Drops n' Hearts

Happy Valentines Day!

This is an Italian Lemon Drop recipe that I turned into conversation hearts. I was really in the mood for lemon today and so this is actually just my excuse for it ;)

*Can we all just notice the red and pink with hearts attire my kids are sporting!? Um, yes. I TOTALLY did not plan this. This is purely an example of a miracle from God. Because at 8am when we all got dressed, I hadn't had my coffee, hair brushed or even the slightest care that their clothes matched, let alone what they would look like when we made cookies later that afternoon. What a good day :)

1. So for the cookies, mix 2 cups flour, ⅓ cup of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Once that is mixed up cut in ¼ cup of shortening. Next add in ½ cup of milk, 1 egg,  and 2 teaspoons of lemon extract. Preheat oven to 350°f.

2. Roll out (probably not best on granite but im super lazy and don't care :P) and cut out into little hearts! Awww!

3. Arrange on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10minutes.

                                                          ♥ My little sweetheart! ♥

4. Done! Now let them cool and we will make the frosting!

FROSTING:

Mix in a bowl 2 cups powdered sugar and ⅓ cup of shortening. Once that is combined add in ¼ cup of warm milk and 1 teaspoon lemon extract.

 

Next, we separated the frosting into different bowls and add some food coloring.

♥ The food coloring was his favorite part of it all ♥

 



Frost the tops (its really not easy.) And let it dry. Like set it aside and cook dinner, watch some TV and THEN come back to it. I would probably eat them at this stage because I did try writing on them with food coloring and it kinda looked like blood, which lead Riley to make zombie faces on a couple of them. Its still fun to try though :)


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Lemon Crinkle Cookies

So like everyone else, I have a Pinterest album for food..."Yumminess". In this album I have started collecting some recipes that I really, really want to try out! Here is my first one... (Original recipe found here) :)

1. For the recipe you will need 1 tsp. lemon zest (I hate explaining this, because I think nowadays most people know, but just in case...its the colored part of the outside of lemons, oranges etc.). Be careful not to prick your finger like I did! *Start preheating oven to 350°

2. I had a little help from my *almost* 5 year old! (Who, by the way, went to bed with wet hair...see the frizz? Heehee!)

3. I used a lot of bowls to make it easier on Riley to pour them into the big bowl, but normally I like to use as few as possible! In the top bowl we have measured out ½ cup butter, middle bowl is our zest and 1 tbs. lemon juice, and bottom is ⅛ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp. salt.

4. Mix the butter and 1 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Mix. Then add in one egg with 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

5. Add in the dry ingredients already measured out, and 1 ½ cups of flour. Stir until completely mixed.

6. Take 1 tsp sized pieces and roll through powdered sugar (or in my case regular sugar!) and place on a greased baking sheet. I set my timer for 9mins and they came out perfectly! You want the bottoms to just start to brown but not get dark at all.

7. And there you have it! Lemon Crinkle Cookies! A perfect start of summer snack!

♥ Loving this Pinterest ♥

Grandma Smith's Butterscotch Bars

For Mother's Day, my grandma and I baked these delightful little cookie bars! I've been eating these as long as I can remember. Always my favorite treat at any of our Smith side of the family gatherings. And now, I have the recipe!

1. In a large glass dish (or other microwaveable container) measure out half a cup butter or margarine and a bag of butterscotch chip morsels.

2. Place dish in microwave and heat for 30-45 seconds, then stir, then repeat until they are completely melted.

3. After about 2mins 45secs it looked like this. It was pretty much all melted, just the butter and morsels didn't completely combine.

4. Measure out 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs...I just found out you can actually buy the crackers already in crumb form! Excellent! Chop up 1 cup of walnut and add to graham cracker mixture.

5. Mix the morsels with butter and the graham crackers into a crumble, it doesn't have to be perfect because a little extra butterscotch in a bite is like striking gold for your taste buds!

6. In a greased baking dish (large) spread (HALF ) of the crumble into the bottom in an even layer. Make sure to get the corners and edges too because this will be the support for your bars.

7. For the center, you will need 1 can of condensed milk,  8oz bar of cream cheese, an egg, and 1 tsp of vanilla.

8. Place the step 7. ingredients into an electric mixing bowl. Turn on to low-medium.

9. The filling should be mixed until smooth. Little bits of cream cheese are ok because those will melt down once baked.

10. Pour cream cheese and milk filling on top of the crumble base and smooth out.

11. Carefully top with the other half of the crumble. Add this very gently so that you still have filling layer separate. Pop in the oven at 350 ° for 25-30mins. The top should brown just a little! Let cool.

12. There you have it! A delicious little bar!! :) Mmm...this is happiness in a bite! Ok..so maybe this ONE doesn't look too great. But I made these for my family camping trip with my grandma and left them at her house to cool. Then when she came up to picnic after we all camped, I transported a stash back with me on a paper plate, ate all but this ONE, realized I didn't have a pic of the bars and so here it is. 5 days later, and still REALLY yummy!

I love these old recipe cards! Good luck deciphering these babies!

♥ Grandma Smith, Me, Siena & Riley  ♥

Chocolate Cheesecake Christmas Bars

While I was searching online for some new Christmas cookie recipes I stumbled upon this recipe. I had surprisingly had most of the ingredients on hand, so I bookmarked and made it. Now of course, being in Mexico, I cant find all of the same ingredients...like Candy Canes (dont ask). My husband sneaks them constantly from the fridge, so they must be great!

1.  Mix together 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of ground coffee beans. Preheat oven to 350 °F

2. Blend in a food processor 20 chocolate wafer cookies. 

3. Mix in with the wafers, sugar and coffee grinds, then add 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Keep blending.

4. Place the contents in the processor into a lightly greased baking dish, make sure to press firmly, this will be the crust. Bake for 15mins....mean while we will make the filling:

5. To start the filling, you'll need 8oz of semi-sweet chocolate...

6. ...finely chopped :) Melt in micro-safe dish for about 2 mins until started to melt, stir, and microwave again about another 2 mins!

7. Measure out 2/3 cup of sugar.

8. (yes, I used the same spoon as the chocolate to scoop out the last of the sour cream :P) In a large bowl, add in sugar, 8oz cream cheese, and 1/2 cup sour cream...Nobody said this was a healthy cookie!

9. Mix the melted chocolate with the sugar-cream mixture. (now is when it starts smelling reaaaally good!)

10. Add in 2 large eggs and mix until smooth.

11. Pour the filling over the crust (which should be baked by now), place in oven and bake 25mins. The middle should giggle still but the side will be fluffed and baked.

12. For this glaze you need 4oz bittersweet chocolate (which I had to improvise..), 2 tablespoons unsalted butter,  1 teaspoon light or dark corn syrup, and 2 tablespoon sour cream. Mix together until creamy and smooth.

13. Pour glaze over the cake while its still warm.

14. Once it has started to cool and the glaze is firm, sprinkle over the top candy canes (or in my case, Tic Tacs dyed red and some left white, anything mint flavored will work here!).

15. Here you can see the 3 layers. I think the humidity made mine a little melty looking, but oh well. I found it was easier to cut them into squares by trimming two of the sides and then using a spatchula to scoop it out onto wax paper (this was actually my husbands idea...oh isnt he so smart!)

♥ Merry Christmas! ♥

Mexican Wedding Cakes

My mom always made these too. They look like snowballs! A super yummy and festive treat!
P.S. I had to change the name because my mom told me the real name for these cookies. Mexican wedding cakes, not pecan and powdered sugar cookies...I find it funny because I live in Mexico, but ive only heard of these in my FAR from Mexican, moms kitchen, hehe!

1. First you will need 1 cup of butter. (Start preheating oven to 350°F)

2. Next, you will need 1 cup chopped Pecans (walnuts will do the trick too, just what you have on hand!)

3. In a food processor, finely grind the pecans until almost like granuals.

4. Mix together the butter, pecans, and half a cup of powdered sugar. I used an electric hand mixer, it worked great!

5. Slowly add in 1 cup of  flour.

6. Next, add to the batter, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

7. Add in another cup of flour and continue blending!

8. Roll into little 1in balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Cook for about 12mins in oven.

*Ok. So im keeping this picture small because im SO embarrassed, :*(

Well, when I went to open my oven, I found these. Flat. Melted. Flat. Cookies. I ran to the computer to check my recipe and there I saw it. I wrote it down wrong. So this is my example that it doesnt always come out perfect the first time and I shall have to try again.

They SHOULD look like previous picture but just cooked instead of gooey looking.

9. Roll the cooked balls in a bowl with powdered sugar until full covered. Powder again before serving!

*Enjoy! :) Sorry for the confusion! The recipe card and all the pics are set to correct recipe*