Molasses Crinkle Cookies

These are a family favorite. I just drizzled some white chocolate that I had left over to make them a little more festive.

MOLASSES CRINKLE COOKIES {Jenson Family}

1 1/2 C Shortening
2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 C Molasses
4 1/2 C Flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs and molasses. Combine flour with all the spices and mix together well. Slowly add flour to the other ingredients.

Roll cookies into balls and then roll in granulated sugar. Flatten just slightly on the cookie sheet. {I just used the palm of my hand}.

Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes. These are better slightly under cooked so make sure you watch them carefully. {I did mine for 8 and it was a little too long.}.

Let cool and enjoy!

Orange Zested Cranberry White Chocolate Bliss Bars

I absolutely LOVED these bars. I ate SO many of them...and I don't want to know how many calories they have. Of course, the recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, I LOVE everything I've ever tried from her blog. I basically just followed her recipe, so you can find it HERE or on my Pinterest HERE.

Cracker TOFFEE

I've seen this on Pinterest in a few places and thought it sounded a little strange but I Love toffee and thought I would give it a try....I made it for Thanksgiving and it is DELICIOUS!! {I think I like it even better than regular toffee because it doesn't get stuck in your teeth and it's not too hard to eat}.

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 C nuts to sprinkle on top {optional}

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread saltine crackers on cookie sheet. Leave a little room between them so the crackers can move around a little.

In a saucepan melt brown sugar and butter. Let boil for 3 minutes and then pour caramel mixture over the saltine crackers. Try to cover them as much as possible, but don't worry too much about covering every inch.

Bake for 6-8 minutes. The mixture will bubble up and cover all the crackers while it's cooking.

Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let chocolate chips melt and then spread them all over the top. Sprinkle with nuts.

Let cool and then break into pieces and enjoy!!

Mom's Homemade Caramels

I LOVE caramels. I Love my mom's homemade caramels....This year I added a little sea salt to the top of the caramels and they were FABULOUS...

Mom's Homemade Caramels

2 C Sugar
1 C Light Karo Syrup

Combine in large stockpot {I used my big pot that I cook spaghetti in}. Bring to a boil and boil until 240 degrees {soft ball}

1/2 C. Butter
1 Can of Evaporated milk or 1 1/2 C Cream {you can use either one}

In separate bowl, microwave butter and milk/cream until warm and butter is slightly melted. {about 1-2 minutes}

Combine butter/cream mixture to sugar/Karo mixture slowly. Try to keep the sugar/Karo boiling while you add the butter/cream mixture.

Continue to Boil until 230 degrees {very soft ball}

Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Pour into buttered 9x13 pan. Let caramels sit for 10 minutes before sprinkling with sea salt. {I grinded my up a little so there were no large pieces of salt}

Allow caramels to cool completely {several hours/overnight}. Cut into squares and enjoy.

Peppermint Meltaways

My new OBSESSION this year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE these....I could have 100 of them!!!

The recipe can be found HERE at Taste of Home.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 
  FROSTING:
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape into 1/2-1 in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, extract and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

JUST A NOTE: Make sure you make them smaller than 1" and do not smash them down too much, just a little bit. They are really crumbly if you make them too big or too flat. Also, I just crushed up my peppermints and added them to the icing. It worked great. 

Chocolate Andies Mint Cookies

I got this recipe HERE on allrecipes.com. They are delicious!!!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 (4.5 ounce) packages chocolate covered thin mints

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute. When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer. For smaller cookies, break mints in half.

Cinnamon Rolls

I made these for Christmas morning breakfast....they were super yummy.

I made the dough in my breakmaker and let it kneed and rise...then I rolled them out into a rectangle.

DOUGH

3 1/2 C Flour
3 tbsp Sugar
1 C warm water
1 pkg yeast {about 2 tbsp}
1 tbsp dry instant milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Mix according to your breadmaker. I put the warm water, yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar in a cup and let the yeast start to work. Add all dry ingredients to breadmaker and then add butter and mixture of yeast and water.

After they have risen once. Kneed down and roll into a large rectangle.

Spread butter on dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.
Roll up dough on the long side of the rectangle and cut cinnamon rolls into 12 rolls.

In a 9x13 pan, spray with Pam or spread butter all over the edges. Put glops of butter all over the bottom {about 9-10}. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Drizzle karo syrup over everything.

Place rolls on their sides in the 9x13 pan and let rise until double in size.

Bake for 15min at 350 degrees.


While still warm, frost with frosting. {see below}

FROSTING
2-3 C. Powdered Sugar
Milk to thin
Maple flavoring
pinch of salt

Put powdered sugar in bowl, add milk to thin until it's a glaze like consistency . Add maple flavoring and pinch of salt.

ENJOY!!!

Minature Delights

I made a variation of shortbread cookies today....uhm, well the first batch didn't turn out....{let me just say that I am not good at halving or doubling a recipe unless I write it down first, I always mess something up} so once I figured out what I had done wrong......and washed all of this down the drain.......

I used this shortbread recipe {obviously without the cranberries and white chocolate chips} and put small cookie balls into my small muffin pan. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Place your favorite hershey's kiss in the center of the cookie and let melt. These are two new kinds of kisses. Chocolate Cordial Cherry and Peppermint Candy Cane. They are AWESOME! and super easy.