Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was in the mood to bake today after visiting my son's new school. Why did that put me in the mood, who knows. (I have been searching the web for recipes and that probably was the reason I wanted to bake.) He is going into the 4th grade in September and will change schools. I remember when I was sending him off to Kindergarten and when the bus came he seemed so sad, so scared. He just looked at me with these big puppy dog brown eyes. Those eyes were saying, "What are you doing to me?". I have to get on this bus with a bunch of kids that I don't even know?

Well, he loves school and the new building is really amazing. It's a 4-5-6 building with 2 gyms, a pool and music lessons. It has just under 1500 kids spread over the 3 grades and is a very big school. The greatest thing is that it is still an elementary school and it definitely feels like a great transition place for middle school. We had a great tour today with the principal and look forward to taking my son there next week to check it out.

OK, back to the baking. I baked Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used the recipe from BakingBites. She is right they make very large cookies. They baked up to be around 4" wide. As I have said before, not exactly good for the Weight Watchers diet.

The cookies were easy to mix up but not so easy to fill. The dough was hard to wrap around the cream cheese and white chocolate filling. When they baked up the filling thankfully stayed inside the cookie, so that was good. The cookies are soft in the middle and crisp on the edges. The filling really does give it that little something extra.

I brought some in for a few co-workers; I found that the cookies do not travel as well as smaller cookies. I think that the filling makes it a little too soft to hold up in baggies. My work friends just LOVED the cookies... "tastes like Christmas then chocolate and then yummmm cheesecake"... and the cookies also received to thumbs up from someone else.

I love to bring baked goods into work for everyone to enjoy:)

Give these cookies a try you will not be sorry they are delicious.

~Michelle

Fit for a Wedding

Here are some pictures of the necklaces and earrings that I made for a co-workers wedding.

I thought that the jewelry was to be given as gifts to the bridesmaids after the wedding, but I was delighted to find out that they are actually for the wedding day. Oh, how exciting.

I think they turned out very nice. The necklaces are made with sterling silver chain and lavender hydrangea chalcedony heart shaped briolettes and czech fire polished rondelles in lavender luster. They also have cream coin pearls in the center of the sterling hoop.

I don't normally like to do custom work because I don't know if I can find what they want and what if they don't like the design. I prefer to make what I like and hope that others like it too. In this case she does like it and I think that they turned out very pretty. Very glittery.






















Here are the earrings.







~Michelle

A Cinnamon Bun for My Son

My oldest son likes to eat the cinnamon buns from Tim Horton's. So I began a mission to find some recipes for homemade cinnamon buns. I told him that I would make all different recipes and we would see which one we all liked better.

I began with a recipe from familyfun.com.

This is the actual recipe for "Sweet Cinnamon Rolls". I made it on a Saturday evening and boy did it take it a very long time. The rising was quite a process. It had to rise several times during the evening.

I only had time to take a photo of the finished product because in between the rolling, kneading, rising and baking I was cooking dinner and doing laundry. So there wasn't really time to stop and take the photos.

Late Friday evening we were sitting as a family watching hockey when the cinnamon rolls were finally done baking, and the four of us all shared 1 roll. It was warm and sticky, sweet and delicious. I thought that the cinnamon and brown sugar sort of 'melted' down and it seemed like the filling dripped a little out of the rolls.

We really liked the rolls very much. It was not great for my Weight Watchers diet but really it was not that damaging. My oldest gives the rolls 2 thumbs up and my youngest son said he didn't like the 'dough' part. He is silly.

We enjoyed them and look forward to the next cinnamon roll/bun baking adventure.

~Michelle

Baking for School

A note came home from school with my son thanking me for volunteering to bring in cookies and to come in for the spring party on Friday. Signing up for things back in September always sounds like a good idea at the time. Next thing you know it's 7 months later and on a 70 degree day your baking cookies.

I decided to bake some cut-outs. I really don't like to make cut-outs because of the rolling and the mess. But, I thought it would be a fun idea to make some Buffalo Sabres cookies since they are playing game 1 in the first round of the playoffs today, and both of my sons Love hockey.











I made the dough and put it the refrigerator to chill. While the cut-out dough was chilling I made a batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies as back-ups in case the cut-outs don't turn out.

I used this recipe for the sugar cookies and the frosting. Check out the cookies on her blog they are amazing.

I didn't know it was so hard to make dark blue frosting. I guess I need to get blue powder or something or order the colors I need online. Either way I think they turned out pretty nice. I didn't put the buffalo on them because I thought that would be a little hard for my first time using this meringue frosting.

I used the following recipe for the chocolate chip cookies.







Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe courtesy of: Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking


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Ingredients


1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar (I use light)
1 1/2 cups butter (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 to 2 (12-oz) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375F. In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonsfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets
Bake at 375F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
**Everyone that tries these chocolate chip cookies absolutely loves them. I have made these cookies so many times that my cookbook pages are falling out from opening to the same section so many times.

~Michelle

Special Birthday Earrings

I went to the local bead store to pick up some wire to make some rings (that's another frustrating story), and I saw these hammered hoops and had to make some earrings out of them. I may even go back and pick up some more and make a pair for myself.

They have sterling silver ear wires and just the prettiest little czech glass bead. It kind of has a purple tint to the bead.
If you like the earrings and are interested in buying them, you are in luck because they are for sale. Go to my shop to purchase. Special birthday earrings. Keep reading to find out about their name.

While I was at the store I met a lady. She announces that she was having an 'ugly' day and I told her that I thought she looked great. She had dyed dark black hair and a very chic black outfit. Her nails were very long, beautifully painted and clearly fake. She had a great attitude and reminded me of a little Italian grandmother, like the one I used to have, except my Grandmother's hair was dyed red and did not have fake nails because of all the cooking she did.

The lady was there to have a larger clasp and ring put on a necklace, probably because her nails were just too long to work the closure.

After I told her that she looked great she asked me to guess how old she was and that she would not be mad no matter what I guessed. So I guessed 65. She said, even with all of these wrinkles? I really did not see many wrinkles, she did have a lot of make-up on though.

It turns out that she is 79 and turning 80 in May. I really did not think that she was that old. I thought she was so cute and as I left I told her to have a great birthday.

If I am lucky enough to live to 79 I hope to be that put-together and independent.

Happy Birthday
~Michelle

Communion Treat

I decided to practice making some treats for my son's first communion. I want to make something to give as take home thank you treats. So, I'm practicing these rice krispie treats covered in chocolate.


I used a jelly roll pan so that the treats would be a little thinner. I think that worked out alright. I cut them into squares and dipped them in melted semi-sweet chocolate. The chocolate seemed a bit thick so I might have to thin it out a bit for easier dipping. Dipping a marshmallow treat in warm chocolate must be done quickly so the treat doesn't start to get sticky.


I put them in the fridge for a little bit to help set the chocolate and this is how they turned out. Like I said I would probably just thin the chocolate a little bit to help with the dipping.



But, really no matter how the look they taste *awesome*.

I will put them in little bags with ribbon and little tags. I think that will work just fine. I might have to make some dipped in white chocolate because my son that is making his communion really likes white chocolate.

Something for Your Everyday

When I started to sell my jewelry on Etsy I ordered some business cards and added the line, "Handcrafted Jewelry for Your Everyday". I really believe that the jewelry I make is for wearing everyday because you should feel special everyday.

Here are a couple of examples of the casual yet pretty earrings that you can find at my little shop. I really have been enjoying creating and offering my work for sale. It is hard to find the time sometimes to create, photograph, edit and post the jewelry and I'm not always organized. I'm organized in my mind but I don't know if that counts.

My husband finally convinced me to move the jewelry making upstairs and off of the kitchen table so now I have a little desk to do my work. No TV though and I do like to watch my stories while I work.

I will have to take some photographs to show off the space. I know I like to see into the world of other jewelry makers and bakers. I will also take a few pics of some beautiful earrings and necklaces I am working on for a co-worker. They are turning out very, very nice and I hope the girls in her wedding like the jewelry.

~Michelle