White Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Cups

Oh yeah, you read that right! Dana from This Silly Girl's Life is always coming up with the most wonderful creations. I give her credit for this wonderful inspiration. She linked some Milky Way Stuffed Cookie Cups to our latest Inspiration in Progress  party (there is still time to link up) and I just knew I wanted to make some kind of stuffed cookie. 

I have to admit I was strapped for time on the day I went in search of the peppermint Hershey kisses, so I swung by the nearest shopping center. The first store I went into and came out empty handed....the second store I found one of those little plastic candy canes filled with them for $2.50 and ehhhh I had some tightness in my chest on that one. That is my "Don't pay that much for that" feeling. I obey that feeling, unless I have no choice- which I try not to let happen very often. Often times local grocery stores are way too pricey for items you can get at a fraction of a cost at other places. Light bulb! What is on the baking isle? That is where I ran across the most perfect little morsels of goodness. Andes white chocolate peppermint baking chips. This was a perfect substitute for the peppermint Hershey kisses and in my opinion they taste better. 

How brilliant is smashing ooey gooey holiday goodness between two cookies? I often get stuck in a cupcake rut and believe you me, I probably make way too many cupcakes. A few positives: they are easier than baking a cake, less clean pan clean up and they are already in portion size. Although it does make it way to easy to indulge in too many cupcakes. 

This was a pretty easy cookie cake recipe for me. I decided to use the fabulous sugar cookie mix recipe we used for our Finger Painted Turkey Handprint Cookies. Since we only made a few cookies...I took the rest and popped it in the freezer. So this was the easiest cookie I have ever made because the dough was already made. I am loving these new little recipe cards and it makes saving so easy. There are no apps for this on Blogger that I have found, so I made my own. 

*Enjoy with a cold glass of milk or a cold soda. For some reason those are 2 things that just add to the flavor of anything sweet. 

What is your favorite flavor to indulge in for the holidays?

Three Generations of Thanksgiving Menus

Thanksgiving often comes with family traditions and the meals are such a big part of it. It is the holiday glue that sticks everyone together. Some people like to make one dish or the whole meal just like a prior generation. I like to carry on the tradition of a dish per generation. Normally, it is just my husband, myself and our children for holidays. Very rarely do we actually have guests come over for the holidays. Unfortunately, we do not have tons of family and friends to share this day with. My husbands brother lives a few towns over and we go over to their house for the kids and men to play football and wrestle. We always have a nice time. I try to cook at home so we can bring a plate to our neighbors across the street that have no one and we love them like family. Thanksgiving often requires so much prep work and endless hours in the kitchen so planning is pretty much the easiest part of the whole thing.

Now, I used to go all out and try my best to have every single side that was a tradition throughout the years, but adjusted to fit our family. On my mothers side of the family, when we were younger, Thanksgiving was the best family holiday gathering of the whole year for me. I loved the food, but my favorite part was the family. My grandmothers house was the house that everyone came to for any holiday. A large part of our family came: our immediate cousins, aunts and uncles filled the house. The women would bake and cackle in the kitchen and the men sat in the living room cheering and chanting for the football game while all the kids ran around just having a good ole time.  My mom always liked to put on the Macy's day parade so we could see all the giant balloons. It was fantastic and one day, I really hope to have that kind of familiness. Each generation of family makes a recipe or recipes that have been passed down from a previous family member.

cc.- Chocolate chip

You can easily look at all three generations and see that the baked mac & cheese is always made. I also make my moms stuffing and broccoli casserole recipes. Portion size is different and is smaller for less people, but it works for us. Leftovers are only fun one time...then you need to get creative. Now, my husband is always in charge of the turkey and he makes one heck of a turkey. It is a buttery sage rubbed turkey stuffed with fruit....it makes for a super juicy turkey. We have tried to be healthier and had a salad or something along those lines and it just isn't the same. All those starches....no wonder we feel like we need a wheel barrel and a nap by time we are done. Bring on the stretchy pants, gathering and then a nap! Many blessings from our family to yours. How is your Thanksgiving planning looking? Are you ready? 

Did you guys link up to this yet? The end is growing near and who couldn't use $1000! 

Banana Bars with Butter Rum Sauce

We started baking for Autumn already. Sink your teeth into a warm banana bar with butter rum sauce and you will not be disappointed.  Fall just screams baking to me. I bake the most treats and crank up the oven often during the crispy and cool days. I love being in the kitchen, now I don't love the clean up part, but it is a worth while sacrifice to get wonderful homemade baked goods. We always share with our neighbors, and they love getting warm baked goods as a gift. Well, they say they do...so we will just keep making them. 

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

2 1/2 large bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375.

MIX 

Then

 

Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts if you wanted to use them.

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

*I boiled my butter for 7 minutes & it wouldn't turn brown. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but it still turned out good.  I didn't leave the butter because it wanted to pop everywhere(even on med) so I rocked the pan back in forth. That was a dangerous little step. I would say use less powdered sugar if you are not a fan of sweet, sweet icing. We actually ended up knocking most of ours off and the banana bar was so scrumptious all by itself...it really could do without the butter rum sauce.

Yield 12 bars if you use a 15 x 10 Jelly roll pan.

Yield 24 bars if you use a 9 x 13 casserole dish. I used this one because that is the largest size I had.

I tried this recipe from Life's Simple Measures.

Of Course I did omit the walnuts, & added a little cinnamon.

My husband gets home and tries it and say mmm bet this would be even better all warm with ice cream. This sounds awesome BECAUSE this is the ice cream we currently have in our freezer:

Let me tell you it does not disappoint.  The Oreo Birthday Blast is pretty darn awesome too.

Let me know how this recipe turned out for you if you tried it. Happy Baking!