Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

     One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking cookies. I love making all kinds of treats, but it just wouldn’t be Christmas with out Gingerbread Cookies. The only problem is my children are not big fans of the taste for Gingerbread. After we make them a few weeks will pass and they always end up hard as a rock and then into the trash they go! So this year I tried a new recipe that looked like it was “kid friendly” and it was a success. My children ate half the batch before getting a chance to decorate them.

Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter (softened to room temp)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth.
2. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, at least 1 hour (I leave mine over night).
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets. On a * floured surface, roll dough out and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets (they spread alot).
4. Bake for 7-8 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.
5. Decorate as desired.

* make sure your suface is floured at all times...everytime you roll it out re-flour your surface or it will stick!



Birthday around the Holidays!

     Each year we have a small family “party” in November where we celebrate my daughters birthday. We do this because I want to make sure that my daughter, who’s birthday is on December 13^th, never feels that her birthday is overshadowed by the holiday season. Then on her actual birthday we have a cake and open her present from mommy, Daddy, and Big brother. But I still worried that as she gets older she will feel like her birthday isn’t as important since Christmas is celebrated all months long. This prompted me to alter our Christmas traditions for now on.

     We decided that Our Christmas tree and stockings will not go up until after her birthday. It actually works better this way since we get a real tree and this will make it last longer without pine needles all over the floor (my vacuum will thank me this year!). Our Book advent calendar is being shortened to 12 days, and will go up on her birthday. The first book will always be a non-Christmas book, and part of her birthday gift. 

     We will still have our two other Christmas countdowns that will start on December 1^st like normal. The first one is your typical Santa Beard Count down, with cotton balls. The second one is our Christmas banner countdown, that spells out We Wish You A Merry Christmas by the time Christmas eve arrives! This way each day the children can each get to do one of the calendars, alternating between the two.

     For Anjali’s Birthday this year we will start her birthday off with yummy ice cream cone cupcakes and then open our first Book of our advent calendar. This year it will be “Happy Birthday Biscuit”, perfect for a child who thinks she is a puppy! I’m hoping by making these small changes she will never think her birthday is less important. I believe that everyone deserves to feel special on and around their birthday, especially children.

Growing older & Apple Pie

    

     I recently read an article written by a 90 year old women, giving her lessons that she has learned over the years. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Life isn’t tied with a bow but it is still a gift

2. No matter how you feel…get up, get dressed, and show up.

3. The best is yet to come

4. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back
.
5. Your children only get one childhood.

6. Growing old beats the alternative ~ dying young.

7. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

8. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

9. Don’t compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about.

10. Your job won’t take care of you when your sick, your friends and family will. Stay in touch.

11. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

12. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

     During the Holiday season its easy to forget the things that matter most. This is the time I like to stop and enjoy. I get my shopping done before Thanksgiving, schedule my bills to be paid through the New year, and complete my check lists. This way I can really just enjoy this time with the people that matter the most to me, my friends and family. I try to remember that I only have a certain number of years with my kids…as kids. These are times that you can not go back and repeat, so I want to make the most of it now.

I Wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and Most of all a Joyous and Memorable Holiday season. Here is one of my favorite holidays desserts...yummy!

Easy as Apple Pie

1 Pillsbury ready made pie crust (or homemade recipe of your choice)

1/2 cup unsalted butter 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1/4 cup water 

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

¼ cup milk (for top crust)

Sugar ( for top crust)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes. 

2. Take peeled, cored, sliced apples and mix 1tsp of cinnamon into them. (optional) then mix the sugar mixture into apples.

3. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Make slits into top crust (any design you choose) and put onto the top of your pie. Brush milk onto the top crust and then sprinkle with sugar.

4. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.

Homemade Ornaments & Chewy Molasses Cookies

     Every year while my son is at school and my husband is working I go out and pick a Christmas tree. I like taking my time to find the “one”, getting it home, letting the branches drop, making sure that it is all ready when everyone comes home that day. In fact in the 7 years that I’ve had my own family I only missed this tradition once…while on bed rest with my daughter. Growing up we usually went out together as a family and cut a tree down at a local tree farm. A tradition I will probably start with my family when my children get a bit older, but for now Mommy gets to surprise the family with a tree each year.

     My mothers tree is full of ornaments, old and new, many of them made by us as children and full of memories. It the one thing that I miss the most about the family Christmas tree. Our tree has the typical “Baby’s 1^st Christmas” ornaments and many store bought ones as well. It is very festive and beautiful but just isn’t the same. So I have started a new tradition with my children, each year they each make a Homemade ornament. So one day our Christmas tree will be filled with homemade ornaments and lots of memories.

Salt Dough Ornaments

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup table salt

1/2 cup warm water

cookie cutters

straw

paints/glitter/glue/beads/food coloring (to decorate)

ribbon (to hang)

Directions:

Mix ingredients in a bowl then knead on a floured surface, incorporating more flour as needed until the dough is pliable and not sticky. Roll out as you would do for cookies, about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with cutters and place on baking tray. Make a hole at the top of the cookie with the straw. Bake in a 200 degree oven for 2 hours or until hard. When cool, paint & decorate, let dry. Hang ornaments with ribbon.

* I suggest painting a coat of clear polyurethane finish (you can get it at any Michaels or Wal-Mart) to your completed ornaments. It makes it extra shiny and will keep for years. You can make multiple batches and add food coloring to each for extra fun.

 

Chewy Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup butter, melted 

1 cup brown sugar 

1 egg 

1/4 cup molasses 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoons baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/2 cup white sugar (for rolling)

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted margarine, 1 cup brown sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

     So with the Holidays approaching fast I wanted to take a minute to share some of the things that put a smile on my face. I guess you could say that this is a list of My Favorite Things.

~ Play-doh
~ Hot cup of tea
~ Catching the Ice Cream Truck
~ Hearing your babies heartbeat
~ When a baby falls asleep on you
~ Comfortable jeans
~ Warm fuzzy socks on a cold night
~ Getting the perfect picture
~ Taking my ponytail out 
~ When you open a book to the exact page you were looking for
~ Finally peeing after holding it forever 
~ When the phone rings and it’s someone you were just thinking about
~ Pouring a drink where the bubbles go right to the top but not over 
~ When there’s still time left in the parking meter when you pull up
~ When the public bathroom has paper towels instead of hand dryers
~ Getting in a line just before it gets really long
~ The perfect cup of coffee 
~ Taking your bra off after wearing it for hours 
~ Hot soup on a cold night
~ Snow falling on Christmas eve
~ The Perfect Egg Crack 
~ Finding money in your pocket from last year
~ Real-bearded Santa’s
~ Perfect parallel-parking on the first try
~ Christmas music
~ Finding a great deal
~ Smell of Hot Apple cider
~ Homemade apple pie
~ Your child’s face on Christmas morning
~ Miracle on 34^th street 
~ Fresh Banana but bread
~ Getting a good parking spot in the rain
~ Warm fireplace on a cold winter night
~ The perfect haircut
~ Baby toes 

     What are some of your favorite things…the things that can put a smile on your face even on a gloomy day?

Start a Tradition

     When I came across this idea and I knew that I had to do it! This Christmas book Advent Calendar not only counts down to the exciting day but it also creates a family memory every night for 24 nights! Choose 24 Christmas/Holiday themed books, they can be ones you already own or ones you buy new, if you reuse them each year it pays for itself, and wrap each book in Holiday paper. Then use gift tags to number them from 1-24. You can use store bought gift tags or make your own. You can place it across a buffet table, a window seat or like myself you can place it on top of our fireplace mantle.

This is our calendar this year: 

1. Bear Noel By: Olivier Dunrea
2. Christmas Mice! By: Bethany Roberts
3. Things I See at Christmas By: Julie Stiegemeyer 
4. Down Through the Chimney By: Twin Sisters Productions Staff 
5. The Littlest Christmas Tree By: R.A Herman
6. Little Engine That Could Snowy, Blowy Christmas By: Watty Piper 
7. The Littlest Christmas Star By: Brandi Dougherty 
8. Donald’s Christmas Gift By: Sheila Sweeny Higginson 
9. D. W.’s Perfect Present By: Marc Brown 
10. The Christmas Cookie Case By: Scholastic, Inc. Staff 
11. Funny Hunny Christmas By: Random House Disney Staff 
12. The Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving By: Jan Berenstain 
13. The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet By: Deborah Hautzig 
14. The Christmas Star By: Elizabeth Raum 
15. Willow At Christmas By: Camilla Ashforth 
16. Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas By: Gemstone Publishing, Inc
17. The Little Christmas Tree By: Mercer Mayer 
18. Clifford’s First Christmas By: Norman Bridwell 
19. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: A Holly Jolly Christmas!
20. Frosty the Snowman: A Musical Book By: Jack Rollins
21. Duck & Goose It’s Time for Christmas By: Tad Hills 
22. Merry Christmas, Stinky Face By: Lisa Mccourt 
23. Snowmen at Christmas By: Caralyn Buehner
24. The Night Before Christmas By: Clement C. Moore

     Each year you can also change the order of the books, leaving your child wondering when their favorite will be read…of course always leaving the best book for last! You can also take out the books your children outgrow and replace them as your children get older. The point is that during a time that stress can be overwhelming and time can get away from you, this will make you stop and enjoy a few minutes with your family every night until Christmas! A tradition your children will remember for the rest of their lives.

Homemade is the way to go!

     So I have been feeling very creative lately. I am starting to do more projects around the house in preparation for the Holidays. The kids and I will be making home-made pretzels tomorrow after the baseball game. This is the recipe I will also be using as gifts for the Holidays, along with our homemade Christmas cookies. 

     The recipe I use makes two 16oz jars that I will give as gifts for the holidays. I cover the lid with cloth and tie some ribbon around the lid, add the recipe card and done! The total cost for me to make 12 of these gifts is about $40. That includes buying the mason jars, the cloths and ribbons, and the cost of buying all new spices (most of which I already have plenty of). So my actual cost will be much lower since all I have to buy is the yeast and parmesan cheese…and maybe an extra bag of flour. 

     We are also making homemade crayons. it’s a great way to reuse all of the broken and wasted crayons that are found through out the house during the year. Holiday silicone molds are the best…and you can find them in so many different themes! First separate the crayons by color (reds, blues, greens, etc…) and cut them into small pieces(remove any paper). Put the crayon pieces into the molds. Bake in oven at 225 degrees until completely melted. Let it set for a few minute before transferring them into the refrigerator. After about 15 minute in the fridge they should just pop out of the molds like butter! Great homemade gift to give children!

     The last activity will be for my new nephew. I am making him a framed monogram made out of crayons. Its so easy to make and very cheap if you find a cute frame like I did at the dollar store. I may even make one for Conner’s teacher this year.

Beer Bottle Pretzel Mix In A Jar 

3 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)
1 tbs. sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Stir together flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Stir together oregano, basil, garlic, onion, and cheese in another. Divide ingredients equally among two 16 ounce beer bottles or jars, layering if bottles are clear. This recipe makes 2 separate jars. If giving as gifts, tie a ribbon around the jars, and make sure to attach the directions below to the gift.
Beer Bottle Pretzels 

1. Empty 1 jar into a medium mixing bowl. Add 1/2 of a 12 oz can or bottle of beer (3/4 cup). Stir to combine. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover and let rest in a warm area until doubled. (About 45 min.) 

2. Roll out on lightly floured surface into a 10'x6' rectangle and cut lengthwise into 6 strips. (Shape if desired or leave as strips.) Cover and let rise again until nearly doubled; about 30 min. Spritz with water and add sea salt or other topping *alternative option below.

3. Bake on the top rack of a 400 degrees F oven for about 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

* Alternative option: If you want to boil them first, bring a pot of water to a boil. Dunk each of the pretzels into the boiling water for 5 seconds, then place them onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt or other toppings. Use a pair of spatulas to hold the pretzel in place while holding it under water. This option makes better pretzels!