Happy New Year Confetti Cookies

Chocolate covered caramel squares

I didn't attempt to stage these for a pretty photo as they're really messy, but they may be the yummiest item I've made. Chocolate and caramel. How can you go wrong?

Snowflake Cookies

I've always loved snowflakes. I'm not sure I've actually ever seen a snowflake that looks like a snowflake in real life...

The color in the photo turned out a little wonky I'm afraid, but it was the best picture I could get with the light blue.

Gingerbread Houses decorated

Merry Christmas~! The gingerbread houses are now decorated.

When I think about gingerbread houses I think of cute and sweet.

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I issued this challenge...

Which do you prefer?

Santa's Cookies

Merry Christmas Eve!

Some traditional cookies for santa. We've been pretty good around here, but I don't think this is going to encourage Santa to bring us any gifts. Mo says it can't hurt to try.

Caroling Snowman Cookies

Snowman melt my heart! They are my absolute favorite display of the season.

Ornament Cookies

I didn't like how these turned out, but I had excess colored dough from the pinwheel cookies that I needed to use. Next year I'll try something a bit different.

Ruffle Tree Cake

I've been wanting to try this out for almost a year! For a year I didn't realize I'd hate the final result... It looks better in pictures than in person. It actually looks messy. I saw a tutorial for a messy ruffle cake which looked really neat and I will have to try that.

The actual technique is super easy and quick... If you make enough frosting for your cake... which I did not. Rationing frosting creatively is not that fun when you're sleepy!

Original concept by Martha Stewart.

Pinwheel Cookies

I first saw cookies that looked like these on Pinterest and thought they looked gorgeous! Mine aren't quite as gorgeous, but they're great for anyone who prefers unfrosted cookies. Somehow I always know one or two of those weirdos.

Caramel chocolate pretzel sandwiches

If you haven't discovered Pinterest, I highly suggest it. If you need an invite let me know and I will send you one!

The original version of these involves a Hershey's Hug sandwiched between two pretzels. I took it a step further to involve caramel. Also, the store had sold out of hugs somehow so I used milk chocolate chips.

The basic idea is to place the pretzels on a cookie sheet and top with a Hug.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place the pretzels with the hugs into the oven for 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to sit for one minute

Top with another pretzel and gently smoosh.

Pretzel rods

I always love caramel pretzel sticks, but I didn't realize how much of a pain it would be to make them. I likely won't do this again anytime soon... I'm sure I was doing something really wrong. They taste great though!

Soft Sugar Cookie Trees

I've made many many decorator sugar cookies with royal icing this week, but my true love will always be butter cream frosting.

Quilted Pillow

I'm finally finished with my classes so I have a little time to try out some things I'd been putting off.

My mom gave me some money for my birthday which I put towards a new sewing machine. In talking with some friends I got the idea that I'd like to try to make a quilt. Considering the time and skill level quilting takes I decided to try a miniature version to start with. I had one flaw, but it turned out overall ok and I really liked my new machine!

Gingerbread House

I was going to buy a gingerbread house kit, but my sister reminded me that they can be made. I've got enough pieces for a little competition and any potential mishaps...

The recipe can be found here.

I did a google image search for mini gingerbread house templates and saved and resized the image before printing out templates to cut the pieces. I just used a straight edged paring knife to cut the pieces and it worked well.

Cherry Pineapple Cobbler

Ingredients

White boxed cake mix

1 can cherry pie filling

1 can pineapple chunks

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Spread half of the dry cake mix in the bottom of your pan.

3. Mix pineapple and cherry pie filling in a separate bowl.

4. Spoon pineapple and cherry pie filling evenly over cake mix.

5. Sprinkle remaining dry cake mix over the top of the pineapple and cherry pie filling.

6. Drizzle melted butter across the top.

7. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

8. Allow to cool a bit before serving.