Happy New Year's Eve!

Forgot to go to the store to get a few bottles of sparkling cider? Not want to buy a huge bottle when you just want a single glass?  Not a problem.  All you need is apple juice and seltzer. You can taste the difference with better quality juice, but whatever you have handy is fine.

This is such a simple drink (thanks for thinking of it Tova!)

Sparkling Apple Cider
Ingredients:

• apple juice
• seltzer (from a soda stream or bottle)

Directions:

1. Pour equal parts juice and seltzer into a glass or pitcher.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy!

I hope everyone had a great 2015.  I know I did.  This was one of the first years I had New Year's resolutions and stuck to them.  I don't know if it's because I picked more than one resolution, or if it's because I didn't pick an open-ended, generic one (like" lose some weight").  My resolutions this year were to sew an Amy Butler Weekender bag, the most behemoth of bags , and to finish this reading list.



I haven't quite finished this list yet, but I'm on the last book I need and it's an audio book, so it takes FOREVER.  This list is so long, I'm just going to count it as finished.  As someone who had never done it before, completing New Year's resolutions feels great.

Here's the finished Weekender bag by the way:

I have my New Year's resolutions all figured out for 2016 too.  I liked this book list so much I'm planning on following the next one.  Here's a copy:




A whole new set of books.  Yay!  I also plan on figuring out how to do a headstand.  Maybe I'll even post a ridiculous looking selfie of my headstand this coming year.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  

So the tally is in.  I lost count of some things, it's really been a crazy week, but for the month of December I've made 

• 46 dozen cookies
• 14 pounds of caramels
• 8 batches of marshmallows
• 4 dozen truffles
• 4 dozen chocolate covered chocolate marshmallows

and some other random goodies I totally forgot to tally.  Like doggy treats.

Part of me wants to take a break from baking. ...But I just got a bunch of really awesome kitchen things for Christmas that I'm separate to try.  So I'm back in tomorrow.  Yay!

Sorry about the late post but I haven't had a moment to myself for a while.  The kids have been adorable all day, both really GET Christmas this year so it's been a blast.  

Liam got a bunch of kitchen things too so hopefully we'll bake together tomorrow.  New recipes coming soon, promise.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

cinnamon roll cookies

I have about a million cookies at my house already.  Between my love of baking, cookies the kids made, cookies exchanges, you name it...

So of course I decided to make some more cookies yesterday.  By the way, if you remember that I'm (trying to) keep track of how much I've baked just this December the numbers are as follows:

• about 25 dozen cookies
• 10 pounds of caramels
• 4 batches of marshmallows

and I'm seriously just getting warmed up!  I'm curious what the final count will be now.  

Anyway, I felt like experimenting yesterday and I think I found a winner.  In fact, I can't stop eating these, and I'm usually pretty good at only eating one or two.  I really like this recipe.  It makes soft chewy cookies that taste EXACTLY like a cinnamon roll.  

Start out by making a standard sugar cookie dough.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Take 2/3 of the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured counter.  Leave it and return to the bowl.  Add the cinnamon, brown sugar, and dash of vanilla to the remaining 1/3 dough in the bowl.  Mix well and upturn onto the lightly floured counter next to the other dough.  

Roll both sets of dough out into rectangles of the same size.  I'm TERRIBLE at this.  You can see that from the photos.  I'm just telling you this so you know that it really doesn't matter if your rectangles are perfect.  The cookies will still look good once they're rolled out even if you rectangles are ugly.  I promise.

Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and lay it on top of the original dough.  The dough should both be pretty pliable if you need to shape them a little into matching sizes.

Roll the dough into a log.  If you didn't use enough flour on the counter and the dough sticks a little, you can use a scraper to help un-stick the dough and move it along.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.  If you make this dough up to a few days ahead of time (I love options!) just set the dough on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften.  If you try to cut the dough straight from the fridge it will be too stiff and the two dough sections might separate.

Slice the cookies and place them on parchment covered cookies sheets.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.

Once the cookies come out of the oven you can start making the icing.  When the cookies have cooled drizzle the icing over top, then allow about an hour to dry fully.

The icing takes a while to dry, but once it has you can stack the cookies without smudging the icing.  Yay!

I don't usually frost or ice cookies, they generally don't need it, but please don't forgo the icing here.  First of all, cinnamon roll cookies just aren't the same without it, and I tried a cookie before I iced them (always a must with new recipes) and the crazy amount of cinnamon without the added sweetness of the icing made for a very spicy cookie!  The icing just helps balance the flavors so much.  A necessity.

I like the random icing drizzle, but if you want to get fancy you could drizzle the icing in a spiral or go crazy and cover the entire cookie lightly.

I'm going to have to give these away, because otherwise I'm going to eat them all.  I LOVE cinnamon rolls, and having smaller (and less guilty) versions available anytime I want is very dangerous.

AND, some gratuitous cookie shots...

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
make about 18

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 1/2 tsp
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Icing

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat in 1 tsp vanilla and the egg.
2. Slowly mix in the baking powder and flour.
3. Remove 2/3 of the dough and place on a lightly floured counter.
4. Add the 1/2 tsp vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the remaining dough in the bowl.  Mix well.  Remove the remaining dough onto a lightly floured counter near the first dough.
5. Roll both doughs out into rectangles of matching sizes.  Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and set it on top of the other dough.  Roll up dough and wrap in cellophane.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Slice dough into medallions and place on parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  
7. Make the icing and drizzle over the cookies once they've cooled.

prepping for Christmas

No recipe today.  Sorry.  This is just me writing a bit during nap time because I'm too exhausted to do anything active, like moving at all.

If you're one of the like 2 people who read this blog (hi!), AND you're in the Sacramento area this weekend, come join me here.

I've been prepping like mad this week.  Jeff has jokingly suggested that I make a running tally of how many cookies I make in the month of December, and I think I just may do that.  Because it's going to be a totally insane number.  I cant wait.

Today I'm already at 6 batches of sugar cookies and 6 batches of caramels.  And I'm just getting started...

Note: I bought so much sugar and butter at the store yesterday that cashier either knows I'm baking up a storm, or thinks I'm going to get massive diabetes.

Check back later for an update on the crazy cookie tally.  Happy Holidays!