Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Apart from seeing looking at all the flowers and beaches and stuff like that, what else is there to do?   Shopping of course...  Even shopping at the grocery stores are fun!   I love to wonder down every aisle and find products that I can't get at home.  (I wish my family enjoyed it as much as I do... Then I could spend even more time and find even more fabulous products...*hint hint*)
This trip I bought some Malted Milk.   
Now what do I do with it?  Any other ideas -- please let me know.
So far I found this recipe...  And I'm looking for more.

Malted Milk - Something that I haven't seen at home...

 The Goods... (note - I used mini Hershey's kisses.  It was all I had in the pantry and I don't think I would use them again.  At least not in this recipe.)

 Cream your butter, add sugar and cream some more.

 Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.

 Add add the dry ingredients - including the malted milk.

 Lastly, add the chocolate chips.

If you don't have scoops yet,  you need them.  Go out and get them!   Scoop the dough on the cookie sheet.

And they are done.  Enjoy!  Share!

Recipe originally found If you love it feed it

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup malted milk powder

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350⁰. 

In bowl of electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar. Then add eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate. Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Use a cookie scoop to place 1 inch balls of dough approximately 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until beginning to brown. Cool for 3-4 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Pretty things in Maine

There are lots of pretty things to see on the coast...

 These spring flowers made me smile... I went back to get another picture of them and they were gone...  I guess someone picked them for their center piece for their dinner table?!  Maybe the local deer ate them?  

 Seashells everywhere!  Except for on the beach - we only found 1 full sand dollar...

Kids wanted to give their friends a seashell, so we bought some... (don't tell them!!)

 

 We were really lucky this year - we found a flock of pink flamingos in the fields.   

I think they are rare in these parts of the country :)

The beaches were wonderful!   The water was freezing for us, but the kids didn't seem to mind....

 We got to the beach, they thought the water was too cold...  

 

That seemed to last about 2.3 nanoseconds...   They started jumping the waves.   For folks like us, waves are big entertainment...   

They really did try to keep dry....  I think we learn this every time we go to water... kids are drawn to it, then can't help it.   

Must remember bathing suits for beach walks regardless of the temperatures....

What I didn't take a picture of is the boy and the girl who after they got out of the water proceeded to make a sand castle.   What happens to sand on wet clothes?   A giant mess...  They looked like sand monsters!   Won't mention what the car looked like.

 Yes... Bathing suits!  

Congdon's Doughnuts - Wells, Maine

Should you have the opportunity to go to Maine -- make your way to Wells.   Then find Congdon's Doughnuts... you won't be disappointed!   This seems to be one of the stops we always make (sometimes even twice) it is a real treat.   Doughnuts that taste the way they are supposed to taste - not some fast food type.

I guess at this point I should tell you that yes, it is a restaurant and yes they do bake other things other than doughnuts...   We have only ever had the doughnuts.    I think I am stuck on the doughnut...  

The box...  
Well, I guess I have to tell you that we bought more than one each.   I mean, if this is a TREAT and we only get to have it once a year... then why not have more than one?  And yes, not even a crumb went to waste.

The boy picked a blueberry jelly filled powdery type - you know, the one that is not allowed to be eaten in cars. (If you have seen kids eat, you will know why)

 The girl picked a traditional chocolate dipped - can't go wrong with that.  I picked a blueberry fritter - have you ever had one of those?   I would have taken a picture of it, but I ate it...   Ooops

Complete with tulips in the parking lot!   Again, spring is a beautiful time to visit Maine!

Maine in the spring...

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Kennebunkport, Maine.   I think the end of May is the time to go!   The flowering trees were in full bloom!    This is a small sample of the tress we saw -- this doesn't even take into consideration the flowers, the gardens...   

This flowering bush was right in front of the condo we stayed at.

This tree too.   Don't know what it is, but they are all over the place!

OK - this one is a flower - buttercups.   This was on they way to the pool.

This was a beautiful tree on someone's yard...  Yes, we stopped... It was hard not to.

This one was at the gas station...

This is a lilac!  The only tree I seem to know.  This was at the gas station too.

This one was all over too -- We stopped somewhere on the way to Biddeford to get this one.

Even though I said the end of May is my favourite time to go.. it's not... We have been there in spring, summer and fall...  Each season is amazing in its own way...  Maybe I'm in love with Maine?  Is that possible?   

Local (Ottawa and Chelsea) Birthday Party Venues for Kids

Birthday season for me is coming up...  As I did with Summer Day Camps I thought I would pile a listing of "out of the house" birthday Party Venues.

I find it such a stress having them at home...  Especially when they (the kids) don't want to do the same thing as the others (or birthday kid) and then proceed to go upstairs and downstairs and outside - how does one deal with that?   Last year I happily relied on the parents who decided to stay and helped out...

So here it goes,  a listing for me.  And if it helps you too, that's awesome!

Crafty
Paint your own ceramics Gotta Paint in Westboro.
Make your own jewelry at Sassy Bead  two locations - in the Market and in the Glebe.
Build A Bear at Bayshore Shopping Centre.
Create pottery at Mud Pies Pottery in Wakefield.
Sparkle Spa (located in Chelsea) comes to you.

Sporty
Test your climbing skills at Clip N' Climb in Hull.
Go bowling at Anik Bowling in Hull.
Play at Tubes and Jujubes in Hull.
Hang in the trees at Camp Fortune's Ariel Park in Chelsea.
Mini Putt in Chelsea at DunnD's
Play indoors at Cosmic Adventures in Ottawa

Museums
Museum of Civilization in Hull.
The Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa - they even do sleepovers!
Have a party at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
Visit the vintage planes at the Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

Educational
Ray's Reptiles will come to your home or you can go there.
Same with Radical Science - in your home or you go there.

And of course there is all the movie theatres, swimming pools and arenas.

So after all this, I still don't think its going to help me with planning my two upcoming birthdays.  I sure hope it helps you!

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

I follow so many blogs, I love them all!  I follow several on a regular basis and get tons of ideas -- too many ideas.  But some, like this one, look so good that I need to give it a try.   This one was worth it!

This recipe I found on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen.  These are amazingly yummy cookies with a hint (very strong hint) of Baileys - such a strong hint of Bailey's that I didn't give it to the kids in their school lunches for fear of what their teachers would think... Perfect for a late St Patty's Day treat or a treat at any time.

This is what you need - main ingredient is Bailey's, then all the other stuff...

Cream your butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla.  Cream some more and add your Bailey's - all 8 tablespoons!  One at a time.

Add your flour, cocoa, coffee, baking soda and salt.  Mix until combined.

Add your white and chocolate chips.  The smell right now is out of this world!   But try not to eat the batter, they taste even better cooked (don't ask how I know).  Put dough in fridge for a few hours.

Scoop out on to your pan - I smooshed them slightly.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 mins.

 

Then look at your wonderful Bailey's in a Cookie cookie.  

Enjoy!!!

 Recipe:

• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 8 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur
• 2-⅔ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Cocoa Powder
• 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder
• 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
• ½ cups Milk Chocolate Chips

Preparation Instructions

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add in Bailey’s one tablespoon at a time. Add flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4–6 hours.
Roll into balls and set on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350ºF for 8–10 minutes.

Recipe From:  Tasty Kitchen

 

Home-made Microwave Popcorn

I love popcorn!!  I love the ease of microwave popcorn, but I don't like all the chemicals included in it...  The other option is the hot air popper, which we use a lot.. but we store it in a cupboard that is hard to access.   All of this means we don't do popcorn very often.
The other day I was in the grocery store and almost bought the microwave popcorn, then I wondered if I could make it myself.   Turns out I can!
I tried it two ways

First get a simple brown paper bag (yes, a paper lunch bag) and measure out 1/4 of popcorn kernels, 1 tsp olive oil and some salt.

 Pour popcorn kernels in paper bag.

 Add oil and salt.

 Shake, then fold top of bag 3 times.   Put in microwave -- you will need to listen to your own microwave.   Mine took 2 mins.

 Carefully open up bag (there is some steam) and pour into bowl.

 Voila --  popcorn!

And for the more healthy option -- get your paper bag, and 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, place in bag, fold top and pop in microwave.

Who knew microwave popcorn could be so easy and so inexpensive (and so healthy!!)  I found the taste was very similar.   I will continue with the plain popping (no oil) -- kids didn't care, they wanted butter on top. 


Recipe:
1/4 popcorn kernels
paper bag


OR


1/4 popcorn kernels
1 tsp olive oil
salt 
paper pag


place in bag (shake if adding flavouring) fold top of bag 3 times, place in microwave for 2-3 mins.   Cooking times will depend on your own microwave.   Listen and when the pop slows down, its time to take popcorn out.  Mine took 2 minutes.
Enjoy chemical free popcorn!