Desperately Seeking Gina

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…Nothing screams December like:

..Peppermint & Chocolate.

And nothing speaks louder to me than chocolate, friends!   It’s that time of year once again-it’s time for searching for irresistible peppermint recipes, it’s time for jolly old St. Nick…and most importantly {okay, maybe not as important as the birth of Christ!}….it’s BIRTHDAY MONTH!!  Yes…a whole month of celebrating my upcoming 19th birthday 🙂  {don’t ask how many 19th birthdays I’ve actually celebrated}

To kick things off…


Peppermint Biscotti

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup crushed peppermint candy
  • FROSTING:
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 tablespoons shortening
  • 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extract. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir in peppermint candy. Gradually add to creamed mixture, beating until blended (dough will be stiff).
  2. Divide dough in half. On an ungreased baking sheet, roll each portion into a 12-in. x 2-1/2-in. rectangle. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully remove to wire racks; cool for 15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board; cut diagonally with a sharp knife into 1/2-in. slices. Place cut side down on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.
  3. In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip one end of each cookie in chocolate; roll in candy. Place on waxed paper until set. Store in an airtight container

Can I just say that I’m loving Allrecipes.com so much lately?  Did you know that not only can you print off recipes directly from the site, save them in your own personal recipe box, create a shopping list, and most awesome of all–you can change the serving amounts per your needs and the site calculates the ingredient measurements for you??  How cool is that?  Way cool, I say!

I got this recipe from the site and was able to change the serving amounts for a smaller portion of Peppermint Biscotti…which was just crazy because it’s so good I had to make another batch straight away!

Let me know if try them…I think they’d be so good on a holiday cookie tray, or as a tasty homemade Secret Santa gift, or even just a late night snack {excuse me while I wipe away the crumbs from the keyboard}.

…Weekend Update

Saturday was date night…so i got all dressed up in my Gryffindor finest.

Thom & I doubled with Harry and Hermione.  Ron showed up, left for a time, and then returned to help save the day.  Too bad that trio couldn’t help us out and pay for the pop and popcorn.  Concession prizes are outrageous!

Stopped by my favorite scrap booking store and looked at all the pretty papers.  We enjoyed a quick jaunt over to the mall in Little Rock to exchange some jeans for Thom.  Dinner was at a Thai restaurant we’ve been trying to eat at for forever {it’s never opened}.  I filled up on fried rice, crab rangoons, and chocolate cake for dessert.

Then it was home for two episodes of True Blood.

I actually was able to sleep in until almost 10 this morning!  Spent the morning putting together this ice cream as I have been c r a v i n g peanut butter & chocolate.  Recipe can be found over at the Brown Eyed Baker’s site.

It’s quiet around here this evening and probably my last two days off together for awhile.  Friday starts the crazy-busy holiday shopping season!  Hope y’all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did 🙂

…Things I ♥ Thursday

I feel like I’ve neglected my little piece of the WWW lately, so I’m starting a new little feature around here at ds{g}.  On Thursdays I’ll feature some things I’ve loving at the moment.  I hope you enjoy 🙂

So last week I was lunching at Subway by myself {I ♥ the word “lunching,” btw. it sounds so elegant} and I grabbed a copy of Natural Awakenings to read while I enjoyed my veggie sub on parmesan-oregano.  The cover art is what caught my eye:

This lovely fall print is by folk artist Catherine Holman.  Isn’t it awesome & so perfect for autumn?  I went home straight away and found Catherine’s blog and Etsy shop. Her work is simply charming and I can’t wait to own some of her prints.  Her shop is full of cupcake prints that are just the most adorable images.  Some prints come with a quaint story {and this one can be personalized!}:

“Bright and early Monday through Friday, (this name will be replaced with the name of your choice)Caitlin arrives at her cakery where she whips up some magic with secret ingredients to enticing confections. She turns on her favorite 40’s music station and sways around the kitchen in her red dotted apron mixing gooey goodness as she waits for the ring of the bell announcing her first customer of the day. She greets each patron with a smile and sugary samples as she pours steaming cups of coffee while they make their choices reading from the huge menu written daily on the chalk board behind the counter. Desserts are displayed like exquisite jewelry in the windows and the scent of baked goods greets each hungry soul who enters this little cakery heaven at 209 Main Street.”

Her village prints are cozy and evoke imaginative scenes of small town living.  Looking at her work makes me want to crawl right inside the print,  wave to the neighbors, and bake up a batch of yummy cupcakes to bring to the town potluck.

You can find Catherine’s Etsy shop here
She also blogs here!

….Who turned out my lights?

Fall is plodding along down here in Ark.  As darkness falls earlier and earlier as we move toward winter, I find myself feeling more and more tired and just wanting to crawl into bed and snuggle the night away.  There aren’t many extracurricular activities happening around here-just some baking going on now and then-nothing spectacular enough to share here on the ole blog except some fun peppermint filled goodies that I’ll share as soon as December rolls around.

On Sunday, I could barely make myself go outside for some fresh air as I was cozy inside with my veggie pot pie baking away.  But, out I went…and it was refreshing.  And pretty.  My little pumpkins looked cute on the railing.

Have i mentioned that we signed up for Netflix?  We’ve been catching up on some shows we’ve missed.  Have I also mentioned that we still have no television service?  And that we get only one channel out of Jonesboro?  Yea.  ABC.  The only night we bother hooking up the antennae is Wednesday night for Modern Family.  So I’m finally joining the Gleeks and getting into season one of Glee.  It’s fabulous so far!

I’m off to bake off some pumpkin muffins…I have some pumpkin to use up.  And cream cheese frosting sounds good right about now 🙂  Hope y’all are well and feelin’ fine!!

…Detoxing

Digitally, that is.  I’ve spent the weekend cleaning off my SD cards, as I’ve had all the moments I’ve captured digitally trapped on a 4-gig card since February.  I’ve worried and fretted that long about losing those images. It only took four hours to edit {some, not all!}, organize into folders, and finally, finally get everything cleared off the cards.  I feel somewhat better having them on the computer….I’d just feel better if I had some sort of hard drive back-up system.  That will have to wait, though, until the beginning of the new year, perhaps.

I’ve also cleaned up by bookmarks file online…purging the blogs & sites that no longer interest me or don’t pertain to me, such as the 15 different wedding blogs I subscribed to.  Someday, maybe {the title of my “wedding” bookmark folder, incidentally} I’ll need to follow them again for some inspiration.  But, for now, I think I need to shift priorities clean up my act.

I’ve also taken advantage of my work-less weekend to clean up around the house.  Laundry, done.  Sock drawer-done.  Summer clothes put away-well…almost done.  The kitchen table is almost cleared and the kitchen is under control, finally!

It feels good to get clean-to clear away some clutter…it feels as if I’m clearing the clutter from my mind as well.

How do you keep up with organizing? cleaning?  de-cluttering?