I am not sure if your family purchases Christmas Crackers for the holiday season or not, but my sister in-law always has a cracker for everyone at our family Christmas dinner. It is a tradition. I am not sure where she purchases them, but I think she might get them at Costco. They are always quite elegant looking and the prizes are pretty good. This year we got a key chain, an egg timer, a set of mini dominos and a heart pendant necklace. Aside from the fun and the prizes, I also have a tradition of my own. For me the prize is much more about the packaging than the actual contents of the cracker. I always collect all of the little embellishments and take them home for use in other projects. I thought I would share a couple of repurposing ideas for those cute little cracker decorations.
Repurposing Christmas Crackers:
Here are a few shots of some of my salvaged loot from the past three years. You can see that some of the piles are already quite depleted.
Each end of the cracker is usually tied with one or two pieces of ribbon. A wire with little balls on it is twisted around to make a pretty little decoration. The ribbon pieces are quite small and their uses are definitely limited, but I absolutely love those fancy little wires.
I have used the small ribbons and wires to add a bit of extra charm to small gifts in much the same way as they are used on the original crackers.
The wires and bows can also be used to add some pizzaz to a scrapbooking layout.
It may be too late, but if you have some crackers hanging around that still haven’t been used or maybe you are saving them for New Year’s, don’t forget to gather all those odds and ends and add them to your stash for future use.
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If You Look For Me at Christmas You won’t need a special star I’m no longer just in Bethlehem, I’m right there where you are. You may not be aware of Me ~ amid the celebrations, You’ll have to look beyond the stores and all the decorations. But if you take a moment from your list of things to do, and listen to your heart, You’ll find I’m waiting there for you. You’re the one I want to be with, You’re the reason that I came, And you’ll find Me in the stillness as I’m whispering your name. Love, Jesus
I had an old puzzle with pieces missing and was waiting for the perfect project to use them up. I came across this idea on Made By Me and decided these little homemade angel ornaments would be the perfect gift for my awesome neighbours. We are so lucky to live on a street that is filled with kids similar to the ages of our own. It has been such a blessing having each one of them as friends and mentors for our children. Each is unique and we all have different gifts and abilities that we bring to the neighborhood. Together, we sort through the challenges of raising a family and try to support each other through the bumps in life. We are so fortunate to have found a home on such a great street. When thinking about using the puzzle pieces for this project, I couldn’t help but think about how our neighbourhood was much like a puzzle. A puzzle contains a set of pieces that are all different, but each one is vital to the overall design of the completed picture. This is much like our neighbourhood, with each person contributing to our little “village” in their own special way and vital to the “village” as a whole.
Puzzle Piece Angel Ornaments:
Take an old puzzle piece and gently sand the surface.
Add a very thin coat of white paint. Dry and lightly sand to distress slightly.
Draw on angel with a pencil.
Paint the angles and then use a black Sharpie to add details.
Add a small star cut (or punched) from light cardboard like a cereal box.
Here are the completed angels with a little glitter glue added to the head for a halo and the star for a bit of shimmer. I pierced the top with a needle and thread silver string through for hanging.
I was awake one night planning this project and thinking about how I might be able to articulate my thoughts regarding the little angel puzzle piece ornaments. I thought of writing something, but I am really not much of a poet. I tried several google searches and came up with what I deemed to be the perfect poem. This poem is called the Prime Puzzle and was written by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner.
Prime Puzzle:
This post is dedicated to all of the wonderful people in our neighbourhood. We value your friendship, kindness and support. We are truly blessed to have each of you in our lives. Merry Christmas!
My dad is Ukrainian, but my mom was not. Despite their different backgrounds, my mom embraced the Ukrainian traditions of my dad’s family and we began to celebrate Christmas Eve ~ Ukrainian style. As a child, I can vividly remember (okay more like vaguely ~ I don’t have the best memory) spending every Christmas Eve with my dad’s family. We would eat a very traditional Ukranian meal with the 12 meatless dishes. This consisted of an appetizer of “wheat” (Yuck ~ I tried it every year, but never did acquire a taste for it!) followed by borscht. The main meal included perogies (potato, cottage cheese and prune), cabbage rolls (sour and tomato), beet rolls, fish, creamed mushrooms, and some buns. I am not sure if the 12th dish varied from year to year or not as I am having trouble remembering it. I know we always had headcheese (not meatless), but can’t remember if it was part of the meal or served later in the evening after midnight mass. I know we also ate pyrizhky (tiny little buns stuffed with sauerkraut). It was always an awesome evening filled with great food, family and plenty of card games. I will always cherish those family gatherings at my Aunty Dora’s. I don’t remember gifts ever being a big part of our celebration. I am not saying there weren’t any, but it was certainly not the focus. It was about family and celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Roy Family Traditions:
When Tim and I were married, we agreed that we would spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. This has always worked out well for both of us and we are blessed that both of our families are close enough that we never have to choose between the two. We have always attended a Christmas Eve service, but no longer go to midnight mass. Springs Church usually offers multiple service times, so we opt for an early service and then head home for a later dinner. Church is only an hour, but the service is always fantastic and you never quite know what to expect. Our church is far from traditional and the contemporary nature always makes the evening quite spectacular and really sets the tone for the entire Christmas experience. We leave filled with the spirit of Christmas and ready for an awesome evening of fun and festivities.
For many years, my mom and dad would host Christmas Eve dinner, but my mom and I would share the preparations and do much of it together. When she passed away in 1999, we carried on in much the same way, but I took over the roll of hosting. Over the years, we have scaled back on our menu and have stuck to the dishes we like the most. We have made some additions and removed a few items from our meal plan, but much of what we serve has remained the same. My dad was 63 when my mom passed away and he immediately took over the role of helping prepare Christmas Eve dinner. He even made mom’s Christmas cake for the first few years after her passing ~ what a trooper! Now almost 77, dad still prepares a good portion of the meal. He makes beet rolls (like cabbage rolls but made with beet leaves), sour cabbage rolls, cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, and he even made the perogies this year!
I make my Mom’s Borscht (so delicious!), fresh buns, fish, nalysnyky(Ukrainian Crepes), and creamed mushrooms. If I have beet leaves, I also make beetniks. These delicious little morsels are made by wrapping a beet leaf around bread dough. You bake it as you would a bun and then warm them in a whipping cream and onion sauce. To die for, seriously. I found a link to a recipe that looks pretty similar to what I do. I don’t actually have a recipe, but this gal’s post seems to be pretty much bang on. The only extra tip I have is that I always pop my leaves in the freezer. When you take them out and thaw them they are nicely wilted and much easier to wrap.
So, you can see we are down to about 9 or 10 dishes, depending on the year. Of course the meal is super delicious, but very rich and high in calories. Everything is either made with or served with butter and/or whipping cream sauce. In fact, if you count the cream sauce and the butter and onions we set on the table to smother our food with, I am sure you could make it up to the “12 dish” count! It is for this reason, that this meal is restricted to once a year. We indulge, until we bulge, and then restrain ourselves for another year.
We no longer have a traditional Christmas Eve dessert. Sometimes I make a fancy dessert and other times, we just eat Christmas baking. I do miss my mom’s incredible mince meat tarts with ice cream that were our traditional dessert when my mom was alive. I might give them a whirl one year, but I don’t know if I can find her recipe and they just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t her recipe.
After dinner, the kids are allowed to open one gift from us (usually new PJ’s) and any gifts from my side of the family. I only have one brother and his family is not always able to join us, so sometimes it is just my dad and the four of us. My mom always had her heart and door open to those who didn’t have family to spend the holidays with and I too try to include anyone that is without family or a place to go. We are thrilled to extend the invitation to others, as no one should be alone at Christmas time.
Of course, it would not be a Wasslen Christmas with games. The evening usually ends very late after a few board games with the kids and a round or two of Canasta with the adults.
This is our traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal which we always have on Christmas Eve.
Nalysnyky Recipe:
Crepes:
6 eggs
2 teaspoon sugar
2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
flour (enough to make a thin batter)
Using a non-stick pan, spoon a small amount of batter in the pan to form a thin crepe. (I tend to make my crepes about 3 to 4″ wide and about 6 to 7″ long ~ more rectangular in shape. I just find this works better for rolling and holding the filling). Cook until just beginning to brown. If your crepe is thin enough you will not need to fiddle with trying to flip it over as it will cook right through. I transfer the cooked crepes to wax paper and then stack them in layers. You can fill them as soon as they are cool enough to handle. You can also wrap the stacked crepes in cellophane and store them in the fridge until you are ready to fill them.
Filling:
2 cups of dry cottage cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup of cream
pinch of cinnamon
pepper
pinch of sugar
Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl. Fill the crepes and roll them up. Place them in the bottom of a greased baking dish. Cover with cream sauce and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until bubbling.
Cream Sauce:
Dice a large onion (or more – you can never have too much onion) and sauté in a generous amount of butter (about 1/2 cup?). Add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour and stir it in to soak up some of the butter. Add 2 cups of whipping cream and about 1/4 cup of fresh dill. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Sauce should be a yellow colour. This sauce is excellent served on beetniks, beet rolls, nalysnky or on perogies in lieu of sour cream.
This recipe is one of our favourites and is always a hit at potluck dinners. If you are bringing a dish to a family gathering this season, it is a guaranteed hit. I also love that you can make the crepes ahead of time and store them in the fridge until they need to be baked. Enjoy!
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You can’t get much simpler (or cheaper) than this arrangement. I thought I might like a nice arrangement for my table during the holidays, but now that it’s done, it may sit on the little table outside on my front porch….haven’t decided.
Materials:
glass vase (bought for a couple bucks at the thrift store)
silver ribbon with the wire edges for creating a nice shape
white curly ribbon
5 to 7 cheap tacky plastic candy canes from the dollar store ( I think they came two or three in a pack) ~ as a rule of thumb, you should always use an odd number when making an arrangement (I am pretty sure about this “rule” because I learned it in 4H when I was 10, so it must be true. However, you can see I broke the rule. I had 6 and they are so tacky that I don’t want to leave the odd ball hanging around, so I stuck it in to make an even six – yikes!!)
3 springs of berries (wire stem that is pliable for easy manipulation ~ got these on clearance for 99 cents each)
wire garland (As you know….I love wire garland and use it on all of my gifts. You can see the twisted swirls of silver holly garland in the arrangement)
hot glue/gun
glass beads (dollar store) to help with the stability of the candy canes (optional)
Building the Arrangement:
I basically started with the candy canes and added from there. I started by putting a little dab of hot glue on the glass jar and tilted the first candy cane to rest against the edge on the gob of glue. The glue is inside the rim and can’t be seen. I decided to glue three candy canes around the rim, each spaced about 1/3 of the circle apart. I am not sure if I will keep the arrangement or dismantle it at the end of the holidays, but hot glue peels off quite easily, so I wasn’t concerned about the vase. I then took the second set of three candy canes and secured them together with the silver bow (and a few dabs of hot glue). These were more upright and straddled the first set of candy canes nicely to sit more in the middle of the arrangement. I then added the glass beads to help hold the candy cane based in place.
I then began to “fill” the arrangement. I curled several lengths of plain white ribbon and used it as filler, spilling over the top of the glass jar. I didn’t secure any of the ribbon, just poked it in here and there and hooked it around some of the candy canes. I then carefully pulled the tiny sprigs of the wire berries to give them more dimension and a bit of a whimsical look. Finally, I added a few lengths of the wire garland, randomly twisted throughout the arrangement.
*I was thinking that if this were made for outside, you could probably add a bit of water to the jar and the ice would act as the base to hold everything in place, instead of using glass beads.
All in all, this was mostly made up of odds and ends I already had on hand. The candy canes were 2 or 3 dollars and the berries another 3. Not bad for under $10!
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Have you ever stopped to wonder what all of the decorations and symbols of Christmas actually mean? Several years ago, I came across a great children’s book that explained the meaning behind each of the decorations that were put on the tree. Although I don’t have the book or even remember the name of it, I was able to remember some of the book and also used some information on Being Saint Joseph. I found it interesting, as I had never really stopped to think about it before reading the story book.
What do the Decorations Mean?
Green is the colour of Life!
Poinsettia: These beautiful flowers are shaped like the Star of Bethlehem and bloom in the Christmas season. The red blooms and green foliage represent the traditional red and green Christmas colours.
Wreaths: A circle has no beginning and no end and thus the wreath represents the eternal nature of God and the never-ending value of love. An evergreen wreath is a true representation of this eternal love and hope, as it contains both the circle and the evergreen branches.
Bells: Bells ring out to guide the lost sheep back to the fold. This also signifies that all are precious in the eyes of the Lord.
Christmas Lights and Candles: Light removes darkness and Jesus came so that there might be light in the world.
Star: The stars that are used to decorate trees, cut into cookies or placed on wreaths are symbolic of the star that guided the Wise Men to where Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Angels: Remind us of the angels that attended the birth of Jesus.
The Christmas Tree: The “evergreen” tree represents eternal life and that fact that there is hope for new life after the long cold winter. It points to heaven and is a reminder that heaven is our ultimate goal.
Bow: Represents family ties and the fact that we should be tied together in bonds of goodwill.
Candy Canes: The candy canes are used to remind us of the Shepherd’s staff, used to guide the sheep. Of course, Jesus is considered to be a shepherd and “people” the sheep that he guides. The white stripe in the candy cane symbolizes the purity of his perfect life and the red for the blood of Jesus. The stripes on the candy cane represent the “stripes” that Jesus suffered for us during the crucifixion.
Red represents the blood of Jesus that was offered as a sacrifice for our sins when Jesus died on the cross.
Holly: The prickles and thorns are not unlike the crown that Jesus wore on his head and the bright red berries are like the drops of blood he shed.
Amongst the presents and the festivities, let’s not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Let’s embrace the true spirit of Christmas and take this time to count our blessings and make CHRIST the center of our CHRISTmas!
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Christmas truly engages all of our senses. We are bombarded with sights, sounds, smells, feelings and tastes that are unique to the holiday season.
The Sights of Christmas: Of course, decorating is a huge part of preparing for Christmas. The lights, candles, wreaths and garland all add to the beauty of the season. Our Christmas trees in themselves are often draped in memories from prior Christmas and each seems to have a personality of its own, with no two trees looking alike. Each tree is symbolic and represents the family who displays it. It is the wonderous sights of Christmas that truly bring the season to life.
The Tastes of Christmas: Our homes become filled with fresh baking and delicious meals are served to family and friends. Christmas is a great opportunity to share the flavours of a great new recipe or a reason to pull out the recipes that represent decades of family traditions. I am sure most of us would agree that many of our memories are linked to the traditional foods our families eat each Christmas. My mom passed away several years ago, and yet it is amazing how certain foods and recipes immediately taking me back to memories of her. When she was alive, we always had her homemade mincemeat tarts warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream on top, for dessert on Christmas Eve. They were so delicious and mincemeat always reminds me of her!
This is our traditional Ukranian Christmas meal which we always have on Christmas Eve.
A tin of fresh baking ready to go!
The Sounds of Christmas: Nothing helps to get us into the spirit of Christmas like the holiday tunes that fill the malls and take over the radio stations. I love to sit and wrap gifts or do my baking with Christmas music filling the house. During December, our church is exploding with the spirit of Christmas. I love to go to church every Sunday and sing Christmas carols during Praise and Worship and watch the children’s church groups perform their holiday numbers. There are always special numbers performed and the message is always “bang-on” and food for my spirit.
Eden, Grandpa Bob and Shay cuddling on the couch Christmas Eve 2012.
The Touches of Christmas: The warmth from the fire burning in the fireplace, coupled with the embraces from loved ones. There are of course, the “feelings” that may not be physical at all, but “touch” us all the same. The chance to give away that perfect gift you found for some one special, or maybe being the recipient of a gift or even a kind gesture in the spirit of the season. The opportunity to be a part of making Christmas special for those you love. The feeling of complete joy when your children’s eyes light up on Christmas morning and the smiles and laughter that follows.
The Sweet Smells of Christmas: Don’t you love the smell of Christmas? I find that the smell of cider mulling on the stove, the scent of a fresh tree in the house mixed with the aroma of Christmas goodies all take me back to all of the special memories of Christmases past. I love the smells and to enhance the experience, I have a little recipe that I use throughout the holiday season.
Sweet Smell of Christmas Recipe:
I got this recipe many years ago, and honestly have no idea where it came from. It has become a “Roy Family” tradition and I would love to share this simple recipe with you, so that you too can enjoy the Sweet Smell of Christmas!
Cook this mixture slowly on your stove during the holidays to help make your house smell festive.
3 cinnamon sticks
3 whole bay leaves
1/4 cup whole cloves
2 lemon wedges
Simmer over low heat in 1 quart of water. Mix. It can simmer for days. Add more water as needed.
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If you have been reading my posts over the last six months, you already know how I feel about technology and what it is doing to our kids. As a teacher and a blogger, I am on the computer every day. As a mom, I am using my device to check hockey schedules, look up new recipes and stay in touch with the kid’s school. You really can’t get away from technology, but what gets me is how our children so easily become totally consumed with their iPods and video games. I feel like 90% of the “battles” in our home are over monitoring screen time and arguing over “who’s turn it is “. I just hate that it is always there and seems to be a constant thorn in my side. Check-out this commercial…it is really well done.Okay, did that not soften your heart just a bit, it certainly made me think twice (even if only for a moment)….this Apple commercial reminded me of the benefits of technology and the incredible convenience it has brought to our lives. I can remember just a few years ago, when I had to lug my camcorder to events in order to record movies. I then had to transfer the footage from the mini-tape (don’t remember what it was called) to VHS without any ability to edit the footage. It was lots of work and I think I still have tape that has never been seen. Now everything is just a click away and it seems that no event goes “uncaptured”. Thanks Apple!
Like the teen in the advertisement, Eden loves to make movies on her iPod and does quite a good job of them. Perhaps I need to relax and be more open-minded, after all, the techno savvy account for some of the most successful people in the world today.
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I found this tutorial for a DIY jersey pom-pom posted on Pinterest a few months back. I just love the shabby chic feel and the colour is incredible….one of my favourites. Unfortunately, I don’t have anywhere to use a ball of this shade. I decided to make a few out of an old white t-shirt that was in the “to donate” tub. I figured that if I stuck with white, I could add them to my Christmas tree and it would flow nicely with the “theme” of the tree. The original post on Skip to My Lou is very thorough.
Follow the link to visit Skip to My Lou and check-out the full tutorial.
DIY Pom-Poms:
Materials Needed
old white t-shirt cut into 1/2 inch strips (I just tore mine)
needle
thread
wax linen thread (I just used embroidery thread because I had it on hand and it worked fine)
Run each strip of fabric through your fist to stretch the material. This will actually cause the strip to curl around itself and form a hollow string/tube.
Wrap each string around the cardboard lengthwise. Keep layering one string on top of the other until you have used what you deem to be enough. I am not sure how to gauge this for you as it will depend on the size of your t-shirt and length of your strips. I used an XL t-shirt and ended up with 5 pom-poms. (Make sure to cut the strips horizontally across the body of the t-shirt – you need to cut off any seams as it will break the natural curl of the strip.)
Slide the thread under the pile of strips and tie off one side, securing it as tightly as possible.
Carefully remove the cardboard and then gather the side that is not tied and tie it together with the side you have already secured. You want the entire bunch to be tied as tightly as possible. The wax thread would make this easier as it wouldn’t slip, but I managed without it.
You then begin to cut the loops in half at both ends.
After each end is cut, fluff the material out to make a ball. Trim down any ends that seem too long, fluffing as you go and creating a nice spherical shape.
Add a string to hang it from your tree and a ribbon to spruce it up a bit. (You could add a safety-pin instead of a string and make pin to dress-up a scarf or add a hair-clip, so that it could be pinned on a pony tail. It would also look cute on a hat!)
I used some Christmas scripted fabric and tore it in strips for my ribbon.
Here are my ribbon strips.
My pom pom is plain white and i just added a bow tied from the scripted ribbon.
Here is a shot of the pom pom on our tree.
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Okay, this post is definitely not intended for those of you that dazzle your guests with homemade truffles every holiday season. I am a newbie! I have never even attempted to make truffles before, probably because I was so afraid of failing miserably. I have done a few things with melted chocolate before and I have found my skills to be a bit hit and miss. I hate waste and worried about ruining a whole batch of truffles. However, when I saw this recipe for a cookie dough truffle, I just had to face my fears and give it a try. Traditionally, I usually only bake cookies when I have a desire to fill up on cookie dough. It is rarely about having cookies in the house and more about satisfying my craving for raw dough. So, with that in mind, what could be more amazing than a cookie dough truffle with a hint of salt. I love that whole salty sweet trend that is the rave right now, and these truffles did not disappoint. I am not going to say that these are super easy to make, but they weren’t too difficult either. I was struggling a bit, but figured out a simple solution that made the process much easier and less frustrating. I will share it later in the post.
Cookie Dough Truffles with Sea Salt
Anne Thorton shared this delicious recipe on the Food Network and I followed it exactly. If you get all worked up over raw eggs then this recipe is not for you. Over the years I have eaten more than my share of raw cookie dough (with raw eggs in it) and have never gotten sick. Anne posted a warning at the end of the recipe and I have included in my post as well, but if you are concerned don’t bother making these. However, you need to know you are passing up one incredibly scrumptious treat.
Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Chocolate Chip Blondies (I think you could use your standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, but I did use the recipe that follows at the end)
2 bags semi-sweet chocolate chipits (about 3 cups), melted over double boiler for dipping (I melted mine in the microwave, but you need to do so in short spurts and stir in between. My microwave actually has a “melt chocolate setting”, so it is easy to do and less to clean-up after)
Fleur de sel, for decoration (coarse sea salt) toothpicks for dipping
Anne suggests several other options for decorating instead of dipping the balls in chocolate, but I stuck with the dipping and sea salt and they turned out well. Being my first attempt, I really wanted to keep it simple and knew I would like the salty/sweet contrast.
Directions:
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out 1 heaping teaspoon of chocolate Chip Blondie mixture and roll it into a ball. Place onto the parchment paper and repeat with the remaining batter. Cover with plastic wrap and place into the freezer for at least 2 hours and up to 1 week. (Keep the cookie dough balls in the freezer until needed prior to dipping in the chocolate, otherwise they will melt into the chocolate when they are dipped.)
Remove 1 baking sheet of truffles from the freezer and skewer your toothpick into the truffle ball and dip into the melted chocolate. Use a spatula to paint the chocolate onto the toothpick and place the truffle back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove the toothpick and cover up the hole. Sprinkle the truffle with some fleur de sel. Finish dipping all the truffles and garnish with desired toppings. Place them into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the chocolate to set up. They will keep for 1 week in refrigerator.
Cindy’s Tip: I was a little frustrated trying to dip the ball nicely and found that the end of the ball opposite the toothpick looked nice, but the “bottom” of the ball around the toothpick ended up not looking as nice. I really wanted this to be the bottom of the truffle, but couldn’t slip the toothpick off and get the less pretty part sitting on the bottom. But alas…I figured out a solution (the pros can ignore this as I am sure you have your own little system). I set my parchment paper on my wire cooling rack which sits about 6 inches off the counter. With the toothpick pointing down and the ball on top, I carefully poked the toothpick through the wax paper and the bottom of the cooling rack. I then pulled the toothpick from beneath the rack and right out of the ball. It allowed me to have the toothpick hole on the bottom and the nice smooth surface on the top. Once I figured this out, I was able to work much faster and they turned out better. I didn’t even bother filling in the toothpick hole on the bottom of the truffle.
You can see my rack has legs that raise it several inches off the stove.
Here is a shot of the truffle, just dipped and the toothpick poking through the parchment paper and cooling rack.
Chocolate Chip Blondies:
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch fine sea salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Method:
Beat your butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the brown and granulated sugars a little bit at a time, pouring them in on the side of the bowl. While you’re adding your sugars, stop the mixer occasionally and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure that everything is fully mixed. Cream the butter and sugar mixture until it is light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. (Creaming creates air pockets in the dough, and therefore these Blondies have a light and delicate texture.)
Whisk your flour, baking soda and sea salt in a bowl. Add your eggs 1 at a time, adding the second only after the first is fully incorporated. Once the second egg is fully incorporated, add your vanilla. Turn your mixer down to low-speed and slowly add the flour/baking soda/sea salt mixture. Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the wet ingredients, add in all those chocolate chips. Your machine will seem to be struggling to mix in the chocolate chips because there are so many of them, but don’t turn it up, leave it on low and allow it to fully mix the chips in.
* Raw Egg Warning: There is a slight risk of salmonella or other food-borne illness when consuming raw eggs. To reduce this risk, it is recommended that you use only fresh, properly refrigerated, clean grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell. For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served, use shell eggs that have been treated to destroy salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method.
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