Gummy Bear Thumbprint Cookies

   Valentines day is coming up! And how better to celebrate than the making of cute little cookies to share with friends and family? And the perfect part? They are sweet and fruity, unlike the subtle tangy-ness of my nerds cupcakes I made last week. The actual heart shape idea came from a Beautiful Mess, and the recipe itself came from The Baking Robot. The only (visible) difference between the two recipes is that a Beautiful Mess made half of the original recipe and created hearts instead of the original thumbprint shapes in the dough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

   Well, the start of the school year also signifies the start of me selling again! Some kids sell drugs or test answers, but I sell all the things I bake! At the beginning of the year I am usually just baking on Sundays, then selling throughout the week. But, when business picks up, I can be baking anywhere from 1-3 times a week. Sounds exhausting to some, but I love doing it! And after High School I am hoping to pursue a career in baking and pastries, maybe even catering!

   Oh yeah, more exciting news! I was offered by the owner of Never Enough Ballroom to cater for on the weekends! On Saturdays they offer free dance classes, which you can read more about on their website here. It is truly a fun thing to do, and is fun for the whole family as well! I am definitely thinking about taking that offer, good for experience!

Anyways, for this week in school I decided to start with something simple, something that will get business booming the way it was last year. Chocolate chip cookies! I mean, who doesn't love them? And they are also really super quick and easy as well, so I won't be spending too much time on something if people end up not liking them. If they don't, more for my family! This recipe I found here on the allrecipes.com website!

Note: I ran out of chocolate chips, so I cut up some bakers chocolate, which is why my cookies are so speckled.

First things first, get all your ingredients! I will have a list below of all the things you need, but you may already have them in the kitchen! Then you will want to combine the butter with both sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and well incorporate them. Don't forget the vanilla! And the baking soda too, as well as the salt. Can't make good cookies if you are missing the ingredients!

The flour and chocolate chips might be important to. Well, might be! Actually, no, they are very important and you can't make good chocolate chip cookies without the flour and chocolate chips! Mix mix mix, get it all blended together nicely. I might be crazy, but mixing everything together is my favorite part! The flour might be a little tricky, so I usually mix in the flour 1 cup at a time. Just a helpful tip!

Then just drop them on that cookie sheet! The website says you don't need to grease the pan, but you definitely need to! Oh, and my pan isn't dirty, Macy just burned it trying to make garlic bread. But that is for another day! I spray my hands with Pam and roll the dough into little balls too, people won't buy if your food doesn't look good! I mean, you don't have to do that, it is all based on your preference. 

Then stick that pan in the oven and you are a free agent for all of 10 minutes! Woohoo!! Better than no time I guess! This is the time I use to clean up, then just sit down and relax as the cookie smell makes itself known around the house. Mmm the smell reminds me of holiday baking. So many good memories there! I absolutely love baking, but the holidays are the best, that is when you get to make all the tasty treats with peppermint. Pumpkin too! I actually have a pumpkin bread mix, I would say watch out for that one since it is coming soon! Ding Ding that is the timer, better get them out before those burn too!

Don't they look beautiful?

Recipe:                                  *Makes about 4 dozen*

1 cup Butter, soft

1 cup White sugar

1 cup Brown sugar, packed

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Hot Water

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 cups Chocolate Chips (and kind is fine)

1 cup Chopped Walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ and grease a cookie sheet.

2. Combine butter and both sugars. Beat in each egg, one at a time, until well incorporated. Stir in vanilla.

3. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water, then add to the batter along with the salt. Stir in the flour, chocolate chips, and walnuts (optional).

4. Drop dough by the spoonful onto your cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are nicely browned. Cool and enjoy!

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below in the comments!

Brownie-Cookie Bars

   Here I am, baking again! Actually, that shouldn't really surprise anyone, I love to bake. Baking is my one get away from reality, when I don't have any new books to read. I also felt like my father should get a sweet treat after his long flight home from India, and what a sweet treat this is! I actually did not follow a recipe time, I just threw two things together and hoped for the best. I have made Brownie-Cookie Dough Bars, so it is basically the same idea. And, I'll admit, I did use a box brownie mix, and only because my attempts at making brownies from scratch failed. Multiple times. They just come out too crumby! Besides, I am all out of cocoa powder from make the brownie in a mug for my sister, Macy. Boy does she love those! 

Anyways, you will want to get all your ingredients together. The easiest way to make this recipe is to get pre-made brownie and cookie mixes, but I used this recipe for my cookie part. I actually only made half that cookie recipe and still found that I had some leftover dough. More cookies for me!

   After you get your ingredients you are going to want to prepare the brownie batter. Make sure to follow the directions on the box, since every mix is different. Then spread the batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Set aside for now.

   Next, prepare the cookie dough. Follow the given directions (make only 1/2 the recipe if making your own cookie dough) and then drop spoonfuls on top of the brownie batter. Now this is where you can get creative. You can swirl the cookie dough or spread it to cover the brownies, just make sure it is on top of the batter.

    Bake for 40 minutes and viola! You have made yourself some amazing brownies!

Recipe:

1 box Brownie Mix, prepared

1 box Cookie Mix, prepared

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ and grease a 9x13 pan. You can also line with parchment paper

2. Spread the prepared brownie batter so that it is evenly distributed within the pan. Then drop spoonfuls of the prepared cookie dough on top.

3. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

* Cool completely before cutting*

What did I do with the remaining cookie dough? Make cookies of course! Just follow baking instructions for the cookies, which normally cook for 8-10 minutes.

Try this recipe? Comment down below and tell me how it went!

Just a Little Hike

  Okay, so Laurie decided to take the day off so we could go on a hike! So we drive up Mt. Rose highway and get off at this trail head sign. We took the dogs with us too, they really needed the walk! And since there were three of us (Laurie, Macy, and I) and three dogs (KD, Lilly, and Spritze), it was perfect to go on this trail. The weather cooperated well today and wasn't roasting hot either, when we were walking it was only 77*. Pretty nice for a summer day!
   So we took the dogs out on this trail, and they loved it a lot! There was a lot of wildlife to see, and a lot of shade on the trail too. Sometimes it is nice to just get away from all the busy-ness and 

take a hike through the woods! It was also nice that it was fairly empty, then we wouldn't have to deal with our dogs barking so much! The one thing about this trail is that it is a lot of uphill walking, which isn't too bad since it was just a short trail. There were many littler trails connecting to this one, but we mainly stayed on the original trail. The last thing we want to do is get lost in the woods! 
   The colors in the forest were just beautiful. There is never a better time to go camping then when nature is in it's full glory. Speaking about camping, I am going next weekend to camp with Laurie and Macy! Anyways, all the flowers were in full bloom, and it was just a lot of greenery all around us!

    Sometime down the trail we came up to this little creek. How cute! There was also a lot of water going through it, which was a surprise due to the fact that it has been all heat and no rain here for the past few weeks or so. The water was definitely refreshing, as well as beautiful to look at! It was flowing nice and steadily  it even had a cute little bridge to cross over on! KD kept getting her hand stuck in the cracks between the boards on the bridge, but we made through!

I think the dogs liked it too! KD was in the water before anyone else! I actually took a slide down a tiny hill where I lost my footing, almost fell into the water myself! She would have stayed in the water all day if we didn't pull her out to move on! She was drinking the water too, and finally we got the other two dogs to drink some water as well. Lilly walked around in the water too, but she is just too fast to get a picture of!

   After the creek we moved forward on the trail. It was almost to an end! When we hit the end we crossed the street and went up to another trail that was quite close. This trail took us to an old Fish Hatchery and pond! The fish hatchery is no longer opened, but it is getting remodeled and ready to be re-opened as a recreational center. For boy scouts maybe? Anyways, inside the windows it was very spacious and looked like it had a mini kitchen or something. Totally cute and could work for a house if needed! It also overlooked this beautiful pond, and most of the forest as well. 
   This pond is man-made and stocked with fish as well. There were a couple families out fishing today, but we could all see the fish jumping in the middle of the lake, no where near the fishers! It's all in good fun, though, and that is what counts! KD also walked around in the shallow end of the pond, that dog loves her water!

After the pond we looped back around and went back to the car to eat some lunch. I had a turkey sandwich with grapes and a water, while Macy and Laurie ate ham sandwiches. The dogs even got their own little ham sandwiches! My dogs are soo spoiled, and they know it. It was nice to go on that hike, and the best part is getting to go home and taking a nap afterwords! All the dogs are tired as well, which makes everyone happy!!




Do you like camping or hiking? If so, comment where down below!