Monday, December 27, 2010

Re-Gifted Cookies

According to Wikipedia, "regifting" is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else. This technique is often portrayed negatively, but I think certain kinds of re-gifting are great... let me show you what I mean: I received a container of chocolate covered almonds...
But since I don't particularly love them, I wanted to pass them along to someone who might. However, I didn't just want to give the candies as I received them, so I turned them into this:
Yep- I turned those candies into what I'm calling Re-Gifted Cookies. Here's what it took:
After adding all the traditional cookie ingredients into my mixer...
I started adding the chocolate covered almonds. I decided not to put them in whole...
So I gave them a rough chop before adding them to the batter.
Once everything was combined, I used a cookie scoop to plop the dough onto a cookie sheet.
I wanted the cookies to spread a bit, so I used my palm to flatten the dough into little mounds before I popped them into the oven.
And after 14 minutes at 350 degrees (where I rotated the cookie sheet about halfway through)...
I pulled these lovely cookies from the oven!
I hadn't made this recipe before, and I was happily surprised at how well they turned out! They were hearty and rich- talk about tasty!
Re-Gifted Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
¾ cups
½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 cups Oats (I used the traditional, not quick oats)
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoons Salt
2 cups Chocolate Chips (I used mini chips)
1 cup Chocolate covered Almonds (appr. 6 oz.), roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Keep mixing until smooth. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped chocolate covered almonds. Drop dough onto a cookie sheet, leaving 1 inch space between (I used a dough scoop to make large cookies). Slightly flatten dough balls with the palm of your hand. Bake until slightly brown around edges, approximately 14 minutes, making sure to rotate the pan halfway through. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
To make my re-gift complete, I picked up some boxes from The Container Store...
Filled them with individually wrapped cookies (thank goodness for Saran Wrap)...
And boxed them up for a couple of friends.
See? Sometimes re-gifting can be a really good thing! Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas one and all!

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already!
I hope you have a very merry Christmas weekend- I'll see you on Monday!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas at Rockefeller Center

I've had a blast focusing my blog on holiday-themed posts the last few weeks! But Christmas couldn't arrive without a trip to Rockefeller Center. So the other day after work I made my way to midtown...
I stopped for a minute to check out Radio City... it's such a festive place this time of year thanks to those Rockettes!
But eventually I made my way to the heart of it all...
The tree at Rockefeller Center! This area is always crowded this time of year, and the other night was no different!
The tree is very pretty, but I could hardly see the star at the top. Lucky for me, Swarovski has a duplicate star at eye level to people could really check it out- isn't it beautiful?
I braved the crowds and took my time checking out the area. I love the marching band statues around the area, but this one is my favorite (for obvious reasons).
I eventually made my way to the rink...
Where I watched stangers fall down over and over on the ice... it was pretty entertaining!
I also took the obligatory photo of 30 Rock... hello Jack!
My little trip to Rockefeller Center sure put me in the holiday mood...
How about you?
Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

5th Avenue window shopping

Earlier this week I found myself on 5th Avenue.
I started out in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral and worked my way north.
I walked past the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue...
And the buildings at Rockefeller Center.
As I walked, I enjoyed the decorations outside of Cartier...
Hilfiger/Fendi...
And even Trump Towers.
But the best part of my journey uptown was the chance the check out the windows at Bergdorf.
They were absolutely amazing!
From monkey minions...
To flying horses...
There were so many interesting details to take in!
Take, for instance, this single window:
There was a trussed up turtle...
An illuminated iguana...
A bedazzled bird...
An encrusted crocodile...
And a metallic mantis...
And that's all in addition to the model wearing the "outfit". I'll admit, I have no idea what this window is trying to sell me- yet I still might be willing to buy whatever it is- the window is just that cool!
Talk about cool, right? Thanks for wandering up 5th Avenue with me- I hope you have a great day!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

GreenMarket - Christmas Edition

This weekend, I stopped by the GreenMarket at Union Square to see what was going on.
Believe it or not, this outdoor market stays open all year round. I don't often visit in the winter, so I was curious what would be available. Of course there were a variety of Christmas trees (although they were kind of sad)...
And small bunches of branches for big bucks (I thought my uncle, who is a forester, would get a kick out of these prices).
There were also oodles of apples...
Crates of carrots...
Piles of potatoes (check out all those different kinds!)...
And gobs of gourds!
I had a blast walking around and checking out all the stalls- almost as much fun as I had coming up with those alliterations! I was pretty surprised not to see more Christmas-themed goods, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. But I did spot this beautiful swag which looked pretty festive to me!
So while the GreenMarket may not be the most "merry" space in NYC, it's still a pretty fun place to stop- even during the winter!

Thanks for visiting my blog- I hope you have a great day!