For Nikki...

O.K. So I've been meaning to post a few things for my friend Nikki, but as always, time gets away from me. So while my youngest is sleeping, and my oldest is being a goofball, I figured I could squeeze in some time to show off some of the things I've done in the last few months. First, here are some cookies I made out of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. They were FABULOUS, in my personal opinion. They're Molasses Spice Cookies and I highly recommend making them, if you like molasses and spice, that is!Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 light or dark molasses

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup of sugar in a shallow dish for coating and set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, pepper, and salt together in a larg bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. REduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds (the dough will be soft). Give the dough a final stir w/ a rubber spatula to make sure it's combined. Using wet hands (it really does help!), roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, then roll in the sugar to coat and aly on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and the tops are cracked but the centers are still soft and underdone (peek through the cracks to check the centers), 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking (I forgot to do this, but it didn't seem to make a difference). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Hope you enjoy them!!!

This is a "taggie" blanket I made for Kaelin for Christmas. It was inspired by something Nikki made her daughter, Layla. Kaelin LOVES this! I'm constantly having to wash it cuz she gets it so icky.

Last, but certainly not least, are some scrapbook pages I did for Kaelin's scrapbook. Yeadon's mom and I went to a crop night at a local scrapbook store and we scrapbooked for almost 6 hours! I got 4 pages done and these were two of them. I'm might proud of them... Just wish I had time to work on BOTH girls' albums... One of these days... I know... Life will slow done, someday...