Last-Minute "Wrapping"

So, imagine that you're about to head out the door to an open house, housewarming, holiday cocktail party, or ... whatever.

You've picked up a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black for your hosts. The only gift bags left are the ones that look like they're for a toddler. You have scraps of wrapping paper. You're not about to go buy more wrapping paper now. No way.

But you don't want to hand your hosts a nice bottle in a brown paper bag.

So you get crafty.

This requires one box of any size the bottle will fit into with the neck sticking out (it forms the chimney). Just cut the two smaller flaps to form the triangular front and back pointy parts of the house (the peaks? is that what they're called?)

Then put the bottle in the box along with some packing material to hold it in place. Or more gifts. Cookies are nice. Then fold the other two box flaps and tape or glue them to the triangular front and back.

You'll have a hole in middle of that top portion, unless your box had weird long flaps. Use an extra piece of cardboard or even some aluminum foil to form that last piece you need. This is just "wrapping" so it doesn't need to withstand hurricane-force winds.

Find some white tissue paper or some baking parchment to form a snowy roof. I crumpled mine and then cut the edges into spikes to form icicles. Wavy cuts would be fine. It's not fine art.

Attach the paper the to roof, and you're good to go.

Or, if you like, you can decorate the house. Write things on it. Draw a door and some windows. Add some lights on a string, a wreath, or a Christmas tree.

Or draw stick figures of the family you're visiting.

Or write random holiday greetings in multiple languages all over the box.

Or have everyone in your household write their own message. Or ... whatever is fun and easy for you.

Then go to your party.

Seriously, if you're artistic and you've got loads of time, you could paint the box in all sorts of fancy ways. But if you're on the way out the door, this is clever and different and easy and if you don't want to decorate, just tape the box together, put that roof on, and run out the door.

Have a great holiday!

The nice folks at Johnnie Walker recently sent me a bottle. So I stuck it in a box. I'm crafty like that.

Krusteaz Cookie Giveaway

Photo courtesy of Krusteaz

I bake from scratch most of the time, but even I have days when I want a quick fix and I don't want to look up a recipe (or make one up!) and I just want something fast, that I know will work. A good baking mix is great to have on hand for those sorts of personal emergencies.

The other time when I often use mixes is when I'm testing a new piece of bakeware. I want to know that any issues - sticking burning, uneven baking - is not the fault of some recipe that I randomly chose.

Lately, my mix of choice has been Krusteaz. I bought them in the past, then they sent some to me. I bought more (ooh! look! I haven't tried THAT yet!) and then the sent other stuff. I won't say I've tried every single one of their products, but I've tried enough of them to know that they're trustworthy. Even up here at high altitude, I get good results.

Now that it's cookie season (from the second it's not too hot to bake, until the time when it is too hot to bake - a season that lasts about 359 days) we're going to chat a bit about cookies.

They have a whole bunch of different flavors of mixes (of course) but they've come up with a bunch of different variations on using the mixes to make something a little bit different.

For example, you can use the Peanut Butter Cookie mix to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies and you can use the Sugar Cookie mix to make Chocolate Marble Cookies (click on the links to see the recipes.

I thought that using the Snickerdoodle mix to make Cinnamon Roll Cookies was particularly appealing. I guess I have a thing for swirled baked goods. In any case, the recipe is below.

Also below (hehe) is a giveaway of all three of the cookie flavors I mentioned - Peanut Butter, Snickerdoodle, and Sugar Cookie - so you can have your own emergency supply of cookies at your disposal.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Recipe & photo courtesy of Krustez; used with permission
Makes 36-40 cookies

For the cookies:
1 pouch Krusteaz Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
2 tablespoons Cinnamon-Sugar Topping (included with the mix)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the drizzle:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Blend the cookie mix, butter and egg until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll it to form a 12x8-inch rectangle.

Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mix and pecans over the dough. Starting with  the 12-inch side, roll the dough into tight log. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and have a cookie sheet standing by. They suggest a greased cookie sheet, but these days I use parchment or a silicone mat.

Cut the log into 1/4-inch slices and place them once 1 inch apart on your prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the drizzle:
Stir the sugar and milk together until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

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