Luv What You Do

I forgot to mention that I had the CUTEST date on Saturday night!  A close friend of mine’s sister got married this weekend and I was hired to babysit her adorable 14 month old daughter.  We spent the day together exploring the house, climbing steps and slides at the local park, swinging in the backyard, and playing with books and tuperware.  By the end of the day, we were both exhausted and asleep before grandpa and grandma were home from the party.  As a thank you, my friend got me this creative Halloween-themed baking set.

What a thoughtful gift…she knows me so well!  Armed with my brand new baking goodies, I decided that I needed to make some Halloween cookies.  The back of the Wilton cookie pan had this recipe for sugar cookies with ingredients that I already had in the house.  It looked like a good place to start.

I used my hand mixer for easy set up and clean up and got to work following the instructions above.  I even remembered to set out my butter ahead of time so it was nice and soft.  I must say I was surprised by the addition of the almond extract, but loved the taste.  As I licked the beaters and spatula clean, I couldn’t help but think how well the almond extract went with the cookies.

I wasn’t sure how full to make my cookies.  I wanted them to show the shape, but not swell too big in the oven.  I was also scared about getting them out, so I might have over sprayed the pan a bit…oops!  For the first batch, I think that the openings weren’t full enough, and  the cookies browned slightly.

The recipe says that it makes one dozen cookies, but I easily got two dozen and a few extras.  For the second batch, I filled the tray a little fuller, getting a thicker and softer cookie.

Either way, the cookies turned out very cute!  Plus, there is something for everyone, soft and crunchy cookies.  I was so into my baking that I forgot all about the food coloring I bought to die my cookies orange. 

Although the cookies were plain looking, they were sweet and flavorful.  The thicker ones were even a little doughy in the middle.  YUM!  I must remember to add almond extract to my next batch of sugar cookies.  I brought the cookies with me to work today and my coworkers were happy to have them!  On my way home, I swung by a friend’s house to wish her a Happy 30th Birthday, drop off her gift, and hang out with her 4 month old daughter.  I got back home just in time to get my candy ready for possible trick-or-treaters.

In the past, we haven’t had many kids come by and with our driveway looking like this, I wasn’t sure if anyone would come to the door.  Emmy and I was ready just in case.  I told the BOY to pick out a candy that he liked expecting there to be tons of leftovers.  I told him NO TOOTSDIE ROLLS though because if there were no trick-or-treaters around, then I would eat them ALL by myself.

Our first visitor was our 3 year old next door neighbor.  She is Emmy’s best friend in the neighborhood, and I think that she was more interested in the cat than the candy.  We had a few more kids come by throughout the night, all very polite and happy for more candy.  I went back and forth between the kitchen making tonight’s dinner (to be posted soon) and the couch to catch up on some television.  All in all, It was a happy and festive holiday! 

Did you Trick-or-Treat today???  What is your favorite Halloween candy???

I love candy corn (although I was able to hold myself to just two pumpkins this season, a new record) and tootsie rolls!