Christmas In The Kitchen - With 6 Bloggers!!

There I was wiped out over Cyber Monday and then I got an email from Moms By Heart asking if I'd like to join her, and those on copy, for some baking fun and giveaways. To which my mind said, "Hallelujah!! A cool way to break away from the deal postings!"

So today and next Thursday, you have the opportunity to join me and 5 of my bloggy friends in some baking fun. What are we up to? Well, each of us is going to do a baking/cooking related giveaway each week. So that equals 12 giveaways for you to sign-up for!

We are each also going to share one of our favorite recipes or a tradition or something along those lines.

So where can you find these fabulous giveaways and recipes? Aside from my postings, check out my blog friends at: (I'll switch these to the direct link to their giveaways as I see their postings go up today.)

Moms By Heart - Her tradition and Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Giveaway HERE.

Coupon Gal - Chocolate Covered Cherries Recipe HERE and Muffin Pan and Baking Cups Giveaway to help make your own HERE.

Couponing For 4 - Pumpkin Muffin Recipe HERE and Giveaway for Make It Fast, Cook It Slow Recipe Book HERE.

Give Me Neither - Gooseberry Patch A Christmas Cookie Jar giveaway HERE.

A Thrifty Mom -She shares some Christmas memories and she's giving away 20 Coupon Inserts to help with the cost of your baking needs HERE.

NOTE: Make sure that if you are entering their giveaways, that you put your entries on their postings and not mine. I just want to make sure your entries in those giveaways are counted.

And moving along to my recipe and Holiday Memories...

When I think of baking for Christmas, I immediately jump to my Grandmother's Sugar Cookie Recipe. Now, it's probably from a book. Or, it could be her own. I have no idea. (so forgive me for not crediting any source) But oh I loved the smell of her cookies baking in the oven. What a great day for me when they started making those Sugar Cookie Candles! Memories would come flashing back when I'd burn them. (I had to quit because they made me too hungry!)

I make these year-round but during Christmas, I'll add sprinkles to jazz them up a bit. I plan on making these this next week with my son. He'll have a blast rolling them into balls and flattening them. I'll have to post some pics for you to see.

So this is the recipe that I use: (And no...it's not a healthy version by far!!)

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Oil
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
4 Cups Flour
1 Tsp. Cream of Tartar
1 Tsp. Salt

"Cream" the butter, oil, eggs & both sugars. (In other words, stir them all together.) Sift the "dry" ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then stir them into the first mixture. Add vanilla.

Next roll the "dough" into balls. Then roll them into some granulated sugar.

You'll then grease a cookie sheet and place the sugar-covered balls onto it. Take a glass that's been lightly dipped in sugar and press down on the cookies gently to flatten them. (I usually lightly spray a glass with cooking spray to make the sugar stick to it.)

Bake in an oven that's 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, or until they look done.

Let them cool and then enjoy! I love to dip them in my hot chocolate (while others love them with coffee.) Every time I make these cookies I feel so close to my Grandmother. I just hope by passing on the recipe to my kids, that they'll have the same fond memories of baking as I do and I'll continue to share stories of my "Nana" with them during our baking time.

So this is my first baking tradition and recipe. I'll have another one for you next week. I'm going to post my baking giveaway in a separate posting. So don't miss it!

Thanks to my blog friends for this fun two-week series! Stay tuned for my baking giveaway here shortly...

Frugal Birthday Cakes

I happened to see an ad when I was on Tablespoon.com and I'm glad that I clicked through. It brought me to the Betty Crocker Cake Pages. And they are sooo cute! The first one that caught my eye was the Fire Engine Cake, as my son is big into trucks right now. There's a how-to video on how to make it HERE.

I'm not that great with the hands-on stuff but this one looked like one that I might be able to handle! And the reviews for it were 5 stars.


There's also one for a Panda Bear Cake that got good reviews. I did watch that one and it looked fairly simple, too. (You can always make it into a Teddy Bear Cake w/ Brown & Tan frosting colors.)

I'm always astounded by how expensive these "cutesy" type of cakes are in the stores. These two recipes that I watched looked like some basic ingredients that if you watch for sales ahead of time, you could probably make these fairly cheap. (Such as cake mix, frosting, candy items and using a Ziploc bag for "piping" the frosting.)

There were more cakes HERE.

These aren't affiliate/sponsor links but just something I ran across and thought I'd share. I'm really debating making the Fire Truck one now!!

Pillsbury Million Dollar Bake-Off

Pillsbury is running their Million Dollar Bake-Off promotion again. If you create the winning recipe, you win $1,000,000,000!

One hundred finalists will win a trip to the finals, April 11 - 13, 2010, at the Waldorf-Astoria Orlando and Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek hotel in Florida. Pillsbury is looking for original recipes that taste and look delicious, are easy to prepare and that families across America will love to eat. There are four recipe categories - Breakfast & Brunches, Entertaining Appetizers, Dinner Made Easy and Sweet Treats.

Entries are being accepted online between now and April 20th, 2009. Details are here. You can watch a video from last year's winner here.

Some of you are so creative and great in the kitchen so I thought I'd throw it out to you. Who knows, you just might win!