Fiesta Friday

Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

apricot chocolate chip cookies

Apricot and semi-sweet or dark chocolate is such a yummy combination, so I thought I’d try it in a cookie – as a twist to my “almost famous” chocolate chips cookies.

apricot chocolate chip cookie

and it’s a winner according to my guys.

apricot chocolate chip cookie batter

I snipped a half pound of dried apricots into the batter.

apricot chocolate chip cookies on rack

and tweaked up my original chocolate chip recipe by exchanging vanilla extract with half almond and half orange extract (though I think vanilla might be yummy too) and used 1/2 a bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to allow the apricot to be the “star” of the cookie.

apricot chocolate chip cookies plate

The balance of flavors seemed just right.

Hope you’ll give them a try.

And can you believe it is the last day of January 2015 already!?!?  We are hunkering down for a snow storm here in Mars this weekend, and of course, the Super Bowl, so we will be set with some sweet treats if “needed.”  🙂

How about you?  What’s happening in your part of the world this weekend?

Have a good one!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

And here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

Jodi's Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 2 dozen large cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

1 cup butter, softenedapricot chocolate chip cookies plate
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) dried apricots, snipped into small chunks
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Nestle’s Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Blend softened butter with granulated and brown sugar with mixer until well incorporated. Add in almond and orange extract and eggs and mix on medium-high speed until creamy. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt on low speed until incorporated. Fold in apricots and chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

I think I will share this recipe with my friends over at Fiesta Friday for the Anniversary Party, because every party needs cookies – right?!  Check it out for lots of awesome recipes by some amazing foodie bloggers!

Discovering Dots

/ Jodi / 23 Comments

SUO 114 Dots Big Day

Sharing a fun little card today that I was inspired to make from the SUO Challenge (#114) to make a card with dots.

Who doesn’t love some fun polka dots?!

This was my second “go” at making a dot card for the challenge.  I made the one you will see below first, and I like it, but not sure I LOVE it.  You’ll have to let me know…  I so struggle with “simplicity” and “clean and simple” designs that I so admire others do!

But I do kinda love this one.  It screams happy and celebrate and big day to me!

And…. it’s covered with DOTS!  I sponged some on the background white piece using the Stampin Up (SU) circle background stencil with Real Red, Tangelo Twist, and Crushed Curry [ red, orange, and yellow in “layman” terms 🙂 ].

The sentiment from SU’s “Big Day” stamp set has some more dots on it, and then I added matching colored candy dots as an additional embellishment.

The silver metal buttons – a smaller one stacked on top of a larger one and held together with some red and white striped baker’s twine add just a few more dots.

I first had it laid out all lined up and symmetrical, but I thought it gave it some more interest and whimsy by offsetting the the angles of the layers a bit.

Here is the inside…

SUO 114 Dots Big Day inside

where I snuck one more orange candy dot in!  🙂

I added some Wink of Stella over top of the colored words on the front, but it is so hard to capture in a photo.  Under the right light or with just a slight twist or movement, it sparkles with delight though!

SUO 114 Dots Big Day Close up

Here is the first one I made that I mentioned above.

This one was made with the Stampin Up Cheerful Critters Stamp Set.  (They are so stinking cute – there are three that I’m sure I’ll feature in future posts.)

SUO 114 Dots Cheerful Critters

Again, it is hard to see, but after coloring the little critter’s polka dot “shirt,” I hit it with my Wink of Stella pen for a bit of glitz and glitter, and I also love the softness and plushness of the Blackberry Bliss thin velvet ribbon trim contrasting with the cool metal button.

closeup of SUO 114

Can you tell I was dying to use those metal buttons this week?  I really like them and the contrast they give.  It’s all in the little details kids!  🙂

Wishing you a Big and Happy Day discovering things you love.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Breakfast Energy Bars – Getting Back in the Groove

/ Jodi / 23 Comments

breakfast energy bars cover

My glorious two-week holiday “vacation” has come to an end, and it is time to get back to work – – – and back in the groove – of a structured work schedule – and a better eating and exercising habit too after a month or so of glutenous indulgence!

So yesterday, I made a batch of breakfast energy bars to have a go-to breakfast or protein and energy-packed snack.  I have made a similar version of these before and blogged about.  The beauty of this recipe is you can use whatever you have on hand (within reason) to create a unique bar each time.

I received several gorgeous sets of measuring utensils as Christmas gifts, so I was excited to get to use some of them for photographing below.  (Really don’t need to measure these things precisely…. but it made for a fun photo to share 🙂 ).  I gathered some creamy peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, oats, shredded coconut, a variety of seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), dried cranberries, and chopped some dates and some beautifully healthy English walnuts.

breakfast energy bars ingredients

To begin, melt the peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey in a good size saucepan.

breakfast energy bars saucepan

When melted, remove from heat and add your chosen dry ingredients.

breakfast energy bars saucepan and dry ingredients

Mix all ingredients until incorporated.


breakfast energy bars saucepan mix

Then spread in a 13 x 9 pan and chill for several hours until firm.

breakfast energy bars pan

Once completely chilled, cut into bars.

breakfast energy bars cut

I packed them in pairs in Ziploc bags and placed in the freezer – ready to grab for a quick breakfast at home…

breakfast energy bars home

or on the go…

breakfast energy bars on the go

Here is the recipe you can use to tweak with the ingredients you like:

Breakfast Energy Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil (solid form)
2 1/2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried dates
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

Melt peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil in a saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Spread in a 13 x 9 pan.
Refrigerate approximately 2 hours.
Cut into bars and wrap or bag individually.
Return to refrigerator or freeze.

Feel free to substitute other dried fruits (golden raisins, dried blueberries or cherries) or nuts (slivered or chopped almonds, cashews, pecans, peanuts) or even chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, white, peanut butter, butterscotch).

I am going to share this recipe as my first at Fiesta Friday #49.  Fiesta Friday is an online ‘party’, where bloggers share posts in a link up.  Everyone ‘brings’ (shares) a recipe, photograph, craft, memorable story, etc. to the party  I have been hearing about it from several others and decided to join the party this year.  Gotta love a good party – right?  🙂

Groovy Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi