The Story of the Twice Iced Sugar Hearts

I'm not really sure when my love affair with Nutella began. I seem to recall my old roommate, Tara, introducing it to me at some point. At any rate, I have ZERO self control around the stuff. Have you ever heard of SSB? Secret Singles Behavior - what people do when they're alone....when no one else is watching. Well, I'm not afraid to admit one of my SSBs is eating Nutella with a spoon straight out of the jar like it's a pint of ice cream. I finally had to stop buying it because it never lasted very long and then my pants wouldn't fit......it was a vicious cycle. Have I made my point that this stuff is DELICIOUS?? Over the past week I've been craving this stuff hardcore! I found a website with no less than 100 recipes using Nutella. I learned that February 5th is World Nutella Day. Apparently people share recipes they have created on this website. I was inspired to create my very own Nutella recipe. I scanned through the recipes hoping one would lead me to my own idea. I looked and looked but couldn't think of anything unique. Then I thought about stuff I already make.....how could Nutella make something better? Then it hit me - Nutella icing on my already delicious sugar cookies! Ahhhhh, these cookies are divine. Jennifer calls them "crack cookies". She must get one hell of a sugar rush from eating them and asks me all the time about making them like a crack feign looking for a fix. My mom used to send me a tin of these sugar cookies on every major and minor holiday while I was in college. I would share them with my roommates and they soon became quite the commodity around the SFA School of Music. I'm pretty sure the only reason people came to my recitals was because they knew those cookies would be there afterwards. My favorite of the sugar cookies were always the ones with chocolate jimmies on them. I loved the flavor of the chocolate with the homemade buttercream icing. I wanted to re-create that flavor. I knew that they wouldn't taste the same if I left of the vanilla buttercream, so I decided that instead of sugar sprinkles I would drizzle them with the Nutella buttercream. I remember why I don't make these very often - they are a lot of work!! Make the dough, chill the dough, roll the dough, cut out the cookies, bake the cookies, let the cookies cool, ice the cookies, drizzle the cookies, wait for the icing to harden, and then store the cookies. I tasted a few, and they are good, but I'm a little disappointed in them for two reasons. They didn't turn out quite as soft as I'd hoped and the Nutella flavor isn't as intense as I'd hoped. Next time I make these I think I'm going to skip turning the Nutella into icing and just heat it and drizzle it right on the cookies. They are still very tasty and I'm sure the boys at work will be happy to help me get rid of them!

Now to clean up. Ugh. I believe that I'll be taking applications for a baking assistant. Cute single guys only need apply. ;o)

What's For Lunch?

That is what I usually ask Dean everyday now. He always has some random combination of food. Here's the latest:

On this day it's leftover steak. He stabs his fork into the middle and eats it like a cave man. Officer Savage calls it a meat stick.

Then we have a bowl of rice and left over meat patties of some kind. I like this lunch particularly because of the repurposing of the cheese bag.

A "normal" lunch. Yogurt drink, bag of meat, and apple slices.

And my personal favorite. The day after the Super Bowl he hauls in this giant bag of left over chicken wings, an apple sauce, half a grapefruit, a granola bar, and the oreo balls I made over the weekend. Yes, he ate every bit of it and I'm pretty sure he regretted it.

Stay tuned for more lunch amusement!

Valentine Goodies

More project photos to share! This weekend I made more goodies for all my work friends. I tried out a few more recipes from Bakerella. This time it was for Oreo Balls and NutterButter Balls. I have a student that gives me oreo balls during the holidays each year and they are always delicious! I was excited to find this recipe and to see how easy they were! All you do is grind up the cookies in a food processor, mix them with a block of cream cheese, roll them in a ball, and then dip them in chocolate. That's it. And you can put a tiny heart sprinkle on top like I did if you want to up the cute factor. This is a super recipe for busy people. It didn't take a lot of effort. If you have a helper you could whip these up in a jiffy.

I also made a few hair clips and a valentine card for my niece.

I know these pictures are not great. I am planning on getting myself a really nice camera before summer. I have some plans for myself and a new camera that can produce some quality pictures would come in handy. No, I don't want to be a photographer. Yes, I want good pictures of the stuff I make.

TMEA is this week!!! Only two and half workdays and I'll be in San Antonio!!! Enjoy your week!!