Alphabet Soup

So it seems like everyone is doing a "Top 10 of 2010" post on their blogs.  I've always been a rebel, but this one sounded like fun.  I'm doing a Top 5 based on pageviews, and then a couple of my personal faves from the year that didn't make the list.  5.   Molasses Spice Cookies 4.   Pumpkin Butter Cookies 3.  Frijoles a la charra 2.  Mocha-Toffee Truffle Bars 1.  Chewy Ginger Snaps And there are a couple of recipes that may not have made the top 5 based on pageviews, but were some of my favorites: Chicken Enchilada Chowder Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas Homemade Cinnamon Dolce Latte And what was one of my favorite things from 2010?  Welcoming a new member of our family!! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's celebration, and may 2011 bring many amazing things for everyone! Enjoy!  :)

Have you ever read something, either online or in print, and forgotten to bookmark it so that you could go back and find it later?  Well, that happened to me recently.  Before Christmas I read a blog post somewhere about “painting” sugar cookies before they were baked, but when I went to find it again, I couldn’t.  A (not so) quick Internet search revealed quite a few posts about the subject.  I found one at She Wears Many Hats that I remembered reading, and also one at Pioneer Woman .  Both of those, like most of the others, uses an egg yolk as the base for the paint.  I thought I remembered reading about a technique using evaporated milk instead, which was what I wanted to do.  I never did find one, so I decided to try it anyway and see what would happen! For this little experiment, I used a sugar cookie mix.  I needed something fast and easy, and since I had bought some mixes when they were on sale I figured why not use one.  Start ...

I recently professed my love of coffee and fancy coffee drinks.  After the success of the Peppermint Mocha , I decided to tackle the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, another one of my favorites.  According to the Starbucks website, it has flavors of "cinnamon, butter and brown sugar".  Well, I covered the cinnamon and brown sugar components, but left out the butter.  And you know what, I think it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself!  I honestly wasn't sure if the cinnamon flavor in the syrup was going to be strong enough, but it was.  I will admit to being impatient and not letting it steep for very long, so the cinnamon flavor might develop more if you do actually let it sit and cool off first.  If you wanted it to be even stronger, you could always add a tiny bit of cinnamon oil to it as well.  But be careful -- a little of that goes a long way! How much to make depends on how much you'll actually use.  I just made a single batch this f...

Can you believe that in one week, it will be Christmas?  Yeah, me either.  So not ready.  :) The other thing I can't believe is that it's the last week for the 12 Weeks of Christmas cookies.  It has been a lot of fun.  I'm very glad to have participated, and would like to thank April for putting this all together. My contribution this week is to put the spotlight on a post from last year about peanut brittle.  It's just not Christmas without peanut brittle, in my opinion, and it's perfect for sharing!  Click here for the link. Enjoy, and I hope everyone has a great weekend, and a wonderful holiday!  :)

It's Friday?  Again?  I think we have the same conversation every week.  Sorry about that.  If you'll remember, last week I talked about a cookie exchange that I was co-hosting.  It wound up being a small group of people, but it was a lot of fun.  I really should dedicate a post just to the cookie exchange, and the baked brie that fought back! This week's recipe for Mocha Nut Cookies was one of the two recipes that I made for the exchange.  It was a new one for me, and with some modifications I think I like it.  The original recipe said that it would make balls, but mine spread a little more during baking, losing their rounded shape somewhat.  I'll be honest, my notes trail off about halfway through the recipe, so I'm not 100% sure what I did!  I guess that means I need to make the recipe again to double check things.  This cookie seemed to be a hit at the exchange, so I'll take that as a good sign.  I replaced the instant...

You might have noticed that I haven't been posting about Tuesdays with Dorie lately.  I thought I should give an official update about that.  See, I joined TWD when the group was a year old.  I was so excited!  I've learned new things, and made dishes I never thought I would.  And I've found some new friends along the way.  :) However, lately I just haven't been able to keep up.  I've taken a few breaks, due to being pregnant and having a baby, and picked back up here and there.  I thought I could do it.  I really did.  But one of my more (or less!) endearing traits is the habit of over extending myself.  It's something I've done all my life!  I'm learning to say "no"...occasionally!  Since I didn't post enough in October or November, I have been officially removed from the TWD blogroll.  At first I thought about protesting, then I pouted, then I decided that maybe it was for the best.  I have enough commi...

I'm participating in (okay, co-hosting) a cookie exchange tomorrow.  When I got up this morning, I had two double batches of cookie dough in the refrigerator to bake.  I'm currently halfway through the baking process.  This is one of the recipes that I decided to try.  Yep...I tried not one, but two new recipes for a cookie exchange.  Eek!  I know there have already been a ton of molasses and/or ginger spice cookies made for the 12 weeks of Christmas cookies...but hey, why not another?  :) If you like molasses, then these are a cookie for you.  If not?  Then walk on by.  You can most definitely tell they have molasses in them.  Which is not bad.  Unless you don't like molasses.  I happen to love the stuff, so I'm good to go.  They spread a bit more than I expected, and are actually crispier than I thought they would be.  These cookies are good though!  And my little cookie monster approved of them...