Cookie Packaging Ideas {1}: Chinese Take Out Containers

As part of Cookie week, we are going to be sharing some fun packaging ideas.

Beautiful packaging can elevate the most humble gift into something very special.

For the sugar cookies I chose to package and present them in this chinese take out container.

I found this Christmas themed container at Micheals.

It dresses the cookies up to gourmet status, don't you think?

 I love the litte peek-a-boo window where you can see what is inside.

 And when packaging... don't forget those little important details like ribbon and tags.

They are like candles on the birthday cake....they make it special!

And don't forget to hop on over to Grace's blog, Sense & Simplicity, to see what pretty packaging she is sharing!

Meet you back here tomorrow for more cookie sharing!

This post is linked to these parties:













Tatertots and Jello

Just A Girl

Design Dazzle

Christmas Cookie Week: Easy Sugar Cookies

Welcome to Christmas Cookie Week 2011!

This week my friend Grace at Sense & Simplicity and I hope to inspire you to get some Christmas baking done before the busy-ness of December starts.
I am going to showcase easy cookies that can be made in 1 hour...and recipes that anyone can tackle.
And remember it's just me and my little blue mixer in my little kitchen!

***

The first cookie I want to share with you is one of my favourites...the humble

*SUGAR COOKIE*

This cookie is so perfect... it can be mixed up in 10 minutes and because it is a drop cookie recipe, it doesn't need to be rolled out with a rolling pin.

This cookie is tender and buttery and oh-so-good fresh from the oven.

This recipe comes from my Grandmother Ada.

She made these cookies year round and kept them in a glass cookie jar on her kitchen counter.

{You can see the recipe below...published in 1979 in a little country community cookbook}

 I double the recipe as my Grandmother suggests.

And when you make cookies....always use real butter and real vanilla...the taste is so worth it!
*SUGAR COOKIES*
{makes 3 1/2 dozen}

In mixing bowl combine:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tbsp milk

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat until light and fluffy.

In another bowl, stir together:

3 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Add flour mixture to butter mixture gradually. Beat until mixed to form soft dough.

Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls.

Flatten with a fork.

Add Christmas sprinkles as desired.

Bake in 325 oven for 8-10 minutes.

Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes.

Then transfer to cooling rack.

  Here are the sugar cookies on my Christmas cookie platter last year.

I think every cookie platter could use a tasty sugar cookie!

Please make sure you hop on over to Sense & Simplicity to see what Grace cookie is sharing today!

And check back later this afternoon to see fun packaging inspiration for our little cookie!

Organizing for baking....

This week we are getting ready to tackle some Christmas baking projects.

So I took a quick look through my pantry and gathered up all of the Christmas-themed items we might need~

cupcake liners, boxes, bags, candy sprinkles and decorations.

Now we have everything we need front & center...no digging around!

Project 11~The recipe for those cookies....Chocolate Dreams Dressed for Christmas!

Some of you asked about the recipe for these cookies...so here it is!

This is my favourite cookie ever!

Chocolate Dream Cookie Recipe
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup cocoa

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I make a double batch for Christmas when I want to package them for gifts.

 To dress them up for Christmas, we melt white chocolate and drizzle over the cookies. Then we sprinkle crushed candy canes for some colour and crunch!

{True story last year.~My daughter wanted to help by melting the white chocolate.

We hit a little learning curve here~ she 'seized' two batches of white chocolate before we got to a usable batch of white chocolate for drizzling. Mom [me] had to run to the grocery store twice in half an hour to pick up more chocolate. So remember to melt the chocolate with very gentle heat!}

And here is the final packaging:

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday!

This post is linked to these great parties:

Found: A dessert for Thanksgiving dinner....

The Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake on the cover of the latest issue of Fine Cooking.
A delectable pumpkin spice cake with a topping of pecans, brown sugar and crystallized ginger.

Doesn't it look scrumptious?

I am having guests for Thanksgiving dinner...and I am so excited to make this cake!

I  started reading Fine Cooking a few years ago.

It is my very favourite cooking magazine.

Everything recipe I have tried from this mag has been outstanding.

Save Your Fork....There's Pie...

It all started with my friend, Gloria, mentioning that she had raspberries in her backyard. Wild raspberries.

And then I mentioned that raspberry pie was one of our absolute favourite pies.

A 'baking date' was on.

A day to go to her place, pick raspberries, and then make pies. We decided to make little hand pies {tarts] since we thought single serving baked goods were the way to go.

On the pre-planned day, we arrived at her house and headed to the backyard to pick our raspberries. {And let me tell you...the skeeters in that berry patch were thick.} The berries, unfortunately, looked as though they had been well picked over. So we started picking anyway. We  picked for a good 20 minutes when Hunter came over to dump her little bowl of berries into my bigger bowl.

She poured about 8 berries into my bowl.  And then we laughed like 2 fools between the bushes.

So we continued, our prize being the fresh baked pie we would make later, and after a good 45 minutes, we had a scant two cups of berries.

Then we headed to Gloria's kitchen and decided to mix our raspberries with blueberries so we could make more tarts. We mixed up our pastry....we used the recipe on the back of the Tenderflake tub. In my opinion, it's the best. It makes pastry that is flaky and tender. Then we cut circles and placed them into muffin tins for our little hand pies. The berries were mixed with 1/2 cup of flour and a cup of sugar to make them into a bit of a thicker filling.

Hunter loves to roll pastry, so she took over this job. She also cut out the little pastry stars for decoration. Gloria and I looked after putting the pastries into the tins and filling them with fruit, and adding the star and the sanding sugar.

When we ran out of the raspberry/blueberry mix, we decided to mix up some strawberries and peaches to make more tarts....until the pastry was all used.

There is nothing better than fresh-baked pies out of the oven.  And when you don't make homemade pies often, the smell and taste is heavenly.

The sweet reward of our day....a fresh baked pie and a cup of tea.

Our baking 'date' was so fun! We plan to do another day soon.