Blog Archives

Mad Tea Party 2015

Welcome to our tea party! EAT THIS! We’re all mad here! We may be a bit crazier than others! We have plenty of sweets, but not a drip of tea to be found anywhere! Hahaha! Find a “DRINK THIS” at another stop on your journey while visiting the blogs in Vanessa’s sidebar and comments at A Fanciful Twist! Enjoy:
IMG_0629.JPG

IMG_0630.JPG

IMG_0631.JPG
Candy!

IMG_0632.JPG
Cake Pops!

IMG_0633.JPG
Coconut Macaroons!

IMG_0634.JPG
Multicolor Spiral Lemon Cookies!

IMG_0635.JPG
Veronica Lily!

IMG_0636.JPG
Abigail Rose!

IMG_0637.JPG
Caroline Daisy!

IMG_0619-0.JPG
I hope you’ve enjoyed Sweets with my Sweet Girls! We’d love it if you’d leave us a comment to let us know that you’ve stopped by! We’ll be visiting Mad Tea Parties all day Saturday, too! If you’re hosting one, please leave a link as a comment!
(See our Tea Party from last year, here!)

Hershey’s Special Dark Tiger Cookies

20131227-185440.jpg

Hershey’s Special Dark Tiger Cookies

Ingredients:
1.5 cups granulated sugar
0.5 cup vegetable oil
0.5 cup Hershey’s brand Special Dark cocoa or Hershey’s cocoa
3 eggs
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.75 cups all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar
48 Hershey’s Kisses

1. Stir together granulated sugar and oil in large bowl; add cocoa, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to cocoa mixture, beating well.

2. Cover; refrigerated until dough is firm enough to handle, at least 6 hours.

3. Heat oven to 350F. Grease cookie sheet. Shape dough into 1″ balls (dough will be sticky); roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place balls about 2″ apart on prepared (greased) cookie sheet.

4. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly and tops are cracked. Immediately press chocolate Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie, if desired. Allow to cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

Enjoy! (yields about 4 dozen)

20131227-185538.jpg

20131227-185440.jpg

The backstory: I was recently asked where I get my recipes. Well, I am an avid cookbook collector and Pinterest user, as well as the granddaughter of two women that are both fabulous cooks, and in addition to this blog with a recipes page, I maintain my own handwritten “cookbook” notebook of recipes that I’ve modified and like. I usually try to include the source(s) of my recipes on this blog, unless it is something from my own notebook or shared from a relative. For the most part, I include a link or cite a specific cookbook if I follow a recipe precisely; all photos included with recipes are 100% mine and taken in my own kitchen, though. For example, this is a recipe that is a household favorite around here. It is from a HERSHEY’S 3-in-1 cookbook, and my 11 year old daughter made this batch of cookies! I have a few cookbooks specifically about cookies and baking. Do you have one that you recommend that I try? I’m always looking for the next tried, tested, and truly great cookbook! Here is a photo of a few cookie and baking cookbooks in my collection that I recommend!

20131227-185645.jpg

When you view this post, specifically by clicking on the title of the post, at the bottom of the post, please find the Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and other options to share these photos and link! Please, feel free to share! Thanks for the blog love!

Your Friend,
~Amber Hamilton Henson

Cookies for Santa!

20131224-194204.jpg

20131224-194236.jpg

20131224-194250.jpg

20131224-194306.jpg

🙂

We’ll update with recipes for these cookies tomorrow, if Santa likes them!

Love!

Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

Your Friends,
~The Hensons

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

20131220-113015.jpg

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES
(jelly filled shortbread cookies)

INGREDIENTS:

cookies: 1 cup salted butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
toppings:
1/2 cup fruit preserves/jam/jelly*
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Yield: 2 dozen

DIRECTIONS:

1.
preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2.
in large bowl cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer. add vanilla, scraping down bowl as needed. blend in flour and salt, mixing until thoroughly combined.

3.
roll tablespoonfuls of dough into small balls about 1 in. in diameter. place dough balls on lightly greased cookie sheets about 1 in. apart. press down the center of each ball with a spoon, forming a depression. fill each with a tsp. of preserves or nuts.

4.
bake 15-20 min. or until golden brown. transfer cookies immediately to a cool, flat surface. when cookies are completely cool, dust them lightly with confectioners’ sugar.

*in the photo, you’ll see I used strawberry preserves, fig preseves, and black raspberry-jalapeno jam for variety!

~Amber D. Hamilton Henson

20131220-113121.jpg

20131220-113015.jpg

PS: Linking
ArkansasWomenBloggers’ sunday-link-up