Peppermint Peek - A - Boo Cookies

Get out your holiday stretchy pants! 

Cause these yummy-gooey oh-so-easy-to-make cookies will be gone before Santa checks his list TWICE!

I was in a bind the other day; needing a holiday treat for our ward Christmas party, because what I originally wanted to make fell apart... literally.

So I hurried and threw together these Peppermint Peek-A-Boo Cookies and man was I proud of myself!


Here is what you will need...


Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses (Unwrapped) 



Cookie Dough Recipe:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (soft but NOT melted)
1 tsp vanilla

Once again, unwrap the kisses before you start. This is the most time consuming and difficult part ;) Oh and this recipe made about 30 cookies.

Beat Sugars and Butter until FLUFFY! Add Vanilla and Egg. Beat until combined. Add all other Ingredients and beat until dough is formed.

Take a small amount of dough and flatten in the palm of you hand. Take a Candy Cane Kiss and place it in the center of the flattened dough. Form the dough around the Kiss and roll into a ball. Repeat.

Place Cookie Balls about an inch or two apart on Sprayed or Parchment Paper lined cookie sheet. *Note: I always use Parchment Paper! I can't live with out it! But I seemed to be out of many things in my kitchen this day and Parchment Paper was one of them.

Bake @ 375 for 7-9 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet 1 min. then transfer cookies to a cookie rack to finish cooling.

I always try to do any baking during nap time, otherwise I have this hungry creature begging for "treats" !

For Added Pleasure; You can roll balls in powdered sugar, or sprinkles before baking. I did not do this because I was short on time.

Enjoy!

Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard Recipe

The holidays are upon us people, ready or not?!
And with that means yummy holiday baking!!

MMMmmmm


Last week (as I shared in an earlier post) we decided to go to SeaWorld for Thanksgiving.
That meant forgoing yummy Turkey Dinner and bypassing the chance to douse that yummy turkey in Hot Sweet Mustard :( sigh



But after getting home from THE BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER!!!!

I couldn't help it, I wanted to surprise Brett w/ Thanksgiving Dinner. And so I thought I would share a family favorite staple in our home for this time of year.

Years ago Brett's grandma gave me a few of his favorite recipes from his childhood. 

His favorite being Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard. 

He seriously BEGS for it every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You know that feeling you get when you get your hands on a family recipe. You want to shout it out to the whole world, but yet you don't want to share with anyone because you don't want anyone else to gleam in your food happiness?
Or do you have a recipe that you feel is so unique, so unknown to the outside world; that you don't want anyone to get their grimy hands on it, in fear that the recipe will no longer be a secret?

Well this is how I feel about Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard!

So few people know how good it is on a Christmas ham or how many recipes you could actually use it with!

If you are a fan of Asian food and have been daring enough to try the "yellow stuff" that is always on the table in a tiny bowl, then LISTEN UP. Because your mind is about to be BLOWN!

Colman's Hot Sweet Mustard

         What you will need:

• Colman’s Mustard Powder *must be Colman's, otherwise it just doesn't round-house-kick you in the face. I don't know why, I have tried making it with McCormicks mustard powder, but it just wasn't the same.
• Cornstarch
• Salt
• Water
• Sugar
• Vinegar

First Mix Mustard Powder w/ about 2 tsp water. Just enough to make a slight paste. Set Aside.

In a small saucepan mix Cornstarch, Sugar, Salt and remaining Water, (no heat needed yet) whisk until smooth.

Add Vinegar. Cook on LOW heat, stirring CONSTANTLY for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Add Mustard paste, whisk well. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Hot Sweet Mustard can be used with many great dishes. Try it with your favorite Asian delights, Sandwiches, Summer Sausage, Turkey or that mouth watering Christmas Ham!

Recipe:

• 1/4 cup Colman's Mustard Powder
• 1/2 TBS Cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup Vinegar 

*The measurements in this recipe Yields 1 cup. I typically 1/2 the recipe, unless I am taking it to a party to share.

however........

WARNING!

Hot means HOT! 

*This bundle of deliciousness may cause burning of the throat, watering eyes, and gasping for air the most satisfying mouth watering feeling your belly has ever experienced!

Though a dab is all you need.....
unless your stomach is made of rocks..... 
nuff said

Lazy day after Christmas!

Who is having the lazy day when the poor old husband is out shoveling the 89 inches of snow!!!

Christmas has come and gone...

Whoever said that Christmas was relaxing?! Well whomever it was never had a family like ours. Well our holiday started at 11am on christmas eve with when brett got off work. We drove to kaysville to my moms new house and had dinner, then went to my sisters house in hooper and played "would you rather" all night, of course until it was time to play Santa. Well Christmas starts at 5am in my family. So we watched our nieces and nephews bask in the glory of excitement of Santa. After about 3 hours of them opening presents (most of which were from my brother-in-laws crazy mom, trying to out do Santa, but failed miserably) We went back to my moms at 10am to eat breakfast. After stuffing ourselves with Christmas quiche and sausage we headed to Providence to be with brett's mom, stepdad and brother at noon. We opened gifts and then the gilbert family arrived at 2pm and we ate more food and opened more gifts. Then at 6pm we headed thru the storm to Preston to spend Christmas evening with the Reeders (where we found out that Brett's cousin and his wife are expecting and they are 6 months along!!! And no one told us!!) we opened more presents and ate more food!! We got home at about 11:30pm and crashed in our bed, thank heavens for the lazy day after Christmas!

SANTA!!!!!!!!! I Know Him....I Know Him!!

While I was watching Brett fly on Saturday, all of the sudden a huge chopper came in and landed right in front of me. I was kinda nervous as to what was going on because the Helicopter was a Utah High Patrol Chopper. As I was snapping some photos, Santa came out on the hanger with his briefcase and climbed into the helicopter and flew away! Santa's high Rollin, he traded in his reindeer for an AStar.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown...

So for family night on monday we went Christmas tree hunting. When we got to the tree farm, the farmer helped us by showing us some wonderful trees. But none of them were the tree! So he asked what we were looking for... so I told him that we dont have a lot of space for a tree so we need a small tree... still nothing. So I told him, I need a Charlie Brown tree! And voila...
It was perfect! And to let you know how small it is we were able to slip in into the back seat of the jeep with plenty of room to spare.