{ Christmas Look Back, Post One }

Now that Thanksgiving is done and dusted, I'm so ready for Christmas, aren't you? Ok, not ready for CHRISTMAS, but ready for the festive, wonderful season.

I'm going to do a few "Look Back" posts. A post full of things I've done in the past.

Here we go with number one!


Gingerbread houses are so much fun to make, but the kits are super expensive and making them from real gingerbread is, well, it's just plain hard. So, try my tips for making them from graham crackers. Cheap and easy... lots of tips and illustrations in this post.

Gingerbread House Tips & Tricks

Next up is a super fun ornament idea. Here I've used it for Bible verses, but you can use this for numerous ideas. Memories from the year, Baby's firsts, favorite book quotes, etc. Ideas are limitless and I've listed more in the post itself.


Bible Verse Ornament

Here's an idea for Christmas breakfast, inspired by my favorite Christmas movie, Elf.

Maple Coffee Crumb Cake

If you aren't into crumb cake, how about waffles? Liege waffles are, in my opinion, the BEST waffles on this green earth.

Vanilla Bean Liege Waffles

My favorite Christmastime drink is most definitely Wassail! I just love saying it too. Wassail! (Learn about the history of Wassail along with an awesome recipe for it in this post).

Wassail

And to wrap this post up, a delicious winter time treat, Cocoa. You'll find the recipe for several different cocoas in this post. Yummeh.

Homemade Cocoas

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more merriness :)

Tina

{ Doctor Who 3D Glasses Cookies }

Happy Who-liday!

Can you even believe it? The Who 50th anniversary is FINALLY HERE.

In this house, we've been reading/talking about it for months! And finally... here!

I was once told that if you put more than one exclamation point in a post that you are over doing it. There should only ever be one. Um. SUCK ON THAT, MAN. It's excitement time!!!!!!! Woot woot!

I had many ideas for a 50th Anniversary treat, but none of them stuck with me until I came up with this idea. I mean, Tenny in his 3D glasses? I'll take 2, please.

The idea of "stained glass" cookies combined with a glasses cookie cutter just seemed too perfect... and so...

I used a sugar cookie dough & the basic instructions for Stained Glass Cookies (links at end of post). I did find that crushing the candy super finely did not have a happy result. Bigger chunks work better. (There are nice visuals in the Stained Glass Cookie post I'm linking). You will also want to roll your cookies quite fat. More area for the candy to melt.

I found my cutter on Amazon, of course. It's a solid cutter though, so I had to improvise for the lenses. If you have a small round or oval cutter, you are in luck. I didn't, so I took a medium sized icing tip and squeezed it a little. I popped it back into shape when I was finished, but I realize some people might not want to squeeze their tips. Improvising is fun!


After cutting the cookies and placing them on a parchment lined baking sheet, return them to the refrigerator to chill for another hour. This will help them hold their shape much, much better.

I washed mine in a quick and easy glaze. They really didn't NEED this. It didn't make them white like the glasses, but it tastes good. You can totally add royal icing or buttercream to yours if you'd like them to be white white.

In case you are wondering HOW excited Bean is for tonight? Well, there's this:

We are off to the store to get ingredients for Pizza Bread to go along with our cookies. Perhaps I'll pick up some Blue Hawaiian Punch for TARDIS blue drinks!

It's STILL not too late to go ALL OUT and throw a Doctor Who Party. The ideas in this post are super easy!

Be sure to take the TARDIS over to see what Darla made up at Bakingdom for the 50th. They are AMAZING, AMAZING Doctor Cakes. GO. SEE. NOW. Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Cakes.

Just a few more hours now, folks!

Also, I like exclamation points, so there! :p

Allons-y!

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Doctor Who 3D Glasses Cookies

Stained Glass Cookie Instructions *
Sugar Cookie Recipe (I used this instead of what is in the stained glass post)


*I used Jolly Ranchers as my candy

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
1 Tablespoon Water
splash of vanilla

Mix together
Brush on cooled cookies with brush

Or you can use-

Royal Icing
or Buttercream

{ Maple Coffee Crumb Cake }

We really LOVE the movie Elf. I remember when we went to see it in the theater. Bean was 6 years old. We went the weekend it opened, which was still early in November. I couldn't help it, I REALLY wanted to see that movie. Bean? Oh, yeah, he wanted to see it too. Whatevs.

We had a huge wind storm that day and you could hear them whipping and howling outside the theater. I should have been concerned. I was not because ELF. From the minute it started, I was in love. The super quirky, laugh out loud funny, socially awkwardness was so awesome. Then the message of family and friends and the spirit of Christmas. Gah. LOVE.

As the credits rolled, I turned to Bean and said, "That is going to be a new Christmas Classic". I don't think he knew what that meant, but, it's pretty much true. If you ask 10 people what their favorite Christmas movie is, I'm quite certain you will get more than one "Elf" as a response.

Elf is a movie that we will pop in and play in July. Or May. Or March. Or November. Whatever. We've actually already watched it this month. We will definitely watch it again before Christmas. Bean says that it has the best musical montage in movie history (the part where Buddy first gets to NYC and "Pennies from Heaven" plays. I agree.

When he visits Walter's home for the first time, Buddy asks for syrup to put on his spaghetti. He then recites the Elf food groups:

Candy, Candy Corn, Candy Canes, and Syrup.

Later, when working in the shiny mail room, he sees a guy putting "syrup" in coffee. Buddy proclaims, "Syrup in coffee! Why didn't I think of that?"  He then has a little for himself. This is what led to this recipe.

Syrup in Coffee....Cake!

This simple coffee cake is infused with both coffee and maple syrup. It's then topped with a maple coffee glaze. You can even drizzle a bit more maple syrup on top of that, cause why wouldn't you?

You can also serve it plain, but why? You can also make a plain vanilla glaze as well.

This cake mixes up quick and would be great for Christmas morning.

Buddy would definitely approve.

Tina

P.S. What's your favorite Christmas movie? Tell me in comments! :)

Maple Coffee Crumb Cake

adapted from Bakingdom

For the Cake:

1 1/4 Cup Flour

3/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, at room temperature

6 Tablespoons butter, softened and cut into 1 Tablespoon pieces

1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup brewed Coffee, cooled

For the Streusel:

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed

1/4 Cup Flour

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

For the Glaze:

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

2 Tablespoons brewed Coffee

1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream

1/2 teaspoon Maple Flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 F

To make the streusel:
Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the butter and 'cut' into the dry ingredients until it is roughly the size of peas. Cover and place into the freezer while you prepare cake.

To make the cake: lightly grease and flour a 9x9 pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add the butter, a few chunks at a time until well incorporated. Next, add the egg and beat into the mix. Add maple syrup and coffee. Mix well. Add milk. Mix until everything is well distributed.

Pour into prepared pan. Remove struesel from freezer and sprinkle over cake.

Bake for about 40-45 minute until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool about an hour before adding glaze.

 To make glaze: Add powdered sugar to a small mixing bowl. Add in coffee, cream, and maple. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cake (over whole cake or a piece at a time, up to you). Drizzle with a bit of maple syrup if desired.

{Pumpkin Pie Place Cards}

Well, hey there! I haven't seen you in forever!

Really, I have no excuse for my lack of posting other than... life. You all know how that is, right? Life just gets in the way sometimes. Life moves FAST, doesn't it? Can you even believe that Thanksgiving in in just over 2 weeks? Crazy.

Today my friend Darla (of Bakingdom) is winging her way off to Spain. Spain?? What?

I'm over here all like, "Hey, I'm going to Target!". It's the glamorous life that I lead, folks. The worst part about it? My friend Lori and I are way excited about going to Target! We don't have one close, so we are road trippin' it (about 45 minutes) for a girls day out. Target and lunch with my awesome bestie friend? It may not be Spain, but it will be a great time.

Also, Darla doesn't have Target over there, so *sticks out tongue*

When she goes to London next month, I may NOT be able to contain my jealousy. It may end our friendship. I'll reconsider this if she buys me awesome presents though, so, Darla. Ball? Your court.

We will be getting some Christmas shopping done hopefully, and yes... Thankgiving foods will be purchased.

As I've mentioned in prior posts, I was a Blog Ambassador for Walkers Shortbread. My time is up with them, but I still choose to post about them because I love their all natural and delicious products. When I got the Shortbread Triangles out of the package, I loved their little pie shape. I decided to use it to it's full advantage and make them look even MORE like pies.

This was quick and easy and will be so festive on my Thanksgiving table.

All you need for these are the Walkers Shortbread Triangles, peanut butter candy melts (by Wilton) & white chocolate (candy melts or almond bark).

Melt some white chocolate (double boiler, microwave, or a chocolate pot like I have), and allow to cool slightly. Snip a tiny bit off the end of a ziploc baggie (heavier freezer bags work better) or a piping bag. Squeeze out in a circular motion working upward to make a little spiral of whipped cream. Allow this to harden.

Melt the peanut butter candy melts and spread on the top of the cookie and part way down the side. I use a baby spoon for a lot of my chocolate work. Work carefully and try not to get any on the 'crust' at the top and leave a bit for a bottom crust. Add one of the hardened "whipped creams" to the top while the peanut butter melts are still wet, then allow the coating to cool completely.

After that, simply make up little tags with everyone's names. Done!

Aren't they sweet?

And guess what?? They taste good too! Bonus!

You can also use Petticoat Tails (below), they don't turn out quite as clean, but they are still adorable!

I was cruising Pinterest this morning and stumbled across these cookies by Sweet Sugar Belle. I had actually not seen these before making my own (believe me, I thought I was SUPER clever coming up with the idea). I wanted to give a link though because I think Callye is amazing and because these are a great alternative to my placecards if you cannot find the Walkers products in your store or don't want to order online. Also, the fact that I had an idea similar to Callye is making me feel super clever anyway!

You can check out my other edible Thanksgiving placecards here.


I've got some other recipes in the works, so hopefully I won't go as long without a post again. Plus, I might just find something exciting on my trip to Spain. What? Oh, yeah. I mean on my trip to Target. Riiiiiiiiiight.

Til then,
Tina

(Who is, sadly, still in Ohio)







Pumpkin Pie Place Cards


Walkers Shortbread Triangles or Petticoat Tails
Peanut Butter Candy Melts
White Chocolate Candy Melts or Almond Bark
Paper
Printer or Pen
Scissors

Melt white chocolate (double boiler, microwave, or a chocolate pot like I have), and allow to cool slightly. Snip a tiny bit off the end of a ziploc baggie (heavier freezer bags work better) or a piping bag. Squeeze out in a circular motion working upward to make a little spiral of whipped cream. Allow this to harden.

Melt the peanut butter candy melts and spread on the top of the cookie and part way down the side. I use a baby spoon for a lot of my chocolate work. Work carefully and try not to get any on the 'crust' at the top and leave a bit for a bottom crust. Add one of the hardened "whipped creams" to the top while the peanut butter melts are still wet, then allow the coating to cool completely.

After that, simply make up little tags with everyone's names & cut out. Done!