Fall

I think the Thanksgiving gets steam rolled by Christmas. Heck even Halloween gets ran over! I am beginning to believe the Holidays are getting over commercialized and people are missing the point.

This year we decided to do a couple Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child. My husband and I were originally going to putting the boxes together ourselves, but then we decided we should have our two boys put the boxes together. We told them all about the boxes, what they were for, the children that receive the boxes, and they were more than happy to do it. Pretty awesome coming from a 4 and a 5 year old.

So we went a bought some gifts for to put in the boxes, crayons, pad of paper, colouring book, toys, and some other things. It was wonderful. We also included a little note to the child, along with our mailing address so the child can write to us if they want to. It was wonderful.

Last Wednesday at Calvary Chapel, after Awana, we went to talk to a friend of my husband's for a bit, then on the way out the lady that told us about OCC introduced us to a young lady that had received a Christmas box when she was about 8. She was the sweetest person, so humble, and kind. She was so happy to share her story and we were just as happy to hear it! It really makes your heart warm.

Christmas should be a time of sharing, love, and worshiping Christ. Not over spending, mindless shopping, endless lists, and meaningless gifts. Everyone needs to look past Wal Marts gag worthy Christmas specials and over baring music, the local Mall's over priced gifts, the list a mile and a half long for your family, kids, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins twice removed, and your cat or dog and get back to the REAL meaning of Christmas. It is the day our Savior was born and His gift of Love. 

John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

You want to give a great gift? Share the wonderful Word of God, share that Christmas was the day He was born, and share the ultimate gift of Love.

I will get off my soap box now. Hah!

ALRIGHT COOKIES!!

I made the yummiest chocolate cookies, thanks to the lovely LilaLoa's Chocolate Cookie Recipe. They smelled and tasted like brownies! Yum. I made the dough, started to roll it out, and oh my gosh, I was about to cry. The dough was cracking and crumbling so badly I was about to trash the whole thing. I kneaded it for a minutes or two, like the recipe said if it started to crack. That did not help. I was not happy about it! I had to go chill out for a while to calm my frayed nerves and do some research. I searched for helpful tips, asked LilaLoa about the dough issue, and found nothing to solve my issue that was going to help. I think I am the first person to ever have this issue with her awesome recipe. I think the problem is because of the climate here in blustery cold Idaho and the weather that day; crappy cold almost snowing kind of day. I found one tip that probably save the dough's life. A few drops of water kneaded into the dough. It seemed to help, but did not cure the problem. But I did get all my cookies cut out and baked. I had maybe a cup and half of dough left. I was so dead tired, my nerves were done for, and I was ready to just go to bed. I tossed it. Right in the trash. I had 30 cookies and I was happy with that. 

I know I am not the only person to do that, nor will I be the last!! 

A few day later, a batch of Royal Icing, new colours, bags, and bottles, all my cookies are now iced.

I love the bottle for flooding. <3

A few days before I made the cookies, I stumbled upon a neat turkey cookie idea on..drum roll please...PINTEREST!!! Greatest website since Google.I gave the cookie idea a try. they turned out pretty cute to me! 

White Meat or Dark Meat?

Gobble Gobble!!

The rest of the cookies I just played around with. Did some marbling/feathering, plaid ( I love plaid), polka dots, and a quilt like patch. All the cookies turned out great. I am so pleased.

I am funny. :)

Button...button...who has the button?

 Thanks for reading. Hope everyone has a delicious Thanksgiving and if you are traveling, I hope your travels are safe!

Question of the Month: Light Meat or Dark Meat?

I love light meat.

November, November!

Wow seems like October was here and gone so fast!! My step kids made out like bandits this Halloween! I think they probably trick or treated 10+ pounds of candy! WOW! The Harvest Party at Calvary  Chapel was a blast as well! I did the face painting while my wonderful husband was security. So many cute costumes and funny faces to paint! Also, so many sick kids! I thought I was using enough hand sanitizer but I was wrong! I have been sick since last Tuesday, November 1st, with viral bronchitis.I am much better now, just a lingering lung rattling cough. Ugh!

A couple weeks ago I was asked to make some cookies for a charity fundraiser auction for Meals on Wheels by a local group called, Newcomers of Idaho Falls! I was so happy and gladly accepted! I have been working up a design for the cookies. I think I will be going with the MOWAA stars for one cookies, a fork, spoon, and plat cookie, a server's platter thing on wheels cookie, and a circle or square cookie with Meals on Wheels written on it. Colours will be White, Blue, Light Blue, Yellow, and silver if I can get my hands on some disco dust. It will be so much fun and a challenge! :)

On November 23, Calvary Chapel (the church my hubby and I go to), will be having a Night of Worship and they want people to bring goodies! I am more than happy to being goodies!! I was thinking why not make a cookie with the beautiful dove design that is in the Sanctuary. It is a hard design but I think I can handle it. I will be going with circle cookies, white background, orange or purple dot around the border, the dove in the center and for some of the other cookies I will be putting bible references such as John3:16. I love Calvary Chapel of Idaho Falls. The pastors are wonderful, the worship band is rockin`, the staff is amazing, and just all the all around atmosphere there and of the people are just....awesome. I love it there. 

The Calvary dove I plan on using on the cookies. :)

My very first order went over great! The lady that ordered them for her anniversary loved them. Her husband even asked her if she bought the truffles from a local candy shop because he thought they looked so professional! I was awe struck by that! The local candy shop's chocolates look fabulous and much better than mine!! I am so happy the truffles turned out just right. I new have a new order to fill for another one of my husband's co-workers for her birthday this month! I am ecstatic!She has even challenged me to make Pumpkin Pie truffles and Eggnog truffles! Fun fun fun!

Speaking of birthday's, my youngest step-son, Johnny, will be turning 5 years old this month on the 27th! Wow! I remember when my husband and I first got together he was only 2 and still in diapers! How times flies! I plan on trying to make some Toy Story themed cookies. Oh man...should be an epic challenge! I love my kids! :)

Thanksgiving seems to be getting steamrolled by Christmas this year....anyone else think so? Tom Turkey can barely get a gobble gobble out before Santa bellows out a HO HO HO! I mean you can not walk into any store and not see Christmas things or not hear holiday music! Pretty soon we well be starting Christmas festivities in August! Yikes! 

I am a bit of a Grinch when it comes to the holidays. But where I now have a hobby and talent to show off and perhaps profit from, I am not as green, my heart is not so small, nor do I want to snarl! I am excited to create beautiful holiday cookies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years,as well as my niece's 14th birthday. She was born on the same day I was! Pretty neat! So much to do!

OH I now I have a brand new, shiny, barely out of the box Twitter account!! Awesome right? 

C3 Bakery Twitter Check out my Twitter page, follow me, and leave me a comment! :)

I hope evryone is staying warm and safe!

God Bless

Charli

Peanut Butter Truffles and My FIRST order!

The Truffle. No, not the overly pricey mushroom pigs find in the dirt of far off countries. I am talking about the chocolate kind! I had never made a truffle or anything dipped in chocolate before until about 3 weeks ago. Wow! What a fun and interesting new experience that was! 

My first try at truffle making was White Chocolate Oreo Truffles from a recipe I found on Bakerella. Oh man...so yummy!! They were gone in no time! As I said this was my first time making anything like this before although this was not my first time working with chocolate. A lot of people at my husband's work loved them. Also someone suggested I try to make peanut butter truffles. 

Okay! Sounded like fun, then I remembered from my childhood other people making peanut butter cups or truffles. I always had  the fear of having an overkill taste of powdered sugar. I am not a big fan of powdered sugar in the first place. So with that in mind I found and tweaked a recipe that was not going to taste like you just ate a spoon full of peanut buttery powdered sugar. 

My husband and I were watching Eureka in the living room when I decided to try to make the truffles. I decided I wanted to watch the show still while making the balls and dipping them. So we moved the kitchen table into the living room. It was funny!

Side topic:

Have you heard of or ever watched Eureka? It is on Sci-Fi and on Netflix. It is a funny nerdy show we love! Netflix has seasons 1 through 3. Total bummer since there is a 4th season and we wanted to watch it.

Alright back to the truffles. I made the balls, chilled them, melted my chocolate, and dipped! I was having a problem with having too much of footing on the truffles after dipping. So frustrating!!! Argh! I tried everything from a spoon, fork, to a toothpick; the toothpick was the only thing that worked well enough to get the ball dipped and set on the parchment paper. With a little trial and error I figured out how to get just a little footing. I guess that is why MOST chocolates and such are in little cups.

Once the peanut butter balls were dipped, I melted some white chocolate to drizzle over the tops. They looked great! I was very pleased because.....they tasted 10 times better than a Reese's! None of that choking taste of powdered sugar either! Yuuuuummmmmy!

So fast forward a week later, Monday, October 24th, and my hubby calls from work with some exciting news. One of his co-workers wanted to order two dozen for her anniversary on the 1st of next month. Apparently her husband loves my truffles more than Reese's and this man knows his Reese's! I about squealed from pure delight! I did pat myself on the back though. MY FIRST ORDER!! Holy cow I am excited and ready to make some truffles!

Oh yes....anyone know what makes something a bite, a ball, or a truffle? I am curious to know why some things are called one name and others, another name.Also, anyone have any tips or tricks on how to avoid a ton of footing on the bottom or your chocolate covered things like truffles or cake pops?

Thank a million for sharing and reading!

Charli

Awana & Halloween Sugar Cookies

So some of you are probably wondering what is Awana? Awana helps churches and parents work together to develop spiritually strong children and youth who faithfully follow Jesus Christ.

The Awana name comes from the first letters of "Approved workmen are not ashamed" as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15 of the Bible. The kids in Awana love it and can not wait until next week to come again. I am a Helper in my little group of girls. I can see that Awana is very important to them and they soak up all the information. It is wonderful!

Last week, I volunteered to make some treats for our group, so I made Halloween Sugar Cookies! I have been woking on perfecting my sugar cookie recipe. I think I have got it, maybe just a few more tweaks here and there. 

Sugar Cookies for Awana

Oh! A little fun side note! When my husband came home from work and I gave him one of my sugar cookies, he accused me of buy store bought cookies!! I about died from laughter. Now he can not get enough of them which is great because he has always disliked most sugar cookies. So far everyone that has had one of my cookies, they have loved it. So pleased and grateful that the recipe has so far been yummy. Just a few kinks to work out, like spreading out when baking.

I made the dough, which is a little sticky, so I let it chill out for a while in the fridge.Even though the dough was cooled, my cookies still spread out when baking. So I put the dough in the freezer for a while and that seemed to help for the most part. Can't have bats shaped cookies turning into puffy triangles! 

I had a few air bubbles pop out when piping the lines inside. Ugh.

For some of the other cookies I have made, I just made an alternative royal icing from the lovely and wonderful Amanda from i am baker! 

1 cup Confectioners Sugar (sifted...ALWAYS sifted)

1 tablespoon Milk

1 tablespoon Corn Syrup 

2-3 drops of Lemon Juice

Works great for outlining and flooding. Just thin the icing down a little bit more for better flow for flooding.

Now for the cookies I made for my Awana girls, I tried regular royal icing recipe, I got from the talented Bridget of Bake at 350 & University of Cookie.

4 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup *
few drops clear extract (optional)

* Corn syrup makes icing glossy!

Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy. With a regular hand mixer, just mix on low until foamy. Then sift in the powdered sugar and mix on low until it is combined. Add in the corn syrup and extract, if desired. Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. You should be able to put the paddle or hand mixer out of the icing and the peak left behind will hold.

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."

I looove meringue powder! Works wonderfully for royal icing! Although, I do enjoy the taste of the alternative royal icing better.

Cookies baked, decorated, and eaten! I am so happy they were such a hit with the girl and the leaders! Even my niece devoured three of the cookies. 

 Thanks for reading and happy baking!

Charli

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A bunch of cookies!

Ta-Da!

Blogger up! Ready to start baking and start making things come together! Thing will be under some heavy construction, so please stay tuned for yummy cookies, cupcakes, and candy!!

Charli