Brown Butter Snickerdoodles {With A Valentines Twist!}

Anyone who is a food blogger knows that you are expected to produce tons of super cute, adorable appropriately themed holiday desserts and treats months before the holiday actually occurs. My first year blogging I had no idea of these expectations and I was wondering why when I posted my Christmas desserts on December 20th (when I would actually make them in real life) no one pinned them or commented on them.

It wasn't really until I started networking with other bloggers through Online BlogCon that I realized I was out of the loop. This past Thanksgiving/Christmas season I tried to be ahead of the curve on my holiday themed posts but I still fell way short of my lofty goals to shower you with Christmas dishes from Black Friday to Christmas Day.

2013 is going to be different. I am ready. You are going to get Valentines Day in January and St. Patrick's Day starting on February 15th and Easter well before Spring Break. Or at least that is the plan....

Now that I am mentally prepared and motivated to inundated you with preciously sweet holiday themed desserts, I realize my other problem. I don't have kids yet and the majority of my blog desserts end up at the fire station where my husband works. And that group of 30-55 year old men don't often request things like Pinterest Pretzel Bites or Homemade Valentines Day Marshmallows covered in Sprinkles (coming soon!) or Leprechaun Bark (coming Feb. 15th!).

So I took the easier way out and made you something non-Valentines Day related with a holiday twist. Did you know that if you use heart shaped anything you can automatically call it Valentines Day themed? So I took this advantage to bust out one of my new Christmas presents (thanks, Justin!) Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients the newest cookbook in the Baked Family of Cookbooks.

You know I love Snickerdoodle anything so their recipe for Brown Butter Snickerdoodles caught my eye immediately. These are the more labor intensive but infinitely better cousin of the box mix snickerdoodle. As the name suggests, you brown the butter and then you have to bring it back to room temperature before making your dough but it is so worth the extra time.

These Snickerdoodles were everything a cookie should be, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The browned butter was the perfect contrast to the sweetness of the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pop a Dove Milk Chocolate Heart on them for the last three minutes of baking and you have a Valentines Day treat that even the manliest fire fighters aren't ashamed to eat. The heart shaped Valentines Day Marshmallows will have to go to the teachers' lounge.

Make sure you stop by this week's Mealtime Monday and link up any amazing recipes you have been working on lately.

***Depending on the day this post may be linked up to any of these fabulous linky parties.***

Do you host a weekly party? If so, make sure to visit my party page and add yours so we all can join in the fun!

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

by Kaylee @ Couponing & Cooking

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: dessert cookie

Ingredients (24 cookies)

For The Dough

• 2 sticks (8oz) of unsalted butter
• 2 3/4 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

For The Rolling Mixture

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

In a medium sauce pan, place butter (cubed) and heat on medium heat until the foam subsides and the butter turns brown. Should take between 8-10 minutes.

Pour the browned butter through a strainer into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium to bring back to room temperature, 5-7 minutes.

Whisk together the milk and eggs.

Once butter has cooled, add the sugars (amounts for the dough) and beat on medium for about 2 minutes.

Add in egg and milk mixture and beat until fully combined.

Add in the rest of the dry ingredients in 3 parts until just combined.

Cover dough in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for at least an hour but not more than 24 hours.

Mix the cinnamon and sugar for the rolling mixture in a bowl.

Using a cookie scoop or your hands form uniform ball of dough and roll them in the cinnamon sugar mixture before placing on a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies have started to "crack".

If you want to add the Dove Hearts, remove the cookies after 8 minute of baking and press the chocolates into the dough and bake for 2 more minutes.

Let the cookies and the chocolate cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

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Mealtime Monday Recipe Link Up Party & Features {#37}

 

 

Hello everyone! Are you back into your regular routine after the holidays?  I am finally feeling like we are back to normal after a few weeks of crazy schedules and traveling. We have a crazy busy next six months with four weddings (one of which is my sister's), multiple work events, family events, showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties and hopefully some travel and house projects thrown in.

I am attempting to get back on the meal planning band wagon as well as to get our house a little more organized as the weeks go on. What have you been up to lately? Any big New Years Resolutions you have been working on?

Please make sure to show your fellow bloggers and linkers some love. It may only take a few minutes but taking the time to visit, comment and pin/share each others posts can make a world of difference!

Here are this week's features and then on to the party!

Fried Lemon Pies from Chocolate, Chocolate & More

 

No Knead Bread from Posed Perfection

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake from Real Housemoms

Owl Bread from Something Sweet

 

Chicago Style Cashew Crunch from Jazzy's Gourmet 

You can also check out my Pinterest board for Mealtime Monday Features where I will be pinning the original links to the items featured here each week as well as my Facebook page which will have even more features too!

If you were featured you can feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.

As I teacher, I enforce rules all day so I am going to call these my suggestions.

I would love it if:

• You would link back to this post/blog. You can do so by grabbing my button (upper right hand corner), linking back to this post in your post, or by adding this blog to your list of places you link up to/party at on your Link Parties page. The more people who link up the better it is for all of us : )
• Please follow this blog through GFC, Linky Friends or Blog Lovin.
• As an added bonus you can become our Facebook friend too!
• Please only post directly to your recipe link. No giveaways, etsy shops or anything not family friendly.
• Please do not link up to posts you have already linked up to before. Also, the recipe needs to be something you made with photos of your own and should give credit where credit is due : )
• Pretty please visit at least two new blogs and show them some love.
• By linking up you give me permision to use these photos (with proper link backs) in my features and on my Facebook page
• Come back next Monday and link up!

Ready, set, make me hungry!
 

Weekly Shopping Totals: Saved 71% at Publix

Over $100 of groceries for $30!

 Make sure you check out my giveaway for a FREE product coupon from Edwards Pies!

I love beginning of the year sale cycles! It is so nice to see better for you foods and items that don't usually have coupons go on sale. There weren't a ton of crazy deals for me in this week's Publix ad so I just spent my budget on dinner staples and a few good sale items.

When I look at this relatively small shopping trip I cannot believe that its retail price is over $100. To be able to get everything for around $30 makes me very happy. : ) All of this plus our stockpile will be more than enough to keep us well fed this upcoming week.

How cute is my new Lilly Pulitzer couponing calculator? Such a fun Christmas present from my siblings!

I had planned on taking advantage of some Butterball deals but I didn't see the products/prices at my store so I may hit up another store in my area over the weekend and see if they carry them. I have been wanting to do a Target and CVS trip since before the New Year but with our schedules I just haven't made it. Maybe on Sunday I will head out and do some shopping somewhere other than Publix.

I did use two $5/$30 Winn Dixie coupons since my precoupon total was over $60. Other than that most of my savings come from store sales not coupons. This trip actually took me about 10 minutes to plan and it was nice to have an easy week of shopping for once!

Breakdown of today's Publix trip:
Total retail value: $107.35
Total spent: $ 31.46
Total saved: $75.89
Percent saved: 71%

What I got with sale/coupon match ups:

• 3 boxes of Barilla Veggie Pasta, retails for $1.79, on sale for $1.50 each
• Used a $1/3 coupon from the 1/6 SS
• Stacked with three $1 off Publix Yellow Ad. Flyer coupon
• Made them .22 cents a box
• 2 boxes of Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bars, retails for $4.99, on sale BOGO ($2.49 each)
• Used two $1 off coupons
• Stacked with two $1 off Target coupons
• Made them .49 cents a box
•  2 Gold Bond Ultimate Sheer Ribbons Body Lotion, retails for $8.99, on sale for $4.49
• Used two $2 off coupons from the 11/11 SS
• Stacked with two $2 off coupons from the Publix Green Ad. Flyer
• Made it .49 cents each
•  2 bags of Ricola Cough Drops, retails for $1.79 each, on sale BOGO (.89 cents each)
• Used a $1/2 coupon from the 1/6 SS
• Made them .39 cents a bag
•  1 half gallon of Almond Breeze Almond Milk, retails for $3.39, on sale for $2.50
• Used a .55 cents off in store blinkie coupon
• Made it $1.95
•  2 bags of Sun-dried Tomatoes, retails for $2.79 each, on sale BOGO, made them $1.39 each
• 2 jars of Marie's Salad Dressing, retails for $3.69 each, on sale BOGO ($1.84 each)
• Used two $1 off coupons from a company email
• Made them .84 cents each
•  6 Yoplait! Yogurts, retails for .77 cents each, on sale for .50 cents each
• Used a .40/6 off coupon
• Made them .43 cents each
•  1 bag of Baked Lay's Chips, retails for $3.99, on sale for $3
• 2 bags of Fresh Express Salad, retails for $4.09 each, on sale BOGO, made them $2.04 each
• 3 pound bag of Fuji Apples, retails for $5.99, on sale for $3.29
• 2 pound bag of Publix Frozen Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Tenderloins retails for $6.99, on sale for $5 or $2.50 a pound
• 2 jars of Pop Secret Pop Corn Kernels, retails for $5.45 each, on sale BOGO for $2.64 each
• 2 Monterey Food's Pesto Sauces, retails for $4.69 each, on sale for BOGO for $2.34
• 1 package of Buitoni Ravioli, retails for $4.19, on sale for $3.50

How did you do this week? Inspire me (and everyone else) with your amazing savings and deals this week. Please link up directly to your specific post. Do not link up to your blog's home page, giveaways, or etsy shops please. You can also "like" Couponing & Cooking on Facebook too! I would love it if you would link back to this post or grab my button from the sidebar : )

Click below to link up your posts!

Edward's Pies Holiday Celebration & A Giveaway!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Edwards. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love this time of year. The parties, the food, seeing friends and family, I feel like we bounce around from one fun event to the next. You know I love baking but sometimes with all the craziness of the holiday season I just can't fit making desserts into my schedule. That is why I was so excited to be able to participate in this yummy opportunity from Edward's Pies.

Even though Christmas & New Year's have come and gone, our social schedule and work lives are still in full swing and I love knowing that I can grab one of Edwards Crème pies and have a delicious tasting, quick and easy dessert for anyone of our parties or dinners.

As part of this opportunity I got to try one of Edwards Crème pies and I couldn't wait to taste one because I have secretly been stalking that section of the frozen dessert aisle for some time and have always secretly wanted to try one :  )

We chose the Hershey's Creme pie and it was just as yummy as I imagined it would be. It looked beautiful right out of the box and it was perfect to put out a a family dinner.

Edwards Pie also has a super cute feature on their website where you can send a holiday e-card to friends and family. You get to say hello and you will each recieve a $1 off coupon for any flavor of Edwards Crème pies.

 

Want to win a coupon for a FREE Edwards Crème pie? One lucky Couponing & Cooking winner will recieve a coupon for any flavor of Edwards Creme Pie. And in the spirit of the holiday season, Edwards Desserts will also be donating $20 in the name of the winner to Toys For Tots. How awesome is that? You get free pie and kids get toys!

To enter please do the following:
Required Entry: Visit Edwards Crème pies website and tell me which pie you would like to try an why.
Addtional entries please leave a new comment for each: Visit Edwards Desserts on Facebook and like them and visit Couponing & Cooking on Facebook (see side widget) and like our page.

Winner will be chosen on January 19th!

Walnut, Apple & Warm Goat Cheese Salad With A Champagne Vinaigrette

In our nine years together, something Justin and I have always loved doing together is discovering new and exciting restaurants and bars. We are Food Network and Cooking Channel fanatics and I am slightly embarrassed to admit that have the TV Food Maps app on our phones.

The first thing we do when we plan a vacation is instantly search the area we are visiting for eateries that have been featured on shows like Diners, Drive Ins & Dives or Best Thing I Ever Ate. Justin can spend hours planning our meals and snacks alone.

One of the perks of dating long distance for close to four years that was we were constantly in new cities and towns as we drove back and forth which allowed us to spend our date nights at a new restaurant each time we got to see each other.

Now that we are married and live in the same house/town, we often reminisce about date night meals past and talk about what we will get the next time we are in said city and whatever restaurant. Please tell me we aren't the only ones who day dream aloud about future eating experiences?!?

Instagram Love

Since it isn't practical or affordable to just jump in the car or on a plane and visit our all time favorite places, we have started recreating our favorite meals at home right in the comfort of our own kitchen. Remember my Turkey, Apple & Brie Sandwiches?

On our way to visit my grandparents in West Palm Beach for New Years, Justin and I stopped in Stuart where he use to live and had a little date night at Carmela's Brick Oven Pizza. It is a romantic little pizza place with brick walls and amazing food. When he was in school and I had just started working, he save up and take me there for a special date night. Sometimes we would even spring for a bottle of wine or dessert : )

This time we ordered an amazing brick oven pizza and decided to start out with the house goat cheese salad. I could not believe we had never tried it. It was quite possibly the best salad I have ever eaten: mixed greens, walnuts, cucumbers, and julienned apples topped with a slice of warmed goat cheese and a champagne vinaigrette. It was sweet, tangy and perfect.

Since the New Year, we have been trying to keep our dinners light so we have been eating lots of soup and salads. This salad was quick and easy to make and since I have the ingredients on hand now I imagine we will be eating once a week, our own little stroll down memory lane and a date night all without changing out of my comfy pants.

Walnut, Apple & Goat Cheese Salad

• 1 bag of Mixed Greens
• 1 large Fuji Apple
• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or more if you like)
• 2 oz of goat cheese
• Herb Seasoned Croutons (optional-we used homemade from left over french bread)
• Champagne Vinaigrette (homemade or store bought, I used Marzetti Simply Dressed)

1.) Slice the goat cheese into individual pats in whatever thickness/size you prefer. Place them on a baking sheet covered with tin foil and warm in the oven at 350 degrees for about five minutes.

2.) While the goat cheese is getting warmed up, peel and julienne the apple and then peel and dice the cucumber.

3.) In a large bowl toss together the mixed greens, 2/3 of the apple pieces, the diced cucumber and crushed walnuts. Add desired amount of dressing and toss to evenly coat.

4.) Plate the salad mixture and top with more apple pieces and a few croutons. Right before serving carefully scoop up the warmed slices of goat cheese and place on the sliced apples on the top of the salad. This allows each person to mix in their own goat cheese as they like best.

5.) Serve quickly so the greens don't get soggy and the cheese is still nice and warm when you start eating.

Make sure you stop by this week's Mealtime Monday and link up any amazing recipes you have been working on lately.

***Depending on the day this post may be linked up to any of these fabulous linky parties.***

Do you host a weekly party? If so, make sure to visit my party page and add yours so we all can join in the fun!

Mealtime Monday Recipe Link Party & Features {#36}

Happy BCS National Championship Eve! Sorry this is up so late but we just got home after a fun filled weekend in Miami celebrating with family and friends. You may not know this but our family is Notre Dame obsessed and it was so nice to have so many people all in one spot this weekend.

Sadly I my Christmas break comes to an end tomorrow with a teacher workday. It has been an amazing few weeks off but it will be nice to get back to a normal schedule this week.

Since I took some blogging time off over the holidays I would love your help in spreading word of the party and encouraging more and more bloggers to link up : )

Here are this week's features and then on to the party!

French Quarter Cheese Ball from Serenity Cove

 

Snickersnap Cookies from Searching For Dessert

 

Maple Cinnamon Donuts from The Chic Geek

S'more Croissants from The Pin Junkie

You can also check out my Pinterest board for Mealtime Monday Features where I will be pinning the original links to the items featured here each week as well as my Facebook page which will have even more features too!

If you were featured you can feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.

As I teacher, I enforce rules all day so I am going to call these my suggestions.

I would love it if:

• You would link back to this post/blog. You can do so by grabbing my button (upper right hand corner), linking back to this post in your post, or by adding this blog to your list of places you link up to/party at on your Link Parties page. The more people who link up the better it is for all of us : )
• Please follow this blog through GFC, Linky Friends or Blog Lovin.
• As an added bonus you can become our Facebook friend too!
• Please only post directly to your recipe link. No giveaways, etsy shops or anything not family friendly.
• Please do not link up to posts you have already linked up to before. Also, the recipe needs to be something you made with photos of your own and should give credit where credit is due : )
• Pretty please visit at least two new blogs and show them some love.
• By linking up you give me permision to use these photos (with proper link backs) in my features and on my Facebook page
• Come back next Monday and link up!

Ready, set, make me hungry!

2012 Yearly Shopping Totals: We Saved Over $5,000!

 
2012  was my first full calendar year of couponing and I was so excited for how my yearly totals turned out! I actually did not keep a running spread sheet of what I spent and saved as I went this year but this week I tallied it all up.

 Since we use a cash only grocery budget, I knew that we had spend less than $80 a week on groceries but since we usually spend less than that I didn't have an actual hard number for what we spent on average each week.

I knew that couponing and shopping sales had allowed us to save a lot this year since we then use our excess grocery budget money to take weekend trips, work on the house and to pay for other expenses but I had no idea how much we had actually saved!

These totals include all of our family of two's food, beverages, household products, cleaning products, paper products, health and beauty items and so much more for the entire year of 2012. This also includes a large stockpile that we have amassed as well as items for donation. All of my shopping trips can be viewed here if you would like to get an idea of what we buy and how we save. 

My 2012 Shopping Totals:
Total retail value of all we bought: $7,604.09
Total spent out of pocket: $2,419.46
Total saved: $5,184.63
Percent saved on regular prices: 68%
Average weekly amount spent: $46.52

It is always my goal to spend less than $50 a week so I am THRILLED that I managed to average out to that goal over the course of the year. Whenever I hear someone say that couponing isn't worth it I always secretly laugh : )   When I think of how couponing has allowed us to shop where we want and buy things that we might not otherwise be able to afford I know that it is well worth the time I put into it.

I am also extremely grateful that we can buy the variety of food and name brand products that we do without compromising how we eat. We may not be the healthiest people on earth but I am proud of the fact that we don't just buy processed foods but we also buy a large amount of fresh veggies, meat and even organic products. 

If you are new to couponing and want to learn how to get started make sure to check out my Learn to Coupon page and get started! 

Did you do a post on your 2012 yearly totals? If so feel free to link up here and share with us all!