Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies during a Christmas baking escapade. They are so good!

Confession: I do NOT love cookies. These were amazing though. I was pretty excited about them.

They came out in perfectly round looking cookies which was a huge win for me!

My 6 year old walked in and asked if I was baking ice cream. These little beauties looked just like scoops of mint chip ice cream.

Adapted from Little Diary on the Prairie.

Ingredients

• 1 c. butter, softened
• 1½ c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp. peppermint extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used Mexican vanilla)
• a few drops of green green food coloring (color to your liking)
• 3 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. cream of tarter
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 10 oz. bag Nestle dark chocolate chips mixed with mint chips 

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar for about three minutes. It should be fluffy.
2. Add eggs, green food coloring and peppermint extract. Cream for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Measure dry ingredients in a separate bowl or sifter. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix until combined.
4. Add mint and chocolate chips. Gently stir to until incorporated.
5. Spray cookie sheet. Drop cookies using a 2 Tablespoon size cookie scoop.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Watch for the cookies to begin cracking. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes. Transfer to cookie rack and finish cooling.

Zuppa Toscana Soup - Olive Garden CopyCat

2 lbs sausage (Pork Shop!! or if you aren't lucky enough to live near the pork shop, make sure you buy the best quality you can find)
4 large potatoes (if you live in Idaho) or 8-12 regular potatoes if you don't, sliced very thin
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups kale or 2 cups swiss chard, chopped (If you can't find this, it's not a big deal. You can leave this out.)
16 cups water
4-5 T chicken bullion
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Place water, potato slices, onion, and chicken bullion in a soup pot and cook over high heat until potatoes are soft. Cook on medium high heat until potatoes are done. Brown your amazing pork shop sausage while the potatoes cook. (It is really important to buy very high quality sausage. You'll be sorry if you don't.) Add sausage to soup and simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add kale and cream. Stir and serve.

Don't forget to check out my fabulous makeup from Younique and don't forget to frost your lashes with 3d fiber lash mascara!

Gingerbread House Recipe

1 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 T ginger
1 c molasses
2 t allspice
2 t cinnamon
2 t cloves
1 t nutmeg
1 T + 1 t baking soda
1 c (2 sticks) margarine
2 eggs, beaten
7 c flour

Place both sugars, ginger, molasses, and spices in a large saucepan and combine. Stir occasionally while bringing to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. *It will bubble and rise as shown in picture*

Add margarine and stir until melted. Place mixture in bowl of stand mixer and mix in eggs and flour with dough hook (or add other ingredients by hand). Roll out on floured surface to about 1/4" thinkness and cut into desired shapes for houses. (We made 5 houses out of this recipe - may vary depending on size of houses.)

Caramel Glazed Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

All five of my kids (ages 2-10) seriously devoured these muffins this morning. I was really glad I had made 24! My 2 year old finished her first one (without the caramel) and was on to a second one before I finished putting the caramel on the tops.
Line 24 muffin cups with paper baking cups or brush tins with this easy release. Pre-heat oven to 375°.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
½ c brown sugar
¼ c powdered sugar
1 egg
2 t vanilla bean paste (or regular vanilla)

Combine all of the ingredients and beat until smooth. Set aside.

Pumpkin Muffin Batter:
2 2/3 c flour
1 ¼ c brown sugar
1 c sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t pumpkin pie spice (You can also use a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg in place of this if you don’t have it)
½ t. ginger
3 eggs
1 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c veg. oil
2 t vanilla bean paste (regular vanilla is fine, too)

Mix together flour, both sugars, baking powder, salt, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice. Add eggs, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Scoop 1-2 T. of this batter into each muffin cup. Next, place 1 T. of the vanilla cream cheese mixture into each of the muffin cups. Top each one with another T. of the muffin batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes (adjust cooking time as needed). While muffins are baking make the caramel topping.

Vanilla Bean Caramel Topping:(optional)
1 c. cream
1/2 t. sea salt
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla bean paste (You can use regular vanilla instead, this is just what I had)

Pour the cream or milk into a small saucepan and place on a low to medium heat. Add the salt and vanilla to the saucepan and stir to dissolve. Bring to a steady simmer, and then add the brown sugar. Stir to dissolve. Bring the mixture to a steady, low boil, and stir frequently. It takes about 5-10 minutes to get to the desired consistency.

When the muffins are done you can either dip the tops of each one into the caramel or drizzle the caramel over the tops of each muffin.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Variation:
Skip the filling and the topping. Add chocolate chips to the batter.

Crockpot Hot Chocolate

I have a Pinterest addiction. It's a little crazy. On the bright side I try new recipes a lot these days. My bestie, Emily found this recipe and made it a few times. I seemed to always miss out. She made it for New Years Eve and I was going to grab some while we played games. but we played some wild dice game and it was way too crazy to have a drink on the table. Needless to say, two days later I realized I never got any. Sad day. So last night I made it - thanks to Emily and her ingredients. Did I mention she's the best? It was amazing. The recipe comes from Mrs. Happy Homemaker and she says it's the best, but I wasn't a believer until I tried it myself. She's telling the truth guys. Try it out. You'll see.

1.5 cups Heavy Cream (or more if you're like me)
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 15 oz bag milk chocolate chips
6 cups of whole milk
1 tsp vanilla

Put everything in your crock pot and turn it on low for two hours whisking occasionally. Or do like I did and heat the milk up in the microwave until it's warm and then put it in the crockpot. This took my cook time down to about 45 minutes. When the kids want hot chocolate, they want it now! :)

Crockpot White Chicken Chili

What you'll need:
2 cans white beans
1 can butter beans
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
3 c. half & half
1 t. Tabasco
2 cans green diced chilies
3/4 c. chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 t. chili powder
1 - 1 1/2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1-2 t. Accent

Place chicken in crockpot and season with salt and pepper. Cook on high 2 hours. Shred chicken and add all other ingredients. Cook on low 3-4 hours longer. Thicken with flour/water mixture. Serve with sour cream and cheese.