White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

For Easter, I set out to make a few new desserts that were spring/summer inspired!   I love strawberry cake mix and really wanted to use it in my new recipe!  

I decided to mix up my recipe for Orange Creamsicle Cookies and make these:

White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies!!!

They were so easy to make, they are PINK, and they are Cake Mix Recipe #62!

Your Shopping List for the White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies:

• 1 box of Strawberry Cake Mix
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• additional white chocolate for melting and dipping the cookies

Now Let's Make the White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the cake mix, butter, and eggs until a soft dough forms
3. Beat in the white chocolate chips on lowest speed
4. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, drop dough onto lined baking sheets 
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on pans for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
7. Once cookies are completely cool, dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate (I used 2 Bakers White Chocolate Bars, melted in a double boiler)
8. Set cookies on wax or parchment paper and allow to sit for several hours until the chocolate is hard (you can pop them in the freezer for a few minutes to speed this process up)

I use this stand mixer for all of my baking:

I use (and LOVE) these cookie sheets:

I use this parchment paper (and it makes clean up so easy):

Lemon Blossoms

For Easter Sunday, I set out to make two new dessert recipes that would be perfect for spring/summer! 

The first one I made was Lemon Blossoms (which is a fun take on the traditional peanut blossom cookie recipe that we do not eat because of Lacie's allergy).

And I simplified them by using CAKE MIX! 

These cookies are Cake Mix Recipe #61!

Your Shopping List for the Lemon Blossoms:

• 1 box Lemon Cake Mix
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temp
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• yellow sanding sugar 
• 24 unwrapped Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses

Now Let's Make the Lemon Blossoms:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter, beaten eggs, cake mix, and baking powder until a soft dough forms
3. Use a 1 inch cookie scoop to form 24 balls of dough and roll them in the sanding sugar
4. Place each cookie dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet
   
5. Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes until just lightly golden on the bottom
6. Remove cookies from oven and immediately press a Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cookie
7. Cool for 2 minutes on pan and then move to wire racks to cool completely
8. Make sure the Hershey's Kiss is completely cooled and set before storing cookies in an airtight container

I use this stand mixer for all of my baking:

I use (and LOVE) these cookie sheets:

I use this parchment paper (and it makes clean up so easy):

Mommy Mondays: Easter

Yesterday was Easter Sunday!  We had such a special holiday!  They get better the older the girls get! 

Since it's a Mommy Monday, I thought I would share what we did for Easter Weekend! 

We started the weekend by heading to the mall on Friday to see the bunny!  Paisley was not super thrilled to be sitting on his lap....but the picture is still cute anyway! 

The Easter Bunny stopped by our house to bring lots of treats for the girls!  I really try to limit the candy treats and instead get them stuff like new art supplies and spring/summer clothes! 

Lacie and Blakely ran down the stairs to see their baskets! 

My Sweet B was so excited that the Easter Bunny put yellow chalk in her baskets #itsthelittlethings

After opening baskets, I tried to get a few pictures of the girls together! 

#easterbaskets

The two big sisters! 

After opening everything, I got Easter brunch ready for both families! 

We ate and then had our traditional Easter Egg Hunt! 

It was Paisley's second Easter but her first Easter being able to participate in the hunt! 

Clearly it made her tired!

My parents! 

 John's Parents!

Santa got the girls these bikes....but the Easter Bunny finally put them together! 

Paisley was a little jealous of the big girls on their bikes, so Uncle Matt improvised! 

Happy Easter 2016!

Lemon Coconut Bars

It's been a long time since I blogged a CAKE MIX RECIPE!  So here is a new recipe that I whipped up for Easter Sunday.  Like all of my cake mix recipes, this one is quick and easy and most importantly delicious!

It's also Cake Mix Recipe #50!  Woohoo!

Your Shopping List:

• one box lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut (the sweetened kind)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Now Let's Make the Lemon Coconut Bars:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking pan
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cake mix, beaten eggs, and melted butter until a soft dough forms
3. Stir in the shredded coconut and the white chocolate chips
4. Bake in prepared pan for 25 minutes - until the edges are lightly browned
5. Remove from oven and use the back of a spatula to press down on the surface of the bars, making it flat
6. Allow to cool completely in pan before cutting into squares

Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy!  These are the perfect spring and summer dessert! 

Cadbury Egg Bunny Mix

So when I was planning our Easter weekend, I had a wonderful idea to get the kids into the kitchen and have them help prepare one of our Easter Brunch foods!  So I came up with an Easter snack mix that the girls could prepare on their own with only a bit of help melting the chocolate.  And then everyone got sick...so it was just me and my clean hands in the kitchen preparing this simple little Cadbury Bunny Mix!

If you have kiddos who love to spend time in the kitchen, this is the perfect little treat they can make almost all on their own!

Your Shopping List for the Cadbury Egg Bunny Mix:

• 4 cups popcorn
• 1 cup mini pretzel sticks, broken in half 
• 1 cup vanilla wafer cookies, broken into pieces
• 1 large bag (about 1 1/2 cups) Cadbury Mini Eggs
• 1 4oz bar white chocolate 
• holiday sprinkles

Now Let's Make the Cadbury Egg Bunny Mix:

1. In a large bowl combine the popcorn, mini pretzels, vanilla cookies, and cadbury mini eggs
   
2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt your white chocolate according to package directions
3. Drizzle white chocolate over the Cadbury Bunny Mix and stir gently to coat everything
   
4. Spread into a single layer onto cookie sheets covered in wax paper
5. Sprinkle with holiday colored sprinkles immediately to ensure that the sprinkles stick
   
6. Allow mixture to sit until the chocolate is cooled and dried
7. Store in airtight contianers 

The amount of each ingredient used is totally up to you!  These were estimated measurements (other than the bar of white chocolate).  You could definitely use more or less of any one ingredient, and that is what makes this recipe so much fun!

Mommy Mondays: Easter 2015

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter!  It was Paisley Jean's very first Easter so that made the day really special!  Unfortunately, she woke up on Sunday with a cold - it finally seems like she caught the colds that everyone else had two weeks ago despite my best efforts to keep her healthy.  It was probably inevitable with the way her big sisters are always giving her kisses.  But we still celebrated!

On Saturday we went to take a picture with the Easter Bunny!  Everyone sort of smiled and no one cried!  I think Lacie and Blakely were thrilled to sit over to the side of the bunny while he held Paisley!  There was no way Blakely was going near that Bunny - she wouldn't even give him a high five.  But she did wave to him and say "Bye Bye Easter Bunny" as we left!  Lacie just did it for the Cadbury Mini Egg I promised her afterwards!  Paisley was busy chewing on her shirt and didn't even notice that she was being held by a big giant bunny!

Every year, I host an Easter brunch for both sides of the family!  It's simple!  I love hosting brunch because I can do a lot of the prep work after the kids have gone to bed the night before and finish up anything in the morning before they wake up! Everyone comes over at 9am and we eat breakfast!  Then, we go outside for an egg hunt.

The girls got tons of candy, toys, and new clothes from the Easter Bunny!  I won't show you Paisley's basket because it was pretty sad...next year it will have lots more in it! 

Trying to get a picture of all three girls proved impossible!  Paisley is 4 months and I still don't have a picture where all three are looking and smiling at the same time! 

If you want to check out last years Easter celebration you can check it out here!  Last Easter was also when I told John that we would be adding Baby #3 to our family!  So it was a really special day!

I make two overnight casseroles for the brunch!  One that is sweet and one that is savory!

Overnight French Toast Casserole

Overnight Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Casserole

I also made two new desserts that I will be blogging about later this week! 

Friday Favorites: Thinking Spring

Well the first day of Spring was last Friday, and we got snow in New Jersey.  And to be honest the weather this week hasn't really felt spring-like except for yesterday when it was a bit warmer and rainy all day.  But I'm looking forward to sunshine and breezy, warm temperatures!  I know spring is coming and it is going to feel amazing after this winter!

And Easter is early this year - next weekend!

So lets talk about some Friday Favorites that are Easter and Spring related! 

1. Cadbury Mini Eggs
These little babies are my very very very favorite candy in the whole wide world!  Maybe I like them so much because I can only find them at Christmas and Easter!  They are just the BEST!  Now while it's perfectly acceptable and yummy to eat them straight from the bag, I like to bake with them too!  So here are two perfect recipes for your family to enjoy this Spring!  Get those Cadbury Mini Eggs while you can!

Easter Egg Thumbprint Cookies: 

Simple shortbread cookies that are sweet and festive! 

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars:

If you're looking for a simple, 4 ingredient cake mix recipe...This Is It!  

2. Getting Outside For Walks

I feel like we have been inside for months (seriously since Paisley was born we have hardly left the house).  The weather was terrible and add a brand new baby to that mix and we have been inside watching more TV than I care to admit.  Now that Spring is here, we will be getting out to the park for nice long walks!  We bought a new Double BOB jog stroller for the big girls (and it's amazing).  Paisley will ride in the Phil and Teds Jogger that we have had since Lacie was born!  I just couldn't bring myself to get a triple stroller! 

3. Frozen Crocs

Last year the girls had Princess Sofia Crocs that they wore all spring and summer!  For real like every.single.day! 

While I don't always love character clothing, these crocs were the best!  Lacie and Blakely loved wearing them and I loved that they could put them on all by themselves!  This year I was looking into getting them new pairs of Crocs and I found FROZEN ones!  They will be perfect for Spring/Summer 2015 - but first I need to get their feet measured! 

4. Easter Baskets
For Lacie's First Easter, I wanted to get her an Easter Basket that would last throughout her childhood.  So I splurged and got the large white basket with a personalized liner from Pottery Barn Kids.  Then we got Blakely hers, and now Paisley has one for her first Easter!  I can't say enough about how sweet these Easter baskets are.  Plus they are HUGE!  Perfect for fun gifts and not just candy! Pottery Barn Kids has all their baskets on sale now and you can get them in time for Easter if you order today!

Here's a picture of their Easter Baskets from Easter 2013!  I will get one of all three this year! 

What are your Friday Favorites?

Share them and link up with:

Momfessionals

Meet at the Barre

Simple Nature Decor

and