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 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