Chocolate Sugar Cookies -- Halloween Version

I made some chocolate sugar cookies today with my kids. My daughter had a friend over and they all
had fun cutting them out and decorating them.

My friend, Audra, told me how to make them into little cats. We used a circle or an oval cookie cutter, then pinched ears at the top. Then made whiskers using a fork.

I bought a ghost cookie cutter today. I love buying cookie cutters! Now my kids can have ghost shaped sandwiches for lunch.

And we made some other shapes, like this airplane, frosted them and added a few sprinkles.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
I used these two recipes from the Joy of Baking and Smitten Kitchen

1 c. butter, softened
1 2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. cocoa
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. flour

Cream butter, sugar and cocoa. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture.

Divide in two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for an hour.

Roll out and cut into with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes. Chill cookies that are already cut out that haven't been baked yet.

Frost or decorate.

One Hour Rolls

These rolls are amazing! I've been making these rolls since 2001 when I was a newlywed and my sister-in-law shared the recipe with me. The rolls are light, fluffy, easy to make and they only take one hour! And delicious too! I've made these rolls more times than I can count, so I've perfected the art of making them. Here are some step-by-step instructions with pictures for you. Here's what you'll need. I buy pretty much all of the ingredients in this recipe at Sam's club, thus the huge containers. You need warm water, yeast, oil, sugar, salt, egg and flour. In the mixer bowl, add warm water (not hot), oil, sugar and yeast. Mix together. After ten or fifteen minutes the yeast mixture should be puffed up like this. Time to add the salt and beaten egg. Then mix in the flour. (I've used a mixture of half wheat and half white flour successfully.) Keep adding flour until the dough is manageable. It will be a little sticky, b

Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room. This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's). Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen. Use your garage! I use my garage quite often to cook things in. I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door. I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking. I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage: my crockpot and my food dehydrator. Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight. I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench. Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage. I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours

Week 394 Menu

Hi there! This week is flying by! So excited that we've been having blue skies and warmer weather. Our snow is almost all melted and little bulbs are sprouting in the flower beds. However, we had our 10th snow/ice day last week!!! Hopefully it was the last one. Life has been busy, busy and I need to plan out the rest of our week's menus, even though it's already Thursday. Here's what we've eaten so far and what I'm planning: Monday: chicken stirfry, rice/quinoa Tuesday: breakfast for dinner Wednesday: flatbread pizzas Thursday: roasted butternut squash, pasta, chicken sausage Friday: tacos Saturday: leftovers Sunday: pot roast, mashed potatoes, one hour rolls Alrighty, that's what we're eating this week. How about you? What's on your menu this week? Feel free to share. I love it when you do! More from Jenny:

What is on your menu this week?

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