Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

These are Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies. I was on pinterest earlier and saw these. I think that these are a must have for Christmas parties. Unless if you know that someone is allergic to nuts.

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate-covered mini pretzels

Mini brown M&Ms

Regular-sized red M&Ms

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. 

Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose (or any other color... some of mine ended up with green noses. They might be South Pole reindeer.). 

Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel to cool completely. 

Makes about 40 reindeer cookies.

Sour Cream Brownie Bricks

Again, I found this recipe on pinterest. It looks really interesting and looks absolutely amazing! Here's the recipe:

• 10 1/2 oz. high-quality bittersweet chocolate (in the 70% range), chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 14 oz. unsalted butter, chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 7 eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche), at room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 (F). Butter a 9" x 13" baking pan and dust it with cocoa, making sure to shake out the excess cocoa. Set aside.

Melt 10 1/2 oz. chocolate and 14 oz. butter in a double boiler, making sure to stir constantly so the chocolate doesn't burn. Set aside to cool slightly.

Use a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) to whisk 7 eggs with 2/3 cup sour cream, 2 3/4 cups sugar, and 3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Whisk for at least 5 minutes until you get a nice, light, airy mixture.

When your egg mixture is nice and airy, add the chocolate/butter mixture from the first step and usea rubber spatula to mix together until just combined.

In a large mixing bowl, sift and mix 1 2/3 cups flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and 1 1/4 salt. Use a measuring cup to form a deep well in the center. You should be able to see the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients (your egg/chocolate/butter mixture from step 3) into the well in the center of the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to gradually incorporate all of the dry ingredients, mixing as little as possible. Be careful not to overmix the batter, or you will have tough brownies and I will cry for you! Just keep mixing until you see one or two flour streaks in the batter, then stop.

Fill the cocoa-dusted pan with the brownie batter, and sprinkle the entire surface evenly with big pinches of granulated sugar.

Bake for 24 - 30 minutes. Check for doneness every few minutes thereafter, being careful not to overcook. The goal is for the middle to be a bit fudgy, so if you insert a toothpick into the brownies, it should come out a little dirty, but not with any liquid batter on it.

Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing into squares.

Shamerock Protein Shake

I found this recipe on pinterest and it looks SOOOO good. I think I should try it some time over the summer for my family. Any objections? Not coming from me! Here's what you need:
 1/2 low fat Cottage Cheese
1/4 cup Vanilla or Plain protein powder
1/8 teaspoon Mint Extract (Sometimes it's called Peppermint Extract. If your  grocery store doesn't have Mint, than go with the peppermint.)
2-3 packets of sweetener
5-10 ice cubes
4 oz water
2-3 drops of green food colouring or a handful of spinach to make it green (You won't taste the spinach. It gives it some more protein)
1-2 tablespoons Sugar Free Instant Pistachio Pudding Mix
Pinch Guar or xanthan gum

Directions:

Put all the base ingredients in the blender, and blend away until desired consistency! Swirl in one drop of green food coloring just before serving, and top with whipped cream if desired!

Wonton Soup

I took a fifth year of high school to take a culinary course. I met a lot of people and there was this one guy that I met and we all called him Wonton. He has to be the most awesome Asian that I have ever met in my life. There have been so many inside jokes that were created that some how involve him. He has requested me to put a recipe up for Wonton Soup. So, here it is:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound boneless pork loin, coarsely chopped
• 2 ounces peeled shrimp, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped green onion
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
• 24 (3.5 inch square) wonton wrappers
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/8 cup finely chopped green onion

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine pork, shrimp, sugar, wine, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chopped green onion and ginger. Blend well, and let stand for 25 to 30 minutes.
2. Place about one teaspoon of the filling at the center of each wonton skin. Moisten all 4 edges of wonton wrapper with water, then pull the top corner down to the bottom, folding the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle. Press edges firmly to make a seal. Bring left and right corners together above the filling. Overlap the tips of these corners, moisten with water and press together. Continue until all wrappers are used.
3. FOR SOUP: Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil. Drop wontons in, and cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped green onion, and serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

As a kid, my dad made chocolate chip cookies with my brother, sister and I after dinner. It was probably my first memory of being in the kitchen. My mom would let us have the cookies right after the first batch would be made. Unfortunately, it all came to an end when my brother and sister went into the higher grades in their education. I didn't mind. I would make them with my sister on occasion as I was still to young to use the oven by myself.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (Optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

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Easy Rolled Fondant

The first time I made this was a few weeks ago. After I made it, it was VERY sticky and wasn't what fondant should look like. I decided to put it in the fridge for a few hours for it to set properly. As my luck would have it, it set properly. If I did not need it that day, I would have let it set over night for better results. I used this for sugar cookies for Canada Day. It didn't really stick to the cookie by it's self. So I decided to use something call Simple Syrup. It's mostly sugar with water. You use 1/4 cup of sugar and two tablespoons of water and heat it over low heat on your stove. You let it cool and when you're ready to use it, brush it over what your going to use it on. Simple Syrup is pretty much used as a glue. Anyways, as promised, here's the Fondant recipe you are hoping for:

INGREDIENTS:

2½ cups sugar

2/3 cups water

1 cup vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups confectioner’s sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the 2 ½ cups of sugar and 2/3 cups of water in a sauce pan on the stove. Boil the mixture until syrup is formed.

2. In a large bowl, combine sugar syrup and the shortening and mix well.

*3. Add the vanilla flavoring to the sugar and shortening mix.

**4. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, mixing continuously until a thick dough begins to form.

5. Knead dough by hand until stiff.

6. Lay the dough on a cool, flat area dusted with confectioner’s sugar and roll out with a rolling pin coated with confectioner’s sugar to 1/8 inch. Drape over cake.

* Instead of vanilla extract, you can use peppermint extract, lemon extract, or almond extract for holidays.

** You can add food colouring to the dough at this stage

~Try putting a layer of buttercream frosting on the cake first. It will help eliminate the crumbs in the final appearance