Christmas gifts: Sugar Scrub

This past Christmas I wanted to make something fun for our neighbor gifts.  So I found a few recipes here and here for sugar scrub and thought it would be so fun and easy to make.  The recipe I used didn't require me to buy anything which is the main reason I used it but I'd love to try some other ones.

Then I realized that we also needed to give a treat to all the kids and husbands so we made pink popcorn for them.

Sweet N’ Spicy Brown Sugar Scrub

1 cup – C&H® Dark or Light Brown Sugar
1 cup – C&H® Pure Cane Sugar
¾ cup – light olive oil
2 tsp. – cinnamon, powdered
2 tsp. – ginger, powdered
2 tsp. – nutmeg, powdered
1 16 oz. – glass container with lid
Cinnamon sticks, optional

In a medium-sized bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly blended. Be sure to break up any lumps from the brown sugar or from the spices. Spoon into the glass container and secure with lid. Scoop a teaspoon or two of the scrub on your hands and gently massage in circular motions onto your skin. Leave on for 3 to 4 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. The scrub will tighten.

S'mores Dip

Made us some amazing treats the other night.  The kids gobbled it up and the rest we gave to friends because it was too good not to share.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course.  

• S'Mores Dip
• 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
• 1/2 cup marshmallow creme
• 1 box (13 oz) graham cracker honey sticks
• 1) In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and condensed milk on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chips are melted. Stir to mix well. Pour into 9-inch glass pie pan, spreading evenly.

2) Drop marshmallow creme by tablespoonfuls randomly over chocolate mixture. Microwave on High about 30 seconds or until marshmallow creme is softened. Immediately with knife, make several small swirls through marshmallow and chocolate, creating a marbled appearance.

3) Serve immediately with graham sticks for dipping. (We used teddy grahams for the kids.)

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Cookie #4: Snickerdoodles

Love these cookies.  We have a recipe for Snickerdoodles but they always come out hard as rocks.  Not a fan of the crunch if it breaks your teeth and scratches your gums.  Anyway, I was talking to a friend about it and she recommended this recipe on AllRecipes.com.  It is Snickerdoodles IV.  And they are so good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Mix the shortening , sugar, and eggs until creamy. Mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Blend the wet with the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon until well-blended.
3. Roll the dough into the size of small walnuts.
4. Prepare the cinnamon and sugar mixture by mixing the cinnamon and sugar.
5. Roll the cookie dough into the cinnamon and sugar mixture until coated and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6-10 minutes watching to make sure they don't burn. They should be very lightly brown and still soft looking on top. When they cool, they will crack a little on top.

Cookie #3: Twix cookies

This one's a keeper.  I found it on Pinterest and thought it would be a choc chip cookie without the chips and with the twix but the dough was a little different than your normal cc cookie and I am very happy with low it turned out.  Since making them, I have packaged them up and frozen them before getting any pictures to entice you so I will just borrow the image from the site I found it.  Here's the recipe:

Twix Bar Cookies

2 C plus 2 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

12 Tbsp unsalted butter,melted and cooled until warm

1 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

2 C coarsely chopped Twix Bars

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Chop your Twix bar into 1/4 inch chunks.  Cut each bar in half lengthwise and then chop into 1/4 inch pieces width wise.  In a bowl combine flour, soda and salt.  Set aside.  In your mixer blend butter and sugars together until combined.  Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla.  Add in dry ingredients and beat until just combined.  Fold in Twix Bar chunks.  Bake for 13-16 minutes until light golden brown and edges start to harden but center is soft.  Do not overbake.

Because of the caramel in the Twix  they may stick a bit to the cookie sheet so use a spatula to remove.

Cookie Recipe #2- Lemon Drops

Well, I tried out my second cookie hoping that it would be a success and make it onto the party menu and it DID!

They are called Lemon Drops for the very obvious reason that they have lemon drops in them.  The hub was nervous about them but ended up loving them.  He summed them up perfectly calling them lemon-flavored sugar cookies. 

I found the recipe on Your Homebased Mom.  Her glaze looks a little thicker than mine.  My lemon had a lot of juice I guess.  But that will be my only tweek when the party rolls around. 

As a sidenote, making these cookies fell at a very convenient time when our friends throw an Annual Cookie Contest.  They judge your cookies and present winners with a prize.  I took these since I didn't like the idea of eating them all on my own.  Anyway, the judge is not a lemon fan but award these with an Honorable Mention!  I'd say that says it all.

Cookie recipe #1: Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

My babies will be turning 1 and 2 in November so I thought I'd get started on party planning.  I am planning a Milk and Cookies party so I need to start trying out cookie recipes.  This is my first one and I'm sorry to say it will not be getting an invitation.

The cookies are yummy and I really have to force myself to stop thinking about them so I don't eat them all in one day but they were a little frustrating to put together.  We were fine until assembly.  Hubby and I did it together and we both really struggled with getting the PB filling completely enclosed in the chocolate dough since it was a bit crumbly (maybe our fault and not the recipe) and therefore hard to mold which is exactly what you have to do.  We have a few ugly cookies but overall they turned out fine.

The only reason I won't make them for the party will be to reduce stress.  Maybe another time, Cookie.


And the recipe was found at Pennies on a Platter via Pinterest.

Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar (plus more for dipping)
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and 1/4 cup of the peanut butter until light and smooth.  Add in the vanilla and egg, beating one at a time to combine.  Gradually stir in the flour mixture.  Set dough aside.

To make the filling, cream together the powdered sugar and remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth.

To assemble the cookies, spoon a generous tablespoon of chocolate cookie dough and flatten into a circle with your hands.  Scoop a small amount of peanut butter filling mixture and place in the center of the chocolate dough.  Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter filling, pinching ends together to seal.  Roll the cookie in between hands to smooth into a ball.  Roll into a bowl of sugar and place on the cookie sheet.

Use the bottom of a glass to slightly flatten the cookies.  Bake for 7 to 9 minutes.  Do not over bake.  Let cool on wire rack.