.
 

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. I placed mine on a pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake 9 minutes until lightly browned, then cool on a wire rack.

 

This recipe makes about 2 dozen. 

I am linking up this post here -

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5 Ingredient Cookie Bars - YUMMY Recipe

Of course I found this great recipe on Pinterest... so I need to give credit to Not Rachel Ray and to What Megan's Making where she adapted the recipe from. I am pretty convinced you can add  anything to the batter and these would be amazing.  I have made them twice so far with leftover peanut butter m&ms.  I sent them in last week to Madison's school as a dessert for her science fair judges.  Her science teacher tried one and told her during class they were amazing.  I usually do not buy Bisquick, but had some leftover from the 7 Up Biscuits I made the other week that I got from Plain Chicken... so I was happy to find a dessert recipe I could use the rest of the box on.

Source: notrachaelray.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Recipe - Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Last week Chris and I went to Walgreens to pick up some free
photos I ordered.  We picked up a bag of individual Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on clearance with the plan of making cookies out of them.  Sunday evening I whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookies using the recipe (tweaked a bit) off the back of the bag.  These turned out great and were very soft.  I used a small ice cream scoop for the dough and baked them inside liners in a mini-muffin tin!!

Here is the recipe

You will need -

40 mini peanut butter cups (which is incidently...more than one bag)

1 stick of softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup of peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpse flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions -

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. Unwrap your candies.  Fill a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners.

3. Beat butter, both sugars, your egg, the peanut butter, and vanilla until nice and fluffy.

4. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda in a seperate bowl.  Gradually mix it into the batter.

5. Use a mini ice cream scoop to portion out the dough into the cups or roll 1 inch balls and place them in the muffing cups.  Do not flatten them.

6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from the oven.

7. Immediately press a peanut butter cup down in each dough cup.

8. Once my pan has cooled, I place it in the fridge for 15 minutes for the peanut butter cups to set before I remove the cookei cups from the pan.

__Here is what the dough looks like in the pans before baking when you use the mini ice cream scoop___

Holiday Baking ~ Teacher's Gifts

This morning I am doing some baking before work.  I want to make little treat containers for Madison to pass out to her teachers.  When you are working on a tight budget and your middle schooler has multiple teachers... holiday gifts become a bit more difficult to manage.

I had these leftover Chinese takeout boxes from our wedding favors plus those great and super cheap labels I ordered through Tiny Prints.

I filled them with chocolate frosted brownie squares and Buckeyes.

Then I made cinammon sugar pretzels (sooo good) and tied them up in little baggies with more custom labels for her teachers too.

I know it isn't much, but I hope it is a small treat to brighten their day.

I WAS Doing So Well... {and wedding cookie favors}

Yesterday I worked from 9-4.  After our Monday morning meeting my boss kept me on and asked me if I would be interested in more hours in 2012 (like TWELVE more) and of course I said yes.  Then I proceeded to tell her she most likely saved me from being forced by my husband to go back to work full-time. I am really enjoying my job...and even more so because I get to stay home.  I feel so fortunate to have this job.

Around 11 AM I felt like I was on labor while sitting at the kitchen table working.  No lie.  Contraction like pains...and lots of pressure.  It was BAD.  The physical pain of the miscarriage hasn't been that painful since early Friday morning of last week.  I loaded up on some prescription strength Tylenol and finished my work shift.

I worked on a cookie job yesterday as well for my cousin's wedding that is this weekend.  The cookies are going in the out of town guests bags.  I had labels designed from the great Etsy shop, The Preppy Ladybug. I had to run out last night to get bags for the packaging... I had three sizes which I thought would work... one was way too big and the other two were too small.  Luckily I got in and out of the store quickly with the right sized bags.  I loved the way they turned out and I hope the bride and groom enjoy them... I packed some extras for them.  I sent them off overnight from the post office this morning.

Chris, Madison, and I were invited to the wedding but decided not to attend as of yesterday...which I feel TERRIBLE about.  However, I still feel pretty wrecked both emotionally and physically.  This morning when I woke up I was in the kitchen making breakfast  I froze and became hunched over the counter and couldn't move.  The pains from yesterday were back and oh so bad.  After being able to move to a chair, some orange juice, and some more tylenol...they have remained fairly scarce and mild the rest of the day.

Aside from the physical issues... I am trying to be more upbeat, positive, and to get stuff done around our house.  I was having a great day today... I worked from 10-2...then I logged onto Facebook.  I have a cousin... who I love dearly...who is EXACTLY one week ahead of where we should be in our pregnancy.  She is 12 weeks today.  I should be 12 weeks a week from today.  Today she posted her first trimester had ended and she got to here her baby's heartbeat...and well I lost it.  Absolutely lost it. Now I have a headache...feel like crap...and want to get in bed.

I am sort of thankful I don't have to go to this wedding this weekend and see her.  Or hear about her baby to be.  I hid her posts on Facebook took.  I feel like a big bitch.  Oh well.  I know in time it will get easier and I will be able to be happy for other people who have what I should have, but right now, in this very instant I cannot be.

I am going back to the doctor's on Friday for a follow-up.  Sitting in an office with new babies and pregnant women should be a fun way to spend my Friday afternoon.

I WAS doing so well...

Stop PINning... Start Doing...

If you are anything like me you probably PIN a ton of stuff... but never get around to making any of it yourself.  I have decided this week will be different.

I will be making two of these ornaments - one using OUR wedding invitation and one using my cousin's wedding invitation (she is getting married this weekend).  Isn't this a fun and easy idea?

Source: christyrobbins.blogspot.com via Daphne on Pinterest

Next I have high hopes to make this canvas for my bedroom.

Source: annabellea.com via Melissa on Pinterest

And maybe if I am feeling motivated I may even whip up a batch of these three ingredient peanut butter cookies.

Source: jamhands.net via Melissa on Pinterest

If you are a constant pinner like me... who has way more pins to do than pins you have done, I encourage you to challenge yourself to choose two pins to work on this week.  Then make a board called Things Pinterest Inspired Me to Make like I did... and you can move those pins over there.

A Great Weekend w/ my Mom

My mom flew in from Virginia Friday morning.  I let Madison stay home from school and we arrived at 8:30 to the airport to get my mom.  After we picked her up we headed to Target, then Best Buy, and then back to my house to drop off our Target stuff and my mom's luggage.  We headed to Papa Gino's for a pizza and salad lunch.  Then I took my mom to a local gift shop/boutique and then to Michaels before we headed home to relax.  That evening we went out for Mexican at El Parque and then I went to bed early because I had a horrible headache.

Saturday morning we woke up early to head to Massachusetts to meet up with two of my mom's sisters.  We then rode in to Boston with them for my cousin Lisa's bridal shower.  She had a beautiful brunch bridal shower at a restaurant along the water in Boston's North End. 

Here are some photos Madison took yesterday at the shower-

The favors were amazing.  They were wedding dress cookies with the bride's name on them from a Vermont bakery called a Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe.  I was so surprised to see my aunt had used them.  We had considered using them for our wedding...and even ordered samples, but out baker convinced us to go with her candy cupcake toppers (which ended up being horrible) instead.

It ended up being a fun, yet long day in Massachusetts.

Sunday afternoon we had reservations to celebrate Madison's 12th birthday at the Melting Pot in downtown Providence.  Then we did a little shopping at the Providence Place Mall before bringing my mom to the airport.

We always love when she visits and had such a wonderful time.  Now we are sitting in the living room watching a movie with the fire going (for the first time).