Brandsted Bunch

December 7, 2018 / Lifestyle, Recipes

Emma’s Cookie Decorating Party

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 kid grabs a sheet of pre-cut cookies and gets to decorating!!

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!

Erin’s Sugar Cookies

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

December 1, 2018 / Lifestyle

Oh Christmas Tree

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!

Horse drawn sleigh ride to finish the fun day!

December 1, 2018 / Dessert, Recipes

Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars

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!

Ingredients:

Shortbread Crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour

Apple Filling:

2 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300°F Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on all sides. Set aside.
Make the crust: Stir the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together. Add the flour and stir until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes while you make the filling and streusel.
Make the apple filling: Combine the sliced apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until all of the apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
Make the streusel: Whisk the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together in a medium bowl. Cut in the chilled butter with two forks. Set aside.
Remove the crust from the oven, and turn the oven up to 350°F. Evenly layer the apples on top of the warm crust. Sprinkle the apple layer with streusel and bake for 30–35 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight). Lift the parchment out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into bars. Once cut, drizzle some salted caramel sauce on top of each. These apple pie bars can be enjoyed warm, at room temperature, or even cold.

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

December 1, 2018 / Breakfast, Recipes

Monkey Bread

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.

Ingredients & Recipe

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!