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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
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Picture Perfect Packaging for Holiday Food Gifts with Martha Stewart
Including a Coupon Code & Sweepstakes

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  You've lovingly baked the cookies, dipped the chocolates, and sugared the sugarplums.  Your beautiful edible gifts deserve more than the old paper plate and plastic wrap treatment right?  But it can be costly and time consuming to track down the right boxes, ribbon, labels and other pretties to get that professional bake-shop look, no?  No. Decorative treat bags, boxes and wrappers from Martha Stewart Crafts add the finishing festive touch to your homemade gifts with no muss and no fuss – so they’ll look as good as they taste!   Recently I had the pleasure of trying out a package of Martha Stewart Crafts Modern Festive Match Box packaging kit.  The kit includes everything you need - except the treats - for five gifts: boxes, labels, ribbon and paper inserts.  I used my boxes to package my newest holiday confection -- Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles with Raspberry Dust .  The boxes aren't only great for treats however -- Just imagine how darling a l
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The Best Gift for All Ages to Foster Art & Imagination ~
Fill In the Blank (An Inspirational Sketch Book)
Review and Giveaway!

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When I was five years old, I received what at first appeared to be a regular coloring book for my birthday.  " Big whoop ," I remember thinking.  I had reached my threshold for coloring inside the lines.  As I flipped through the pages, however, hoping for a dot-to-dot or maze to break up the contrived art experience, I realized that this was no ordinary coloring book.  On each page there was a prompt, and the pictures were incomplete!  The prompts were there to tickle my brain into an excited frenzy of creation and imagination.   Instead of coloring the character ... ...I was designing a character of my own . Instead of coloring in a house... ...I was designing the house... Instead of a kid with a coloring book... ...I was an artist, inventor, architect , superhero, president, princess! I was in love!  I doodled the ink right out of my pens and filled every square inch of my book till there was nary a scrap uncovered.  From the title page of Fill
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Wear Your History ~ Crystal Family Photo Pendant Necklace Tutorial

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A few weeks ago I shared my tutorial for how to make personalized family photo ornaments using chandelier crystals and Mod Podge Dimensional Magic.  At the same time that I made the ornaments, I turned two of the pendants into vintage-style necklaces.  Each necklace featured a photo of one of my girls.  The necklaces are easy and inexpensive to make and are a wonderful way to carry someone you love close to your heart.     Crystal Pendant Photo Necklace 1 crystal photo pendant (tutorial HERE ) 1 bail 3 strands of chain , 2 4 " long/ea 1 2 4 " piece of silk ribbon or vintage binding 1 2 4 " piece of ivory lace (I used a vintage piece that was 2 3/4" wide 3-in-one jewelry pliers 2 8mm open jump rings  2 4" pieces jewelry wire (thin enough for two strands to fit th rough your crimp beads. 2 filigree bead caps or bead cones 2 crimp beads 1 toggle clasp 2 crimp bead covers (optional) Step 1:  Attach the bail to the pendant by ins
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Sour Cream Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt Cake ~
Recipe & Hodgson Mill Giveaway

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  Fudgy? Check. Moist? Check. Not too sweet or overly spiced? Check! Whole Wheat? CHECK!   That's right, this delicious chocolate gingerbread cake is not only loaded with antioxidant rich cocoa, but it gets a nutritious kick and a nutty brown-sugar flavor from premium whole wheat flours.  So this holiday season you CAN have your cake and eat it too.      Baking with the right whole wheat flour can make the difference between a light and delicious confection and a leaden sawdust brick.  That's why I always use Hodgson Mill 100% stone ground Graham flours in my baking.  I'm a longtime fan of baking with Hodgson Mill.  So when I had the opportunity to create a recipe for their "Have A GRAIN Holiday" contest , I dove right in! This cake is a healthier spin on one of my favorite holiday desserts -- Sour Cream Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt Cake .  The beauty of this new recipe is that the Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour imparts a wonderfully
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Homemade Holiday Candy Workshop -- 10 Tantalizing Recipes for Fabulous Fudge, Creamy Caramels, Terrific Toffee and Marvelous Marshmallows!

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This week I've had to step back and focus on some family business, but I couldn't help but check in to our cozy little meeting place here to wish you a very happy first day of December.  In celebration of the sweetness of the holidays, I'm sharing ten of my favorite recipes for homemade holiday candies. Here you'll find a beautifully simple shortbread toffee recipe, my signature dark chocolate ganache topped fudge recipes, truffles and caramels, and even some bacon-laced marshmallows.  Enjoy! FUDGE Pumpkin Pie Fudge with Salted Dark Chocolate Ganache Eggnog Fudge with Dark Chocolate Ganache Squirrel Nut Fudge -- An old-fashioned brown sugar fudge with toasted almonds Pecan Penuche -- Another old fashioned classic, updated with chocolate ganache and sea salt. TRUFFLES Round Dark Chocolate Honey Truffles (garnished with granulated honey)  Square Dark Chocolate Truffles (Garnished with Fennel Pollen) AND MORE
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