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Showing posts with the label EASTER

Chonky Boys: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that Scream Summer!

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Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of.  If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these!  These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch.  They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream.  And those mini chips?  You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur.   Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookies form a perfect partnership with a

The Cutest Easter Cookies: Coconut Cream Cheese Cookie Nests

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This delicious little recipe combines a classic Easter candy ~ Cadbury Mini Eggs ~ with my all-time most popular recipe --  The Macaroon Kiss .   The buttery, cream cheese dough is rolled in coconut, then baked.  While still warm, simply nestle three little chocolate eggs inside.   Print With Image Without Image Coconut Cream Cheese Cookie Nests Yield: 48 cookies Author: Jenn Erickson This is a rich, tender and buttery little cookie with toasted coconut and the best Easter candy EVER! Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups All purpose flour 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon table salt 2/3 cups butter, softened 6 oz. cream cheese, softened 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 2 large egg yolks 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon juice from a fresh orange 10 cups sweetened flaked coconut, divided in to 6 cup and 4 cup portions Cadbury Mini Eggs (2 10oz. bags) Instructions: In a medium b

Enchantingly Easy Easter Eggs with Flora, Fauna and Family

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These eggs fit in perfectly with our decorating style that pays homage to our family tree   As many of you know, I've been on hiatus from blogging for much of this year due to my commitments teaching high school culinary arts.  Well, the school year is nearly over.  Hello SUMMER!  I'm picking up my graduation gown today, and prepping some desserts for a graduation party.  But before I do, I wanted to share a little creative something that my girls and I did a few weeks back for Easter.   Being an uber-busy working mom, decorating Easter eggs wasn't in the forefront of my mind (until the day before Easter).  My girls are getting older, and I fear it won't be long before they'd rather be out with their friends than dyeing eggs with Mom.  So, I came up with a last minute way to decorate eggs that is definitely out-of-the-store-bought-box, very inexpensive, and yet chic and sophisticated.  My girls loved them, and we ended up keeping them on display throug

Marshmallow Cottontail Peeps on a Stick -- Sweet, Simple & Fun Easter Recipe

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Here comes Peter Cottontail Hopping down the Bunny Trail Hippity, Hoppity Easter's on its way Two of my favorite and most nostalgic Easter sweets are chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies and Peeps ® .   So, my girls and I decided to combine the two classics, resulting in: COTTONTAILS ON A STICK These sweet bunny silhouettes are so simple to make and taste incredible! Here's all you need: Marshmallow Peeps ®  Bunnies Lollipop Sticks  (found in the cake decorating aisle of most craft stores) Candy melts, bark or tempered Couverture Chocolate Mini marshmallows Step 1:  Line a baking sheet or tray with wax paper (no need to use expensive parchment) Step 2:  Prep your Peeps ®  by inserting a stick as far as it will go without coming up through the ears. Step 3:  Prep mini marshmallows by trimming off 1/3 with scissors.  Keep the larger pieces and discard the trimmings. Step 4:  Melt your chocolate. Step

DIY: Silhouette Easter Eggs

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I love the charm and old fashioned elegance of the silhouette. For this year's Easter eggs I decided to stray from the usual palette of pastel & polka-dotted whimsy; opting instead to play off the natural alabaster of the eggshell with a sharp contrast of elegant black. The wonderful thing about this technique is that it doesn't require special transfer paper or expensive equipment.    If you have some white tissue paper, Mod Podge, a glue stick and a printer, you can make Silhouette Easter Eggs without spending a penny! Silhouette Easter Eggs Materials Eggs (hard boiled if you plan to eat them, or blown if you want to keep them) White tissue paper (ironed flat if it's wrinkly) Silhouette images (I used the beautiful free images from The Graphics Fairy ) A sheet of copy paper A glue stick (I like the Elmer's Craft Bond Repositionable) Scissors Mod Podge Paint brush An old gift card or club card to use as a refi

DIY: Pressed Flower Easter Egg Tutorial

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After the fun I had last year adhering elegant Silhouettes to Easter eggs, I felt inspired to try embellishing my eggs with a different paper-thin medium this year.  What could be more naturally lovely and simple than pressed flowers?  These beautiful eggs require only three materials:  eggs, pressed flowers and Mod Podge.   Lacking the patience to press my own flowers, I sent away for a sample pack of pressed blossoms from Greetings of Grace .  After a bit of trial and error, I determined that the thinner the flower, the easier they are to adhere.  Try to avoid flowers, like daisies, that have thick centers.  Here are some of the types of flowers that work best:  pansies, verbenas , violas, hydrangeas and forget me nots. Each egg can hold 6-8 blossoms, although I liked the way that the single chrysanthemum on the stem turned out.  The pressed flowers can be purchased in packages and end up costing only a few pennies each.   Ready to make some?  Let

Protect Your Nest Egg Doughnuts --or-- Where Peeps Go to Nest for Easter

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Happy Easter! I hope you've been having a great day! ----------------------------- I've been spending more time off-line than on these days. It struck me, just a few weeks ago, that my girls are growing up far too quicly. In September we'll have a teenager. So, I've been greedily spending every spare minute enjoying my little family. This Easter, I opted to spend less time shopping and less time in the kitchen. I eased up on some of my food rules and borrowed my inspiration from other talented people to help me make a little Easter magic for my girls. This morning, after every last chocolate egg, bunny, lamb, and jellybean had been found, I called my brood to the table and presented them with PEEPS-topped buttermilk doughnuts and chocolate bunnies filled with cold milk.  I got the idea for serving milk in the chocolate bunnies from Alexis of Jacolyn Murphy .  She shows you how easy it is to make them HERE . Thes

Free Vintage Easter Graphics, Clipart & Scrap Sheets

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Chick it out, peeps: I t's a round-up of vintage Easter graphics from my personal collection.   I picked up this sweet vintage postcard at an antique store in Wine Country a few weeks ago:   This cute little accordion card features chicks in bonnets bearing the message: "Because it is Easter, these Chicks, you see, Are bringing good wishes, to you from me!"  You can download the printable HERE . Here's a collection of chicks, bunny rabbits and eggs from my grandmother's scrapbook: If you prefer, you can download them all as a scrap-sheet  HERE . Enjoy! Feel free to show off your creations on the Rook N o. 17 Facebook Page .