12 Cookies of Christmas - Cracker Brittle

I LOOOOVE these! They are so addictive. These, and gingerbread men are the 2 things I remember my Mom making during my childhood Christmases. My Mom never used a recipe, so when trying to duplicate them, I first tried winging it from what I remembered. They either turned out too soft and felt like greasy mush, or too crispy and cracked into a million pieces when I tried to pull them out of the pan. The recipe I found is great, and tastes exactly like my Mom's version. I've seen others that call for nuts sprinkled on top, or even decorative sprinkles, but I'm going to keep it dry and simple. I really hope some of you try these because they are so delicious. Don't be weirded out by the idea of crackers in a cookie. They make these salty and sweet in a good way, like reece's cups!



Here are all the crackers laid out. I used a few more than the recipe called for, and laid them out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet with a lip so that they'd be easier to pull off.



butter and brown sugar. A match made in cookie heaven.



The instructions in the recipe below give perfect boiling times.



Normally, it will cover the crackers a little better, but I used a few more than called for, so it didn't spread as thin.



Some of the toffee stuck to the pot, and peeled out easily. During this intermediary cooking phase, it tasted and felt like the silkiest caramel. Note for the future, if I ever wanted to make caramel.



You stick it in the oven for a few more minutes to finish cooking.



I forgot to take a photo before I spread the chocolate chips all over it.



The first bite has been taken. There's no going back.



I promise that all of your friends, family and coworkers will go bananas for this stuff!

Here is the recipe that I used from The Girl Who Ate Everything
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/03/saltine-cracker-toffee.html

This feels like yesterday

We were in such a fog about being pregnant. We couldn't believe it. We were trying to have a baby and had been so disappointed for so many months. Now, it feels so real. We're starting to nest; rearranging furniture and cleaning singular cat hairs off the floor. Might as well take advantage of it while we can. I'm sure this tiny apartment is going to get even tinier when there are 3 of us!

27 weeks!

Craving? Tater Tots. Seriously. That's all! The cravings have seriously subsided. Also subsiding? Getting up in the middle of the night to pee! Which is awesome, but also a little scary. At first, I thought I might be dehydrated, so I started drinking an extra glass of water in the evening, but I still slept through the night. I have a feeling that it may be because I quit eating bread, pasta, rice and sugar during the day at work. I identified those foods as ones that make me drowsy and sluggish while trying to get things done, and if I save all the carbs for the evening, I feel fuller and fall asleep faster. Weird, but it's working!

Also this week, I graduated to wearing Ryan's clothing. I have a few maternity clothes, but Ryan's work shirts with a cute skinny belt to give them some shape look so cute and are the perfect size! He wears a tall, so I'll be able to wear them for a while!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Peanut Butter No Bakes

I first fell in love with these cookies when my dear friend, Karen, introduced me to them over 10 years ago. They're technically not even really a cookie, but here at Ooh! Look! Pie! we are not discriminate against any Christmas treat. They're actually fudge with oatmeal, and there is nothing wrong with that.







Definitely not the most attractive cookie on the planet, but sooo tasty! I promise!

Here is the recipe I used. 

And in case you missed it, the first day of Christmas cookies were Candy Cane Snowballs. Can't wait to do 10 more!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies! - Candy Cane Snowballs!

I'm going to post 12 Christmas cookies this December! I'm really excited about this project, mostly because I am a pregnant woman who gets a green light to eat cookies. Wahoo! I'll post about every other day, with a link to a recipe and photos of my own attempt. Most of the recipes will be tried and true, but a few I will try for the first time, like this one for Candy Cane Snowballs.

I re-pinned this recipe from a cousin of mine, and my own pin got more re-pins than any other pin I've ever pinned (72, so far). I thought there must be something about this recipe that I need to see for myself. My hunch was correct. These cookies really taste like Christmas. Ryan took the leftovers to work and they were gobbled up in no time!



I ground the candy canes up in my food precessor. I purposely chose red and green ones so that they would look especially festive. The photos from the original recipe show the plain red and white ones, and they also look pretty.



I ground them pretty finely, because I was afraid of that dreaded chewy, large piece of candy cane in the middle of my soft cookie. I basically ground them into powdered, peppermint sugar, and could have done a little less.



A tablespoon cookie dough scoop was the perfect size.



They looked like scoops of ice cream when baked.



I made my own frosting recipe, and you can use which ever one you like. My recipe only made enough to cover half of the batch of cookies, though.



Delicious!

Here is the original recipe: http://stolenmomentscooking.com/candy-cane-snowball/

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!

I went to visit my friend Lara in Oklahoma City in October. When I arrived, she announced, "Welcome to Oklahoma, where America hasn't quite made it to 2012." Man, I thought, growing up in Ohio, I'd seen America. I was wrong. Oklahoma is about as America as it gets.



These are outside of the airport and are about 2 stories tall!



Church's Chicken. I didn't know that these existed outside of Ghost World.



Lara is a professional baker and she made me a cake for my visit. Macaroni and Pearls is a reference to a purse-making business that we tried to start that lasted about 5 minutes.







It was a chocolate cake with a hazelnut mousse filling. Omagah!







Then we went to "Affair of the Heart," which wouldn't surprise me if it's the world's largest craft fair. It was held at the state fair grounds and encompassed about 5 or six convention halls. It was insane. We spent 5 1/2 hours there, bought a crapload of crap, and the people watching was unprecedented (and that's coming from someone currently living in NYC)



Midwesterners are keen on putting giant bows on their baby girls.



all of these cocktail rings were mesmerizing.



After 5 1/2 hours of walking around in my own pair of plastic jelly flops at 5 months preggo, I actually thought these looked tempting.



If you look at them the right away, their eyes follow you.



You know what this place needs to tie the room together?  A leopard print cross.



Snack time. Strudel. It's a craft.



Educational craft felt boards. These are so much more sophisticated than the ones I ever made at the library.



Take a good long look at this.



Ok, so, these are patches that are made of sequins. You glue them to clothing with fabric glue to make "Shirt-scapes." Shirt-scapes. Yeah, Shirt-scapes.



We need another snack. A giant cinnamon roll will fit the bill.



We split a pecan roll with buttercream. I could have eaten a whole one by myself, but I didn't admit it.



It was huge.



Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle...Rita?



Challenge: Where would you put this in your home?



This man was selling visors that had furry hair attached to them to make you look like Guy Fieri. Oh, and chitlins.



My only regret in life is not getting a photo of this guy from the front.



Oh, hey, look who got a street named after them.



Aaahhh, after the craft fair, we visited Womb Gallery, the brain-child of Wayne Coyne.



You enter through a vagina.





They were not pink. There was no need to call Yoshimi.



Outside, they were having a pet adoption festival.



They had a tent full of kittens!



Did you hear me?



I said A TENT FULL OF KITTENS!!!





I can't tell if I like the catfish more, or the expression on my face.



Just thought this was cool.



Lara said we could visit the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I thought I wanted to just drive by. I'm glad she made me get out of the car and look around. It was really beautiful.











I was in OKC for less than 48 hours. Right before we left, Lara took me to the Stockyards, which is a place where they auction livestock and is basically a mall of animals. They have THE BEST steakhouse I've ever been to there! It looked a little chintzy, but was out of control amazing.



Steak for breakfast? Yes, please. And it came with everything you see here: Steak, eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy and toast. And coffee. I ate all but about 3 bites.



Just in case you didn't get enough gravy, or you want to add it to something unconventional, you can get it as a side.



I don't know who this was, but watched us eat.



The best part was our waiter, Sharp. Yeah, that was his real name. He was amazing and happily posed for this picture with me!



The Stockyards.



And right before I left, Pop's had to be visited. They have pop. From all over the world.



I didn't get Bacon Soda, but I did get an apple pie soda and a butterscotch root beer!

And that's all folks! There's a lot of other places I want to go to next time, like the Museum of Osteology! I highly recommend Oklahoma City for a fun weekend trip!