Your a Mean One Mr. Grinch

Name your top 3 Christmas movies that you must watch every year...Mine are:

Christamas Vacation

ELF

And of Coarse....

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.

 Today at work we are having our Secret Santa...Sweet and Savory Christmas luncheon.  I brought the yummy Grinch cookies I made from my friend recipe over at Cookin' Cowgirl  and decided that I needed some Grinch Punch to go with them.  I found the punch recipe at http://www.tasteofhome.com/ when I googled Grinch Punch.  It was one of those awesome recipes I had seen on Pinterest (yes I am an addict).

 

 

 Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar

 

6 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons water

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

12 drops neon green food coloring

1 bottle (2 liters) lemon-lime soda, chilled

2 pints vanilla ice cream

 

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine sugar and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved; remove from the heat. Stir in milk and extract. Transfer to a bowl; cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
• Just before serving, transfer milk mixture to a punch bowl. Stir in the food coloring and soda. Top with scoops of ice cream. Yield: 4 quarts.

I will post a picture of my final product in a few hours when it is time to mix it all together....so for now this is the one from Taste of Home

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

1/2 C Butter
2 C Sugar
1/2 C Milk
4 Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 C Peanut Butter
3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
2 tsp. Vanilla

Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set.

Dec 4th - Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F . Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Sweet Baking,

Kim

On the 3rd day of Christmas Cookies...Sugar Cookies

Today the Cut Up Queen group met at Cheryls house to decorate cookies that we had each baked at home and took to her house - to decorate!  It was a lot of fun...one of the messiest projects we have done...but one of the funnest as well! 

One of the ladies daughters got a 100 pc cookie cutter set for her recent birthday and she made names out of the alphabet....she gave me cookies to spell out  CUT UP QUEENS - how sweet is Kennedy??  She decorated half and I did the other half:

 

EASY SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Sweet Baking,
Kim

Dec. 2nd - The second day of Christmas cookies

Santa's Easy Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package 2-layer-size  yellow cake mix
• 1/3 cup  butter, melted
  
• 2   eggs
• 1/4 cup  water
• 3 tablespoons  red, green, and white edible confetti sprinkles
• 1/2 16-ounce can  vanilla frosting (3/4 cup)
• 1 3-ounce package  cream cheese, softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, melted butter, eggs, and the water with a wooden spoon until smooth and thick.

2. For each cookie, drop dough from rounded measuring tablespoons 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle dough mounds with confetti sprinkles. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and edges are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the frosting and cream cheese until thoroughly combined.

4. Spread a rounded tablespoon of frosting mixture on the bottom half of each of the cookies, spreading to the edges. Top with the remaining cookies, flat sides down, pressing cookies together lightly.

Makes about 12 sandwich cookies.

Sweet Baking,

Kim

Dec. 1st - Thumbprint Cookies

 

 

 

Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), room temperature
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
• 3/4 cup of your favorite jam (I use apricot or blackberry usually)

Method

1 Cream the butter and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes.
2 Separate the eggs. Add the yolks and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. If using nuts place the egg whites in a shallow dish on the side and whisk them until bubbly and frothy (the egg whites will be used to keep the nuts on the cookies).
3 Add the flour and salt. Mix until just combined. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350F.
4 Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. If using nuts, dip the balls into the egg whites then roll them into the nuts until covered. Place the balls on cookie sheets.
5 Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie. Do not press too hard or the cookie will fall apart. Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
6 Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Sweet Baking,
Kim

12 Days of Christmas Cookies

Starting Dec. 1 I will be posting some of my favorite Christmas Cookie recipes!!!  It says 12 days but there might be more depends on how crazy it gets!  My oldest Son Matt is coming home from Ft. Bragg, NC on Dec 15 for 2 wks...we are very excited.  Lots of cooking & eating will be done!! 


and now the 12 days of Christmas Cookies by Kim!

Sweet Baking,
Kim