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Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Christmas Cookie Recipes

The Christmas baking season has commenced!

All three cookie recipes can be seen here.




Candy Cane Cookies/Spritz Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
food coloring

Cream butter, shortening and powdered sugar.  Blend in egg and extracts.  Stir in flour and salt.  Blend in food coloring, fill cookie press and press onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Dark pans go less, light colored pans go a little longer.  Allow to cool 1 minute on pan and then cool completely on cookie rack or foil.


Butter Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 beaten egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix as usual for cookies - fat, sugar, egg, vanilla, dry ingredients.

Roll into small balls.  Roll in colored sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.  Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes.  Dark pans go less, light pans go longer.  Cool for 1-2 minutes on pan.


Mixed Nut Bars
(Although I didn't have enough butterscotch chips these still turned out well and they were so delicious.  Everybody loved these.  Warren loved the edges where the butterscotch sauce cooked up a little firmer.  I liked the gooey centers better.  They were all around winners.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup + 2 T. cold butter (divided)
1 can (11.5 ounce) mixed nuts - I've used salted and unsalted with good results
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 light corn syrup

Combine dry ingredients and 1/2 cup butter in food processor until crumbly.  Press into a greased 13x9x2 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with nuts.  Melt butterscotcch chips in microwave in 30 second blasts stirring well until melted.  Stir in corn syrup and 2 T. butter and throughly mixed.  Pour over nuts.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool and cut into 1 x 2 inch bars.



Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas {review & giveaway}

Happy Advent

Merry Christmas


I am always looking to add to our Christmas season collection of books and after last year's fiasco with over 20 of our books getting wet and then moldy it's even more important to me than ever to build up our collection again. 

Replacing our old favorites and adding new titles is how it'll be done.  Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas by Sarah Young is a new book out this year and it is so sweet.

First off the dust jacket is sparklized.  And who doesn't love sparkles at Christmas?  Only Grinches and Scrooges that's who.


Then even better than a sparklized cover is the fact that there are three versions of the story on the pages of this book.


There's scripture on each page, which when in hurry tells the whole story in under 6 minutes.  Busy parents still needing to wrap presents on Christmas Eve would never dream of only reading the scripture to get through the book quickly, but I tell you that just in case.


There's also a nice wordy story portion on each page.  It takes the scripture and puts it into story form.  Longer, yes, but beautiful and sweet and meaningful and all the things.  This was my 5 year olds favorite storyline.  


Then there is the Jesus Calling section on each page.  This is written from Jesus' point of view in first person.  Each page has a reminder of what Christmas is all about and what we should be waiting for or doing to get ready for Jesus.

So this is like three books in one.  For super snowy afternoons reading all three sections is a meaningful way to cuddle up on the couch with the kiddos.

Choose to read only one "storyline" on busy days - if you ever have those.

OR

Crazier yet, let the kids look at all the pictures on their own and tell the story in their own words to their siblings.  That's one of my favorites because they add in all kinds of embellishments.

WIN YOUR OWN COPY


You can find the signup form by following this link to enter to win your copy of Jesus Calling::The Story of Christmas.

And it's OK if you simply want to buy it.  Here's my Amazon affiliate link (thank you so much).


It's currently 29% off!!

And since I'm always on the lookout for meaningful Christmas books, what's your favorite?  Share in the comments.  Thanks.