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My Kitchen

Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Recipe {Jar Gift Idea}

by Dana Zeliff on November 21, 20132013-11-21
in Gingerbread, Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Recipe

Exfoliate your skin with this Gingerbread Sugar Scrub recipe.  Sugar makes an excellent scrub and is a budget friendly alternative to those store bought scrubs.    Get into the holiday spirit by making this Gingerbread Sugar Scrub and giving it as gifts.

Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Ingredients

Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp All Spice
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp vitamin E oil (optional)

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl combine all ingredients except the Coconut Oil.Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Process
  2. Gradually add Coconut Oil and stir.
  3. Place Mixture in Jar.
  4. If using as a gift, add this FREE Gingerbread Sugar Scrub PDF Printable Label to the front of the jar and a ribbon.

Gingerbread Sugar Scrub will make a great holiday gift.  You can make several at one time and gift them to teachers, friends and family.  You’re gift will not only be thoughtful and  homemade, it will be budget friendly!

Have you ever tried a Gingerbread Sugar Scrub Recipe?

See more Gingerbread Cookie Recipe and Gingerbread Recipes!

2 comments

Filed Under: Gingerbread, Recipes Tagged With: Christmas, Gingerbread Recipes

White & Blue Snowflake Cookies Recipe

by Dana Zeliff on November 14, 20132013-11-14
in Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Snowflake Cookies

These White & Blue Snowflake Cookies will make a gorgeous addition to any holiday table.  While a little bit of work is involved, they will be worth it in the end.

Snowflake Ingrediants

INGREDIENTS
3 cup Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup softened Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tbsp Milk
ICING INGREDIENTS
3 Egg Whites
1 tsp Vanilla
4 cup Powdered Sugar
Blue Food Coloring

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine dry ingredients and set aside
  2. Cream butter and sugar.
  3. Add beaten egg and milk.
  4. Gradually add in flour.
  5. Divide mixture in half, place one half in plastic bag in refrigerator.
  6. Place remaining dough between parchment paper and roll to uniform 1/4″ thick and place in refrigerator to chill.
  7. Cut out snowflakes using your Wilton Snowflake Cutter and transfer to parchment coated cookie sheet.
  8. Gather and reroll remaining dough between parchment paper and roll to uniform 1/4″ thick and place in refrigerator to chill…
  9. Bake in 375 degree oven about 7-8 minutes (watch for edges to begin to turn lightly brown).
  10. Leave on cookie sheet for several minutes before moving to cooling rack.
  11. Combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until bubbly.
  12. Add powdered sugar gradually and mix until all sugar is incorporated.
  13. Beat on high until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks.
  14. Transfer 1/3 of icing to pastry bag.
  15. Transfer 1/3 of icing to squeeze bottle and add 2 tbsp water to dilute.
  16. Add blue food color to remaining icing and mix until color is evenly blended.Snowflake Icing
  17. Use white icing in bag and pipe outline of snowflake on eack cookie.
  18. Wait at least several hours for icing to set.
  19. Using diluted white icing carefully spread on to cookies to fill in the snowflake. use a small blunt object to help spread the icing close to the outline.
  20. Wait at least several hours for icing to set.
  21. Transfer blue icing to pastry bag.
  22. Pipe the line pattern on cookies.
  23. Wait at least several hours for icing to set.

Snowflake Cookie Recipe Collage

Looking for more recipes? You may also like my Super Cute Rudolph Truffles as well! 

1 Comment

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Christmas

Rudolph Cookie Pops for Christmas

by Dana Zeliff on November 11, 20132013-11-11
in Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Rudolph Cookie Pops

How stinking cute are these Rudolph Cookie Pops? They will be awesome for any Holiday school party or event!

If you don’t already have one, you may consider purchasing the Wilton 2105-0271 Round Pops Cookie Pan from Amazon to make this a bit easier.

Rudolph Cookie Pops Ingrediemts

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup softened Butter
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 tsp Vanilla
2 3/4 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
12 long Lollipop Stocks

Glaze Ingredients:

2 cup Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp Milk
2 tbsp Corn Syrup
Food Coloring

Decoration Ingredients:

24 Chocolate covered Pretzels
24 White M&M Candy Corn pieces
12 Red Spice Drops

Directions:

  1. Cream butter and sugar.
  2. Add egg and vanilla and continue beating.
  3. Mix dry ingredients together and incorporate into wet mixture a litlle at a time.
  4. Press dough into Wilton Round Pops Cookie pan, filling each about 3/4 full.
  5. Press stick into each cookie.
  6. Add additional dough on back as needed to cover stick.
  7. Bake in 400 oven 13 minutes or until lightly brown around edges.
  8. Let cookie sit in pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully run a knife around the edge of each pop to loosen.
  9. Cool on a wire rack.
  10. Mix powdered sugar corn syrup and milk to make glaze.
  11. Transfer a small amount of glaze (enough to draw mouths on each reindeer) to a small bowl and add red food color.
  12. Add red, yellow, and blue to remaining glaze to make brown.
  13. Fill in face of pop in brown glaze and allow to set at least 30 minutes.
  14. Press Pretzel antlers in place.
  15. Press Red Spice Drop nose and white M&M eyes in place.
  16. Take a toothpick and dip in brown glaze and dot pupils on eyes.
  17. Allow to set for at least an hour.
  18. Transfer red glaze to small zipper bag and clip corner to pipe mouths.
  19. Allow to set at least 1 hour before serving.

You can get the kids involved by letting them mix ingredients, press the dough into the mold, inserting the pop stick and decorating the cooled cookie.

(Yields approx 12 pops)

You might also like these Rudolph Truffles

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Christmas

Super Cute Rudolph Truffles for Christmas

by Dana Zeliff on November 7, 20132013-11-07
in Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Rudolph Truffles Recipe

How cute are these Rudolph Truffles?  You don’t need a lot of ingredients, so these treats will be easy on your budget.  I think they would be perfect to take to a child’s school Holiday party.

Rudolph Truffles Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

12 Chocolate Truffles
1/4 cup Light Cocoa Candy Melts
24 Candy eyes
12 Red Round candy Decorations
12 Pretzels broken in half

DIRECTIONS

  1. Using a toothpick, poke holes on each side for Pretzel antlers.
  2. Heat Candy Chips in large bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds stirring and repeating until melted.
  3. If Truffles are not flat on bottom, dip bottom of truffle in chocolate and place on wax paper.
  4. Allow to set.Rudolph Truffles Step
  5. Using toothpick, gather up small bit of melted chocolate and paint on back of red “nose” and place on truffle. You may need to hold in place for a moment.
  6. Repeat this process with each eye.
  7. Allow chocolate to set.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Looking for more recipes? How about my White Chocolate & Cranberry Blondies Recipe!

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Christmas

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies Recipe

by Dana Zeliff on November 6, 20132013-11-06
in Cranberry, Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Blondies Recipe
{Pin It}

My husband LOVES white chocolate. Seriously, he thinks it should be it’s own food group. If you’re looking for a new (and delicious) dessert recipe, give this White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies Recipe a try!

cranberry blondies ingredients

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup softened Butter
1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg
1 1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Dried Cranberries
1 cup White Chocolate Morsels

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Line a medium pan with parchment paper.
  3. Soak cranberries in bowl with hot water for 3 minutes.
  4. Drain water from cranberries.
  5. Cream butter and brown sugar.
  6. Add vanilla and eggs.
  7. Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
  8. Combine dry ingredient mixture into wet ingredient mixture.
  9. Add cranberries and white chocolate morsels.
  10. Turn out mixture into the pan and press evenly.
  11. Bake 20 minutes until the top is a lightly browned.
  12. Cool for 30 minutes and cut into squares.

Share your thoughts on this White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies Recipe

Looking for more recipes? How about my Cranberry Pound Cake or White Sangria Recipes?

4 comments

Filed Under: Cranberry, Recipes Tagged With: Christmas

Fall Favorite: Candy Corn Cookies Recipe

by Dana Zeliff on October 28, 20132013-10-28
in Candy Corn, Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Candy Corn Cookies Recipe

I posted this picture to my Facebook wall on Saturday – I was baking cookies for a party at my twin sister’s house later that evening and these were the requested treat. I only make them in the Fall, and we just dream about them during the rest of the year.

While they are a little bit time intensive, they are SO worth every minute spent in the kitchen. They taste as cute at they look! I usually make a double batch. This year I am bringing some to our little family Halloween party on Thursday, too 🙂

Candy Corn Cookies Recipe

Ingredients
3/4 pound salted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
Almond bark or candy quick
Yellow and red food coloring

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix together the butter and granulated and powdered sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.

3. Separate the dough into three equal sized balls. Carefully add food coloring to make one ball yellow and one ball orange.

4. Then, line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Press the yellow ball of dough into the bottom, making it about 1/2″-3/4″ thick. It may not fill the entire bottom of the pan, thats OK. Then, layer the orange ball of dough over the yellow one, pressing it flat. Finally, layer the white ball on top. Press it in firmly to avoid air pockets.

5. Put the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes to cool down.

6. When the dough is firm, dump the tri-colored block onto a cutting board and use a knife to cut it into 1/4″ slices. Then, cut the slices into triangles. I find that I can get five “candy corns” out of each slice. There will be wonky shaped candy corns, and a few that will fall apart, but bake them up anyways. They still taste great!

Cutting-Candy-CornsPhoto courtesy of Our Best Bites

7. Place the triangle cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. I watch my cookies VERY carefully, so the white/yellow tips don’t start to brown. Nobody likes burned candy corn! Allow to cool to room temperature.

8. While the cookies are cooling, melt almond bark in a microwave safe bowl. Start by using 30 second increments and checking each time, you don’t want it to overheat.

9. Dip the white end of the cookies into the melted candy quick. I stand my cookies very carefully in a wire baking rack, with the dipped end pointing up until they are set (like the picture at the top), usually about 15-20 minutes. (Some will have white tips, like real candy corn, and some will have white bases – its just how they come out. Honestly, the white base means more candy quick, so they usually get eaten first)

10. The last direction is this: DO NOT EAT THEM ALL AT ONCE! They are that good. Especially with coffee 😀

You can use any shortbread cookie recipe you want – I use a modified version of Ina Garten’s Shortbread Cookies:

Like I mentioned, they are a little labor intensive, but so worth the results. You can also refrigerate the dough for up to a week, so you could mix up a batch and press it into the pan one evening, and then cut/bake/dip your cookies on another night.

Happy Fall & enjoy this Candy Corn Cookies Recipe!

You might also like this Thrifty Thanksgiving Candy Corn Ornament

2 comments

Filed Under: Candy Corn, Recipes Tagged With: Halloween

15 Mouth-Watering Muffin Recipes

by Dana Zeliff on October 21, 20132013-10-21
in Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

15 muffind recipes

Muffin recipes are generally easy to make and they are perfect for on the go. One batch can last you all week if you need a fast breakfast each morning. They also make great snacks, and are the perfect size for little ones! I have compiled 15 mouth-watering muffin recipes from around the web that look too good not to try!

1. Blueberry Poppy Seed Muffins from Vegan Mother Hubbard
2. Eggnog Cranberry Muffins from Crumbs and Chaos
3. Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins from Juggling Act Mama
4. Strawberry Lemonade Muffins from Stockpiling Moms
5. Bailey’s Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins from Couponing & Cooking
6. Donut Mini-Muffins from Coupon Closet
7. Apple Cinnamon Whole Wheat Muffins from Farmer’s Wife Rambles
8. Strawberry Nutella Muffins from Crumbs and Chaos
9. Chocolate Chip Muffins from Stockpiling Moms
10. Sweet Potato Muffins with Streusel Topping from Juggling Act Mama
11. Berry Berry Citrus Muffins from Vegan Mother Hubbard
12. Sweet and Simple Cornbread Muffins from Modern Mommyhood
13. Banana Muffins with Toasted Coconut from Kelly Stillwell
14. Super Easy Pumpkin Muffins from Thrifty Jinxy
15. Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins from Slap Dash Mom

Blueberry Spelt Muffin Recipe

If 15 recipes aren’t enough, take a look at my Easy (& Healthy) Blueberry Muffin Recipe with Spelt Flour!

1 Comment

Filed Under: Recipes


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About The Coupon Challenge

Hi! I'm Dana, the writer behind the scenes of The Coupon Challenge, a Hampton Roads, VA based coupon blog. I'm a wife and mother of 2. After getting out of debt we started using our savings to travel together as a family and create memories.

Are you looking for ways to save your family money? I strive to help you save on the products you need, so you can spend more on the things you want. Read More about Dana & Family

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