Pillow Cookies & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Saw a recipe for Pillow Cookies on Bakerella and decided I had to try it. Needless to say, it was a success. Join your favorite boxed brownie mix with your blue ribbon chocolate chip cookies and call it heaven. Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter - room temp
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar - packed
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In mixer, combine white and brown sugar. Add butter and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Add eggs and mix well.

To sugar mixture, add flour, soda, and salt. Mix until flour mixture and sugar mixture are combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using cookie scoop or spoons, drop tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto cookie sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks and enjoy!

Variation:

To make "Pillow Cookies", bake a batch of brownies (boxed or homemade) prior to beginning your cookie dough. Place a chunk of brownie in the middle of your cookie dough before baking. They are delicious!

Holy Guacamole!

I tend to get requests to make my Guacamole quit a bit. Granted most of them are from my hubby (weekly) but I also get hit up for any major sport watching event, whenever we grill out with friends, showers/engagement parties etc...

I have also had a few of my friends ask me how to make Guacamole. Which at first I thought was kind of funny because its basically mashed up avocados with some extra goodies mixed in but a lot of people think its some magical recipe. I am here to tell you it's super easy, anyone can do it and to STOP buying that green premade "guacamole" they sell at the grocery store...its not real...gag!!

First start with avocados, halved, seed removed and shelled into a bowl like so...

(this is 5 avocados - I usually will use only 2 if I am making it for just my hubby and myself)


Once all of the avocados are in the bowl I will run a knife through them to help break them up (pre-mixing) without actually having to stir them which makes my guac a little more "chunky" than smooth. The more you mix & stir the avocados the more they break down and will result in a smoother consistency. But beware...do not over stir at this stage. You will be mixing in the next few steps which will help create a "spread" like consistency.

The next step, add the extras! I tend to like things a little more spicy so I choose to add spicier ingredients. Here is the trick with spicy...spicy foods equal flavor. If you do not like spicy things it doesn't mean you shouldn't add some, or all of these ingredients. You should just add them moderately.

Added ingredients:

Red Onion

Jalapeno

Cilantro

FRESH Lime Juice

Tomatoes

Secret tool I LOVE!!! My "chopper". This one is from Pampered Chef but you can get them at any store that sells cooking tools. I use this thing all of the time! It is a HUGE time saver and honestly does a better job at chopping things like onions, jalapenos, cilantro, etc than I do.

Make sure to pre-chop/slice ingredients before adding to chopper for a better result.

Onions chopped and ready to be added to the mix. If you want them more fine...chop longer :-)



All the goodness in one bowl - pre mixed!

TA-DA!!! Yummy Guacamole!! ENJOY!

(the seeds help it from turning brown)

Retro Baking Accessories

I came across a super cute website today called Layer Cake Shop through Daily Candy. It is a bakers dream! They have every accessory imaginable. Everything from retro cake toppers, girly baking cups, fun labeling stickers, icing, sprinkles...the list goes on and on!

Here are some of my favorites: