It's been so long since I've written I actually forgot my password...yikes. I need to schedule a block of time in my week for "blog writing time"...but I'm just so gosh darn busy with...........
being a wife?
Update on my etsy: I deleted it. I know, that lasted a whole two seconds. But that just aint me. So onwards and upwards.
Other than that, things are rolling smoothly here in Alabama. Shane is doing great flying helos, and I'm so proud of him. What a man. He's flying the aircraft and everything...I can't tell you what stage he's at, but he's supposed to have his solo soon! I don't think I get to go out there to take pictures, but maybe I can pay the instructors in cookies or something to let me out there. The helo wives had a cookie swap today, and I'll put the recipe up here because it was fun and very good. The recipe that I followed was great, but I changed a few things so I'll let you know. The cookie swap/wine wednesday was so much fun. I had almost forgotten what it was like to have girlfriends to just sit and talk for hours about things together. Today, I'm thankful for wine (Wednesday).
Shane and I have found a church! (its been a while) Its a great place and we are going through membership classes now and we are so excited about this, because as some of you know good churches are hard to come by sometimes.
I had been trying to read a lot to fill my spare time since I don't have a job right now, so I read A Thousand Gifts. It was good for the first like 100 or so pages, but after that it was too cheesy for me. I'm not dogging the book because its filled with truth and lots of insight on being thankful- but I am just not a sentimental reader for more than like 50 pages, so 100 was pushing it...and the whole book? Well...I couldn't finish the last 40 or so pages. But if you're one of those girls that likes movies like The Notebook or My Sisters Keeper (haha Kel had to throw that movie in there) then you'll probably like the book all the way through. Just my guess.
My birthday is in a week or so, but I'm more excited about going to Dallas than the 'ol turning of the page. 26 is serious y'all. I should probably start crocheting or buying de-wrinkle creme, but Shane says he will like my wrinkles, so I'm going to hold off on the beauty products. Maybe not hold off on crocheting. I did think about going to Boot Camp in January to "work on my fitness" as Fergie would say, but the funds just aren't there for now. So workout on my own it is until hopefully the spring class. Luckily I have a husband with a tight bod so it keeps me motivated...am I right ladiez? No one wants to be the fat girl next to the hot husband...so I'm doing my part.
Speaking of monumental events, I'm pretty sure I skipped our anniversary on here. I know all of you really care so I'll just tell you that it was November 19. What did we do you ask? ...nothing. Except I did get a tattoo:
It looks like Shane must've twisted my pinky before this picture or something..I don't know why else it looks so retarded. Obviously, the "S" stands for single. Totally kidding, chill out.
I also have decided to "take control of our finances before they take control of me"...so I read Dave Ramsey's book. Don't let the price tag fool you...its a really good book for people that don't know much about finances. Not pointing any fingers, but me. It's been really helpful...it takes a few months to get everything situated but I think it's been really helpful already!
Enough of the talking, let's get on to the baking of Christmas goodies! I'm telling you, if you like those girl scout thin mints, this is your heaven. It is identical to the thin mints you buy from the girl scouts, and the best part is: the recipe is fairly easy! It's one of the first recipes I tried after Shane and I got married and I had zero experience in cooking. (Ask Kelly and Lauren...we did not cook in college). So my second time around I made some changes, and here they are:
Okay here's the original recipe with my changes in red:
Home made Thin Mints!!!
For the cookies:
- 8 ounces of butter
- 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I'm linking pictures of the ingredients that aren't your everyday ingredients...in my oh so professional opinion)
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 11/2 cups of all purpose flour
For the coating:
- 12 oz package of white chocolate chips
- 11/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (make sure you get peppermint, not spearmint)
- Package of candy canes. I think there were 12 in mine and I only used 4.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter (if straight from the fridge I would put it on 10-15 seconds in the microwave to soften) until light and fluffy, then add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Stir in the salt, vanilla and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter resembles a thick frosting. Add the flour and mix just until the flour is combined, making sure to not over mix (it should look kinda like chocolate puppy chow or whatever that stuff is).
- Form dough into a ball. Knead a few times to bring together (I had to do this for a while..I guess until my body oil absorbed so it would "bring together"), then flatten into a disk between half an inch and one inch thick, cover in plastic wrap then place in freezer for 15 or so minutes. If your body temperature runs high (some would call it "sweating", I would keep it in a little longer because you'll handle it a lot and the warmer it is the more they deform....I had to keep it in for 25 minutes if that tells you anything.
- Remove dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin on a floured surface, about 1/8-inch. I don't have a roller so I used one of Shane's metal water bottles. Cut cookies using 1 1/2-inch cutter (I used a skinny wine glass (since I don't have "cutters" and they were a nice size).
- Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. I let them sit overnight because Shane goes to bed at like 7:30 pm....I do too. I love to sleep. No shame. While the cookies bake (or the next day), make the peppermint coating. Place the white chocolate in a glass bowl or similar container and microwave in short 10-15 second bursts. Do this because in the microwave the white chocolate burns really easily. So 10 seconds, take out, stir. Put back in for 10-15 seconds until melted smoothly. Stir in the peppermint extract. Feel free to add more peppermint as you see fit. (Don't add any more, the amount is perfect)
- Gently drop the cookies, one at a time, into the coating. Turn to coat entirely, then lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan until the extra coating drips off. Place on a parchment or plastic wrap-lined baking sheet. I had to reheat my chocolate a few times. Depending on how much was left in the bowl, I would just decrease the amount of time. Its amazing what 5 seconds in the microwave will do. Also, I had to "bang the fork on the side" of the bowl quite a few times to keep the chocolate from running out before I had all my cookies covered.
- For the candy canes, I unwrapped 4 of them and stuck them between parchment paper and took a hammer to them until I was satisfied with the size of the pieces. I then put them in a small bowl and used a spoon to sprinkle candy cane pieces on the dipped cookies. I would say to dip 3 or 4 cookies in the melted chocolate, then sprinkle, so the chocolate doesn't harden before the peppermints get a chance to cling to the chocolate.
- Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.
Ta da!! Home made thin mints!
If you have any questions let me know!
Happy almost my birthday
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