Train potty: Chocolate

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Minggu, 13 Agustus 2017

In the Cookie of Life Teachers are the Chocolate Chips Free Printable

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week!
I love Teacher Appreciation Week...and not just because I am a teacher ;)

I like giving little goodies to my kids teachers throughout the year (and giving them THIS questionnaire at the beginning of the school year is super helpful)
Because of my Back to School printable I know that both my girls teachers love Chocolate Chips Cookies, so earlier this school year I made a printable and attached it to a mason jar full of homemade cookies!

Since Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up, I thought I would share the printable with all of you!
This is a super simple and who doesn't love homemade chocolate chip cookies?
You could even add a gift card to this if you wanted to make it extra special.

Here is what you need:
-Printable {download at the end of this post}
- Wide mouth Mason Jars {I got mine HERE}
- Bakers Twine/String
- Chocolate Chip Cookies (I use THIS recipe)

I love mason jars & think everything looks cuter in a mason jar, so that is why I like to put things in mason jars as gifts :)

And, I also love bakers twine, so I just wrap a bunch of it around the mason jar, add a tag & viola!
Super cute gift!

The mason jar fits about 5 cookies (and keeps them nice & fresh!)

Of course, you could always put the cookies on a paper plate & cover it some clear wrap and bakers twine and the printable to that, but I like mason jars because it is easy for my kids to carry and/or put their backpack and I don't have to worry about the cookies getting smashed! :)

Here is the printable:

{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that Cookies are some of my FAVORITE treats!
The girls and I LOVE making cookies, especially cookies that have chocolate chips in them.
I was browsing through my Recipe Box and realized that I have several Cookie Recipes that use Chocolate Chips, so here are some recipes you can use for this printable:

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Monster Cookies:

Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookies:

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

I have really yummy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe also, but I realized I haven't blogged that yet! I will try and blog that soon :)

Need more Teacher Appreciation Ideas?
Here are some other free printables that I have on my blog that would be perfect for Teacher Appreciation and/or End of the School Year Gifts!

Cupcakes in a Mason Jar + Free Printable:

{HERE}

I'm so lucky to have a teacher like you Printable (I add a gift card to this)

{HERE}

Thank you for being my Teacher (Cookie in a CD Sleeve with gift card)

{HERE}

Thanks a latte for all you do:

Get the printable {HERE}

I love this idea because this is what is inside the box....my favorite Anthro mug & coffee gift cards :)

Thanks for helping me bloom printable:

{HERE}

The World Needs S'more Teachers like You Printable

Printable {HERE}

S'mores Bar Recipe {HERE}

So, there you have it.
Several easy (& cheap!) gifts you can give the teachers/coaches/office staff in your life as a way of saying Thank You. These work for Teacher Appreciation Week, End of the School Year or Just Because!
And, the beauty of these gifts is that you could always attach a $5 or $10 giftcard to any of these treats (if you want to)

Trust me, as teachers, we ALWAYS love gift cards :)

Happy {almost} Teacher Appreciation Week to all my fellow teachers out there!

Keep up the good work! It's almost Summer....we can do it!!

Hope some of these ideas are useful to you!
********

And, as a reminder, I have a $100 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway going on that ends on Friday!

Click HERE if you haven't entered yet!

Senin, 31 Juli 2017

Patriotic Chocolate Chip Cookies

4th of July is one of my favorite days of the year.
Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my favorite treats to make!
I saw Red, White and Blue M&M's at Target, so I knew I had to buy some.
I put some out in a bowl for decoration (and to eat!) and I knew I wanted to use some of the m&m's to make cookies.
Introducing.....

Patriotic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is what you need:

1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla
¾ t baking soda
1 t salt
3 cups flour
1 package Chocolate Chips
1 cup of Red, White and Blue M&M's

Directions:

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla.

Stir until combined.
Add dry ingredients & Mix in chocolate chips and M&M's.

I found the 4th of July M&M's at Target, but if you can't find them there or if they are sold out, you can get them HERE. If you have Prime, they will arrive by Sunday :)

M&M's make everything better :)

After you have mixed all the ingredients, use a cookie scoop to form the cookies.

THIS is the cookie scoop I have

Drop onto a cookie sheet....It makes the prettiest cookie dough :)

Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes.

These cookies are so soft & delicious.

Let cookies cool slightly...

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.

You need these cookies for your 4th of July party!

If you are a cookie snob like me, you will love these cookies!

YUM.

You cold also make these into Ice Cream Cookie sandwiches....add some vanilla ice cream in between 2 cookies and then roll them in 4th of July Sprinkles and you have a Patriotic Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich!

I hope you have a great weekend and have fun celebrating the 4th of July!

Rabu, 14 Juni 2017

Recipe Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Back to baking and desserts, since they are seriously my favorite recipes ever.

Many years ago, my blog friend Darci shared a recipe for her favorite chocolate chip cookies. Since this was back in 2009 before either of us had children, I made them a few times and filed my hand written chicken-scratched recipe paper away in a recipe book. Then one time recently I found the beloved paper, with smears of vanilla and butter and the simple title of 'Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever' written at the top. Hmmm, I was making another favorite over and over again, but wanted to see if my previous acclaim held true.

I changed a few things with the original recipe (less flour, added M&Ms, added salt sprinkles on top) and sure enough---seriously amazing. Like, 'eat all of the dough until I am nearly ill' amazing. The kids like to help me make these since we use the Kitchen Aid (the other recipe I was using does not use a mixer, but does use melted butter---I should do a post on those someday, too). You should absolutely try these the next time you want to devour an amazing cookie. Then come back here and tell me if you love them or if I'm nuts for thinking they are the best.

See? Are you drooling yet?
All Photos-59

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever:

Ingredients:
-1 cup of butter (refrigerated is fine)
-1 cup of brown sugar
-1/2 cup of white sugar
-2 eggs, room temp if possible
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 2/3 cups of flour (this is my own personal preference for amount of flour)
-1 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
-1 cup of M&Ms
-a bit of kosher flake salt

All Photos-60

The process: (preheat to 350 degrees, ungreased cookie sheets)

1. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together in the mixer
2. Add eggs one at a time until creamy
3. Add vanilla
4. In another medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, salt)
5. Pour in the dry mixture to your mixer with wet stuff
6. Stop the mixer and add the chocolate chips and M&Ms.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes or until you find them to be the perfect amount of dough versus crispy. I love doughy, barely-done cookies but Nate likes his crunchy. I usually do a dozen of each to keep us satisfied. Also, I have used my new silicone baking sheets for these and actually prefer them baked straight on the cookie sheet.
8. When you pull them out of the oven, jam a few extra M&Ms and/or chocolate chips into the tops to make them extra fancy before they cool. Also sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on each cookie. This is my new favorite thing to do with all cookie recipes---surprisingly delicious and a great mix of sweet with salt.
All Photos-93

Enjoy!! (not sure why my two pictures look very different, probably because of the silicone baking sheets versus none. Both were amazing, trust me.)

Senin, 17 April 2017

Hot Chocolate Rorschach Test

When it's cold outside, I love to make hot chocolate.

Yesterday, while I was sipping away, I noticed the chocolate strands making images in my cup. As I swirled the cup around, the pictures changed. I couldn't help but think about the famous Rorschach inkblot test! Rumor has it that the famous test, developed by Hermann Rorschach, stemmed from use of the childhood game "Blotto." This childhood game used inkblots to encourage children to make word associations or play charades. While working as a psychiatrist, Hermann Rorschach discovered that schizophrenic patients often responded to the Blotto game differently than more normal patients. He developed his ink blot test, and it has been used for decades by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists as a projective measure of personality assessment.

While a cup of hot chocolate is definitely not a standardized psychological test, it does make for a fun game to see what's on your mind. In my hot chocolate yesterday morning, I saw lots of sleeping people - probably because I was exhausted! Apparently sleep was on my mind, and I saw it everywhere. Today I took pictures of my hot chocolate mug, so let's discover what kind of pictures we see!

How to play the Hot Chocolate Rorschach Test:

Look at each picture below.

Notice what image first pops into your mind.

After quickly looking through each picture, go back to picture #1.

Do you still that first image? What swirls or bubbles form the image?

Continue processing through each picture.

Then, the fun part - what themes did you notice? What's on your mind today?

So what were your results?

Please tell me in the comments!

My results:

In order of pictures, I saw Tower Bridge, The United States, a hurricane, a girl, a girl being hit by a ball, and a brain.

My thoughts? I have watched too much TV lately. We watched a documentary about London's famous Tower Bridge and then the State of the Union address. Then, I guess I the girl pictures are because I played ball with my son this morning. I imagine seeing the brain comes from preparing this blog post about a psychological test.

I hope you enjoyed my funny, little game.

Kamis, 05 Januari 2017

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies other Fun Stuff!

Happy Friday!

Today, May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

In honor of that, here is one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes!

One of my favorite combinations is peanut butter & chocolate and this cookie does not disappoint....Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

If you like soft & thick cookies, then you will love these!

Here is what you need:

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use Skippy)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 bag of chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate, but semi-sweet works also!)
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla

. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl & then stir it into the peanut butter mixture:

Fold in chocolate chips:

Yum!

Use a cookie scoop (THIS is the one I have) and drop onto a cookie sheet.

I dare you not to eat some dough ;)

Bake for 12 to 13 minutes at 375 (do not over bake!!!)

Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

These are so good.
Soft & delicious!

If you want to make other types of Chocolate Chips Cookies in honor of Chocolate Chip Cookie day , here are some of our favorites:

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Monster Cookies:

Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookies:

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Not only is today National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, but it is also my niece Olivia's 1st Birthday!
I love that Baby Girl Baker was born on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, remember last Spring when I threw her a Cookies & Milk Baby Shower?
And, then she ended up being born on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!
And her last name is Baker! Love it!
I sent this text to my sister last year on May 15th:

I forgot that I said I would make her cookies every year until yesterday, but don't worry! I didn't break my promise! I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for her last night!

Me & Livvie on the day she was born:

Happy 1st Birthday Livvie Lou!!!!
*****************
Speaking of the name Olivia, have you seen THIS website?
It tells you what your name would be if you were born today based on the popularity of you name the year you were born!
Here is mine:

Isn't that awesome? My name would be Olivia since that is the #2 name and Melissa was the #2 name when I was born.
It also lists what your name would be in other decades:

I love random stuff like this :)
HERE is the website!

Have a GREAT Friday!!!!