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Showing posts with the label NEWYEAR

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

New Year Craft: How to Make a Spin Drum Noise Maker

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  The New Year is nearly upon us. Here's a festive little project for a mini spin drum ~ The perfect noise maker to help usher in the new year. We made ours with odds and ends from around the house -- a cardboard tube, a paper lunch sack, some silver string, glitter, glue and a handful of beads.  Round up some supplies from around your house and follow the directions below to add some joyful noise to your New Year's celebration! New Year Noise Maker Mini Spin Drum Makes 4 1 cardboard tube cut into 4 1" rings 1 paper lunch bag a pencil and scissors Mod Podge and a paintbrush 4 12" lengths of string or twine 4 1/4" wood dowels Paint (I used silver spray paint) 8 beads  A glue gun or tacky glue 8 print-outs of the New Year Watch Face (download below) Glitter Small hole punch or awl   Step 1:  Use a small hole punch or awl to punch a hole in each cardboard ring.  I used a small hole punch, then used my pencil t

Upcycling: Dreidel Treat Boxes for the 8 Nights of Hanukkah

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Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel You're a sparkly little one A box made out of paper that was easy and so fun For Hanukkah this year, I decided to fiddle around with some tissue paper tubes to see if I could come up with a way to turn them into dreidels. As you can see, my tinkerings were a success! What I love most about this project is the versatility.  You can paint and glitter them any color to match your home or table decor.  They make a great treat for guests at each place setting: They can be filled with a different small gift for each night of Hanukkah and strung on a garland -- a Hanukkah spin on the Advent Calendar! I sterilize my tissue tubes in the microwave, but if tissue or paper towel tubes make you squeamish, you can still use my template on basic cardstock. This is a fun family project.  When done assembly line style, you can whip up a whole party's worth of dreidel treat boxes in an afternoon.   The tops of the dreidel boxe

New Year's Craft ~ 1930s Style Crepe Paper Party Hat Tutorial

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During the first half of the 20th Century handmade paper hats were de rigeur for evening parties, costume parties, church, school and society events. In the 1920s, it was not uncommon to see beautifully crafted paper hats, fans and parisols on the pages of fashion magazines. According to Dennison, a major crepe and tissue paper manufacturer throughout the century, " these hats can be very simple or as picturesque as a Parisian extreme ." By the early 1930s, crepe paper skull caps gained popularity and were often adorned with crepe paper bouquets, pinwheels and butterflies.     While the pointed party hat may be the standard in our modern times, I thought it would be fun to revive one of the most versatile and fanciful paper hats from the last century.  The method is basic -- just a few folds and snips.  The materials are simple -- just crepe paper, scissors, some heavy stock for the band, glue and embellishments.  The results are fabulous!   How

Celebrate January 6 ~ Three Kings Day ~ Galette des Rois Recipe & Tradition

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I'm more excited than a squirrel on a trampoline (feel free to take a moment to visualize) to be sharing with you my most favorite sweet treat of all time -- Galette de Rois. Every year my family celebrates Epiphany (a.k.a. Twelfth Night and Three Kings Day ) on January 6 by gathering with a small group of friends to share in the tradition of the King Cake. Every year, since the girls were very little, they have enjoyed assembling our King Cake -- an easy Pull-Apart version of the New Orleans style cake (Recipe HERE ).     The girls will carry on their tradition tomorrow, but in addition I'll be making the traditional Twelfth Night cake of France~ Galette de Rois.   If I could use only one word to describe this incredible dessert, it would be ' delicate '.  The light and flaky puff pastry surrounds an exquisitely delicate frangipane filling, so subtle that the almond is a soft whisper that evokes more floral notes than nut.     The