Thanksgiving Day Fixin's

So when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of family getting together, catching up on events that have happened since the last gathering, football, and food. While  the teams we root for may or may not win, we still have good company and good food. I know when my family is together we have turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pies of every kind, cake, and cookies. Pretty sure I may have left a few things out of that list, but knowing I am blessed to be in the company that I am, and blessed to have the things I do in my life.

With that, I would like to start a survey:

• What are your top fixings at your Thanksgiving Day gatherings?

Cookie Mix in a Jar

I think cookie mixes in a jar is a neat idea for any time of the year. I do realize this isn't something that is new, as I have seen them around, but this is still a creative idea. Depending on the time of season you give this mix, will depend on the decorations for the jar. I've seen jars with colorful, bright labels and some kind of decoration on the lid, to having a tag with the description on it as part of the decoration on the lid. So, it's all a matter of what creative method you want to use to decorate the jar without taking away from the actual contents of the jar. The recipe I'm going to share with you is just that, a cookie mix. You will need a 2 quart jar, the recipe makes 3 1/2 dozen baked cookies, and take about 13 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 2-quart jar
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup red and green M&M's Minis

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, blend cocoa and remaining 1 cup flour.
2. Spoon half the flour-cocoa mixture into jar. Press down to flatten, using small spice jar. Spoon half the plain flour mixture over cocoa layer; compact. Repeat. top with brown sugar and granulated sugar, compressing each. Add chips and M&M's to jar.
3. Attach baking instructions: blend 2 sticks cooled, melted unsalted butter with 3 eggs, 1/3 cup milk and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Stir in cookie mix until blended. Drop by heaping tbsp onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 13 minutes or until firm. Cool on pan for 1 minute, then remove to a rack.

Oreo Snowman Recipe

So over the next few days I'm going to be posting some recipes that may inspire a few ideas for gatherings at your home or as something fun to send to school with your kids for holiday parties. There are a few good ideas like Oreo Snowmen or even a cookie mix as a possible gift for a friend, boss, co-worker, or even your child's teacher. I know I enjoy making food stuff during the holidays at my house, and if it something easy I try and get my little peanut in the kitchen with me to do a little cooking.

So, for the first recipe that I will be posting is an Oreo Snowman recipe that would be a neat idea to send to school with your child or to take with you to work.

Ingredients:

• 24 white-chocolate-coated Oreo cookies
• 24 lollipop sticks
• 24 Mike and Ike small orange candies
• 1/2 cup canned dark chocolate frosting
• 1/4 cup canned vanilla frosting

Directions:

• Insert a lollipop stick into one end of each cookie (You may first need to use a toothpick or small skewer to make a hole).
• Spoon frostings into separate resealable bags and snip a small corner from each with scissors.
•  Using dark chocolate frosting, pipe eyes and mouth onto cookies. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting in center of each cookie and place an orange candy on it. Allow cookies to dry for about 30 minutes.