Sooo Cute Cookies!

Gingerbread Cookies

Are these just the cutest cookies ever?  I fell in love with them the minute I saw them here on sweetapolita's blog.  She makes the most amazing sweets if you haven't been there before use the link above to visit now!!    You can get the complete instructions by following the link but this is a picture of mine and some of the small changes that I did that worked for me.  Sweetapolita makes hers very large - an  8 x 11 size.  They are super cute but I wanted my one recipe of dough to go further so I copied and used the template she provides as it is without enlarging it,  (see link) which came out about to be about 6" x 7 1/2".  I used mine to take to children in my church Primary goup to welcome them to a new year of classes.  I also added a toothpick with a flag taped to it in the cookie's hand that said "Welcome to our class!" They loved them.  This would also make a fun birthday party invite or treat to take home. 

I pretty much followed the recipe with a couple of exceptions.  I used regular brown sugar and regular molasses (unsulphered) because I already had those on hand. I also wanted to keep the flavor a little more on the mild side.  She also provides a link to show how to make the royal icing and how to get the right consistancy.  I actually had to add more powdered sugar to get it to a "toothpaste" consistancy.  I used tip #3 for the lines, and tip #199 for the cheeks.  I used Americolor pink for the nose and cheeks, making the nose a little darker with the same color.  I used Skittles for the buttons!  Have fun!

Parbaked Dinner Rolls

 It took quite a while to decide what to give for neighbor gifts this year.  If you read the post on apple butter that I made late this fall I mentioned that I wanted to give cute little tubs of it to my neighbors for Christmas.  But what good is apple butter with nothing to put it on?  So it made sense that it would be great to combine it with rolls.....but then came the problem.  How to get them to them fresh and hot which is obviously the most fantastic way to eat rolls with cinnamony (is that a word?) sweet apple butter on them, right?  So the testing began.  No one I talked to had ever parbaked rolls and many wondered if that was even possible.  I took my favorite Sweet Dinner Rolls recipe from allrecipes and even researched on the internet and found that there is a way to parbake (partially bake) the dough so that they can either be frozen or refrigerated and finish cooking at another time!  It really works and makes it so you can have hot rolls but prepare them ahead of time!  They made fun gifts because neighbors could eat them when it was convenient but also enjoy them hot.  Here is how to do it.

 First make a batch of this roll dough:

Sweet Dinner Rolls
 Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg (mixed in with a fork)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (1 Tblspn.)

 I make it in my bread machine following the instructions it gives me.  I add the liquids first then the dry ing. and last I make a well and put the yeast in it. ( I also use instant yeast instead of regular).  Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start.  You can make it by hand the usual way you make rolls, but I love the way my bread machine turns out a perfectly risen dough each time and it is just sooo easy!
While the dough is rising go ahead and get your pans ready.  This is what I did for the neighbor gifts:

Spray pan with cooking spray, then if you want a space in the middle to put tubs of butter or apple butter, wrap two small canning jar rings with foil and set in the middle of the pan. 

When the dough is ready, take it out of the machine and divide the dough in half and those halves in half.  Keep squeezing each portion in half until you have 16 little equal size portions of dough.

  Form rolls by taking dough and pushing it up through an O formed by your thumb and middle finger.  This makes the top of the roll smooth and pretty.  Set the dough evenly around the pan with about an inch in between and cover with a light cloth to rise for about an hour.  Rolls should touch when they have risen enough.

To parbake them when you want to finish baking at a later time, just preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Bake your rolls for about 11 minutes.  Watch rolls and remove when they just have a hint of golden on the top.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.  Remove the foil rings in the center and add the tubs of butter. 

I included a note telling them that these were only partly baked and how to finish them.

Bake these at 400 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown!  Top with apple butter or strawberry butter!
Great for Christmas gifts but just as wonderful any time of the year!

Apple Butter Neighbor Gifts!

All Day Apple Butter

 This is an amazing and fun recipe for a great treat and /or Neighbor gift!  I was trying to think of what to do this Christmas for neighbors.  It is always a big decision because as much as I love the wonderful treats that come to my doorstep this time of year, it sometimes gets a little overwhelming when most of it is very, very sweet.  I like to find something to give that departs somewhat from the usual and this is the wonderful recipe I found on All recipes    here   ! It has been slightly adapted by me.  This year I am going to send (shhh!  don't tell my neighbors - it's a secret!)  par-baked dinner rolls(so they can finish baking them at home and have hot fresh rolls) accompanied by spicy, delicious apple butter.  I have heard about it for years and it was so easy to do I think I will be doing it every year now.  First....

Wash 5 1/2 lbs. of apples (I used Gala)

Then peel, core, and slice them. (I used my pampered Chef apple peeler, it cuts the time down a lot)

Then dice them into very small chunks.  I do love my Vidalia Chop Wizard! But you can certainly just chop with a knife or chopper.

Place apples in a slow cooker.  Notice how small the pieces are.  They will cook faster.

In a medium bowl, mix in the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.  Pour the mixture over the apples and mix well.

Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook for 9-18 hours. Stir occasionally.  When apples are soft and a deep brown, uncover the cooker and cook on low for 1 more hour to reduce the liquid.  Then  carefully scoop out a few cups at a time and put in the blender.

 Keep blender lid on and be careful not to get burned, the apples will come up higher in the blender and burn if too much is added at once.  Pour pureed apple butter into a bowl and repeat with the rest of the batch.  Test to see if it is done by taking some on a spoon.  If liquid doesn't separate from it you are good to go!  Pour into sterile containers and cover and refrigerate or freeze. I found some cute red and white tiny plastic containers at the dollar store that have snap on lids to use.  I can't wait to give them to neighbors with some dinner rolls! Be sure to check out my next blog for some fantastic rolls that melt in your mouth! Hope you like this recipe too! 

All day Apple Butter

5 1/2 lbs apples cored, peeled, finely diced

4 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place the apples in a slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.

Cover and cook on high 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 18 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.

Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour to reduce the liquid and thicken the apple butter.  Scoop into the blender a little at a time and puree.  Refrigerate or freeze in sterile containers.

Can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks and frozen for up to 6 months!
Makes about 4 pints.