Recipes - 3/44 - The Idea Room

Chocolate Sandwich Heart Cookies

Earlier I shared with you how I made these fun glittery heart milk bottles. Bottles that can be used to decorate your Valentine’s Day dinner or party. I had a few of you email me and ask me for the Chocolate Drop Cookie Recipe that I used to make this Chocolate Heart Sandwich Cookies.

This is one of our favorite drop cookie recipes. The best part about it is that you can add different chocolate chips like mint, peanut butter, white chocolate, toffee chips, nuts, caramel bits, etc. depending on your mood and taste preferences. Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup Shortening or Butter Flavor Crisco
1/2 cup Butter
2 cups Flour
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1 cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Milk
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 cup add ins (ie. choc. chips) (optional)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat Shortening and butter with a mixer on Med-High speed for about 30 seconds.
Add half of the flour and mix it with the sugar, brown sugar, milk, cocoa, eggs, vanilla and baking soda.
Beat thoroughly until combined.
Mix in the remaining flour.
Fold in any add ins.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes till the edges are slightly crisp.
Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.
Makes about 48 cookies.

http://www.theidearoom.net/2013/02/chocolate-sandwich-heart-cookies.html

After the cookies have cooled completely you can take a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut the cookies into hearts.

Then slap on some of your favorite frosting between the flat sides of two cookies. Now…some of my kids don’t love chocolate cookies…I know…weird. So we had a couple of chocolate chip cookies left over from last Sunday when the kids were craving Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Serve these at a family party or give them away to friends and family!

How did I make the fun, glittery Valentine’s Day Glass Bottles? You can find that tutorial here:

Valentine’s Day Glass Gift and Milk Bottles

February 3, 2013 · Filed under: Recipes, Treats, Valentine's Day Tagged with

Red Velvet Swirl Pancakes

12 Comments

Do you serve a special breakfast for Christmas morning? Or do you fill up on your stocking stuffers and candy canes? Honestly, we tend do do a little bit of both. I usually try to get around to making a late breakfast for my family. Something that is a “little” bit healthier than Christmas Candy. This year I think I am going to be making these Red Velvet Pancakes with a “candy cane” swirl.

I decided to glam up the traditional Red Velvet Pancakes and add a festive Holiday swirl. I know Red Velvet is not for everyone…but these tasted pretty amazing. My kids LOVED them. And I love how pretty they are!

And here is the thing, I love eating a hot breakfast in the morning…but don’t always love getting up extra early in the morning to make it. So I have a little trick that works pretty well for us. I will make up a big batch of pancakes and then pop them into the freezer.

I put them into a Freezer Ziploc Baggie and separate each pancake with a small square of parchment or wax paper. Then in the morning we pull them out and pop them into the toaster. Bingo! A quick…no mess…hot breakfast for the kids. They also make great on the go snacks to.

I whipped up a quick and easy Vanilla Cream Cheese Syrup that was the perfect touch of sweetness to the Red Velvet Pancakes. Or…top it with some whipped cream and some frozen raspberries! Yum!

Here is the recipe:

Red Velvet Swirl Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups Flour
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups Buttermilk
4 Tablespoon Butter, melted
red food coloring

Vanilla Cream Cheese Syrup

3 Tablespoon Cream Cheese, softened
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
¼ to ½ cup milk

Instructions

Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add eggs, Buttermilk, and butter.
Stir together, but don't over-mix. There will be a few lumps in your batter.
Pull out about 1/2 cup of the batter and set aside in a squeeze bottle. This will be your white swirl batter.
Add food coloring to the rest of the pancake batter.
Let sit for about 10 minutes so the batter can rise a bit.
Pour batter onto griddle and then take your white batter and squeeze a thin swirl onto the top of your pancake.
Cook on medium to medium high heat until bubbles form on the top of your pancake.
Flip and cook on the other side.
To prevent your pancakes from browning and hiding your white swirl, the key is to cooking them slower over a lower heat.
Mix together your syrup and add just enough milk to get the desired consistency for your syrup by adding a couple of Tablespoons of milk at a time.

http://www.theidearoom.net/2012/12/red-velvet-swirl-pancakes.html

December 10, 2012 · Filed under: Christmas, Christmas Recipes, Recipes Tagged with

Peppermint Candy Cane Donuts

9 Comments

Today I am excited to share with you a fun collection of some amazing Holiday Treats. I joined in with a group of bloggers who are all sharing a Holiday treat on their sites today and we all joined them in one big Linky Party of Holiday Goodness.

My contribution are these YUMMY Peppermint Candy Cane Donuts! I LOVE Chocolate…and I love Peppermint! Have I told you that before? ;)

These are pretty darn tasty! But what if you aren’t a huge chocolate fan? What? I know…how could there be someone who doesn’t like chocolate. I do actually know a few of you!

Don’t worry…I’ve got you covered too. Vanilla Peppermint Candy Cane Striped Donuts!

And well, you can always have one of each if you are having a hard time deciding. They ARE mini-donuts after all!

Peppermint-treats

Perhaps the best part about these are how SIMPLE they are to make. All you need to do is make up your favorite chocolate or vanilla cake batter. Or…just whip up a store bought cake mix.

Throw a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil or extract into the batter and then bake them in a mini donut maker. I found mine at Target and I absolutely LOVE it. I even threw in some crushed candy canes in some of the precooked donuts.

To make the frosting simply take 2 cups of Confectioner’s Sugar (powdered sugar) and mix in 2-3 Tablespoons of milk till you get the desired consistency. Sprinkle crushed candy canes over the newly frosted donuts. Serve with friends, a TALL glass of milk and a stripey straw!

Going to a party or a Cookie Exchange? These donuts would be perfect…or check out these other amazing treats. Simply click on the link to see the other fun treats linked up here.