Cookie Dough Balls for Charity

I have two charity events coming up in which I am donating my wonderful cookie dough balls. One was fall themed:

And the other were snowballs:

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Peppermint Latte

My Peppermint Latte is one shot of espresso with peppermint syrup and steamed milk topped with milk foam.


I got an espresso maker for Christmas:


So, I put myself through barista school:-) Learned the difference between a latte (with milk and a little foam) and a cappuccino (a lot of foam and a little milk) and a macchiato (espresso on top of milk). I also made some flavored syrups to go in them and my favorite for this season is peppermint.
So, here is my recipe for Peppermint Latte. Enjoy:-)


Peppermint LatteIngredients:
1 shot espresso
1 tbs Peppermint Syrup (See Recipe Below)
3.5 oz milk, to steam and foam
1 Candy Cane (for garnish, if desired)

Directions:
1. First, make the peppermint syrup (see recipe below).

2. Next, brew the espresso per your manufacturer instructions. Pour 1 oz into your coffee mug.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of the syrup to the espresso.

4. Steam and foam milk per your manufacturer instructions. Add the milk to the espresso mixture and top with foam.

5. Garnish with a candy cane and enjoy.

Servings: 1

Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Entire recipe (6 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. One of the recipe's ingredients was not linked. This ingredient is not included in the recipe nutrition data.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 132.59
Calories From Fat (15%) 19.53
% Daily Value
Total Fat 2.16g 3%
Saturated Fat 1.37g 7%
Cholesterol 8.54mg 3%
Sodium 48.24mg 2%
Potassium 195.65mg 6%
Total Carbohydrates 25.05g 8%
Fiber 0g 0%
Sugar 25.44g
Protein 3.56g 7%

Recipe Type
Christmas, Drinks

Source
Author: Susan Ewing

Recipe Cost: $1.37 (And how much do you pay Starbucks????)

Peppermint Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:
Make the peppermint syrup by dissolving the sugar in water over medium heat. Bring to a boil and turn off flame. Add peppermint extract and let slightly cool. Pour into glass jars and enjoy in your beverage. Refrigerate the leftovers up to 30 days.

Servings: 20

Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Source
Author: Susan Ewing


This is definitely a happy Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Santa's Bag Cupcakes

This week was Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee's Christmas Challenge . We were to create cupcakes that look, taste or are inspired by the holiday season. This is my entry: Santa's Bag Cupcakes.

Santa's Bag is a cherry red velvet cupcake with

white peppermint "fringe",

a cherry licorice tie and

white chocolate gifts.