12 days of cookies: peanut blossoms

I seriously can’t believe it is only two days before Christmas… and not even full days! Christmas has come way too fast and before I know it, it’ll be the new year and I will be running in the Disney 1/2 marathon – only 2 weeks and a day away! Well, there’s still time for two more cookie recipes to round out the 12 days of cookies and you will be sure they do not disappoint.

Peanut blossoms have been a staple in my house at Christmas for as long as I can remember. I personally like the chocolate star topping the best – it is the perfect size and it is easy enough to get some chocolate in each and every bite. If you can’t find chocolate stars, then you can substitute kisses (might want to spring for the ones out of the wrappers!) or four Christmas-colored m&m’s on top. This recipe makes 7 dozen… which might seem like a lot, but they will be gone faster than you could imagine.

Peanut Blossoms

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup natural peanut butter (I used Skippy)
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 1/2c organic white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2t vanilla
• 4T milk
• 1 package gluten free bisquick
• 2t xanthan gum
• 2t baking soda
• 1t salt
• chocolate stars/kisses/m&m’s

1. Cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars until all creamy (I cut the sugar quantity in this recipe in half – I couldn’t put in 2 cups of sugar!).

2. Add in the eggs and vanilla and milk. Mix to combine.

3. Put in the xanthan gum, baking soda and salt, and then gradually add in the bisquick. Doing your dry ingredients this way helps keep this to a one-bowl recipe!

4. Scoop the dough into balls (I used a small cookie scoop and then rolled into round balls). Roll into additional sugar to coat the outside of the dough.

5. Place on to a lined baking sheet, and bake in a 375′ preheated oven for 8 minutes.

6. Take out of the oven and place a chocolate star on the top of each one. Put back into the oven and bake for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from the oven and move to a cooling rack.

Once again, the gluten free bisquick makes this recipe just as good as the original… if not better because of the extra puffyness!

You can make this dough in advance and keep in the fridge for a couple days, but the balls are easier to roll when you make them right away. These cookies are also Santa approved ;).

Check back tomorrow for the 12th day of the 12 days of cookies! We’re trying out a new recipe tonight, so hopefully it turns out!!!

12 days of cookies: peppermint brownies

Feel like another easy recipe that looks like it took forever to make? Thought so. Well, here you go :). Enjoy as we now only have four more wake ups ’til Christmas!

Peppermint Brownies

• 1 box gluten free brownies, or your favorite brownie recipe (I used Trader Joe’s gluten free brownie mix and it was fantastic)
• 1/2c chocolate chips
• 1t peppermint extract
• 1c chocolate chips
• ~2T milk
• 4 candy canes, crushed

1. Mix the brownies according to package directions, or your recipe. Add in the chocolate chips and peppermint extract to the batter before baking.

2. One the brownies have baked and cooled, melt the chocolate with the milk over a double boiler, or in the microwave.

3. Top the cooled brownies with the melted chocolate ganache topping and sprinkle with the crushed candy canes or peppermint candy.

4. Keep in the fridge. Once set up, cut into delightful triangle-shaped pieces.

I brought these to my work Christmas party and they were  a huge hit. Just can’t get enough chocolate + peppermint! Or peppermint + white chocolate.

 

kauai day 3: hanalai + a foodies paradise

After we got back home from the Sugar Mill Run, it was definitely time for breakfast! We got a box of gluten free Bisquick at the store. It didn’t have the healthiest of ingredients since it provided zero protein or fiber, so we also got some millet and buckwheat groats to throw in the batter. Sister had also brought some chia seeds along, so those three things combined with the Bisquick mix made a perfectly suitable breakfast!

Some of Sweet Marie’s granola might also have been put on the pancakes before they were flipped – I love granola in pancakes. If you’ve never tried it, you have to!

Served with Passion Fruit Coconut Syrup, some bacon and extra granola! I couldn’t even finish all of these because they were so filling – even though I wanted to because they were so good. We will definitely be making these again on the trip :).

After we were done with breakfast and were showered, we headed up north to Kilauea Beach lighthouse. You normally have to pay to get to the lookout and to see the lighthouse closer, but it was free today for Veterans Day – thanks Veterans!

The views were gorgeous.

 

After the lighthouse and more driving, we ended up near Lappert’s Ice Cream when we were starting to get hungry again.

I got a sundae with kona coffee + chocolate macadamia nut ice creams, banana, hot fudge, macadamia nuts, whip cream and a cherry. So good!

From the ice cream we headed to go work it off. Our destination? Driving all the way to the end of the road and then hike up the trail there. Don’t you just love Hawaiian directions? So descriptive… Well, we ended up going all the way to the end of the road and there was a busy beach and hiking trail calling our names! Mom had forgotten shoes for hiking so she stayed on the beach while Dad, Kinley and I went up and up and up. We were told it was 2 miles to some waterfalls… but the sign said 4 and we were definitely not prepared for an 8 mile hike that would take 3-4 hours, so we set off to the first and second lookout points listed on the sign – a Beach View and a Coast Viewpoint (.5 miles away).

The hike was quite treacherous. It was very steep, rocky, and slick in a few spots. Kinley and I wore our Five Fingers and they were just a hit on the trail haha – almost everyone we went by just had to comment and ask if they were good hiking shoes… and that was quite humorous since we so do NOT look like hikers, especially in our clothes for the day! The first lookout was a breathtaking view of the beach down below.

And the second was a double view – one side of the beach (although much higher up!), and the other side was the coastline. Everyone up there took turns taking pictures of each other so we got one of the three of us ;).

The hike probably took us 40ish minutes I would say, and it left us famished. We headed to a beach so the parents could have a quick cocktail (and apparently another huge hike since the beach we decided on had a huge trail to get to it) and then went back closer to our condo to to out for dinner at a place we had a coupon for in our resort welcome packet, Lemongrass Grill Seafood Bar. I started the meal with a cocktail – one with Malibu coconut rum, guava, passionfruit and one other juice blended with ice and topped with Bacardi 151. Probably one of the best drinks I’ve ever had.

For dinner Kinley and I (thank goodness) both got the Guava BBQ Ribs. We asked if it was gluten free and the waitress checked on the sauce, and said it was as long as we got it on a bed of rice rather than their potatoes. That was perfectly fine for both of us! They were the absolute best, fall of the rib ribs I’ve ever had and the BBQ sauce was spectacular. The jasmine rice might have even been the best rice I’ve had. And there was even broccoli slaw. We might have to go back to this restaurant to eat this meal again, because I seriously cannot think of a better meal that I have ever had – and it was so easily made gluten free!

After we got home from the best dinner ever, it was definitely time for the hot tub again. My body was sore from the 10k, hike, beach hike, and all the other random walks and strolls throughout the day. Good thing we won’t have to get up quite so early tomorrow morning!