St. Patrick's Day Jell-O Cookies

I spotted these on Pinterest & remembered having them growing up. What a cute way to put color into cookies & the holidays! The color comes from the Jello, not extra food coloring :) And what I love is you can use any Jell-o flavor/color! The cookies taste like good, bakery-style cookies with a mere hint of the gelatin flavoring. And you can gussy them up with sprinkles!!! I <3 sprinkles.

Have fun with these!
<3 Lishie

St. Patrick's Day Jell-O Cookies

slightly adapted from Gwenny Penny

• 3/4 cup of margarine or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3oz package of Jello gelatin (any flavor will do, but I used lime)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2½ cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• sprinkles (optional)

Cream together your first five ingredients: margarine or butter, sugar, dry Jello powder, eggs, & vanilla.

Carefully add the remaining ingredients: flour, baking powder, & salt. Mix well.

Grease & flour baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Roll the dough into 1½" balls & place on the baking sheets. It helps to add a little flour to your hands before rolling. I actually used my melon baller, sprayed with cooking spray first), then using the back of the melon baller, pushed down onto the "lump" of cookie dough.

Add sprinkles!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. They are done when you just start to see a light brown ring begin to creep up from the very bottom of the cookie. Move to a cooling rack & enjoy!

This is a great all-purpose recipe... you can change up the color and decorations to match any holiday or occasion. And Jello comes in so many flavors, there are lots of possibilities. Have fun with it!

Birthday Cheesecake Bars

I am blessed with a wonderful student worker & her birthday's this week so I wanted to sprinkle a little celebration into our workspace with one of her favorite things- cheesecake. So I put on my thinking baking cap & made these bars. They traveled far easier than an actual cheesecake but retained the flavor & the fun! Happy happy birthday, Rachel!

<3 Lishie

Birthday Cheesecake Bars

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 3/4 c sugar

• 2 packages (8 oz. each cream cheese, softened)
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs

• Sprinkles- optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9" pan.

In a medium bowl, mix the graham crumbs, butter & sugar well. Pack it leveled, into the bottom of the baking pan.

Using a mixer, combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla & eggs (one at a time) until smooth & fluffy. Pour onto the graham cracker base & level.

Sprinkle on the sprinkles!!!

Bake for 50 minutes, until the edges are browned. Allow to cool before cutting. Serve in bars.

Cake Batter Biscotti

So I've spoken of my commuter friend before... They are the best. They have me in stitches, in fits of laughter all of the time. It's what we need after a stressful day on a long commute- laughter. So the running gag is that I cannot just make biscotti- I have to put a "complicated twist" on it. Nahhhh... some things always sound harder than they are! Shhhhhhh... we'll keep that a secret from them ;) 

Well, they've been nudging me for some recently so I obliged. I had some cake mix left over from my cake batter rice krispy asteroids I needed to use... And I ALWAYS have sprinkles on hand! So, these came about...

Cake Batter Biscotti

• 1/2 stick Butter, room temperature
• 1/4 C Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 TBSp + 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
•  1 1/2 C Flour
• 1 C Yellow Butter Cake Mix
• 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• about 2-3 TBSp Sprinkles

Drizzle: 

• Candy Melts
• Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350F. Line or grease a cookie sheet- I used my silicone mat.

Mix together the butter & sugar. Add in the egg & vanilla- mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cake mix, baking powder, & salt.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture with the mixer on low. Scrape down the sides in between additions. The dough should be fairly thick.

Fold in the sprinkles.

With your hands, form the dough into a log shape along the length of the cookie sheet, & about 3 inches wide.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet. Once cool to the touch, use a serrated knife to slice the log of dough into slightly diagonal, 1/2" pieces.

Turn each slice on its side and lay back on the cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Flip the slices & bake 5 minutes more.

To make the drizzle, melt the candy melts until smooth. Using a spoon or pastry bag, drizzle it onto the biscotti & sprinkle away!

Enjoy!

<3 Lishie