Muffin Tin Monday...No Theme

Today's Muffin Tin Monday didn't have a theme, but we decided to change that up. We decided to do a dinosaur theme so that it would go with these fun cookies. The recipe is at the link. Here they are making their cookies. They loved it & did a great job.





We had:



Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets & Lava {ketchup}
Quicksand {apple sauce}, Fossils {shortbread cookies}, Dino DooDoo {raisins}

**and they ate their ENTIRE meal. It must have been a hit!

Check out other Muffin Tin Meals here!

Once there was a snowman...

Life has been pretty crazy around here. I wanted to make something special for the boys for breakfast this morning...especially because it is Kaden's first day of Christmas vacation {& it is supposed to snow}.

My boys love "pancake balls" {also known as Aebleskivers}. So, I decided to make a snowman. You will need a pan that looks like this:



You can find them at Amazon & most specialty cooking stores. There is a special recipe, but I only use that on holidays. I usually just use my favorite pancake batter. Heat the pan & then pour a little oil {I use canola} in the bottom of each cup. Add your batter {about 1 Tbsp}. Once the sides get a little bubbly...take a fork or a skewer & turn the ball completely over to cook the other side. We usually serve ours with powdered sugar & flavored syrup.



For the snowman...I just stacked three "pancake balls" onto a small sucker stick. Then I used regular chocolate chips for the eyes & buttons, mini chocolate chips for the mouth, & an orange starburst shaped into a carrot. I sprinkles "snow" {powdered sugar} over the snowman. I also attempted to "stick" him to the plate with blueberry syrup...it didn't work {in the picture...he is in the process of falling}! The boys LOVED it. They were so excited to eat their snowman. {I don't think that they cared that some of the mini chocolate chips melted away.}

I ♥ playdough cookies!!!

I already posted about THESE COOKIES a while back, but for some reason it was a draft recently. I ♥ these cookies. They are so YUMMY, easy to make. My favorite part is that the kiddos can really be involved. There is nothing better except maybe chocolate. This time I made a double batch because they were gone too fast last time.



Here is the recipe:

The recipe:

3/4 cup butter (softened)
3 oz cream cheese (room temp)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I added 2 tsp)
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. In large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, & sugar until fluffy. Add egg & vanilla & mix until smooth.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, & salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir until soft dough forms.

3. Divide dough into fourths (this time I did thirds). Tint each with a different color of food coloring. Wrap each color of dough separately & chill for 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take a small amount of each color & then roll into a snake. Coil the snake starting at one end. Place on cookie sheet & bake for about 8 minutes.

We use these to talk about colors & you can even mix colors to show what they make. I also love how hands on it is. Give it a try!

Oooo Oooo Ahhhh Ahhh

We had so much fun with Kaden's monkey party. If you want to see more or get a few ideas for your own monkey party go HERE.

Cookie Sticks

YUM!!! These are super easy chocolate chip cookies sticks. They really come together quickly! If you want the recipe head over to SIMPLY COMPLICATED. Please forgive the missing stick...I couldn't wait to sample them!!! This is my new favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. It is yummy, quick, & SO EASY! Give it a try!

Pinwheel Cookies

I think that these are so cute! I found them in a Taste of Home magazine. As far as cute cookies go...these are pretty easy. Here is the recipe. I am going to put some pictures up, but I am not that great with pictures...so forgive them! One thing that I would consider adding next time is a little almond extract.

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2/3 cup colored sugars
30 milk chocolate M&Ms (I substituted chocolate chips)
30 wooden craft sticks

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, & egg yolk until smooth. Combine flour & baking powder; beat into cream cheese mixture. Cover & refrigerate for 1 hour.

On a floured surface, roll out into a rectangle (or trim to a rectangle). You will want to roll them out thinner than sugar cookies.



With a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough into 3 inch squares. I used my ruler to score the dough in a straight line.







Place 3 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Beat egg white until frothy; brush over squares. Sprinkle with colored sugars. Cut through the dough from each corner of the square to within a 1/2 in of the center. Press a wooden stick near the center of the square.



Fold alternating points to the center to form a pinwheel; pinch gently at the center seal.





Press an M&M (or chocolate chip) into each center.



Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes or until set. Remove immediately to wire racks to cool.

Here is the finished product...make sure that they cool all of the way or they will fall off of the stick.

Watermelon Sugar Cookies

I came across a really cute sugar cookie idea, but I changed it up a bit. Rather than using frosting...I thought that it would be easier to just color the cookie dough different colors. We are having a picnic tomorrow & I think that these will be so fun for a picnic!

This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

1 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4-5 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

For the Watermelon Cookies you will also need:

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
red food coloring
green food coloring


Mix butter, eggs, sugar, sour cream and vanilla in a large bowl. In another bowl mix all other dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Divide the dough (I did did one bigger than the other). Color the biggest amount red & the smaller amount green. Chill each color for about 2 hours.

Roll 1/4' thick. You will need to different circle cookie cutters. Cut the red dough with the smaller cookie cutter. Then cut the green with the bigger cookie cutter & the inside with the smaller cookie cutter. Place the green around the red circle & cut the whole thing in half. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Add the mini chocolate chips. Bake 7-8 minutes at 350 degrees.

I usually cook them about 6 minutes and then check them every minute after that.

Monkey Bites

I saw this on one of the Muffin Tin Monday websites...but I can't find the original post anywhere...so if it is yours...let me know!!!

I just sliced a banana & put some toothpicks in each one. It works better if your slices are a bit thicker. I had some caramel sauce in the fridge, so I heated that up a bit. For dipping...I used sprinkles (blue-Kaden's favorite color), mini chocolate chips, & I crumbled up some graham crackers.



I think that they liked it...don't you?

Fun Pancakes

I came across a really fun idea for pancakes & just knew that the boys would LOVE it! If I find the original link...I will post it! Here is what they had for breakfast this morning...



First you make your pancake batter. Pour about 1 cup (per color) into a squeeze bottle. I used a squeeze bottle from some honey butter, but the lid kind of got in the way a bit. I am going to go & look for a ketchup & mustard squeeze bottle. Then, add your food coloring.

Draw whatever shape you want on the griddle using your batter from the squeeze bottle. Here I drew the outline for a flag. Here is a tip...draw everything backwards. The first flag I drew ended up backwards when I flipped it.



Then, I filled in with some blue.



Then I used the regular pancake batter to fill in the rest. I found that a Tbsp works best to add the batter.



Then...FLIP...and there you have a colorful flag pancake for the 4th of July! You could also do stars, letters, & anything else...just remember to start it out backwards!




Stay tuned for some 4th of July decorations this week!!

Fun with Marshmallows

I do not make it a habit to feed my children marshmallows for a snack, but I saw this somewhere & thought it was such a cute idea. It really got their creative juices flowing!

Here is what you need:


I set everything out on a plate for them & set them loose. Preston had fun sticking marshmallows on the toothpicks. After a little while, he ate every marshmallow as quickly as he could shoved them in his mouth. It was really funny!

Here is Preston playing...

Here is his completed project...


Kaden on the other hand...loved playing & building things. He made a robot, a tank, a canon, & tons of other shapes. Kaden enjoyed eating the marshmallow, too! Preston tried to steal some of Kaden's marshmallows...it was pretty funny!

This is his canon...


Here is Kaden's robot...

Mmmmm...

***WARNING...WARNING***you may need sunglasses to look at these cookies!!***

My cookie jar has been empty for a while now & I have been itching to bake some cookies to fill it. I have been having a hard time choosing which cookie to make (...chocolate chip, snicker doodle, peanut butter blossoms, oatmeal chocolate chip....). Yesterday I came across some intriguing cookies. They are called play dough cookies. The recipe is pretty basic. Here is the post about it. They show pictures of most of the steps (hers are a lot cuter too!)...so I would check it out!



I wanted to turn this into a learning experience...so we talked about what happened when we mixed colors. The boys had fun figuring out what colors would make what. Our purple turned out a little interesting, but overall I think that it was a good experience.

It is also a very hands-on process. The kids can make the dough, mix the colors, roll the cookies into snakes, & coil the dough. My boys had a blast & though the colors we did are a little over the top...we had fun (& the cookies are really yummy)! They would even be fun to put on a stick.

The recipe:

3/4 cup butter (softened)
3 oz cream cheese (room temp)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I added 2 tsp)
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. In large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, & sugar until fluffy. Add egg & vanilla & mix until smooth.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, & salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir until soft dough forms.

3. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different color of food coloring. Wrap each color of dough separately & chill for 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take a small amount of each color & then roll into a snake. Coil the snake starting at one end. Place on cookie sheet & bake for about 8 minutes.

Yummy Nests

The easy way to this would be to use cocoa krispies, but I didn't have any so I added 2 Tbsp cocoa powder to regular krispie mixture. I greased 24 cupcake tins & pressed the mixture into the tins. I used my thumb (with a little butter) to push down the center. Then place three Cadbury mini eggs in each tin. Let cool & then enjoy!!!

Cooking with Kids

The boys & I love to bake & cook together. I try to get them involved as much as possible. I try to let them add ingredients or stir when I am making something. One of my favorite things is to give them their very own project. I have found these awesome mini cookie sheets. We have used them for cookies & mini pizzas.

For the sugar cookies, they got their own ball of dough. They rolled it out, cut the cookies, & put them on their very own cookies sheet. Then, I layed out bottles of sprinkles & they went to town. It was even more fun because they had their very own cookies that they could decorate anyway they wanted.







The pizzas were about the same, just a little different. I took frozen bread dough & let it defrost & rise. I gave each of the boys a bit & we rolled & stretched it. I put a small spoonful of cornmeal on the bottom of the pan, so that the dough wouldn't stick. They each had an array of toppings to choose from. We did pepperoni, tomato, & bacon. I helped Preston (2 years old) put the sauce on his pizza, but Kaden (4 years old) was able to do it on his own. Then they put the cheese & toppings on their pizza.

~CARS~

This isn't related to any holiday, but I am always on the look out for something fun & cute for boys. I found this super cute "roadway" made out of Rice Krispie Treats & Fruit Loops on Martha Stewart.com. This could be really cute for a birthday party. Here is the link.

Royal Icing

I have an awesome butter cream frosting recipe, but have wanted to try out Royal Icing. I have been concerned about the raw egg whites, but have found this recipe off http://www.allrecipes.com/ . It says that it yields 3 cups of icing.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons meringue powder
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons water

Here's what you do:

Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7 to 10 minutes, or until icing forms peaks. Tip: Keep icing covered with a wet kitchen towel at all times. Icing can dry out quickly.

I plan on making sugar cookies with royal icing some time this week. We'll see how it goes!