Adorable Teddy Bear Cookies!

How cute are these teddy bear cookies by the Cookie Fairy Blog?  These
are perfect for an after school snack or a Teddy Bear themed party!

Prepare two equal-sized balls of dough- Cocoa and Vanilla

Cool dough, then flatten between 2 sheets of parchment paper (no need for flour)

Cut dough into circles for face, ears and nose

Stack circles to form contrasting faces and ears, slightly push on each piece to connect

After cooling decorate with eyes, nose and mouth and enjoy!

                        Teddy Bear Cookies
                                        Makes 16 Cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

1/4 C Butter (1/2 Stick)
1 C Powdered Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 C Flour
1/4 C Cocoa

Icing Ingredients:
3 TBS Powdered Sugar
1/2 Tsp Cocoa
A few drops of milk or water
A handful of Chocolate Chips

For Cookies:

Beat Butter and Powdered Sugar together for several minutes until smooth
Mix in Egg Yolk and Vanilla Extract
Next, Sift in Flour until incorporated
Divide the Dough into 2 equal parts
In 1 part of the Dough mix in Cocoa

Wrap each part in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours
If dough becomes soft during preparation, then place in refrigerator until stiff
Flatten each piece of dough between 2 cookie sheets or parchment paper into a             square that is approx. 25" X 25"
Using 2 sizes of circular cookie cutters cut out small and large circles of each color     of dough
Stack the circles of dough contrasting each piece and slightly push on each piece
    to connect (2 small for ears, 1 large for face and one small for nose)
Bake cookies for 10 -12 minutes at 350 deg.
Let cool completely

For Icing:

In a bowl: 2 TBS of powdered sugar
                gradually trickle a few drops of milk or water while stirring
                just until mixture is smooth but still thick
                If icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar to desired consistency

In a separate bowl:
                Mix remaining powdered sugar with cocoa trickle in a few drops of milk                   or water while stirring

Place each color of icing in separate pastry bags with small round couplings

For Chocolate faced Cookies: Use light colored icing for eyes and add a mini chocolate chip for his pupils
Use dark colored icing for nose and mouth.

For Vanilla faced Cookies: Use dark icing for eyes and add a mini white chocolate chip for pupils. Use light icing for nose and mouth.

Have fun eating the cute and delicious Teddy Bear cookies!

Apple Pie With Cream

I found a wonderful new recipe for Apple Pie from the Cookie Fairy Blog!

Ingredients:

Crust:
50 g walnuts, lightly toasted 
180 grams (a quarter cup) of flour 
30 grams (3 tablespoons) powdered sugar 
120 cold butter cubes 
1 egg yolk 
1 tablespoon milk or cold water

Ingredients:
3 apples 
200 ml (cup) sour cream 15% 
100 grams (half a cup) sugar 
2 tablespoons flour 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 egg 
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract 
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel 
25 g raisins

Topping:
60 g (1/4 cup compressed) brown sugar 
50 g (one third cup and another teaspoon) flour 
40 g butter 
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Tools:
Pie mold or pattern disintegrating 24 cm

Preparation:

To the kelp:
Grind the nuts in a food processor. Add flour and powdered sugar and process together. Add the cubes of butter and mix to crumbs. Add yolk and milk and process briefly until you get a uniform dough. Refrigerate for an hour. After cooling, flatten the dough with your hands on the bottom and sides of the pan. Heat oven to medium temperature 180 degrees.

For the filling:
peel, shred and slice the apples into slices, and arrange nicely in the crust. Mix the remaining ingredients of the filling and pour gently over the apples. Bake for 25 minutes.

For coating:
Process all coating materials together until rough crumbs are obtained and refrigerated. After 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the crumbs quickly on the pie. Return to oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Keep refrigerated. Serve hot or cold to taste next to whipped cream or a ball of vanilla ice cream.

Valentine's Day Love

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays! I'm still looking for that perfect gift for my hubby...
This is a small Valentine montage from Poppytalk blog. Enjoy!

 
Poppytalk - The beautiful, the decayed and the handmade: Today at Poppytalk Handmade:
Contributor post by Erin of  Dear Edna
1. Renee Anne  2. Golly Bard  3.  Yellow Button Studio
4. Lucy Snowe Photography 5.  Datter Industries

How To Knit A Giganto Blanket!

Christmas Eve Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate

Christmas Eve Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate - 1.5 cups heavy cream, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14oz), 2 cups milk chocolate chips, 6 cups of milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Yum!---have to remember this at christmas this year!!








And from Real Mom Kitchen:

Peppermint Whipped Cream. Perfect for hot chocolate..

My favorite way to top my hot cocoa or hot chocolate with whipped cream. This is an easy peppermint whipped cream recipe.  I love this on top of  hot chocolate.  If served right away,   the crunchy bits of candy cane add texture to the cream.  If served after a while, the candy canes completely dissolve for a delicious creamy topping.  Peppermint Cream also works well served on top of chocolate pie, brownies, cupcakes, etc.  

Peppermint Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

  6 red and white peppermint candy canes or 24 red and white mini peppermint candy canes

  2 cups of whipping cream

1. Unwrap your candy canes and place them in a blender or food processor. I like to break them into pieces as I add them to the blender.
2. Process until the candy canes util they are a fairly fine powder.
3. In another bowl, whip cream until firm. No need to add sugar. The sweetness will come from the candy canes.
4. Fold in the candy cane powder in the cream. Use immediately to top you cocoa if you like little pieces of crunchy candy cane in it (This is the way I like it). Or place in the refrigerator for 2 hours and allow the candy canes to completely dissolve.

Meet the Dubiens: make your own rainbow watercolors

Meet the Dubiens: make your own rainbow watercolors:I found the idea of making your own homemade watercolor paints on Martha Stewart and I absolutely loved it. Now that we've made our own watercolors, I'll never use anything else. These watercolors are absolutely amazing. I think they are far superior to any other watercolor paints I had previously purchased for my kiddos. It also makes quite a bit, so I bought some awesome individual containers and just close the lid after we use them and have lots leftover for the next time. I also love that you can control how bright/vibrant the colors will be by adding either a little or a lot of food coloring. I like vibrant, so that's exactly what mine are. I'm including this craft in our St. Patrick's day activities because we used our watercolors to make beautiful rainbows. Cam really wasn't interested in making rainbows, but Kirsten was really excited and did an amazing job. She painted four of them! I framed one of them and it looks amazing. Here are the instructions to make your own watercolors:

What you'll need (for each color):

2 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp light corn syrup
1 tbsp cornstarch

We made 6 colors - so you will need 6x the above ingredients

gel food coloring
6 bowls
spoons
airtight containers

watercolor paper
paintbrushes

* This recipe made a large batch and I was able to make a set for both Kirsten and Camden to have their own *

Directions:

1. in each bowl add the above ingredients - 2 tbsp baking soda, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1/4 tsp light corn syrup, 1 tbsp cornstarch. Mix until everything is well dissolved. If the mixture is too thick, add a little bit more vinegar. You basically want it to be like an oobleck or gak consistency (can be formed but then melts away if you let it go).

2. add your food coloring to each bowl and mix well - we did a rainbow of colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

3. pour your paint mixture into individual containers, leave the lids off and allow to dry completely - at least overnight.

4. give the paints to your kiddos (I made a set for each kid) with a paint brush, watercolor paper and a cup of water and let them paint away!

How to Make a Fall Wreath with Corn Tassels!

This is a wonderful tutorial from Brooke from All Things Thrifty Blog. At almost no cost, this wreath
 is fun and easy to make!

"My name is Brooke  and I normally blog over at All Things Thrifty where I post about my thrifty decorating addiction! Let me tell you a little about myself before we get going! In a nutshell, I grew up on a farm in Central Utah. I’m a mom of four little kiddos, and I love to decorate. My sisters, my mom, and I love to craft together, and the project I’m sharing with you today happens to be a wreath that my Sister Natalie made. I’m a super thrifty gal and I love to teach my tips and tricks. I’m telling ya peeps, sometimes the cheapest projects turn out the very best around my house. My favorite way to decorate my home is with ultra unique items that can’t be bought in any store. Come check out some of my furniture transformations, and you will see what I mean! I am thrilled to be part of Amy’s Fall Festival today, and I was super excited that she asked me to participate! Let’s get started!

This project most likely won’t cost you a dime to make.

You can’t beat FREE right!?!?

You will need:

A corn field {HA! yep, I said a corn field}

Scissors

A plastic bag

A pool noodle {Summer is over so just use an old one you have laying around or go buy

one for $1 or less}

Some duct tape.

*Before you to stalking through the corn field off in the boonies, please ask permission. :)

Step 1: Gather 4 bags full of corn tassels.   Scissors work great for this. The tassel is the very top of the corn stalk in case you didn’t know.

Try your darndest to get tassels that are straight instead of tassels that spray all over the place..

Step 2: After you have a bag full of tassels, you need to make a pool noodle wreath by cutting it and duct taping it together. You can spray paint it if you want, but really no one will see the pool noodle once you are done.

Step 3: Divide your tassels into separate piles depending

      on their lengths. You can cut down your tassels if you need to.

Step 4: Make a small hole in the noodle with the end of your scissors and slide in your tassel one at a time. Start at the back with your longest {and straightest} corn tassels.

Step 5: Continue layering your tassels into your pool noodle until it is full.

The only thing that would make this wreath better is if it were MINE instead of my Sister’s. Don’t you think she should make me one? I think so!

I think a trio of corn tassel wreaths would be darling on my front door to celebrate FALL. I hope that you have enjoyed this fun {and more importantly basically FREE} idea, come visit me over at my blog! I would love to have you!

Brooke from All Things Thrifty