Giveaways — A Southern Fairytale

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

11:07 AM ByRachelFiled UnderDesserts, Giveaways, Sponsored

and a giveaway!

That’s right -

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Nathan and I aren’t really sweets people, please try to contain your shock

We would much rather eat something savory or spicy (as I’m sure y’all have noticed, given the recipes that I post here).

There is however, one sweet combo that both Nathan and Monkey will never turn down – the combination of Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Whether it’s cookies, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream — if it’s peanut butter and chocolate, my boys are all over it.

When I saw the White Lily Flour Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookie recipe in the goodie basket that I received, I knew it was the perfect recipe to test and share with y’all alongside today’s giveaway.

These cookies are super easy to make and delicious! They are rich and fluffy and definitely peanut buttery (is peanut buttery even a word?) without being overwhelmingly stick to the roof of the mouth peanut buttery and when they’re combined with the dark chocolate dip… oooh baby .

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Approximate Time: 18 minutes

Yield: 30 cookies

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Delicious Peanut Butter cookies dipped in Dark Chocolate. Lightly Adapted from White Lily Flour's Recipe

Ingredients

3 1/4 C White Lily All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C Crisco Butter Flavor Shortening
1 C Creamy Peanut Butter (I use all natural Peanut Butter)
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I use vanilla bean paste)
3/4 C sour cream

Chocolate Dip

2 C dark chocolate chips
1/2 to 1 Tbsp Crisco All Vegetable Shortening

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375° F
Use a non stick baking sheet or coat a baking sheet with cooking spray
In a medium size bowl, whisk together: flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside
In a large bowl, combine: shortening, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla - beat 2 minutes.
Stir in sour cream and half of the dry ingredients - blend well.
Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
Roll into 2-inch balls (you can use a #2 cookie scoop for this, too) This was a lot of fun for the kids and me to do together
Using a long tine fork (think dinner, not salad) flatten the cookies and add a criss cross pattern to the tops.
Bake 8 minutes.
Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Dipping

In a medium saucepan start melting the dark chocolate chips - add in 1/2 Tbsp Crisco All Vegetable Shortening - you can add more to help with the silky smoothness of the chocolate for dipping.

Dip the cookies however you'd like, the kids and I just dipped then about halfway in, scraped the bottom of the cookie against the rim of the pot to remove some excess and then lay them on wax paper to cool completely

Rachel Says

I prefer dark chocolate to milk or semi-sweet, there's just so much more depth and deliciousness to dark chocolate - you can use whichever you'd like, though. Same with dark brown sugar vs. light - slightly deeper molasses like flavor with the dark.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2012/01/20/dark-chocolate-dipped-peanut-butter-cookies/

Now on to the giveaway – I teased y’all about it when I shared the Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake Recipe and now it’s here. This is a truly delicious giveaway.

Not only will you get a basket with White Lily flour, recipes, a pastry cutter, measuring cup, White Lily bread towel and spatula

You will also get this Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 7-Speed Hand Mixer!

I can’t even tell y’all how much I love this mixer: from the digital display, to the awesome snap on storage case for all the goodies that come with it: beater’s, chef’s whisk, dough hook and even a spatula. I love, love, love this little baby – however I have to admit, my favorite part of it is the eject button. You know how with some mixers you push the eject button and the beaters just release and you pull them out?

Oh no.. not with this baby. The Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus doesn’t mess around. It has a release trigger and when you pull the trigger – those babies SHOOT out. I may or may not have played with this feature for 5 minutes or so – what can I say? I’m easily entertained by kitchen gadgets.

~~Would you like to win this?~~

Mandatory Entry: What’s your favorite treat to make for (or with) your family?

Bonus Entry: Tweet this giveaway and leave your tweet url in the comments

Bonus Entry: Check out White Lily Flour’s Recipes and tell me which one you’d most like to try

That’s 3 entries per person! Good luck, y’all!
This giveaway is open from Friday January 20, 2012 to Sunday January 22, 2012 at 10:00 PM CST. Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen

~~This recipe and giveaway are part of a partnership with White Lily flour. I have received product compensation for my time and talents.~~

This Giveaway is now closed:

Congratulations to our winner:

Mocha Momma

93 Comments

Sister Schubert’s Gift Basket Giveaway

12:40 PM ByRachelFiled UnderCookbooks, Giveaways, Sponsored

Wednesday I shared my absolutely tonguegasmic Toasted Mini Baguettes with Turkey, Swiss Cheese and Caramelized Onions recipe that I created using Sister Schubert’s new Mini Baguettes, and in November I shared the Turkey Salad Stuffed Soft Pretzel Rolls Recipe with y’all.

Today, along with the fabulous people at Sister Schubert’s, I’m thrilled to announce that two of y’all have the opportunity to WIN a Sister Schubert’s gift basket of deliciousness.

Included in this goodie basket

a lovely bread basket and Sister Schubert’s linen napkin (pictured above) rolls not included
a Lenox Stainless butter knife – gorgeous!
That amazing Sister Schubert’s branded cutting board that you see in the photo below and featured in my sandwich recipe post
TWO coupons for your choice of Sister Schubert’s Products (I’m partial to the mini baguettes and the dinner yeast rolls – drool)
a Sister Schubert’s branded apron (I don’t know about y’all, but I can never have too many aprons, especially full length ones with pockets)
and … and… AND – Sister Schubert’s Cookbook – Cast Your Bread Upon The Waters – Recipes for Success, Cooking & Living

Y’all – I drooled all over this cookbook, the pictures are GORGEOUS

and the recipes… oh. my. word. y’all! NOM NOM NOM

There are recipes for Sausage Rolls, that Pound Cake pictured up there, Mama’s SourDough Bread, White Chocolate Banana Roll Pudding and even one called The Best Appletini. I could (and have) spend hours looking through this cookbook, reading the recipes, drooling over the photographs and reading Sister’s notes.

Scattered throughout the book are anecdotes, tips, hints, and even do’s and don’ts from Sister herself – I can easily see this cookbook being a wonderful wedding gift, birthday present, or a just because gift for any budding chef in your life.

I have never made any sort of homemade bread (and why would I need to when I can buy hers and they are SO SO SO good) however this book makes is inspiring me to put that on my MUST DO in 2012 list!

~~So here’s the deal – want to win this goodie basket of deliciousness (of course you do!)~~

MANDATORY first entry: What is your family’s favorite meal to share and which of Sister Schubert’s breads do you think would best complement that meal?

BONUS entry: Tweet this giveaway and share the twitter URL in the comments

BONUS entry: What is your favorite part of getting the family together to share a meal?

Each entry must be left in a separate comment. There are 3 possible entries per person. This Contest will be open from December 30th to 11:59 PM December 31st, 2011. The winner will have 24 hours to respond before another person will be chosen.

Congratulations to our 2 winners!

Comment: Angela England says My favorite part of getting together for dinner is that we are all TOGETHER. I didn’t realize how much my kids had become used to us having meals together until Vivian was born and I spent some days in bed having meals in my room….My oldest son brought me a plate of food one evening and said “Mommy. When are you going to eat with US again? I miss you being in your seat.” *laughing* It really IS the little things sometimes.
Comment: conniemelancon says my favorite part of spending the meal together just everyone being together at the same time!

I am one of eight bloggers selected by Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls to review their products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been provided products for review. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

94 Comments

Traditions

10:13 PM ByRachelFiled UnderFamily, Giveaways

My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating the Christmas tree.

Christmas Trees are just magical.

They twinkle and glow, they tell a story, they shelter our gifts, give home to cheeky elves and they lend a sense of magic to our homes.

Part of what makes these trees so magical is what we choose to decorate them with.

I don’t know how y’all do ornaments in your family, but in my family the Family Tree is just that – it’s not a Macy’s display – it’s Family Tree.

It’s a 6 1/2 foot tall bedecked, glowing, family history.

In my family, we are given an ornament every year of our life. While I was growing up, my parents and my maternal Granny each gave me an ornament every single year. When Nathan and I got married – they included him in the tradition giving him one, and giving us a couples ornament, too. Once the kids were born it was an ornament for me, an ornament for Nathan, a couples ornament and an ornament per kid; plus we gave each kid an ornament. (If you’re doing the math – 2 ornaments per year up to age 22 = 44 ornaments. 4 ornaments per year after that.. oh wait then we had kids .. my brain hurts)

One of the reasons that I love this tradition so much is that every year when we decorate our tree it’s a walk down memory lane. It’s family history lesson. More often than not tears come into my eyes as I run my fingers over 30+ year old papier mache and yellowing lace edged angels, as my kids shout out the year and try to guess who each ornament came from and how old I was when I got it.

Memories swarm me. Sometimes overwhelming, always welcome and always a blessing.

Every ornament that I choose for my children tells a story of who we are that year, what they’ve accomplished, experienced or where we’ve been. Every ornament is a tale waiting to be told, a memory ready to be unwrapped.

This year we’ve done a lot of stargazing.

While we camped on the beach, while we sat crying over losses and while we hoped for change. The stars have played a huge part of our lives this year.

My amazing friend, Lisa, created this Molded Star Ornament and gifted one to my family. When I opened it, my breath caught. The handcrafted beauty, the weight of the metal, the soft velvet ribbon.

When we took this ornament out of its bag and hung it on our tree, Nathan and I both ran our fingers lightly over it – we exhaled and we remembered.

I cannot thank Lisa enough for this gift. Lisa’s timing is unbelievable, her gifts always seem to arrive on a day when we most need a blessing, a reminder.

For our family this year, we wished upon many stars and Lisa’s star ornament will grace our branches for years to come.

I urge you to order one of her beautiful custom ornaments for yourself, a friend or a family member. The ornament you choose this year, will help share your family history for years to come.

So here’s what I want to do. I want to give one of you a memory.

I’m going to buy one y’all one of Lisa’s Ornaments:

Molded Heart Ornament

Molded Star Ornament

Stocking Ornament

Please click on each link and go look at the beauty that is her handcrafted ornaments and jewelry, I promise there’s someone on your gift list who would love a Lisa Leonard Ornament

This post isn’t sponsored. Lisa gifted me with one of her gorgeous, custom Christmas ornaments and I have written about it because I adore her and her ornaments.

*** heart and stocking ornament images shared from Lisa’s blog with permission*** all other images are my own

78 Comments