Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Not a whole lot of baking happening around here. We have been busy with house projects and reorganizing. I did make a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk cookies last week. Best part about the recipe I have a log of them frozen in my freezer for a later use.  Ice cream sammys maybe?

Wedding Pictures

As promised, here is a heavily loaded post of our wedding pictures. We got all 3,000 of them back last week (yes 3,00 can you believe it?!) Here is a very slimmed down glimpse.

This is one of my favorite pictures

The Kelly Family

Dad and his girls

Ty and his new sisters! Lucky guy.

The Duffey Family

It wouldn't be a post without an Ella Baby picture



Bear

Tyler and I decided to get a puppy. Meet Bear! He is a schnoodle and we picked him up this past weekend. He is 6 weeks old. We love him to pieces. Again Mr. Duffey isnt happy for some reason...thats okay though, I think he will come around.

Birthday Cake Jell-O Shots

Since Bethany turned 21 I figured festive Jello-O shots were in order. Mr. Duffey was not happy but everyone else seemed to enjoy them! Who knew cake flavored vodka could be so yummy!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars

For Bethany's birthday I made her Cinnamon Toast Crunch bars. The girl does not like chocolate so I decided to give her favorite cereal a try in a dessert. They were delicious! Similar to Rice Krispies but better. She was a happy camper.

Trix Bars

Of course I get the urge to do some baking when the weather is 90 degrees. Hello, no need to turn the oven on!

I settled on making some Trix bars. The same gist as Rice Krispies only you make then with Trix cereal. Krista was in heaven.

Little Bethany

Our little sister Bethany is all grown up. She turns the big 2-1 today! Happy happy birthday Beth we sure do love you!!!!

Special K

Tyler and I have been doing lots of traveling lately. From Vegas, to Michigan, and now to Appleton this weekend. I am ready to stay home for awhile so I can do some baking.

I made Special K bars to take with us this weekend. Nothing fancy, just the usual.

Have a great weekend!

Breakfast Cookies

We have been doing lots of traveling and not a whole bunch of baking.

Krista whipped up a batch of Breakfast Cookies. My first question was can I eat them anytime? Not that there is anything wrong with having cookies for breakfast.

They are a bundle of goodness. Ingredients include bananas, oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Yum.

Ella turns ONE!

Last weekend we celebrated the most special girl's birthday. Our little Ella Irene turned the big O-N-E!

None of us can believe how fast time has gone but we are so grateful to be blessed with this little girl for the past year.

Happy happy birthday Ella from your favorite aunties!  

Vegas Baby

Last week, Krista, our madre, I and 14 other family and friends went to Las Vegas! Our mother's favorite place on earth. We went to celebrate our cousin's Jill's golden birthday (she shares her birthday with Ella).

We had fabulous weather and mom won big! All in all it was a successful trip!

96

Our Great Grandma Bossard turned 96 last week. Of course we had a celebration! I brought the leftover monkey cupcakes. Gram was pretty impressed.

She had to blow out her candles twice because she forgot to make a wish the first time!

Happy happy birthday Grandma Bossard!

Monkey Cupcakes

Remember all those Rizzardi weddings we participated in last year? Well, two of them have gone and had babies, and little Jackson is already a year old. We had the honor of making monkey cupcakes for his first birthday. Aren't they adorable?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

I came across this recipe and was very intrigued by the fact that no butter was required. I love butter and didn't think a decent chocolate chip cookie was possible without it. But alas these cookie sticks weren't half bad.

Extremely easy recipe! From the ingredients to the baking method. Try it out sometime. You will be happy you did.

I also decided it was perfectly acceptable to use the rest of my holiday chocolate chips because there is still snow on the ground.

Ingredients
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ teaspoons Fine Sea Salt (or Table Salt)
½ cups Canola Oil
½ cups Granulated Sugar
½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Chocolate Chips

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, combine oil, both sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir until well blended.


Divide dough in half. On a silicone or parchment-lined sheet pan, shape each half into a 3×15-inch rectangle, leaving 3 inches of space between the two rectangles. Sprinkle each rectangle with 1/2 cup chocolate chips; gently pressing the chocolate chips into the dough. Bake in the center of the oven for 6-7 minutes for chewy cookies (8-9 minutes for crisper cookies).

Allow to cool completely before cutting into 36 cookie sticks. Use a serrated knife for best results.

Funfetti Cookies

I am a chocolate girl through and through. But put a little almond extract in a cookie and this girl is a happy camper.

Over the weekend I made homemade funfetti cookies. They were so easy and delightful I think they will become regulars around our house.

Funfetti Cookies

The Usual

Made an oldie but a goodie yesterday. Banana bread!

Last year my mother bought me the best piece of bake ware ever! Its a four cavity mini loaf pan. I use it for a lot of different recipes, but the main user is banana bread. The loaf pan makes it very easy to bake different varieties of bread.

Yesterday I made a loaf of plain, two loaves with chocolate chips, and one loaf with chocolate chips and walnuts.

Carrot Cake

I make carrot cake once a year and I don't tend to try it. Having vegetables in dessert scares me and there is no chocolate involved. Womp Womp.

But every year Megan requests carrot cake cupcakes with pecan cream cheese frosting for her birthday. Being the nice person I am, I do realize it isn't all about me, I happily oblige and whip up these for her.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

with

Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting

Twix Cupcakes

Over the weekend I had the chance to bake a new recipe.  I settled on Twix Cupcakes, because lets face it Twix are the bomb.dot.com.

Next time around I would make a few tweaks to the recipe but other than that they were delicious!

Twix Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Megan!

Today is this pretty lady's birthday! Happy 27th Birthday Megan! Holy Hannah's LOVES you!

Woot Woot you are 27! So old! =]

Cookie Dough Dip

Krista was in charge of dessert for their Easter celebration with Mike's family.

She decided to make Cookie Dough Dip. I was lucky enough to get a sample. It was delicious!
Best when served with graham crackers, both honey and chocolate.

Cookie Dough Dip

Happy Birthday Krista!

This pretty little lady turned 27 yesterday! Happy Birthday to you, Krista Marie!

I put together a little picture collage from the past year. I thought it was lovely.

I also may have went a little overboard with all the treats I made...whoops! However, with Pinterest, I couldn't help myself.

Two of Krista's favorite things are dark chocolate and peanut butter. All of the dessert I made, included both.

These mini Reese's peanut butter cups are dangerous. I envision lots of recipes that could use these bad boys.

Chocolate Cookies with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Another one of Krista's favorite combinations, salty-sweet.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies with Sea Salt

Surprisingly, this was Krista's favorite dessert. She is not much of a cake person preferring cookies or brownies. These cupcakes must have been good!

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Although it looks like a cake ball it is not. Its more of a Special K bar rolled up and dipped is dark chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Ball

And a birthday wouldn't be complete without the Duffey's singing a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday. Make a wish Krista! Here's to hoping year 27 is filled with lots of joy and blessings. Love you sister!

S'mores Cupcakes

Two of my aunts celebrated their birthdays on Wednesday. I wanted to try something different and unique. I settled on S'mores Cupcakes.

They were a hit! I loved the fact I got to "brown" the frosting.

Thank Goodness for Smart Phones

We did do some baking along the way last year. And all I have to say is thank goodness for smart phones! Seriously, it is so easy to snap some pictures and capture your treats before they are devoured. Here are some things we baked in the last year.

Dog and Cat Cake Pops

Cake Pop Tower for a high school graduation

Beer Pretzel cupcakes for Tyler John's birthday

Bride and Groom Cake Pops

Homemade Ice Cream Sammys

Homemade Chocolate Waffles

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cast Iron Chocolate Chip Cookies

Booty Cookies - Krista is so creative!

See, we have been busy!

Special shout out to Mr. Rick Anderson who checked on the blog everyday for the past 365+
These are for you!

2013, say what??

Well an entire year (plus some) came and went without any blog posts. Lots has happened since we last posted. You have been warned - picture overload!

First this happened. We welcomed our new niece, Ella, to the world. She is really the main problem, because lets face it, we love this little girly. And she is spoiled rotten and takes up all of our free time.

Fresh out of the womb

We love her even when she cries

Ella and Emmy

Uncle Tyler and Miss Ella

Auntie Krista and Ella Irene

Ella the Professor

And one more just for kicks

Ella and Emmy

This is from last week

The next big even of 2012 - Krista and Mike got hitched! They are one sexy couple.

The Happy Couple

My new brother-in-law Mike

The Beautiful Bride

The Four Sisters

Krista and Ella

Check out her biceps!

Awww, precious

Pure Bliss

Little Father and all his girls

Next up, Tyler and I just got married! Our poor parents, they are ready for a much needed break. No worries, my mother is heading to Vegas twice in the next few weeks. These pictures aren't the best, but I will update you when we get the professional ones back.

My handsome husband and I

Ella Irene and Emmy

My Matron of Honor and I

Photobooth!

Well there you have it! 3 HUGE life events in the past 11 months. Can you forgive us now for our lack of blogging? We've been busy!