Cool Whip Cookies with Andes Mint Frosting

Our office decided to have a cookie exchange to celebrate the February birthdays and I decided these cookies were guaranteed to be an original. The recipe is actually 2 different cookie pins. The cookie is from an insurance blog (of all places!) and the frosting idea is from Six Sisters' Stuff. Sorry about the awful pictures, I took them with my phone.

What you need:
1 box Devils Food cake mix (or any other flavor)
2 eggs
1 container cool whip (thawed)
Andes Mints

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake batter, cool whip and eggs in a large bowl until it's completely mixed. The batter will be fairly hard to mix because of the whip cream.  Keep your hands wet to better make balls of dough and place them on a greased cookie sheet. ( I usually skip the greasing of cookie sheets part and just use foil so I have a quicker clean up. However, for this recipe it did not work. I had lots of trouble getting the cookies off the sheet in one piece)

Let cookies bake for 10-12 minutes. As soon as you take them out of the oven place an Andes Mint on top to melt. Spread it around with a spoon when it's melted. When the cookies are cooled then take them off the cookie sheet.  If you take the cookies off the sheet before melting the Andes Mints, they don't melt. I had this problem on a few of my cookies.

'Strawberry Cheescake' Cookies

I decided on Wednesday, the day before Valentine's Day, that I was going to bake something for my co-workers, who have been a bit deprived of my baked goods lately.  I found this great and easy recipe for cake batter cookies from Thirty Handmade Days.

What you need:
1 box strawberry cake mix (I had to buy regular because the store was sold out)

2 eggs

¾ cup of shortening

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

½ stick of butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

I also bought a packet of Strawberry Shortcake frosting flavoring from Duncan Hines.  My original idea was to add that to the cake mix to make it flavored, but since I never used it before I just added red food coloring to the batter and made strawberry cheesecake frosting.

Directions:

Mix together batter ingredients, the dough will be pretty stiff- mines stuck to a wooden spoon when upside down. 

Roll into cylinders and place two next to each other on the cookie sheet. Pinch the bottom to create a heart.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

This will only make about 12-15 cookies total

depending on how big you make them.

For the frosting: Mix cream cheese, ½ stick of softened butter, and vanilla. 

Then slowly add in one cup of powered sugar at a time until creamy. Then, if using a frosting packet add it now and you're ready to frost. 

Thin Crust Cupcake Tin Pizzas

This recipe was one of those pins I had for a while and kept wanting to do but always thought it looked too difficult. But it was surprisingly quick, easy and made with a few staples I always have in the fridge  Which is great when I'm running low on food and have yet to go to the store.  Originally from Dashing Dish this recipe is similar to the cupcake pizzas I made before, but a little healthier.

What you need: 

Regular sized tortillas

Pizza sauce

Shredded cheese

Other toppings as desired

Cupcake tin

An open can (pizza sauce), or biscuit cutter to make the right size tortillas. 

Directions: 

Preheat oven 425 degrees and spray the cupcake tin with non-stick spray. 

Take a tortilla and on a flat surface cut circles a little bit larger than the size of the cupcake molds. If you use the pizza sauce can, you should be able to get the right size. I used a drinking glass to make an indent in the tortilla and then a knife to cut it since I didn't have an empty can.  

Take each tortilla and push it into the cupcake mold. 

Add a spoonful of pizza sauce, or in my case pasta sauce, since I didn't have pizza sauce. Cover with cheese and other toppings. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese had melted and the tortilla is golden brown. 

I think the cup I used may have been a little too small. It was only slightly larger than the cupcake mold. If the tortilla is bigger, it should make a cup like a tortilla shell for a Mexican salad. 

Origami X's and O's Garland

I love this idea for a garland to make something for Valentine's Day that doesn't involve hearts. I thought it would come out in a larger size than it really is; each X and O section is only about 2 inches wide.  The original post of from Origami Spirit and includes a very helpful video, I also have directions written out below with pictures.

What you need:
Printer paper, NOT cardstock or construction paper, they are too stiff
Paper cutter

Directions:

Cut 1/4 inch strips from the paper so they are 11 inches long.  (I used a 1/2 inch piece for the directions so it's easier to see, and suggest trying it the first time with the same size.)

Fold the strip of paper in half and make a crease. 

Flod the right side up with the left side of the strip lined up with the crease.

Fold the right side down on the back side of the paper.

Fold the right side back up on the front side, make it even along the bottom.

Now take the left side, which is now longer than the right, and slide it through the 'pocket' you made with the left strip. The left strip goes over the front of the pocket and gets tucked on on the right side. 

It will make a circle when it starts going through the pocket.

Keep pulling the strip through until it looks like it does below. 

Take one of the strips and fold it downward into the center pocket. 

If it's not working flip it over and try from the other side. 

Keep pushing it through until half of it is on the other side. 

Then take the end and push it through the pocket just enough to hold it in place. 

Repeat with the other side. 

To make the O's you start the same way as the X's tutorial. Once you finish the pocket you take one strip and instead of folding it down into the pocket, go to the other side of the pocket to form a circle. The other strip then goes the other way.