Car Cookies

A friend of ours recently got her driver's licence, and I celebrated by making her some car shaped cookies. I didn't have a car cookie cutter, but as with my d20 dice cookies, I made my own. Cookie cutters are really easy and fun to make, and really cost-effective if you want a shape that you might only use once.

I learned how to make cookie cutters from this blog tutorial. I hopefully will do a tutorial of my own here soon, I just couldn't get it together to take photos this time around.

Here is the cookie cutter I made/used:

And here are the adorable car cookies made from my favourite gingerbread cookie recipe:

Hand Me Down Santas

Last year I posted about all the snowmen decorations that take up residence in the house in December. I still have them, but have added a number of Santa figurines to my collection, as Mom cleared out a lot of her Christmas goodies and handed them down to me. Some of these figurines I grew up with so it is nice to see them.

Now if I could just get my ass in gear to decorate the house for Christmas... I'm normally a December 1st decorator, but because I think it's still June, I am slow moving this year.

Santa Figurines "from around the world". 
I loved these growing up. 
Mom would place them on the bookshelf on a bed of fake snow. 
When these guys went up you knew Christmas was on the way.

Toy Maker Santa Figurine

Cool Santa Shelf Hanger. 
This guy sits and hangs over a shelf. 
I always thought he looked so laid back and cool. 
He fits in at our place. :)

Wooden Snowmen

Tree Ornaments. 
I'll set them out as figurines.

Santa Moon Figurine. 
It lights up.

Chicken Wings with a Side of Corn #FoodPicFriday

This meal was from sometime in September when farmer corn was still around. Love that stuff. We were getting some wicked deals on chicken wings around that time too (which have since ceased), so we were making them as often as we could. It was good living.

This meal consisted of spicy BBQ chicken wings, corn on the cob, and some sidekicks on the side.

Christmas Cactus Clone

The Christmas Cactus we got from Mom's (and that she got from Nanny's) has gotten big. Like, really big. John wants to cut it back, but I love it, even though it is a little out of control. It is out of control but still very beautiful. I think we might just transplant it to a bigger pot and let it be as big and awesome as it wants to be.

Some of the cactus did get trimmed a few years ago, and we made a little plant from it. This week it started blooming and I continue to be impressed by how hearty this 60+ year old plant proves to be.

Previous posts about the Christmas Cactus:
A Lesson in Perseverance #1
Back in Bloom #2
Guess What's Blooming #3
Well Hello #4
Christmas Cactus - 2012/2013 Season #5
Christmas Cactus - December 2013 #6

Layered Mint Chocolate Fudge

I love easy fudge made with sweetened condensed milk. The more flavours I make, the more I want to try. Each one I've made has been a hit, and the recipe makes over 2 lbs so it really goes a long way. So far I've tried Reese's Fudge, Christmas Fudge, Oreo fudge, and Salted Butterscotch Fudge.

My most recent adventure was with mint chocolate fudge, and I found the recipe on Eagle Brand's website. I adjusted the method and made it in the microwave. This was the first fudge I made in the microwave, and although it was really easy, the fudge cooled a lot faster than the stove top method, so I had to move quickly to make sure it didn't set before I got it into the baking dish.  

Ingredients:
2 cups chocolate chips, divided (I used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk (300ml), divided
2 tsp peppermint extract
2 tsp vanilla, divided
Green food colouring

Method:
1. Line 8 x 8 square pan with parchment paper.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt together 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk until blended (about one minute). Add 1 tsp vanilla and stir until combined. Spread evenly into pan for layer one of the fudge. Chill 10 minutes for layer to set.

Note: For ease of measuring the sweetened condensed milk, at this time I added the other cup of chocolate chips and another 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk to the microwave safe bowl. Set aside, as this will become layer three.

3. In another microwave safe bowl, add 1 cup white chocolate chips and the remainder of the sweetened condensed milk (it will be a little less than 1/4 cup). Melt in microwave until blended (about one minute). Mixture will be thick. Add peppermint extract and green food colouring and stir until combined. Spread over first layer of fudge. Chill for 10 minutes for layer to set.

4. Melt second bowl of chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk until blended (about one minute). Add 1 tsp vanilla and stir until combined. Spread over second layer of fudge.

Chill until firm. I usually chill mine for 24 hours and it always sets up perfectly.