Cookie Exchange: Mexican Wedding Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1/2 C sugar
- 2 C flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 C pecans (chopped)
- 1 C butter (2 sticks)
- 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Roll into balls (about 1 inch)
3. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes
4. Cool and roll in powdered sugar

We may have not been able to decide whether the cookies are really Mexican or not, but one thing we do know for sure is that they were delicious!

Cookie Exchange: Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 1/4 cups of flour

Directions:

1. cream together sugars, butter, oil, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar
2. add flour 1 cup at a time (don't beat for too long or cookies will be flat and dense)
3. bake at 375 degrees until light and golden brown around the edges (about 10 minutes)
4. this recipe makes approximately 100 cookies!

I have always thought of sugar cookies as the official cookie of Christmas. Do you agree?

Cookie Exchange: Brownie Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. mix together all ingredients
3. roll into 1 inch balls
4. roll in granulated sugar
5. bake for 8-10 minutes
6. once cookies have cooled a little, dust the tops with powdered sugar

These were absolutely delicious! And they look so easy, I might just make them today :)

Cookie Exchange: Millionaire's Shortbread Bars

A couple of weekends ago I hosted a cookie exchange at my apartment. It was so much fun to be able to relax with some friends during this hectic time of year. I decided that instead of everyone writing out several copies of their recipe, I would just put them all online (I also tend to always lose the paper copies of recipes...). The next few posts will consist of all of the recipes that everyone brought. They were all so delicious!

I chose to bake one of my favorite (and easy) cookies for the exchange: millionaire's shortbread bars.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter almost at room temp (1 1/2 sticks of butter)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp of salt (I usually just leave this out)
1 can dulce de leche filling (I found it at Kroger)
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a 9x9 in pan (I used Bakers Joy... Things like Pam will destroy the nonstick coating on your pans).
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla.
4. Beat in the flour and salt just until it comes together. (If you beat it longer, the shortbread will be dense instead of light)
5. Press into the bottom of your pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.
6. Warm dulce de leche in your microwave (30 seconds at a time) until it is spreadable. Spread over the cooled shortbread.
7. After the dulce de leche has cooled, melt the chocolate and 1 Tbsp of butter in the microwave, stirring every 20-30 seconds. Pour over the top and then use a rubber spatula to spread evenly.
8. Allow bars to cool and then use a sharp knife to cut it into squares.

Swiss Vegetable Bake

     For the first time ever, I actually decided to look at my weekly email that I got from recipes.com and it was a good thing! The theme this week was vegetarian dishes! This is one that jumped out at me immediately because it's easy and the list of ingredients I needed to go out and buy was very short (the only thing I didn't have at home was Swiss cheese). This turned out so yummy! It's good enough to use for a special occasion, yet easy enough for a weeknight.

Cast of Characters:

• 1 lb (1 bag) mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
• 3 Tbsp butter (divided)
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup soft whole wheat bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook frozen veggies according to directions. Drain.
3. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add in onion powder, salt, and flour. Continue stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in milk. Return to stove and heat until boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in shredded Swiss cheese until melted. Stir in veggies.
5. Transfer to 1.5 quart oven safe dish and bake for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden.
6. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 219

Fat: 13 g

Carbs: 16 g

Protein: 8 g

Miss Amy's Cinnamon Banana Bread

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to bake (and eat) was banana bread. I learned early on that the riper the bananas the better (and sweeter) the bread. Fast forward to last week--> I bought some bananas and then managed to totally forget about them. I managed to stumble upon them in my kitchen on Friday, but by then they were all brown and over-ripe. Well, my forgetfulness turned out to be a blessing because I decided to continue poking around my kitchen to see what else I might have on hand. I ended up coming up with this recipe from the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.

Cast of Characters:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (1 single serving container)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp cinnamon (depending on your preference)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Mix in Greek yogurt.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Alternate mixing in the mashed banana and the flour mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX! The bread will be tough and rubbery if you do :(
7. Bake for about 60 - 70 minutes. Test to see if the bread is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, you're good to go. If it comes out with batter on it, keep the bread in a bit longer.

If you really like banana nut bread, try folding in about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter before baking. Enjoy!

Miss Amy's Belgian Spice Cookies

This week it was my turn to bring snacks for my small group and I was feeling quite festive, so I made some gingerbread men and these Belgian spice cookies. I liked them so much, I decided to post the recipe here so I wouldn't forget how I made them.

Cast of Characters:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.25 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to blend together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then mix in egg and vanilla extract.
4. Gradually mix dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mixture may be a bit crumbly, but should still stick together when pinched.
5. Form dough into a disc and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 - 60 minutes.
6. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Be sure to use plenty of flour on your rolling pin, hands, and counter. This dough can be really sticky.
7. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick spray.
8. Bake each batch of cookies for about 8 minutes.
9. Enjoy!

Spiced Chai Latte Mix

Some day in November while my mom was shopping with my grandmother up in Indiana, she came across these adorable little Ball jars. We decided that I needed to find something to fill them with to hand out as presents this year. While at home for Thanksgiving, I was looking through some of her old Taste of Home magazines and I came across this easy spiced chai latte mix.

Cast of Characters:

• 3 Cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened instant tea (like Nestea)
• 3/4 cup Powdered nondairy vanilla creamer
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp cloves

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor or blender. (I actually just sifted all of the ingredients together and it turned out just fine.)
2. Mix 3 Tbsp of mixture into 3/4 cup hot water.
3. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:

Servings: 24

Calories: 85

Fat: 1 g

Carbs: 18 g

Protein: 1 g