Life Outside Of Teaching: Hobby #3

 My Baking Addiction:

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been helping my mother bake all sorts of delicious desserts. Baking is huge in my family especially during Christmas time. My family has an every year tradition that takes place right before Christmas where we bake hundreds of different kinds of cookies. This team effort consists of me, my mom, my dad, my older sister Ashley, and my younger brother Billy. My mom has a number of different recipes that were passed down to her by her grandmother that are absolutely outstanding. The flavor cookies that we make every year include snickerdoodle, peanut butter blossoms, Italian cookies, jam filled butter cookies, Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies, and M&M chocolate chip cookies. There are probably a few that I left out because there are just too many recipes to remember. I always remember how fun it was to work as a team to make all of these cookies. We played Christmas music while we baked and I always enjoyed sampling each one when we finished. You may be wondering why my family makes so many cookies every year. Each year, we travel to New York for Christmas day to visit my mom's side of the family and we bring half of the cookies there. The other half we enjoy with my dad's side of the family and of course, we have leftovers for ourselves! This tradition is what started my love for baking and this is a hobby I continue to do on other occasions too.

My Go To Recipes:

Since the above cookies are "secret recipes" that were passed down to my family from my great grandmother, I have to continue to keep those quiet. However, I have a few that I found on my own that I use when I bake for special events that I go to or just for whenever I feel like a sweet treat! Before I share two of my favorite recipes, I want to first talk about a blogger that I really enjoy reading. The name of the blog is actually called, "My Baking Addiction." Just by clicking on the name of the blog, it should bring you right to the bloggers page and her name is Jamie. This blog interested me as I noticed how much Jamie and I had in common. We both watch too many hours of Food Network and bake a variety of different desserts. I have visited Jamie's blog a number of different times to find new yummy recipes that I can make. If you have a moment, definitely visit her page and try some out! 

Now it is time for me to share my first favorite cookie recipe called Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes before and this one was by far the best! I have made these for many different social gatherings and I get so many compliments on them. Below, I have included the full recipe written out and have linked additional instructions that may be helpful too.

Recipe #1:

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe 

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown*

Recipe #2:

Classic Peanut Button Blossom Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 creamy peanut butter 
• 1/2 cup butter, softened 
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Additional granulated sugar 
• About 36 Hershey's Kisses Brand milk chocolates, unwrapped

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately press 1 milk chocolate candy in center of each cookie. Make sure to remove the cookies from cookie sheets to cooling rack.*

I hope you try out both of my favorite cookie recipes that I have included in my blog post and some of Jamie's too! Thank you for reading and stay tuned for my last blog post that will be coming out early next week on my fourth hobby. :)