Cookie Party!!!

So, as you all know,time does not stand still..... I just turned 35 the other day and this year I wanted to do something that I have been wanting to do for a while and sounded perfect to welcome this years Christmas season.
Why not host a cookie party????. This type of party is perfect. It is very low key compared to other parties.( well except for baking your cookies ;)) I just invited a few girls and asked them to bring 6-8 dozen of their favorite Christmas cookie, put on a Gluehwein in my crockpot and a apple cider on the stove,( my lovely coffee maker is always ready to roll). That was basically it!!!

German Gluehwein
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 orange
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 (750 milliliter) bottle red wine

1. Directions
   In a saucepan, combine the water, sugar, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer.
2. Cut the orange in half, and squeeze the juice into the simmering water. Push the cloves into the outside of the orange peel, and place peel in the simmering water. Continue simmering for 30 minutes, until thick and syrupy.
3. Pour in the wine, and heat until steaming but not simmering. Remove the clove-studded orange halves. Serve hot in mugs or glasses that have been preheated in warm water (cold glasses will break.)

Soon the girls arrived loaded with delicious treats and filled up the snack bar in no time.
What a lovely sight!!!!!

We chatted and sampled and enjoyed drinks

The apple cider I made was great recipe from the blog Our best bites.
It was delicious and a great option for the nursing mamas.
Oh and we also enjoyed the nice cozy fire, Ricky had made before he took our sweet lil ones for the afternoon to play with their cousins. Thank you to my man for my little girls time ,here.
Well, the only guy that snuck in was baby Jeremiah. Not only was he the king of the party but also as sweet as our beautiful cookies and we took turns nibbling on him as well ;)

The sample plate! 2000 calories on one plate;YUM!!!

I wanted to give the party a fun twist and made it a little contest, with a prize and everything.Fun, fun fun
And here are the contestants:



Nut Corners
Ingredients: in gramm (so you will need a kitchen scale) since it is a German recipe
150g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
65 g butter at room temperature

for the topping:
2 Tbsp apricot preserve
150 g sugar
2tsp vanilla
150 g butter
150 g chopped nuts( I used walnuts)
150 g finely ground nuts ( again I used walnuts and put them in my blender, worked fine)

For garnish:
chocolate morsels
or almond bark, which I used,,,,,melted

Directions:
preheat oven to 350*F( 175*C). make the dough and spread it thin onto baking sheet. put all the ingredients for topping in a small saucepan and warm up gently on the stove. Pour evenly onto dough and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
cut into triangles while still warm. Let cool off and dip the ends in melted chocolate!
Makes about 4 dozen!
Get better with age, can last up to 4-6 weeks in airtight container, if not eaten before

and here is Stella's version of my nut corners:




Forgotten Cookies
Turn on oven to 400*F
Beat 2 egg whites until stiff, gradually add 3/4 cup sugar; beating until dissolved
Add 1tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 6oz pkg chocolate chips or caramel chips
Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet
Turn OFF the oven!!!!!
Place cookies in and leave overnight
Chewy if left exposed to air
Crisp if placed in airtight container!!!



Chewy Joy Bars
Ingredients:
1cup(250ml) sliced almonds
1bag(14oz/400g sweetened flaked coconut,divided)
1 cup(250ml) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (175ml) packed light brown sugar, divided
1 tsp (5ml) baking soda
3/4 cup(175ml) butter( 1 1/2 sticks), melted
1 small pack(9oz/250g) devil's food cake mix
1 egg 1/3 cup( 75ml) water
1 1/4 cups( 300ml)semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided
Toasted sliced almonds for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400*F(200*C). Finely chop almonds. Combine almonds, 1 cup of coconut, flour, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and baking soda in a bowl; mix well. Add butter; mix until crumbly. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of a large pan( Backblech). Bake 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove pan from oven to cooling rack.
2. Meanwhile, in clean batter bowl, combine cake mix, remaining1/4 cup brown sugar, egg and water; whisk1 minute or until smooth. Pour batter over hot crust; carefully spread to edges. Sprinkle batter evenly with 1/2 cup of chocolate morsels and remaining coconut. Bake 10-12 minutes or until coconut is toasted.
3.Place remaining3/4 cup chocolate morsels in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered on HIGH 1 minute or untilmostly melted, stirring every 20 seconds. Spoon melted chocolate into resealable plastic bag. Twist top of bag; trim corner. Drizzle chocolate over toasted coconut topping. Garnish with toasted sliced almonds, if desired. Cut into 24 bars!; serve warm or at room temperature.



Grandma's Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
1. In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and molasses until well blended.
2. Combine the flour ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; stir into the molasses mixture to form a dough.
3. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the remaining sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreases cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.



Peanut Munchies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparation
1. Heat oven to 350
2. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside
3. In large mixing bowl combine butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the peanut-butter; beat with mixer until combined. Add egg, milk and vanilla, beat well. Beat in as much flour mixture as you can with mixer. Using wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour mixture. Shape dough into 32 balls, each about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Set aside
4. For filling, in bowl combine podered sugar and remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter. With mixer beat until smooth; knewad by hand if necessary. Shape into 32 balls.
5. Preheat oven to 350F. On work surface, flatten a chocolate dough ball; top with peanut butter ball. Shape flattened dough over peanut butter ball, completely covering peanut butter ball; reshape into ball. Repeat with remaining balls.
6. Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Bake about 8 minutes. Let stand 1 minute. Transfer to racks; cool. Makes 32 cookies.

Andes Creme De Menthe Chunk Cookies

1/2 C. Salted butter- softened

3/4 C. dark brown sugar

1/2 C. White granulated sugar

1tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 Package (10 oz.) Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips

2 & 2/3 C. sifted all-purpose flour

Blend butter, sugars,baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and eggs until mixed. Stir in Andes Baking Chips and then flour. Chill approximately 1 hour in the refrigerator. Place by rounded tsp. 2" apart on un greased cookie sheet. Raise oven rack one level above the middle. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes cool 2 min before removing from the pan.

yields 4 dozen cookies.



Ooey Gooey Cake Mix Cookies( my girlies favorite)

Cake Mix Cookie base:
2 packages of cake mix (any flavor—I used white) 2 large eggs ½ cup of oil ½ cup water flour Ooey Gooey topping:
8 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese 2 eggs Pound of powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp almond extract Combine cake mix, 2 eggs, oil and water. Beat until well blended. Add flour until you reach a more doughy/less liquid consistency. Refrigerate for a while. Mix cream cheese, 2 eggs and powdered sugar for ooey gooey topping (reserve some powdered sugar to top cookies after baking). Add vanilla and almond extracts. Mix well. Roll out cake mix dough and cut into circles with cookie cutter. Press a circle into the middle of the cookie to contain topping (I used a shot glass). Pour ooey gooey topping into the cookies. (I had leftover topping, don’t feel like you have to use it all) Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Top with sprinkles and sifted powdered sugar. Makes 6-8 dozen.

Chocolate Chip Cookie
Sorry, no yummy picture! I forgot to take on. I must have been munching on one already!!!!) Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar 3/4 stick butter flavored Shortening sticks 2Tbsp milk 1Tbsp vanilla 1 large egg 1 3/4 cup flour 1 tsp salt 3/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 3/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips Directions: Heat oven to 375*F. Combine brown sugar, shortening, milk,and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat egg into creamed mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking soda Mix into creamed mixture until just blended Stir in chocolate chips Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet Bake 8 -10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11-13 minutes for crisp cookies Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet on cooling rack Remove cookies to rack to cool completely makes 3 dozen cookies




Oatmeal Raisin cookies
Recipe will follow



Potatoe chip cookies Or prize winning cookie recipe will soon be revealed here. so come back and check my little blog again. For now, Christy is keeping her recipe a secret for just a little bit longer :)


Sugar cookies oh so good,made with love by sweet Grayce and Ms Claire, but still missing the recipe and picture


We ate and sampled, sampled and ate some more and finally voted for our winner!
Stella being Stella, had made a graph ready for me to fill out that she wanted to review once she got back home( look Mama, this is how we solve such problems at my school, let me teach you) OH, ok! Being a good mom, I looked at all the votes, made my marks on her graph( she was a bit dissappointed in me for not winning), and was able to announce that Christy won this years cookie contest with her potatoe chip cookies, which were so unique. Christy a self-stated non-cook and baker could not believe it and wanted to go share her victory with her sweet girlie Bella and hubby Tobey

Christy and her prize!!!! I am so glad she won!Hope you enjoyed the book


It was time for a group shot with all the lovely ladies

( thank you self timing camera!) before we dug in and divided all those yummy goodies between us. We had a wonderful selection to bring back to our families!!! It was a beautiful day and I was already asked if this will be a yearly thing now. Why not, I had a ton of fun and about 5000 calories on my hip that day!!! I can handle that once a year ;)

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Today is my 35th birthday. Wow I remember being a teenager looking at people in their 30s. thinking :wow they are getting old and the 35+ people were definitely "over the hump" Ha , now I am one of those and to be honest I don't think I feel much different than maybe in my early twenties. Now, if you would ask one of my sweet teenage nieces, they would prop. confirm that they think I am nuts, def. NOT 20 anymore and for sure creeping closer to retirement:)
Anyway today I am feeling great and I had a wonderful day. But before the senior moments starting to take over and I forget about things, I wanted to share some sweet memories made today!
I had promised Stella, I would spend my birthday night sleeping in her bed with her so we could snuggle up and tell eachother stories. And this is how our conversation went:
Me: Stella, would take a picture with me tomorrow for my birthday? We could continue taking a birthday pic over the coming years and make this a tradition, what do you think, girlie???
Stella: Sure Mami, you just wanna see how I grow up and you get old, right?!
Me: AEHM, I guess, smart girl!
Stella: But you gotta promise me that you are giving all those pics to me before you die ( Speaking in plural hopefully meant that she will give me at least a couple more years, right?!)
Me: WHAT???? I am not planning on dying anytime soon,but nobody knows when it's their last day and that is why you should live erveryday to the fullest.....( Talking about a deep conversation with my 5 year old, not quite the expected Onkel-Uedi-getting- in-trouble-when-he-was-little-story)
Stella: Yep, but still, you are old now and I don't want you to die and this is why you should eat more fruit to keep you healthy, okay Mami.
Wow, speaking about taking charge here. My little girl sounds like I am off to the nursing home tomorrow. Anyway after some more talks about less life-changing events we drifted into a nice long snooze.
My Birthday morning was wonderful. I got served breakfast in bed along with a beautiful Brithday concert performed by the Carmouche singers. Stella made my breakfast and guess what I had: A cute smiley face; eyes made from banana slices and chocolate chips, mouth and teeth made out of strawberries and a candy corn nose, plus yummy coffee.
Stella, concerned about my health again, graciously suggested that she should eat the candy corn nose and I should work on my fruit intake instead.
That girl is so funny and she cracks me up !!!!
She wanted to give me special treat for my day.
Stella: Mami, I really think we should do something special for your birthday, how about I take you to the mall and we ride the big merry-go-round? She was really looking out for me and had it all planned out.
And this is what we did! I got to ride the merry-go-round and got to spend some birthday money on a new Pandora charm,due to Stella pulling me into the store!. Girlie you truly made me feel special today!!! I love you to the moon and back.And thanks to my two guys, too, who followed along witout one single complaint( since they got to ride the merry-go-round as well)

Luciens loves rocking the racetrack!!!

...and his Daddy is all proud( and so is his Mami ;) )

A coffee and random thoughts

Good morning. I know it has been a while.
Just because today is Tuesday and just because both kids are in school I will go ahead now, make myself a nice cup of coffee and will chat with whoever wants to join me about whatever my brain spills out on this lovely morning. Hang on, coffee is almost ready. And tatataaaa here you have it!

AHHHHHHHHH
So good and so pretty in my polish pottery mug, which makes me think of Kimber, my dear friend, who took me along for the trip to Poland to buy this lovely stuff. Usually we would try to get together on Tuesdays to share some coffee,laughs, tears and fears of motherhood! I miss her dearly and send out a big cheers to her today!
I went shopping the other day, no kids in tow, just me to get a couple of desperately needed items for my wardrobe. It was quite a success and I was happy with what I got ,but I did not feel too good about spending money that I did not earn myself. Blah. There we go again. Yes I need to work some more on my application for the pharmacy board test BUT it is sooooo not fun plus I need to find an official translator for all my documents. So I put it on the backburner for just one more day or so( there is other important stuff to take care of ... Tried to make myself feel better by selling some high fashion items( not that I own many of these but there was atime in my life....) to the second hand store( really I will never fit in those beautiful Donna Karan silk pants size 6 ever again), but when I got there they were closed. So much for trying to find more spending money! Have to go back but that day I was just in the perfect mood to do some tough negotiation !
It is November and you wonder were I have been! Here and nowhere else. I got 7 or 8 post written in drafts with pics and everything but I just hate the editing part of blogging. So I thought instead, today, to get myself back on track with my little blog, I will just write, plain writing does the soul good , wright?! And this is what this baby is all about, ME! Not trying to be selfish, just trying to focus a bit, once again I don't want to pay a pro to deal with my flaws, moods and crazy ideas( Ha how would I feel about that waste of money?!)
Rember I had said I will write whatever crosses my mind today!
Christmas is creeping up on us and I am starting to get excited and anxious at the same time. I cannot wait to see my mama and papa after so long and to give them a big fat kiss! This is my time of the year, the time for lists and since I am a total list-psycho, I have 3 notebooks and 20 million list going at the moment. From shopping list to dinner plan, from Christmas card recievers to presents ideas, to where to shop and how to decorate. Sounds stressful but is totally me!
What are my peeps in Germany doing at this moment? Sabine is prop just coming back home from a playdate with her two boys. Katja might be still at work making the big bucks ;) Regine might be running errands and getting dinner for the boys ready ! Carsten is giving a presentation somewhere. Rainer is sitting in a Stau on his way home. Trey is loving on Maddie and wishing to be here today to comfort his family here in Louisiana on this sad day for them. I wish I could just hop in the car and pay each and every one of you a visit at this minute!
Did I mention I love my Cathy! We just had our one year anniversary of being in each others lives. Sounds goofy to some of you, not to me. She has an unbelievable role in me being at peace with living so far away from home, knowing that I have her close to me is keeping me sane in the craziness of motherhood some days. A shoulder I can cry on, an inspiration , fun and just a wonderful friend. We never have enough time to talk cause we always have millions of things to talk about. I can trust her 100%. She has entered my inner circle in no time and I wish for my close friends to get to know her one day . You would be truly happy for me that I found somebody so cool, so sweet and wonderful! If you want to get to know her at least a bit,go check out her blog! handmadecathygaubert.blogspot.com Ok, ok no jealousy issues here, people. We are just adding on to the crew, nobody will get kicked of the boat ;)
Oh I need to call my mom and let her know tchibo has some stuff on sale that I want for the kids.
What's for dinner tonight???? Gimme some ideas people!!!! It is Tuesday and I am falling behind with the menue planning of this week!
I guess my brain is shifting back to work mode. That means, the pause is over Back to picking up, laundry, emails, phonecalls..... I truly enjoyed my time here today. See you soon!