A to Z Challenge

A to Z Blogging Challenge –

I will have to admit this looks very challenging to me – I am not in the habit of blogging everyday…and I am starting behind (only 4 days, but still – oh WAIT, I am only 2 days behind, today is the 3^rd day of the challenge, Sunday did not count!).

So for the next 22 days I will make an attempt to have a post a day (they left Sundays out of the challenge, so that will be my make up day!), that begins with a letter of the alphabet.  Too bad
“Another Baked Good” was on March 29 – I will not try to cheat and use it.

So, here we go with A:

A to Z Blogging challenge begins with A! I signed up, I am committed (may end up committed). I will start with why I started Blogging. I began as Vanilla Mama’s Boat and as much as I love boats, I figured I would have a hard time posting regularly about boats. I also decided that that was too one-dimensional and I wanted to explore some other things. It is all about being true to your dreams….I do have a few! As you may or may not have read (or know about me personally) I do keep rather busy. Example – 2 jobs, 3 kids, 1 dog, ever multiplying dust bunnies and a wonderful husband who puts up with my madness! I really wanted to create an outlet for myself where I could vent, challenge myself and write…mostly write, because in all honesty that is what I love to do! And in that theme of honesty I do not get to do it nearly enough and I am trying hard to make time for it without dropping any of the other balls I have up in the air.

We will now continue with B:

Boats…what about boats? Did I hear someone ask about boats? –crickets chirping – hmmm…Below you will see some of my favorite boat finds and if you are really interested and want some silly stories that might make you laugh – here is a link for “All the Boat Posts.”



Love the NAME of this boat!



Someday....my boat will come!

Sailing, Sailing.....

My Aunt's boat that I can borrow!

Drooool!



I like to visit the REPO'd boat yard....if I tried to buy one now, that's where it would end up!



Moving onto C:

Cookies: Top Secret and Fortune, WHY?

After watching Despicable Me for nearly 1000 times (really only a SLIGHT exaggeration!) my kiddos starting asking for Ms. Hattie’s Top Secret Cookies and being the Mom that always tries to please I Googled the recipes – and guess what, I could not find them!! Found out that my wonderful BluRay version of Despicable Me has a special bonus feature that has the cookie recipes! No real pictures, but none the less – the recipes were there!

My husband and I wrote them down, I typed them up and posted them figuring I couldn’t be the only parent – obsessed fan – that wanted to try to make the cookies. I still have not made them all, there is a least one that I KNOW is going to be hard to make and it is last on my list. Since the little man has not been asking to watch the movie as often…it may wait until he gets back on the jag for it.

Moving onto the Fortune Cookies, as I explained in one post – I have  saved a lot of fortunes, I take them from friends at restaurants, my kiddos bring them to me…you get the idea! Some of the ones I have in my little jar are downright silly, some are pretty serious and some just get me thinking and then I have so many thoughts that it takes me a little while to distill and make it cohesive in a small space. Who on earth would have thunk it! It has been fun and I need to hold myself accountable for a schedule – suggestions?

To recap – A, B, C! Yeah, I am up to date on the challenge…tomorrow is D. Hmmm….let me sleep on it!

Live, Laugh, Love ~

Vanilla Mama

Miss Hattie's Minty Mints

Miss Hattie's Minty Mints -

So, it is time for a break from the deep and meaningful! After a week of sick husband and child, trips to the doctor and a night in the hospital for my little man, I figured it was time to make cookies! I have been trying to work my way through Miss Hattie’s Top Secret Cookie recipes – and this has been harder than you would think. I work two jobs, have three kids and try to have some sort of semblance of a life, so my time baking is not as much as I would like it to be.

I actually tried this recipe, Minty Mints, a couple of weeks ago….I threw the results away thinking surely I had done something grievously wrong! After the first step of mixing the cookies – I couldn’t believe that this was the result. It looked like a giant turd. Yes…cookies and turd in the same post, really…once it was mixed and kneaded, it seriously looked like a giant turd! I threw it out thinking I had done something wrong – I had to have done something wrong. It’s not like I am never distracted by a certain four year old (Gabbiano – seagull in Italian, not I am not Italian. It’s another story for another day!) underfoot. Even with my 14 year olds help, I was SURE that I had done something wrong, copied the recipe wrong, mixed too much flour…something.

So tonight I enlisted Bear’s help (14 year old), and we got out the recipe again and made sure we measured and mixed everything JUST like it said – this is what we got:

That’s right ladies and gentlemen – a giant turd! I got out the Despicable Me! Bluray disk, went to the special features and rechecked the recipe and I had copied it down right. (I’ll repost it below so you have it.) No matter what I did I could not, “knead it lightly until a soft dough forms.” I added two tablespoons of warm water to the “dough” and it was (actually what is in the picture above) a little more doughlike.

Here are all the cookies that it makes – (The larger cookies are my Veggie Tales cookie cutter! Gotta LOVE Bob and Larry, and NO, I was not going to go out and buy a Star cutter just to make these!)

Yes, that’s it…that’s all it makes. Now the frosting…OMG…the frosting, YUMMY!!! How on earth can you go wrong with cream cheese, butter, powered sugar and VANILLA?!?! The answer – YOU CAN’T!!! One thing I did do different is I added the crushed peppermint disk candies to the frosting, because I figured that it would make it more “Minty.” The results:

Bottom line, will NOT be making these again – although I will probably make the frosting again to put on store bought cake mix! That frosting is amazing! The cookies though are way too dry and in all honesty you seriously need the frosting to get them palatable.

I do have another Fortune that I am working on, it is a good one! I am looking forward to writing it up, but it is taking time to digest…hehe, get it Chinese food, fortune…(stomach flu for the past week!).

Until we meet again,

Live, Laugh, Love~

Vanilla Mama

Oops - Almost forgot:

Minty Mints

Cookies:

½ c butter chilled and diced

1 ¼ c all purpose flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

¼ c powdered sugar

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ c powered sugar

8 peppermint disk candies crushed

Blue and pink sprinkles

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Cut in the butter using an electric mixer, a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Knead lightly until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Frosting:

In a medium sized mixing bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamed. Then add butter and mix together on high speed, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides until well incorporated.

Add vanilla and mix again on medium speed until well incorporated. Add powered sugar one cup at a time first at low speed and then on high once the powder is absorbed until desired sweetness and consistency is achieved. Refrigerate with cookie dough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove frosting from fridge and set aside. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to ½ inch thickness.

Remove top layer of parchment paper. Using a star shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many as possible, slide a thin flat spatula under each star, peel away scraps and slip star over onto parchment lined cookie sheet, placing them two inches apart. Gather scraps and repeat.

Bake for 12-15 minutes just until edges begin to darken. Remove from oven and slide parchment paper and cookies onto counter top and let cool completely. Frost cookies and sprinkle with crushed peppermint and colors sprinkles. Enjoy.

Miss Hattie's Top Secret Coconutties

Here is what I attempted:

Coconutties

4 large egg whites

3 cups dried sweetened and shredded coconut

¾ c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp coconut extract

¼ c all purpose flour

½ c chopped macadamia nuts, divided

1 c white chocolate chips, divided

Directions;

Put egg whites, coconut, sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts and flour in a large heavy pot. Mix Well. Cook on low heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring constantly so that it does not stick.

When mixture becomes thick remove from heat and let cool, still stirring occasionally. When mixture cools to room temperature add chopped ¼ cup of macadamia nuts and ½ c white chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-13 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.

Once cool, melt remaining white chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish for one minute on 70% power, stir. Cook for 30 seconds more on 70% power and stir again. Drizzle over each cookie and sprinkle with additional chopped macadamia nuts. Enjoy!

Here is the result:

All I can say is YUM! These are very tasty and really not as hard to make as I thought they were going to be. I did make a special trip to the store tonight for the white chocolate chips and nuts (was tempted to make them with the Pecans that I have in my freezer, but I wanted to be a purist!).  The recipe only makes about 2 1/2 dozen and I honestly think it will double very nicely.

The most amazing part of this recipe is that my son and one of my nephews (JOSH!) showed up as I was finishing a batch and they got to taste them. My nephew has never seen Despicable Me! and I think just based on his taste of the Coconutty cookies he will watch it!

Just as a side note - okay, not really a side note - I was so happy to see them tonight. My son is embarking on a very exciting journey playing in the USA vs. The World Football game this coming Wednesday, and I was already emotional over that! Getting to see one of my nephews was wonderful. What he really doesn't realize, and I told him tonight, is that he is in my thoughts daily. He is handsome and talented and tonight I was finally able to tell him that no matter what I am in his corner. (Crying Aunt hugging him tightly probably freaked him out a little - but, hey he is almost an adult and can handle it!) I truly treasure my nieces and nephews and do not get to spend the time with them that I would like to, but they are always in my heart and mind. These precious people walking the earth that I have watched grow (and will continue to watch) occupy me. An odd way of putting maybe, but it is true. I am so invested in them as people, as my family, as my heart – these young men, young women and children mean so much to me, that I don’t think they will understand until they are in my shoes.

Anyway – may they never be in my shoes and have a life of ease and leisure, but in the meantime….I am off to drizzle melting white chocolate on the last of the cookies and I plan on enjoying them.

Live, Laugh, Love ~ Vanilla Mama

Miss Hattie's Top Secret Cookie Recipes

K - i have been requested by my family to MAKE these cookies from the movie and since they supply the receipes on the Blu-Ray (But, no where online), I have copied them down to make it easier for other people to find....Hopefully I am not violating some sort of copyright code, but if I am I will change the name.

As I make the cookies I will post pictures and let you know how they turn out. We will be making the Caramel Clumpues and Toffee Totes first as they appear to be the easiest - the Coconutties I am SURE will be dead last, even though they sound yummy!

Anyway, if you beat me to making them, feel free to upload your pictures and let me know if they are worth making -

Carmel clumpies

10 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

2/3 cup all purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 ½ cup rolled oats

7 oz chewy caramels, coarsely chopped

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, add to the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla mixture and mix in well. Finally add the oats and caramels and stir. Chill dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes just until brown but do not over bake or they will lose their clumpiness. Slide parchment paper and cookies onto counter top to cool. Enjoy!

Toffee Totes

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

¼ c brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup milk chocolate chips

2 cups milk chocolate covered English Toffee bars, coarsely chopped.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together with electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture, starting at low speed, gradually working your way up to medium speed until thoroughly mixed but not over mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee. Shape into 1 inch by 2 inch rectangles and place 2 inches apart on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Coconutties

4 large egg whites

3 cups dried sweetened and shredded coconut

¾ c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp coconut extract

¼ c all purpose flour

½ c chopped macadamia nuts, divided

1 c white chocolate chips, divided

Directions;

Put egg whites, coconut, sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts and flour in a large heavy pot. Mix Well. Cook on low heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring constantly so that it does not stick.

When mixture becomes thick remove from heat and let cool, still stirring occasionally. When mixture cools to room temperature add chopped ¼ cup of macadamia nuts and ½ c white chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-13 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.

Once cool, melt remaining white chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish for one minute on 70% power, stir. Cook for 30 seconds more on 70% power and stir again. Drizzle over each cookie and sprinkle with additional chopped macadamia nuts. Enjoy!

Minty Mints

Cookies:

½ c butter chilled and diced

1 ¼ c all purpose flour

2 table sppons cocoa powder

¼ c powdered sugar

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ c powered sugar

8 peppermint disk candies crushed

Blue and pink sprinkles

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Cut in the butter using an electric mixer, a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Knead lightly until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Frosting:

In a medium sized mixing bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamed. Then add butter and mix together on high speed, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides until well incorporated.

Add vanilla and mix again on medium speed until well incorporated. Add powered sugar one cup at a time first at low speed and then on high once the powder is absorbed until desired sweetness and consistency is achieved. Refrigerate with cookie dough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove frosting from fridge and set aside. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to ½ inch thickness.

Remove top layer of parchment paper. Using a star shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many as possible, slide a thin flat spatula under each star, peel away scraps and slip star over onto parchment lined cookie sheet, placing them two inches apart. Gather scraps and repeat.

Bake for 12-15 minutes just until edges begin to darken. Remove from oven and slide parchment paper and cookies onto counter top and let cool completely. Frost cookies and sprinkle with crushed peppermint and colors sprinkles. Enjoy.

Choco Swirlies

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

¼ c brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c milk chocolate chips

1 ¼ c white chocolate coarsely chopped and divided.

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture staring at low speed and gradually working up to medium speed until completely combined but not over mixed.

Stir in chocolate chips and 1 cup white chocolate. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out half of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper into a large rectangle ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut dough into ¼ inch strips. Gently roll each strip to round out the edges, then coil the strip into a swirl and place two inches apart on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Sprinkle with remaining white chocolate flakes. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake 8-10 minutes Don’t over bake so the cookie is soft not crispy. Slide parchment paper and cookie onto counter top to cool. Enjoy!

These are the Toffee Totes (Chocolate ones) and Caramel Clumpies.

One VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you are using ALL PURPOSE FLOUR!!! I had forgotten the last flour I purchased was WHITE WHOLE WHEAT Flour, which is GREAT for bread....but, not so great for COOKIES (or cornbread - but that is another story!). I will assure you that they all were eaten, but I think that if I had not had the flour misshap, they might have moved faster. I guess bottom line for these two cookies is....White Whole Wheat Flour will make a healthier cookie, I hope, but All Purpose Flour will taste better!

Live, Laugh, Love - Vanilla Mama