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Sugar Cutout Cookies with Buttercream Icing

Another one of my favorite things to goodies to make during the Christmas season is cutout cookies. So over the weekend, I made a batch of Christmas tree cookies with buttercream Icing.

In the past I've always cheated and bought decorating icing at the store but this year, I wanted to change it up a bit. I received a Wilton cake/ cookie decorating kit a few years ago for Christmas and never used it until now. I found a fairly simple buttercream icing recipe and gave it a try! It was so easy and takes AWESOME! I used the star icing attachment when I iced them and I think they turned out super cute!!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until well combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of flour as possible, stir in the remaining if needed. Divide dough in half and chill for 30  minutes or until easy to handle. 
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough until 1/8 inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 
3. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes until edges are firm and bottoms are slightly brown. Transfer to wire rack to let cool.

* Recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

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Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups (1 lb.) sifted confectioner's sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.  When all the sugar has been mixed up, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Add food coloring of choice if you want. 

*recipe courtesy of Wilton

Visiting Santa

I couldn't decided whether or not to take Joey with us to see Santa due to all of his sensory problems and the chance of getting over stimulated. I didn't even attempt last year mostly due to the fact he had major intestinal surgery less than 1 month before and I didn't want to expose him to all the germs that might be on Santa from all the other children. The year before that was a nightmare but I was hoping 2 years later things might be different. This year, I wanted to give it a try....

We get to the mall about 7:15 and there was a jazz band playing. The noise instantly freaked him out but I knew that it would be the only chance mostly due to the fact I knew I wouldn't have the energy to get all three kids dressed and to the mall again before Christmas. Not to mention, we coordinated with my sister in law to meet us there.

It finally becomes our turn to go see Santa, the second Joey laid eyes on him, it was a total meltdown... Santa was totally awesome, he invited my husband and I to join in on the fun. Aiden jumped right up onto his lap. Leah was a little shy, so my husband held her on his lap. As for Joey, I held him and hoped for the best, LOL!!

The end result was this...

Buckeyes, aka Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Growing up in Ohio (the Buckeye State), one of the favorite chocolate treats are Buckeyes. Typically only Ohioans (or people in surrounding states) know them by that name. I've mentioned eating Buckeyes to people up here in Connecticut and no one knew what I was talking about, LOL! 

I decided the other day that I wanted to try making them myself for the first time. I thought Buckeyes would be the perfect addition to add to the goodie boxes I'm making for my husband's co-workers! 

I found a few different recipes online but couldn't pick out which one to use, so I compared a few of the recipes & changed a few things around and came up with my own recipe! Truthfully I was pretty apprehensive that they would turn out but to my surprise, they did!! And by my side while I was making them, my sous chief, Leah! 

If you want to give this recipe a try, just be sure you have a few hours to make it!! 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 package(8 squares) Bakers chocolate

Directions 

1. Combine everything but the Bakers Chocolate in a mixing bowl with a spatula. It makes a minute or two for all the ingredients to be mixed completely together. Once mixed together, put the bowl in the fridge until the mixture until it starts to become firm. 
2. Roll mixture into approximately 3/4 inch balls and stick a toothpick into the top of each ball. Sit them on a cookie sheet with wax paper on top. If the mixture is sticking to your hands, you will want to put it back in the fridge for a bit. I actually had to put the cookie sheet back into the fridge every once in a while to firm them back up a few times while rolling out all the PB balls. 
3. Once all the PB balls are rolled, put the cookie sheets into the fridge. And leave them there for at least 30 minutes.
4. In a double boiler, melt the Bakers Chocolate (I actually use a glass bowl sitting on top of a sauce pan with a little boiling water in the sauce pan and the chocolate in the glass bowl). Swill the toothpick back & forth a few times to get some of the access chocolate off of them. If the PB balls start to slip off the toothpick, you'll need to put them back in the fridge again.
5. Once the chocolate is completely melted, dip the PB balls into the chocolate except for the very top, that way the ball resembles a buckeye nut. Place back on the cookie sheet. After a while, the balls may start to soften back up, so you'll need to place the cookie sheet back in the fridge until the firm back up again. 
6. After you have dipped all the PB balls into the chocolate, you'll want to place the cookie sheets back into the fridge until they're firmed up (again, LOL!) and the chocolate it completely hardened. Then you can remove the toothpicks from each Buckeye and take your finger and gently cover up the hole. 

PS, go Buckeyes!!! O-H-I-O!!! 

One of my favorites, Spritz Cookies!

Another one of the tasty desserts I used to make with my mother as a child was Spritz Cookies using a cookie press. Just like with the fudge, I decided to let Leah in on the fun this year! This week, I'll be a handful of goodies for my husband to take into his office to give to his co-workers.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, vanilla. Then beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixture then stir in the rest (although I'm always able to get it with the mixer)
2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 
3. Decorate with decorative sugar or sprinkles.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes until the edges are firm not brown, although if your oven is like mine, they're done at 7!!! Then transfer to a wire and let cool.

shhhhh, I just noticed the edges of this batch did get a little brown, LOL!! 

24 books for Advent, the kids LOVE it!

Days 1-4 have been a total success with giving the kids 24 books to Advent. Unfortunately  I can rarely get Joey to sit for a picture, so many of the pictures you'll see will be of Leah and Aiden, LOL!

Before we open up each book, we've been taking a minute to read  the reading associated with that particular day of Advent and then explain it to the kids. I'm so happy to make this an annual tradition for our family!!

Check out my post from last week: 24 Books For Advent

Aiden's Nap Time Adventures

Aiden is the type of child that can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, anyhow! I've caught him snoozing in some of the funniest places and positions! 

The other day, he started out in his favorite nap time place, his beloved bean bag chair. Joey was in the same room playing, startled Aiden, so Aiden went to roll over, instead rolled off the bean bag onto the floor and decided to hide from Joey by pulling the bean bag chair on top of himself. But rest assured, I pulled the bean bag off of his face & kept a close eye of him, LOL!! 

Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the past

Nap time snack...

no words for this one, LOL!

toy box...

paper towel roll...