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Classic Gingerbread Men

December 19, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

Well, friends, this is my favorite recipe of all time.  There is nothing better than soft gingerbread cookies to make it feel like Christmas.  I could (and do) make theses any time of the year.  This is the recipe my mom always made when I was younger.

gingerbread men

They certainly don’t have to be in the shape of gingerbread men.  When I get the urge to make this recipe in the middle of summer, round cookies with plain icing is a good way to go too.

gingerbread cookies

Classic Gingerbread Men
Print Recipe
  • CourseCookies
Servings
24 medium sized cookies
Servings
24 medium sized cookies
Classic Gingerbread Men
Print Recipe
  • CourseCookies
Servings
24 medium sized cookies
Servings
24 medium sized cookies
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 3 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp ground cloves
Servings: medium sized cookies
Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and molasses. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time. Chill dough for at least 2 hours. Roll the dough, on a lightly floured board, 1/4 inch thick. Cut in any shape you choose. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes, longer if you are using extra large cookie cutters. Frost with a butter cream frosting or a powdered sugar glaze.
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gingerbread men 2

Happy baking!

 

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas cookies, Gingerbread Cookies

The New Hot Cocoa Station

November 12, 2018   By Becca Leave a Comment

I know it’s not really Christmas decorating time, but it’s certainly hot cocoa time.  Every year, I put my hot cocoa station on my kitchen table.  My husband doesn’t like moving it every night, when we sit down for dinner. This year, I decided to try something different.

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We have a cute little corner cabinet in our kitchen and I thought it might be the perfect spot.

**Side story… When we bought our house, 13+ years ago, the previous owner had this corner unit.  It was handmade by her grandfather and she loved it, but she had nowhere to put it in their new house.  She asked if I’d like to keep it.  Well, I love unique pieces like this!  It’s so cool that you can see the hand carving.

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I bought a bottle of caramel syrup and two different types of caramel.  My favorite type of hot cooca is Nestle Quick, made with milk.  (Ok, my favorite is actually from Williams Sonoma but I can’t afford that all of the time.  Nestle works well for the amount of cocoa I serve at my house.) I put that in the cute jar with the jingle bells.  We also have some snowflake shaped marshmallows from Williams Sonoma, and I added the candy canes at my daughter’s request.

Aren’t those mugs the cutest?  I picked those up at World Market.  I saw them on someone’s Instagram and knew I had to have them!  I’m gradually adding some Scandinavian touches to my house and these are perfect.  They are also very large mugs, which gets two thumbs up from my daughter.

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I stopped by downtown Snohomish the other day and spotted this little sign at Cinnamon Stick.  That was a no-brainer.  It needed to be the finishing touch on my hot cocoa station.

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So, here’s your shopping list:

  1. Hot cocoa mix
  2. Flavored syrup
  3. Caramel
  4. Candy canes
  5. Marshmallows
  6. Cute mugs
  7. A few decorations
  8. Empty jars
  9. A tray to house all cocoa related items

There you go!  This is all you need for a hot cocoa station.  I usually don’t have to go shopping to create my hot cocoa station.  Most of the time, these items are already in my house, but this year I really needed those mugs.  And who could pass up a tiny little sign that fit perfectly into the tray?

Happy decorating!  And happy cocoa drinking!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Christmas, decorating, hot cocoa station

Christmas on the Front Porch

November 26, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s time to join the fun!  Blogland is full of beautiful pictures of Christmas and I couldn’t wait to join in!  I kept the same wreaths and greenery on the front porch this year, but added a few new things to the little chair.  I absolutely love my sled shaped door mat but it has seen better days.  I can’t find a replacement, so if anyone has a lead on a cute doormat please send ideas my way!

Christmas Front Door

I found that cute little black bag, with picnic items inside, at Thorp Antiques over Labor Day weekend.  I’ve always wanted a small thermos collection and now I have my first two antiques!  For those of you who like my cute little bag, and live near Snohomish, I saw a similar bag upstairs in Joyworks for around $25 over the weekend.  I pictured my plaid bag looking nice near the Christmas tree, fireplace, or even by the coat rack in the entry.  I should almost run out and grab the bag from Joyworks myself!

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I realized, as I was typing this, that I forgot to get my old sled out of the rafters in the garage, and I still haven’t been able to find my plaid wool blanket.  I’ll find those next weekend.

Christmas Front Porch 2

That’s the beginning of the of Christmas at my house!  There is so much more to come.  We had a fun weekend of decorating, Hallmark movies, and family.

Merry Christmas!

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Filed Under: Decorating, Outdoor Tagged With: Christmas

Christmas Cookies

January 7, 2017   By Becca Leave a Comment

I know the holiday season is over and we’re all trying NOT to eat the yummy baked treats anymore, but I never got around to sharing my Christmas cookie tray.  It’s so pretty, that I just couldn’t resist posting.

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This year, I made gingerbread cookies, snowflake shaped sugar cookies, spritz, spreads, peanut-butter cup-ish cookie bars, and peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses.

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If you are interested in any of these recipes, just type the name of the cookie into the search bar on the blog and they should pop up.

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Ok, now I’m really hungry for cookies.  I guess I’ll go chop some veggies for my snack instead.  Boy, I miss the Holidays!

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Filed Under: Baking Tagged With: baking, Christmas, cookies

Christmas Front Porch

December 2, 2015   By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house!  I’m still not lifting or moving too much since my back surgery, but my pointer finger works just fine.  My kids and my hubby really like it when I ask them to do something and then just sit and point at what I’d like done.  (Can you hear the sarcasm?)  So, I can’t take credit for the loveliness of the front door.  My hubby did the work and I just pointed.
I have used the same garland and wreaths for many years.  I’d like to bulk it up, but it’s hard to splurge on decorations when I could use that money to buy gifts for people.

This is my favorite sign of all time.  If you live in my neighborhood, you know how true this is.

Ok, maybe this is my favorite sign.

Ok, I guess I have a problem deciding which sign is my favorite.  I love this one too.

I cute sign, a bucket of holly, and some birch logs from the deck are all it takes to make my chair kind of cute!

This is the sled I grew up using.  It’s missing the middle wood piece, but I still love it.  That sled has seen many miles of happy hills!

I’m having a hard time believing that MY sled could possibly be an antique!

Happy decorating!

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Filed Under: Decorating, Miscellaneous Tagged With: antiques, Christmas, Front Yard

It’s Almost Baking Time – My Favorite Easy Spritz Cookie Recipe

November 15, 2015   By Becca 2 Comments

Here they are…

the first Christmas cookies of the season at our house!

Recipe for Spritz Cookies

1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

Mix butter and powdered sugar.  Add egg yolks and vanilla.  Mix in flour and salt.
Use a cookie press to shape cookie dough on a lined baking sheet. (I use a Silpat liner.)
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes.
Frost with a powdered sugar and milk glaze.
Add sprinkles.
Let the Christmas baking begin!!!
This is my favorite cookie press. I’ve owned several cookie presses over the years and the Cuisinart Electric is the one I’ve had the best luck with.

I also highly suggest using a Silpat baking mat when you bake cookies. It makes the cookies just slide ride off the pan and have the perfect golden brown tint on the bottom.



Happy baking, Friends!

Dolen Diaries
Nap-Time Creations

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Filed Under: Baking, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Christmas, Cookie Friday, products, recipes

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

November 11, 2015   By Becca 5 Comments

One of the moms, at the school I teach at, recently asked me for the frosting recipe and directions for the gingerbread houses we make in the classroom.  I love hosting a Gingerbread Party for my students and siblings, and I also host a party for my kids and their friends too.

For the past 10 years, we’ve hosted friends and family and created the most adorable graham cracker houses.  Lining the table with butcher paper or wrapping paper is a MUST!  It makes clean up super easy. You just fold all of the garbage right into to paper that is on the table and clean up is done!

The kids have gotten better and better every year and patiently working on their houses.

 


I had a lot of fun with my bokeh pictures too.  (Bokeh is the blurry background that produces the pretty lights from the tree.)

 

I ask every family to bring a candy item to share. My favorite candies for gingerbread house decorating are Lifesavers, Neccos, small candy canes, red hots, red and green M&M’s, Twizzlers Pull Apart licorice, gumdrops, and  pretzel twists. (Pretzel twists make great fences.)


 


 

When the kids were little, I prepared the house bases ahead of time, so all they had to do was add the roof and candy. I still prepare the houses ahead of time for Kindergarten.  (Actually, my parent volunteers prepare them.) Since my kids at home are bigger, we just build and create! Sometimes the candy houses turn into candy fortresses.

Here’s how I build the bases when young kids (first grade and under) are decorating with us.  The only reason I do the base for the kids is that it is very frustrating when you are 4 years old and your house falls apart every time you try to add candy.  Royal icing needs time to dry and harden.  Patience is hard when you’re 4. Building the house bases is really easy.  I start with foil covered cardboard.  They make simple platforms for the kids to create their “yard”. I cut the graham crackers with a bread knife and assemble the house base with royal icing.  I always use the royal icing to “glue” the house base to the platform. This is what an assembled house base looks like when it is ready for the party to start..  I make one for each child and a few extras in case we have an accident. 


I let the kids add the two pieces for the roof and all of the decorations.  Royal icing is best for assembling houses and decorating.  I usually make several batches of Royal icing and put it into individual quart sized freezer bags. (Don’t use sandwich bags because they pop.) When it’s time for decorating, I just snip off a small corner of the bag.

The recipe for Royal Icing is included in the package of Wilton Meringue Powder.  I buy my meringue powder at Michael’s.  If you can’t find meringue powder, I’m sure you can google a recipe for a similar icing that calls for egg whites.  I’ve always used the meringue powder recipe because raw eggs freak me out. (Unless, of course, I’m eating cookie dough.)

3 Tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
5 or 6 Tbsp warm water

Beat all ingredients, with heavy duty mixer, until icing forms peaks. (7-10 minutes)

Here are a few examples from our gingerbread party last year.  

This one was Rudolph’s barn.

This is a gingerbread manger.

If you’ve never done this before, this is the year to give it a try.  My kids always look forward to this day.  I’ll admit, I’ve toned it down over the years.  The first few years we invited about 30 kids and their parents, served lunch, and hosted all-out party.  Now, we just have family.  There are 10 kids and one crazy mom who just loves being the Gingerbread Queen.
Happy Decorating!
 

 

 

 


Happy Holidays!

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Filed Under: Kids, Miscellaneous, Photography Tagged With: Christmas, gingerbread

Hot Cocoa Station

December 3, 2014   By Becca 1 Comment

The Hot Cocoa Station has made its return!
Every year, about this time, I set out a tray with everything we need to make a cup of cocoa after school.  My kids like Nestle Quick hot cocoa mix that you make with milk.  We also add marshmallows and sprinkles just for fun.  
This year, I let my 13 year old take the picture of our hot cocoa station.  He just finished up photography class in middle school and I thought it would be fun for him to play around with bokeh a bit.  He started by taking just a regular picture with the tree in the background.  I suggested he get the tripod and then gave him a few settings to try.  I was kind of proud of myself because it’s not too often you will hear, “Whoa, that’s so cool!” when a 13 year old is directing a comment toward his mom.  Yep, I made that happen!  I might need to mark this day on the calendar.
The cocoa station that sat on our kitchen table last Christmas had candy canes and Christmas mugs too.  So many choices, so little time.

If you have kids, set up a cocoa station for them!  It’s really cute and it’s the highlight of a cold winter day!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Christmas

The Christmas Tree I Never Showed You

December 30, 2012   By Becca 1 Comment

Better late than never! Right?

Two days before Christmas, I finally fixed the bottom third of the lights on the tree.  (Our Christmas break didn’t officially start until Christmas Eve this year. I think I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.)   I’m one of those people who LOVES decorating for Christmas, but also can’t wait to get the mess out of my house.  We enjoyed the decorated tree for a few days, but it was undecorated and in the front yard by December 26th.

 


Maybe next year I’ll be able to enjoy it for a little longer.

Happy Undecorating!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Christmas

A Few Favorite Teacher Gifts

December 30, 2012   By Becca Leave a Comment


I’d like to say that I took the time to have my kids make gifts for their teachers.  The reality is, that I barely got the gift cards stuffed into envelopes and delivered on the right day.  My students and their parents, on the other hand, made some pretty cute creations for their kindergarten teacher.

First up, the melted snowman ornament.  LOVE!

These little candies were delicious.  I wish I could show you what the peanut butter meteorites look like.  They didn’t make it to the end of the school day.  They were very tasty.

One of my girls described how she made soap with her mom and sisters. I’ve never made soap before, but it sounds like fun.

How cute are these little elf shoes?  

In addition to these cute little creations, several parents went in together on a gift, and I also received many cards, treats, and gift cards to a few of my favorite stores. Oh, and my favorite gift of all was an email I received from our assistant superintendent.  She had been sent an email from one of my parents, who just wanted to share a few things about my teaching and our classroom.  I can’t tell you how much it brightened my day teaching career! I have fabulous students and parents! I feel truly blessed.

Happy Holidays! 

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Christmas, gifts, school

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Welcome

Hello, Friends. I'm Becca. I'm a teacher, and when I'm not in the classroom, I'm doing everything I can to create a happy home. I love to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach, and simply spend time with my family. I don't consider myself to be an artist, but I strive to find the art in the everyday things I do to make our house a home. Join me as I quilt you up some comfort or warm you with some cookies!

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Hello, Friends. I'm Becca. I'm a teacher, and when I'm not in the classroom, I'm doing everything I can to create a happy home. I love to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach, and simply spend time with my family. I don't consider myself to be an artist, but I strive to find the art in the everyday things I do to make our house a home. Join me as I quilt you up some comfort or warm you with some cookies!

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