Hunger Games District 12 Coal Cookies

Recipe from Instructables

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 1/3 cups packed dark brown sugar 

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp instant coffee crystals

 1 TBsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs (room temperature)

2/3 Dutch-process cocoa plus 1 Tbsp for decorating

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup black sanding sugar

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until it is nice and creamy.

Then gradually add the brown sugar until it forms a gritty past.

Then at medium speed mix in baking powder, coffee crystals, cayenne pepper, vanilla, and salt.

Add in the eggs and beat until incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa powder.

Then add in the flour mixture, dough will be stiff.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

In another bowl, mix 1 Tbsp of the Dutch cocoa powder and 1 cup of black sanding sugar.

With a small cookie scoop, drop a tablespoon size glob into the sugar mixture and roll around to coat.

Place rolled cookies on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes. (DO NOT over bake, will become too stiff to mold)

Let them cool for about 2 minutes, then carefully mold the cookie gently to make uneven irregular shapes to resemble chunks of coal.

Move to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

To package them up, wrap the cookies up in some red tissue paper, then in a big square of tinfoil.

Secure the pouch with some string or yarn, thread a label through the string and tie it close.

You can use the link below to print out the labels, then cut and hole punch to add the extra touch.

Hope you enjoy your Coal Cookies! Happy Hunger Games!

Printable Coal Cookie Labels

Deadly Nighlock Berry Brie Bites on Peeta Chips

What you need:

Box of Peta Chips

Small wheel of Brie cheese

Lingonberry Jam

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Lay out some pita chips on the prepared baking sheet.

Slice Brie cheese into thin slices, then cut the slice in half.

Place one of the half slices on the pita chip.

Bake in oven until the cheese starts to melt.

Take out of oven, spoon a little bit of lingonberry jam on top of the Brie.

Serve warm and ENJOY!

Prim's Goat Cheese, Apple, Cherry, & Almond Galette

Recipe from Food Network

Here's what you need:

Galette

2 TBsp unsalted butter

3 Braeburn apples (peeled, halved, cored, halves cut into 6 1/2-inch wedges

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp arrowroot

1 tsp fresh lemon mice

One 8-oz frozen puff pastry (thawed)

All purpose flour (for sprinkling)

1 large egg (beaten)

Topping

One 4-oz package chilled soft fresh goat cheese (crumbled into 1/3 to 1/2-inch chunks

1/3 cup sliced almonds (toasted)

1/3 cup tart dried cherries

How to make it:

For the galette

Position a rack in the center of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the apples and sprinkle with salt.

Saute until almost tender, tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat.

Whisk the sugar, spices, and arrowroot in a small bowl until no cornstarch  lumps remain.

Sprinkle the spiced sugar and lemon juice over the apples in the skillet, toss to blend.

Cool to lukewarm.

Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a work surface.

Unfold the pastry sheet on the parchment and sprinkle both sides lightly with flour.

Roll out pastry to 12-inch square, lifting, turning and sprinkling with more flour to keep from sticking.

Cut off the corners (with a rounded cut) making a 12 inch diameter pastry round.

Brush the pastry all over with some beaten egg.

Starting 2 inches in from the edge (to leave a wide border) arrange the apple wedges close together in a circle on the pastry.

Arrange the remaining apples in a smaller circle in the center.

Fold the pastry border partially over the filing, pleating the pastry in loose folds.

Brush the folded-up border with some beaten egg.

Slide the galette with the parchment onto a heavy baking sheet.

Scrap the juices from the skillet over the apples.

Bake galette until pastry edge is deep golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make the topping:

Toss the goat cheese, almonds, and cherries in a medium bowl bowl until evenly distributed (the cheese should remain in distinct pieces)

Chill until ready to use.

Remove the galette from the oven.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling.

Return the galette to the oven and bake for 5 minutes longer to soften the cheese and cherries.

Cool 20 minutes and serve warm or cool for 2 hours and serve at room temperature.

Then ENJOY!

Girl on Fire Cocktail

What you need:

Champagne

Rose's Grenadine Syrup

Orange Juice

How to make it:

Pour 1 tsp of grenadine in the bottom of a champagne flute.

Next fill the flute with orange juice about half way.

Then pour in the champagne to the top of the flute.

Then Enjoy!

The Hunger Games Party

     With the new Catching Fire movie premiering this week, last Saturday my friend invited some of us over for movie night...the movie, The Hunger Games, the first movie of the series.  And of course, I had to come dressed to impress in my Katniss inspired outfit! 

I found these great ankle boots and leather jacket at Target.

The arrow necklace I found at Buckle.

I'm loving my new Catching Fire inspired makeup I found at Walgreens & CVS:

Covergirl Flamed Out Shadow Pencil : Gold Flame & Red-Hot Flame

L'OREAL Paris Colour Riche Eyeshadow: What Happens in Vegas - 559

MILANI Baked Eyeshadow: I Heart You - 602

MILANI Color Statement Lipstick: Chilled Brandy - 22

Covergirl Lipslicks Smoochies Sizzle Gloss: Glow For It - 556

Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy: Satellite - 230

Nail Rock Nail Caviar: Mars

(Ignore the reddish eyes...my allergies were bothering me that day)

Here's the awesome Peeta & Katniss t-shirt I found from Alpine Stone Apparel 

the Mocking Jay bracelet is from Luck Jane

and the "Tracker Jacker" earrings I found at Target.

Once I got there, I saw an amazing spread of yumminess!

This was AMAZING!

It's a pretzel, popcorn, and oyster cracker party mix!

     

One of the ladies brought some yummy red chili and cornbread!

I decked mine out with sour cream and cheesy cheese!

My Deadly Nightlock Tart

I tried out some of this Whipped Chocolate Valley Vines Wine

Watching President Snow giving a welcoming speech to the tributes.

Enjoying a new glass of ChocolatRouge Wine

Watching Katniss about to blow up all the food and supplies.

I had a great time hanging out with my friends, enjoying great food 

and wine, and of course watching a great movie!

I can't wait till the Hunger Games and Catching Fire marathon 

on Thursday!  

Deadly Nighshade Tart

     The other day I was invited over to a friend's house for a little Hunger Games party to watch the movie and gear up for Catching Fire movie that premiers this week!  Since I LOVE theme parties, I decided to make a Deadly Nightshade Tart and some whipped cream to bring over! (It's really just my new Foodie Favorite, Lingonberry Jam).  It turned out amazing....and no one died!

Recipe from Elsbro.

** Ok, so the recipe I used was all in Metric, so I did my best to convert it to the Americanized measurements, the easiest was to use Tablespoons for everything **

How to make it:

13 TBsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

12 TBsp oatmeal

12 TBsp all purpose flour (sifted)

8 TBsp sugar

1 tsp baking soda

Lingonberry jam

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Add the butter, oatmeal, flour, sugar, and baking soda into a large bowl and work together with your hands OR add all ingredients into a food processor, pulse until you get a fine sandy textured dough.

Take 2/3 of the dough and push into a butter or parchment lined cake dish with your hands. (I used a tart pan)

Spread the jam over the the dough.

Sprinkle the rest of the dough over the jam.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool, then slice, add a dollop of fresh whipped cream, and ENJOY!

Friday Foodie Favorites: Roland Wild Swedish Lingonberries

     The other day I found this jar of Lingonberries.  I have never tasted a Lingonberry let alone even heard of them.  So, I thought I why not give it a go.  When I got home I wanted to know what a Lingonberry actually was, so, of course I googled it.  According to About.com "Lingonberries are to Scandinavians what blackberries are to Americans."  Did you know they are also a distant cousin to the cranberry?  If they are like cranberries then I know I would love them!  Now, how to use them?  I saw a few pins on Pinterest that paired Lingonberry jam with Swedish Meatballs...hmmmm interesting.  Well, I didn't have any meatballs..  So, should I spread it on some toast?  Make a PB & Lingonberry jam sandwich?  Looking through the fridge I noticed I and some roasted turkey deli meat, a wheel of Rosenborg Brie, and some bread in the pantry.  Why not make a panini?!

Here's what I came up with!

And it was AMAZ-ING!

Homemade Biscuits

          The other day I signed up through Caring Meals to make a meal for one of my MOPs friends who just welcomed an adorable little boy into their family.  I decided to make a pot roast and veggie dinner in the crockpot.  I love using the crockpot, it's so easy to put in all the ingredients, set it and forget it...well till the timer goes off.   But what goes great with pot roast? Warm, made from scratch biscuits!  And if you know me, I couldn't complete the meal without baking up something sweet.  She told me her hubby loves chocolate desserts.  So I baked up my favorite Milk Chocolate Brownies!  It's a great feeling making a meal for a friend.  After I had Kinley, I was so thankful for all my friends who brought meals over to my family.  

Recipe from Kitchen Mage

Here's what you need:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (sifted) 3/4 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1/3 cup unsalted butter (very cold) 1 cup milk (very cold)
How to make it:
Preheat oven to 450˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to food processor. Pulse half a dozen times and check for the size of the butter pieces. Repeat if necessary until the butter is in pieces, roughly the size of peas. Put flour mixture in a mixing bowl and add the cold milk. Toss together gently until barely combined. As soon as the dough holds together, turn it out on a lightly floured counter. Gently knead the dough a few strokes until it is mostly a cohesive ball. Roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Cut into 2 inch circles, you should get about 6 biscuits. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10minutes. Butter and eat warm. ENJOY!

Walking On Sunshine

     I can't believe my little lady is walking!  And EVERYWHERE! She is more of a tip toe-er, guess she is just ready to put on momma's heels.  Pretty soon she'll be running I know it!  Take a look at her journey from crawling to walking...

My little girl is growing up way too fast!

Friday Foodie Favorites: Hershey's Spreads Chocolate with Almond

     So, I know I missed posting my Friday Foodie Favorite last week, so here I am making it up with these delicious Hershey Chocolate Almond Brownies.  I just basically made my favorite home made Milk Chocolate Brownies then swirled the Hershey's Spread on the top before baking! They turned out amazing!