Holiday Goodies from my Kitchen

 

Hi friends! I have admitted to all of you how I have had no handmade cards done... but I am not behind on the baking [I THINK!]. I have been keeping myself busy as my husband wrestled with all the preparations for his two Christmas programs at work. For band directors and music teachers, December is one of the busiest months. :)

I have been surprising him with a new treat every day. But at the back of my head I am also hoping he doesn't eat them all before the actual Christmas day comes. LOL

The photo above is a picture I took of my kitchen yesterday after I got done cleaning to record this really happy moment of clean and spotlessness. :) It doesn't look like that anymore after all the baking I have done. LOL

Today I have made the easiest Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and a batch of cookies that I found at Pinterest, they are normally called Blossom Cookies but this one has been made festive by using red and green sugar and Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. I thought since I pretty much live in Pinterest, I might as well make something to add to the plethora of holiday treats that I am making to honor the friends and the hundreds of pinners that I follow.

 Here they are!!!

 

I got playful with this one and dipped it in both red and green sugars. :)

 

And here's the beginnings of a crinkle. This is an all-time favorite of mine... This is one of the few things I make that I actually do not enjoy sharing with anyone because I love them so much.

 

Here is the end result. Make chocolate cookies, roll them in powdered sugar and bake them in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Chocolatey tastiness!!! :)

I also made dog treats! But I didn't take pictures of it because I already have them all packaged to give away.

I hope all of you are all caught up with Christmas shopping, baking, gift wrapping, decorating, etc! And, keeping warm too!!!

Chocolate and Mocha Scones [Recipe]

Recipe Adapted from My Baking Addiction

For the scones

2 1/4 cups + some All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup sugar or SPLENDA® Sugar Blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold or frozen
1/2 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate + 1/2 crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1 large egg

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In your food processor bowl, mix flour, sugar baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut up the butter in small pieces and pulse it in with the flour mixture until you arrive into something that resembles coarse meal. Split in half. Add bittersweet chocolate in one and add crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans in the other.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, coffee and egg until smooth.
4. Slowly add in the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture and pulse them together in the food processor. Watch how much liquid you add into the dry ingredients. But if you happen to have added it all in there, just add a bit of flour at a time to get it where is it easy to handle or dough-like or where you can form it into a ball.
5. Place dough on a lightly-floured surface. Pat the dough into an 8 or 10-inch rectangle or square. Cut into 8-10 even squares, then cut the squares in half to make smaller triangles.
6. Place scones on prepared baking sheet, about an inch apart. 
7. Bake until golden, about 15 for smaller triangles and 18 minutes for larger triangles.
8. Cool on wire rack. Once scones are cool, prepare the glaze.

For the glaze

1/2 cup strong coffee

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

3 oz  bittersweet chocolate
1 Tbsp butter 

1. Melt chocolate in microwave for 1 minute in 25 second intervals stirring each time to make sure the chocolate doesn't burn. 
2. In a small bowl, combine coffee and powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Whisk in melted chocolate and butter until thoroughly combined. 
3. Drizzle chocolate on top of scones. 
4. ENJOY!!! :)

Note: I used Splenda for Baking when I made these scones. I have been using it the past couple of times I baked and I haven't seen or tasted a difference so far. This recipe doesn't require a lot of sugar anyway... So using Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking only made it much better! 


Happy Baking all!!!