Christmas Exchange Part 2: Funfetti Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

It's officially December, where has the time gone?! And happy Cyber Monday too, have you gotten any good deals? I'm very excited for Christmas because I love this time of year and my brother is coming home from California for Christmas!! Plus I am so ready for finals to be over- I have been studying and working on final projects and feel like my head just might burst. 

Sadly I do not have a crockpot Monday recipe to share this week. I am eating my way through my freezer to clean it out before Christmas break, so this week I will be eating the last of the minestrone and mini turkey meatball soup I made a few weeks ago. I promise I have a new crockpot recipe for next week- for a little preview it's vegan, gluten free and dairy free and super easy to make! 

Today I want to share part two of my Christmas exchange with you. Around Christmas it always seems like everyone is making sugar cookies, but good sugar cookies are hard to come by. My childhood was filled with more than a few sugar cookies that could have been used for hockey pucks. My body has a really hard time dealing with sugar now, so I had to rely on a trusted group of taste testers who were more than happy to sample and critique each batch of cookies. I landed on this recipe and I'm proud to say all of my taste testers said they were the softest sugar cookies they had ever had. So, as promised here is the recipe for the Funfetti Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies I paired with the cookies and cream puppy chow in the Christmas exchange with my friends.

Funfetti Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

• 1.5 cups all purpose GF flour, or regular all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tarter, do not omit- I learned this secret from a good friend
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sprinkles
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter, partially melted
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

In a mixing bowl combine flour, cream of tarter, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, chocolate chips and sprinkles. 

Once all the dry ingredients are combined add in the egg and vanilla. If you are using a stick of butter simply heat it up in the microwave to get to soften and melt. You do not want to melt all of butter, only a little bit, otherwise you will melt the sprinkles and chocolate chips.

After all ingredients are combined place dough in the fridge to chill. I left the dough in the fridge for three hours (I only did it that long because I forgot about it, whoops- you can chill it overnight though). Placing cookie dough in the fridge prevents the dough from spreading into flat, giant cookies when baking. You don't have to chill the dough, but I do recommend doing it for at least 30 minutes. 

Using your hands or a scooper form dough balls approximately 1.5 tablespoons each. I was able to get 38 dough balls. If you make them bigger you will get less. 

Place dough balls on a lined baking sheet. Gently press the top of each dough ball down- just enough to flatten the top of it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Even if the cookies appear to be too soft they are done. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or paper towels to cool completely. 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze for later use.

Christmas Exchange: Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

The Christmas season is officially upon us. It's hard to believe it's already that time of year again, seriously wasn't it just Halloween? I love Christmas time. Everyone seems a little bit nicer, I love all the twinkling lights and I get to bake to my hearts content! I spent the afternoon up to my eyeballs in cookie dough and puppy chow and my house smelt AMAZING. Seriously baking is better than any air freshener or candle out there. 

It's been a tradition since my freshmen year of college that the week after Thanksgiving my friends and I have our Christmas exchange. The rules are simple, you cannot buy a gift for anyone it has to be homemade. Buying ingredients or supplies are allowed, but just plain buying a gift isn't. It's a really fun way for us to show our love to one another and express ourselves. I love baking so I bake treats for everyone, others do arts and crafts kinds of stuff there's all kinds of things and it's a lot of fun.

This year I threw a twist on puppy chow. Last year it was a major hit with my friends so I made a GIGANTIC batch this year with some really fun cookies for each of the girls. I also made a few extra sets to give to some of my friends that aren't part of the exchange. While the puppy chow was cooling my mom kept stealing some and finally told me to get it away from her because she would eat the entire batch if it wasn't out of sight soon! It's always a sign of a great recipe when someone can't stop eating it!

Cookies Puppy Chow

• 5 cups GF Chex cereal
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 8-10 Oreos broken into pieces
• *1/3 cup butter
• *1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Cream Puppy Chow

• 5 cups GF Chex cereal
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 8-10 Oreos broken into pieces
• *1/3 cup butter
• *1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

(*NOTE: You can leave out the butter and peanut butter and just use chocolate chips and white chocolate chips, however I have found that the peanut butter and butter combo makes the puppy chow creamier and help the powdered sugar stick better than chocolate alone)

In two microwave safe mixing bowls add chocolate baking chips in one bowl white chocolate chips in the other, broken oreos, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Microwave one bowl at a time for one minute, take out stir, then microwave for thirty seconds, take out stir again making sure all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Microwave for an additional thirty seconds.

Then take contents of mixing bowl and pour into one of the Ziploc bags. Seal Ziploc bag, double check to make sure the bag is tightly sealed, then shake! Shake for one to two minutes until all the chex cereal is coated in the liquid chocolate and crumbled oreos. 

After all the chex is coated in the liquid chocolate and peanut butter mixture, open the Ziploc bag and pour in the powdered sugar. Seal the bag back up and shake! Shake hard, not too hard to break open the bag, but hard enough to coat all the cereal with the powdered sugar. Rotating the bag around helps distribute the powdered sugar around.

Once all the chex is coated in powdered sugar pour the puppy chow onto a lined baking sheet to cool. 

Repeat steps with the other bowl of chocolate. Spread this mixture on a separate lined baking sheet and all to cool.

Once the puppy chow is cool mix I mixed in additional crumbled oreos in each mixture and red and green M&M's into the cream puppy chow. Do not add the M&M's in while the puppy chow is warm or the M&M's will melt.

In a giant mixing bowl combine cookies and cream mixtures. I placed mine in containers in a box with a set of funfetti chocolate chip sugar cookies (I'll post that recipe soon) for the traditional Christmas exchange with my friends.

Crockpot Skinny Tomato Basil Soup

This may seem hard to believe, but until now I had never had tomato soup. I remember being in elementary school and all my friends were always so excited when grilled cheese and tomato soup was being served in the cafeteria for lunch. I rarely bought lunch, instead my mom always packed a healthy lunch for me, no complaints though because 99% of the time my lunch was way better than anything the school was serving.

I had never given tomato soup much thought until it started getting really cold out and for the first time I thought it sounded good. I really had no knowledge of how to make tomato soup, so I just threw some ingredients into my crockpot and hoped for the best. After I had blended it all together it came out so thick and yummy. I made a batch of gluten free cornbread that was perfect with the soup. Forget restaurants sodium loaded tomato soup, this soup will warm you up and it's totally healthy! 

Crockpot Tomato Basil Soup

• 28 ounce can organic peeled and crushed tomatoes
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 cups organic low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• ground pepper, to taste
• basil leaves, fresh or spice, to taste

Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Pour soup into a regular or immersion blender. Blend on low until smooth.

Transfer back into the crockpot and place on low again to allow soup to warm up. 

Serve and enjoy! 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze and enjoy later.

Nutrition per 1 cup (makes 6 one cup servings):

Calories: 64

Carbs: 12 grams

Fat: 0 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Protein: 3 grams

Sodium: 307 mg

Sugar: 6 grams