Rock Necklaces, Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles and A Contest!

I went on a nice run Saturday morning up in the mountains, and while I was there I started noticing the rocks. I found some nice smooth ones like these.

So I played around with some crochet cotton and made kind of a little sling for the rock, then I made some chains to hold them in and a chain to go around the neck. Voila! Rock necklaces!


So, I called Sloan in from her beloved tree swing and gave her a rock necklace! You wouldn't believe how happy she was! You don't know this, but the girl loves rocks! She has boxes of them hiding under her bed!



I found this new recipe for snickerdoodles over at Post Punk Kitchen Blog. I had to try them! My daughter told me that cayenne pepper and chocolate is a great mix in cookies! I did cut back a little on the cayenne. I thought they were great and the family liked them too. I might try them again without the cayenne.


Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

For the topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the cookies
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons almond milk (I used skim milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon chocolate extract (or more vanilla)
1 2/3 cup flour (I used 1 cup flour and 2/3 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (I used about 1/3 teaspoon)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl.

In a mixer beat the oil and sugar. Add the maple syrup, almond milk and extracts. Mix in the dry ingredients. Roll into walnut size balls and then roll into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart, they will spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.





Cheri at It's So Very Cheri is having a huge contest! There are lots of prizes to win and lots of chances!

There's another great giveaway over at Veater Family: Adventures!

Here's one more contest at HomeSpunThreads!

Happy 4th of July! Snickerdoodle Blondies with Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and my latest sewing project!

Happy 4th of July! This is my front porch (I know, it's kind of plain looking this year) and the flag pole my husband made out of an auger. It has an old tea kettle on top! Sometime I'll have to share my embarrassing story about the tea kettle.



I was looking around on some of my favorite blogs for a new cookie recipe and I found this bar cookie. I love making bar cookies! They're so much faster than dropping out cookies. This recipe is from Two Peas and Their Pod. They were a big hit with my family! We seem to be on a snickerdoodle kick this summer! Maria made them with cinnamon chips, and I used semi sweet chocolate chips, but they would also be good without chips!



Snickerdoodle Blondies with Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons white sugar (I used 4 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (I used 3 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
In another large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Stir in the cinnamon chips.
Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be similar to a cookie dough.)
Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
Bake 25 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.

This is the present I made for my biggest granddaughter, Amelia. She's having a birthday next week and I wanted to make her something special. I said I'd never piece another quilt, but this one was small and it turned out to be fun putting the fabrics together. It's a sleeping bunny baby and has a cute pompom tail.


Here's the back of the blanket and the pompom tail. Now, don't tell Amelia about her present, it's a surprise!

A dog stroller and Snickerdoodle Muffins!

This is a fun picture I took of my daughter Sloan and her very spoiled schnauzer Fifi! You can't tell from the picture, but Fifi is due to have puppies sometime in the next week or so. I'll share a picture of the puppies soon!


This is Bella on the right, she's the dog we've been doggy sitting. She thinks she's little!


Now, on to the muffins! My daughter Sloan is a very picky eater and didn't want to taste these muffins because they didn't have any chocolate in them! Being the mean mom that I am, I made her take a bite! She loved them! She said they tasted like cookies! Cookies for breakfast? Nah, they're just Snickerdoodle Muffins! I told you that I'm a mean mom!

Usually when I fix muffins for breakfast, the kids know I'm going for a run and that's what I'm off doing this morning! The marathon is coming up! I have a couple of friends that haven't done a marathon before, so I told them we'd train together and we'd do it together! It's been so much more fun having company on long runs!




Snickerdoodle Muffins

1 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cup soured milk, I took out 2 tablespoons of milk & added 2 tablespoons of vinegar
2 1/4 cup flour

Topping

1 /2 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon in a small bowl


Heat of to 350 degrees and grease muffin tin and 4 to 5 custard cups.

In a mixer beat butter and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and add alternately to butter egg mixture with soured milk. Scoop into muffin tins and custard cups with a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. Sprinkle Topping of sugar cinnamon mixture over the top of the muffins. Bake 25 - 30 minutes.