Merry Christmas {Holiday Treats}

Merry Christmas from Posh Pilar!

I hope you all are enjoying this Holiday season and have a wonderful Christmas. Sometimes it's  easy to get distracted from the true meaning of CHRISTmas but I hope we're able to come out of the wrapping, cooking, baking, and gifting remembering what it's all about. 

This year I decided to give my friends and co-workers some homemade holiday treats...  homemade BYU mint brownies and sugar cookies.

I wrapped them all up using one of Martha Stewarts treat box set. She is great... the boxes, paper, ribbon, and labels all come together making my life sooo much easier!

You can find the recipe for the brownies here. If you haven't heard of BYU's mint brownies they are basically famous. Since I no longer live in Provo I decided to bring back the memory. 

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe from my mother in law. She always makes the best cookies, so last year I got her recipe. It's so tasty and they come out perfectly soft.

 

As a gift to you I'm sharing this wonderful recipe with you :)

Julie's Sugar Cookies

• 1 1/2 C. Shortening
• 2 C. Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 4 1/2 C. Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Salt

Bake at 375-400 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Take them out before they look done, not browning. When you push them they don't spring up quickly.

If using cookie cutter shapes:

• chill dough for a couple hours
• roll out and cut into shapes

This recipe makes a lot... about 48 cookies or more. I halved the recipe this year and it still made about 30, but it depends on the size of cookies.

I decorated the cookies using Martha Stewarts royal icing recipe from her cookie cookbook. That same recipe is here except it uses merengue powder not raw eggs. I have a fear of getting sick from things and definitely don't want others to get sick, so I go with merengue powder. I finished the cookies off with of course some cutie sprinkles and sugar. 

Also this month for my ward Christmas party I baked what I like to call a "gourmet" cake. It takes some time but honestly it was so good and a hit at the party. I present to you the White Chocolate Layer Cake with Cranberry Filling.

I found the recipe at bhg.com you can find it here. The cake and frosting come out so delicious and if you think you don't like white chocolate, think again. The cranberry filling has a great holiday spice to it, and the contrast of white and cranberry is so pretty when you cut into it. I was in a hurry so my pics don't really do it justice but it looked this pretty in real life.

So there you have it some holiday sweet treats! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!