Christmas Instagrams
2 Jan
Here are a few instagrams from our holiday festivities. Jonathan and I had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with each other in Corvallis as well as with our fabulous families in Washington. And, one of our favorite parts about visiting our families is getting to see all our sweet nieces and nephews!
The above and below photos are of our Christmas tree in Corvallis. What can I say, I LOVE wrapping presents and decorating for Christmas!
This year, we decided to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Jonathan’s. I am happy to say, it ended up working out great! We had so much fun spending the day relaxing with my family and putting together this epic puzzle!
The above photo is the beautiful Christmas table Jonathan’s mom put together for the family! It was amazing!
Above is sweet baby Hallie and below is my cute niece, Elsie, who turns 1 today! Happy Birthday Elsie!
We spent New Years Eve in Corvallis with some good friends, and we had a wonderful time! I made this party hat for the festivities! And, the below picture is of our fabulous friend, Edie, and her super cute New Years costume!
We had such a wonderful vacation visiting family and friends! I miss them already! But, it also feels good to be home. I am ready to start working hard toward my goals this year, and I am looking forward to starting up school again!
Happy New Years!
Ingredients for Sugar Cookies
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions for Sugar Cookies
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and add it slowly to the butter mixture, mixing until just incorporated (the dough will be stiff). Shape into a flat 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. The scraps can be combined and rolled out again. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown. Watch the cookies closely because I found the second and third batch baked faster and you might want to take them out sooner. Cool slightly on the baking sheets before transferring to cooling racks.
Ingredients for Frosting
2 cups of powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons of milk (I used 2%)
Food coloring
Trader Joes Peppermint Bark for Baking
Instructions for Frosting
This is a rough estimate for how much of the frosting ingredients you will need. It is best to pour the desired amount of powdered sugar in a bowl and then slowly add milk. Pour in about half the milk and then stir the mixture. If the consistency is still too thick, pour in a little more milk. Once you have the consistency right, add the desired colors of food coloring. I chose to do hot pink because I am obsessed with the color AND to get a good red color you have to use a lot of red food coloring, and I don’t like having too much food coloring in the frosting.
Once the cookies are cooled, use a spoon to lightly cover the cookies with frosting. Don’t try to cover the entire cookie or the frosting will just run off the sides. Once the cookies are frosted, sprinkle the peppermint bark over the top of the cookies. And, voila! So tasty!
*Note: If you are just baking for a couple people, cutting the recipe in half is a great amount.
