Tonight we started a new tradition… jammie cocoa Christmas! I read about the idea on one of my favorite blogs and I wanted to start the tradition for my family too. It’s so easy, and we had so much fun! Starbucks and Christmas lights, doesn’t get much better than that 🙂
Late this fall the kids had a fun indoor photo session with Meghan Elizabeth Photography. We did a few in ‘fancy’ clothes and finished up with pj’s! Each year, my mom buys the kids Christmas pajamas and that’s something I’ll always remember about these little years.. so it was fun to get pictures of them in matching jammies to kick off the Christmas season!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Every year before Christmas Ruby’s friend Emma hosts a cookie decorating party. Well her mom, Erin, hosts the party 😉 and it’s so much fun! Erin pulls out all the stops for this party and the kids love it- so much that Ruby wanted to have a cookie decorating party for her 5th birthday last year!
Before the guests arrive, Erin mixes together the sugar cookie dough and cuts them out into shapes to match the theme of the party. She had Christmas themed shapes this year and at previous parties (because her and Emma LOVE to party 😉 we’ve done princess/ girly shapes, unicorns etc. She puts the cookies on parchment paper and places them on a small disposable cookie sheet, then it’s up to the kids to add sprinkles!
Then each sheet of cookies goes in the oven to bake; and she sent us home with cute little boxes filled with each child’s own cookies! Such a fun idea. Sugar cookie recipes (that are good) that you can use with cookie cutouts are actually hard to come by in my book. These actually taste so good!
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cups shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl
3. In a large bowl beat together all other ingredients
4. Slowly add in flour mixture
5. Refrigerate for about an hour
6. Roll out dough in between 2 pieces of parchment paper
7. Cut out into desired shapes
8. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
9. Decorate with sprinkles, balls, jimmies etc.
10. Bake at 325 for 8-10 min.
*Do not over bake, cookies will continue to bake on cookie sheet after they come out of the oven
Every year the weekend after Thanksgiving we go cut down our Christmas tree. This year we went to a new tree farm and it was so much fun. I love this little tradition of ours!
These apple pie bars are one of my very favorite desserts. When ordering dessert I’ll always go for the fruit pie, or berry crisp.. I just love baking with fruit. These bars have an amazing short bread crust that melts in your mouth and just taste like fall. They only use 2 apples and everything else you’d have stocked in your pantry. There are 3 steps to these bars- the crust, apple filling & crumble topping!
Shortbread Crust:
Apple Filling:
Crumble Topping:
We got this recipe from my friend Bridget. It’s her Mom’s .. and it’s so good. But the reason we make it so much around here is the kids can do so much of it themselves which they love. The “dough” is Pillsbury biscuits cut up so I give them a cutting board and a small pizza cutter and they go to town. It keeps them busy, and keeps their little minds and fingers moving. Anytime they can say “We made this,” is so fun.
2 Cans of Pillsbury biscuits
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 stick butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
Pre-heat the oven to 350
Combine brown sugar, cream, butter and cinnamon and melt over medium heat. Pour into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Cut biscuits into bite size pieces and arrange in pan on top of the sauce.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.
(if the center biscuits don’t look done, cover with tinfoil an bake another 5-10 min.)
Invert onto a clean pan and enjoy!