Sugar Cookies!!

Who doesn't love a scrumptious well-decorated sugar cookie?? I don't make them very often due to the fact that they are soo time consuming. However, for Christmas this year I got festive and not only tried a new sugar cookie recipe but I made them into dinosaur and martini glass shapes.

• 4 Sticks of butter, softened
• 1 1/2 Cups sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 3 Egg yolks
• 2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 Cups flour
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 Teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon ground all-spice
• (powdered sugar for rolling the dough out-or flour if you prefer)

• 1. Beat the butter, using a mixer on medium-high speed. Beat in the sugar, eggs, yolks, and vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and beat in the remaining ingredients. If tinting dough, add food coloring.
• 2. For chocolate dough, reduce flour to 4 1/2 cups and add 2/3 cup cocoa. For hand-formed cookies, transfer to an airtight container. For rolled and cut cookies, divide dough in half, form into 1-inch-thick slabs, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. For sliced cookies, use parchment paper to roll dough into logs.
• 3. Chill dough at least 2 hours. And chill formed cookies 20 minutes before baking at 350 degrees F on parchment-lined baking pans 10 to 15 minutes, depending on cookie size. For tinted-dough cookies, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake 12 to 18 minutes.
  

Old-Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

I got this recipe off Chaosinthekitchen.com

First is the recipe for the cream pie base then the additions to make it a banana cream pie.

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 1/2 cups milk or half and half
• 1/2 stick butter or margarine
• 2 tsp vanilla
• baked pie shell

1. Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan.
2. Stir well and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. It will take about 30 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Pour into prepared pie crust.

• 3 bananas, sliced (toss with 1 tsp lemon juice if desired)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
  

1. Top pudding base with sliced bananas.
2. Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until firm, cover bananas.
3. Chill overnight.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

This recipe comes courtesy of Paula Deen. It is so simple yet so delish!

1 (8oz) block cream cheese (room temp)
1 stick of butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18oz) box chocolate cake mix
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then vanilla and finally the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours until the dough becomes firm enough to roll into balls. Roll the tablespoon sized balls into the powdered sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 12-15 minutes (it depends on the size of the balls). The cookies will remain soft and gooey.

Zesty Pretzels.. easy and addicting

For my first blog I will be sharing an easy and addictive recipe for "Zesty Prezels". This is always a big hit at parties and was given to me by my friend Kelly.

Zesty Prezels

1 (12oz) Bottle Butter Flavored Popcorn Oil
1 pkg Ranch Dressing Mix (powder)
2 tablespoons Lemon Pepper Seasonings.
2 (15 oz) bags Thin Pretzel Sticks

Mix together the first 3 ingredients. Place the pretzels into a large 2 gallon Ziploc Bag. Pour the Oil mixture over the pretzels and shake. Keep turning or shaking the bag every few minutes for about an hour. Drain out any excess oil. If the pretzels are oily leave the bag open overnight.