Easter Cookies

I found THIS cool looking idea in my reading and thought it would be fun to try with my kiddos.

First we actually went SHOPPING for the ingredients... now if you know me at all, you know that this is a SPECIAL project if I actually went out and bought things for it! I did know that I wanted Brianna to help with it, and so we went in quest of gluten free Easter Candy...... Who would have thought that would be SO HARD to find??? The Cadbury Eggs? No problem, they were fine, but the rest??? Yea... after at least 30 minutes of reading candy labels in the grocery store (not the easiest thing with two little ones wanting all the candy) we found Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans... yup, that is it, after 30 minutes! Dang....

Next up, mixing the dough. We made it in two batches, gluten free and regular. Not that we mind eating her cookies, but the gluten free flour is EXPENSIVE and we knew that we wanted to give some of these treasures as gifts, so we made them both ways. Sorry, no pictures of this step.

Then there were LOTS of Mini Cadbury Eggs to open... with an attitude, obviously!

Next up we shaped the dough around the eggs and put them in the mini muffin trays to bake (note to self, must buy another mini muffin tray before attempting this project again, one is NOT sufficient!)

While the cookies were baking and cooling we made "Easter Baskets" to hold some of them. We knew that we wanted to give some as gifts and we thought this would be a cute and easy way to do so. I found that check boxes were the perfect size, and one sheet of 12x12 scrap booking paper covered that size very nicely. So we:

*Centered check box on 12x12 scrap book paper and tacked down with double sided tape.

*Cut corners off of paper (saved corners to make little gifts cards to go with the presents!)

*Wrapped sides up and secured with tape.

Perfect gift containers for our cookies!

After the boxes were covered, the cookies cooled and taken out of the muffin trays, then it was time to decorate them. The FUN part you know? Yes, the girls did have lots of fun decorating (and sneaking candy too, as clearly caught on camera!).

I think that they came out super cute, and gloriously yummy!

And I also think that many of our friends and family will enjoy receiving their Easter treats from the kids!

The only bummer in the whole project was that Nathaniel was on a kick and would NOT partricipate.... so it ended up being a girl project. Not exactly what I had planned, but we all had fun anyways.

If you want to attempt this project with your family here is the recipe:

Easter Egg Hunt Cookies (filled with goodness!)

Ingredients

· 2 ½ cups flour (when using gluten free flour add 1/2 Cup!)
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 cup Crisco (I used 1/2 cup Crisco and 1/2 cup butter)
· ¾ cup white sugar (we used Splenda)
· ¾ cup brown sugar (we used Splenda brown sugar)
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 2 large eggs
· 24 mini Cadbury Eggs (the Carmel ones worked well too!)

Optional:
· Green frosting
· Jelly beans or M&Ms

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cream Crisco/butter, white and brown sugars, and vanilla in the bowl of your mixer. Add eggs one at a time.

3. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients. The dough will start to pull away from the bowl of the mixer.

4. Using about a tablespoon of dough wrap a mini Cadbury egg so it is completely covered. Place the cookie inside a greased mini muffin tin
 
5. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes or until golden. ***IMPORTANT*** Let the cookies cool in the pan for about 10-12 minutes until you can “twist” it out. Using your fingertips gently try to twist the cookie to remove it. If the cookie seems too soft like it will break apart wait 2 minutes and try again. If your muffin tin is greased the cookie will lift out whole after about 10-12 minutes. But do not let your cookie cool completely in the tin or it may adhere itself to the pan and then you will have to scrape it out.
 
6. Let cookies cool completely, top with frosting and jelly beans or M&Ms.
 
Share your yummy goodness!!!

Plum Upside Down Cake

Super Yummies for my patient friend who requested  this recipe, and also for all of the rest of you too!

This is a fabulous way to use some of those great summer plums and make a unique and irresistible dessert!

Prep time: 15 mins       Total time: 1 1/4 hours.

What you will need:

12 Tablespoons butter (don't cheat yourself and use margarine!)
1/2 Cup brown sugar (1/4 Cup if you are using the Splenda brown sugar mix like I do)
4 medium plums skinned, pitted and thinly sliced
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon zest, grated (when I am lazy I use a squirt of lemon juice for a similar taste)
1 egg
1 1/4 Cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 buttermilk (milk works in a pinch but buttermilk is better)

What you will need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Heat a pan of water to a slow boil. Drop in plums and boil 1-2 minutes. The transfer the plums directly to a bowl of ice water. Let sit 2-3 mins. The skins will slip right off and this will make it simple to pit and slice the fruit. Slice fruit and set aside.

Place 6 Tablespoons of melted butter in 9x9 cake pan, add brown sugar and spread evenly on the bottom.

Arrange plums in the pan overlapping. For a special yummy sprinkle 1 Cup of fresh blueberries over the plums.

In a large bowl, cream the remaining butter with the sugar and the lemon zest (or juice if you are being lazy like me), add egg and beat until combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk.

Mix well.

Spoon the batter into the cake pan over the fruit mixture.

Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and a tooth pick comes out of the center clean.

Let cool 5-10 minutes, then turn over onto a serving plate.

Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite summertime treats, I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!