Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

These were a yummy St. Patricks day treat!

I was kind of a dud this year with St. Patricks Day!  Usually we have all sorts of great green food, including last year making a really cool rainbow jello!

This year, we took the kids Cross Country Skiing and totally bagged the whole green thing except for the cookies! 

Its a good thing the cookies were really yummy and a hit with the kids and adults alike!

Minty goodness with Mint Oreos crushed up inside each one!

YUM!

Chocolate Mint Oreo Cookies

(pinterest via www.twopeasandtheir)pod.com

• 2 1/2 cups flour (start with 2 cups)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (try 1/2 cup first)
• 1 1/2 cups mint green chips (try 1 cup first)
• 1 cup chopped Cool Mint Oreo Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift(I didn't sift, just put together and whisked) flour (start with 2 cups first), baking soda, salt, and cocoa.  Set aside.

In your mixer, cream your butter and sugars until smooth!  Add in your eggs one at a time.  Next add your vanilla.

Slowly add your flour mixture to the sugar and butter mixture.  Mix together until all the flour disappears.  If mixture is too sticky, add the remainder of the flour.  Stir in chocolate chips, mint chips and chopped oreo cookies.

Use a cookie scoop and place on your parchment sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies set on edges and soft in the middle.

Let them sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Thumbprint Cookies

Yes again another fun find on Pinterest.  I kind of ran with the idea and thought this is not only fun for Christmas, but you could modify it for any holiday.  Just red sprinkles for Valentines with a chocolate Hershey kiss, green for St. Patty's day and so forth!  You could probably even make these into little nests for Easter and put the little chocolate eggs in the middle!  We enjoyed these for Christmas with candy cane Hershey kisses in the center!

Thumbprint cookies

(modified from Better Homes red and white cookbook)

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• sprinkles of your choosing
• Hershey kisses of your choosing

In your mixer, beat your butter or margarine on high speed for about 30 seconds.  Basically you want all the chunks gone!  Then add your sugar and beat until combined, scraping the sides as needed.  Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.

Add you flour and combine.  The recipe says to chill for 1 hour, but I usually test the dough and if I can handle it I start right away, if not put in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes and test it again.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll your dough in your sprinkles.  Then place on your cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.  Continue doing this until you have filled your cookie sheet.  Now take your thumb and make an indent into your cookies.  Basically you are putting your thumb print into your cookie ball and flattening it a little.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browning.  While your cookies are cooking, start unwrapping your Hershey kisses.  Once they come out of the oven, start placing the kisses in your thumb print.  Once all the kisses are in your cookies, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool.  If you don't let cool, your Hershey kisses will get smooshed because they get melty from the heat of your cookie!

Enjoy these yummy treats for any holiday!

Rainbow Jello

I found this on Sisters Stuff and had to try it out for our St. Patrick's Day dinner!

It definitely took time, but was very simple! She recommended on her site to save all day to make this-it took me most of the morning but I was able to get other things done in between!

It was a hit and it looked super fun and was worth the time for a treat!

Definitely not something I would make often, but fun every once in a while!

Rainbow Jello

(Sisters Stuff)

• 6 small pkg jello (lime, lemon, orange, strawberry, cherry, black cherry) made in this order. ~ I couldn't find black cherry so I made one less layer!
• 1 16 oz sour cream ~ I would have needed a little bit more if I had done all the layers!

STEP ONE:

Take 1 box of Jello (she started with Lime) and 1 cup of boiling water and mix together until jello is dissolved.

STEP TWO:

Then measure out 1/2 cup of jello mixture into another bowl and add 1/3 cup sour cream. Mix together with a whisk. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan and set in the refrigerator until set, about 20 minutes. Make sure that your pan is level in the refrigerator.

STEP THREE:

Then mix 3 tbsp cold water in with remaining jello mixture and pour over firm sour cream mixture. (I found you should start pouring around the edges where it is the firmest) Let firm and then repeat steps with the other jello flavors!

She added that it is best to let this sit overnight, I made it the same day and it was fine too! Cut in squares to serve!

Jello cups

Hope everyone had a happy St. Patricks Day!!

I posted this recipe from Kraft foods at Valentines day, but I couldn't resist making them again for St. Patricks Day. These can be made for any holiday or any reason, just change the jello color to what you want! Check out the Cupids Cups in the Jello section for the recipe!

They are a super easy treat, and who doesn't love JELLO!!!

Jello Cups

(modified colors from the Cupids Cups post for Valentines Day!)

Shamrock Cookies

I found this idea on the Box Tops for Education site and thought it was a fun idea! We made them for FHE last night and the best part was that I didn't have to make frosting (which I hate to do for some reason!!)! They are simple but a little time consuming, since you have to roll lots of little balls! I ended up doing some balls and then cut some of the dough with a shamrock cookie cutter. Nothing better than a sugar cookie and holidays seem to always be the reason to make a batch!

Shamrock Cookies

• 1 roll of sugar cookie dough (I made my favorite recipe, which you can find in the cookie section)
• green sprinkles

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Chill your sugar cookie dough if you are making your favorite recipe, or if you are using refrigerated store bought dough, break up the dough in a bowl. Stir or knead in flour until well blended. Work with half of the dough at a time; refrigerate remaining dough until needed.

Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls, you will need 3 per shamrock and then 1 ball to shape into a triangle for the stem. Roll each ball in green sugar. To form each shamrock, place 2 balls with sides touching and 1 ball on top on greased cookie sheets. For stems, form a piece into a triangle and dip into the sugar. Place 1 triangle pointed side up at bottom of each cookie between 2 balls for stem.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack, cool completely.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

I found this on Real Mom kitchen and had to try it for St. Patricks Day! She made homemade cupcakes, I cheated and used a box mix and thought they were really good! If you want the homemade cupcake recipe go to www.realmomkitchen.blogspot.com

Thin Mint Cupcakes

1 chocolate cake mix
Thin Mint girl scout cookies (or any type of grasshopper cookies)
Vanilla Buttercream frosting, tinted green

Mix cake according to package directions. Put one sleeve of girl scout cookies (or about 16-18 cookies) in a ziploc bag and crush cookies! Put cookies in cake mix at the end and mix them in. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans and bake according to package directions.

Make green frosting and pipe on to cupcake and put a part of a cookie on top!
So simple and the cupcakes turned out really really moist!!

Irish Soda Bread

One Hundred fifty years ago it was common to make bread using baking soda rather than yeast in parts of rural Ireland.

That's where Irish soda bread gets its name!

The practice of using baking soda started out of necessity. Yeast won't make dough rise unless the baker uses "strong" flour, which was scarce in parts of Ireland. Baking soda, however, could be counted on to leaven bread. The baking soda has to be combined with something acidic in order to do its magic. In this case, buttermilk is used!

(from Family Fun magazine)

Irish Soda Bread
(from familyfun)

2 cups flour
2 cups wheat flour (or 2 more of white)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, chilled
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Heat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Cut in butter until it is pea sized. Stir in raisins and buttermilk. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, knead 1 minute, and shape into a disk. (I have also made 3 smaller disks and adjusted the baking time) Cut an "X" in the top and bake on a greased baking sheet for 45-50 minutes.