St. Patty's Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lucky for us every year the next town over has a huge St. Patrick's Day Parade. Even luckier, we have a good friend that lives right on main street who is kind enough to invite us over to enjoy the festivities! I wanted to bake something "green" in honor of the holiday, so I looked through some recipes I bookmarked and I found just the thing...Green Mint Chocolate Chip cookies.

I'd venture to say this recipe is my own, only because referenced two different recipes when coming up with this combination. The recipe that inspired me was on the Betty Crocker Website Mint Chocolate Chip Cookes but this one calls for their cookie mix in a bag which I didn't have and figured I could make cookies from scratch. The other recipe is off of the back of the Shoprite Chocolate Chip bag. (Original, I know.) However I changed the amounts of the ingredients and the bake time & temperature, so I'm going to assume this is the first recipe I've actually invented....maybe?

Here we go:

Preheat oven to 325˚.

In a bowl, combine:

1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2-1 tsp mint extract (I used 1/2 tsp & the hubby said "they could even be mintier and it would be okay")
6-10 drops of green food coloring

In another bowl, combine:
 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Mix thoroughly and then add to liquid mixture above 1/3 at a time. Once combined shut off mixer.

Next, stir in (by hand):

2 cups of Hershey's Mint Chocolate Chips (or any other Mint Chocolate Chips you can find!)

Spoon mixture onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes (until edges are just beginning to turn brown).

Let cool on pan for a few minutes then remove to rack to finish cooling. I brought just over 60 cookies to the party. When we left there were only about 8 left. Not too shabby!

Enjoy!

Easy Cherry (or apple) Turnovers

I told my parents about this blog when I first started making it. My Mom is about as adorable as they come, so she always looks at the new things I post and then tells me how nice they look or asks how they came out. My Dad on the other hand is lucky to check his email once a week let alone read my blog. When I asked him if he wanted to see it he informed me he "doesn't do blogs, just like he doesn't do FaceBook" I told him there was nothing to "do" but look at pictures really, and he didn't even have to read it. It was merely an online journal about what I bake.

I emailed him the link (again) about about a week ago he finally looked at the blog. This must've gotten him thinking about all the baked goods that he really likes, because after joking with me about how I must "think I'm Betty Crocker" he confessed he was wondering how he could make cherry turnovers "like the kind you get from the bakery" (as he made gestures of eating said turnover while it flaked apart all over this shirt). He also said he wanted to be able to make them "on-demand" and with "little effort". I was all over this, and promised I'd be back the following weekend ready to bake. The following weekend I returned at their house for his personal Cherry-Turnover baking lesson.

The recipe I chose was this one: Easy Apple Turnovers over at Lawfully Wedded Wife.

I significantly cut it down for my father's ease, But in all fairness I did try her Apple Filling recipe for my own personal benefit. (For the record, it was DELICIOUS!!!)

Use one sheet of Puff Pastry, defrost for 40 minutes on the counter. In the meantime, Preheat the oven to 400˚.

Like I said I did make the apple filling for myself, so here's a pic (it came out perfect): 

We used a can of Cherry Pie filling - found in the baking aisle (for "instant" filling).

Then, unfold the puff pastry sheet and cut into 4 squares  - fill 1/2 of the square with the filling.

Fold the square from corner to corner and pinch edges together to seal in the filling. 

Now they're ready to bake! Put them in the oven for 20-25 minutes - until golden brown and puffed up: 

Remove from pan and move to rack and let cool completely. 

In the meantime mix up the icing: 

2 tsp of mik

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Once cooled, pour icing over the top of the turnover....Tada! 

This recipe came out exactly like the pastries you would get at a bakery! You too should make these for your Dad too. I mean seriously, look how happy it makes them...SO HAPPY!!!