Dipped Gingersnaps

This month, we celebrated my Grandma Peirce's 80th birthday! While scattering old pictures of grandma and I on the tables, it reminded me of a little adventure she and I had a few years ago.

It was Christmas time and I was probably nine years old. Since we had the whole day to spend together and I had never tried gingerbread before, we decided to bake and decorate gingerbread cookies from scratch! Five hours and over 100 gingerbread men later, I took my first bite-- and concluded that they tasted awful. I'm pretty sure she and I just sat there for ten minutes and surveyed the mess we had gotten ourselves into.....but ended up laughing and realized we had a blast making memories, even if the situation wasn't ideal.

I'm certainly no food blogger and will willingly admit I'm not at the point in my culinary career where I can whip up my own recipes. That's why I turned to my mom for help when choosing which family Christmas recipe to share this year!! These gingersnaps had a much better impression on me than the gingerbread men from years ago, and they're a lot softer than what you would traditionally imagine.

This recipe is adapted from a Taste of Home Dec/Jan 1997 issue. Enjoy!

Cookie Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Additional sugar for rolling

Frosting Ingredients:
2 (12 oz.) Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
1/4 cup shortening

Begin by combining sugar and oil in a mixing bowl.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Stir in molasses.

In a large separate bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed and mix well.

Set aside a small bowl of sugar. Take out a ball of dough using a medium cookie scoop. Mold the dough in your hands and roll in extra sugar. Place on baking sheets and bake at 350º for 9-11 minutes (the less you bake them, the softer they are!) Let cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, melt chips and shortening in microwave or on the stove, stirring until smooth.

Dip the cookies halfway in the chocolate (or drizzle on top) and place on wax paper.

Buy this cute 'Merry and Bright' platter here (originally purchased at Faith & Life Bookstore)

Merry Christmas and happy baking!

His Biblical Beauty,
Paige

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Pear Cake

Pear cake is one of the recipes that was introduced to my by my Grandma Peirce. From a young age, I grew up being "grandma's little helper" in the kitchen, watching and admiring her every move. Grandma always has coffee brewed and something delicious made in case my grandpa's friends or the grandkids stop by for a visit. She is a wonderful host and her cooking along with her gentle and spirited personality makes her the epitome of the woman I aspire to be someday. 

I am actually not a fan of pears, but hold a strong obsession with cream cheese frosting. To be honest, you can't taste any pears at all! Their job in this recipe is to be the undercover secret ingredient and make it taste like a moist, white cake. All in all, this dessert is simple, yummy, and practically PEARfect in every way ;) Let's get started!

Cake Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix

1 lb. canned pears

1 whole egg

2 egg whites

Start by pureeing your pears, juice and all, in a blender.

Beat cake mix, pureed pears, and eggs together in a KitchenAid mixer or in a bowl until smooth. 

Pour into two 9" rounds or a 9x13 pan and bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Don't forget to spray the pans!

If you want to be a multi-tasker, you can clean up your dishes and begin whipping up the frosting while the cake is baking!

Frosting Ingredients:

1 8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat 8 oz. of cream cheese, 1 stick of butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of vanilla together until light and fluffy.

Make sure the cake is cooled before frosting. You can even put it in the fridge to speed up the process if you're in a hurry!!

Annnnnd TA-DA!

Thanks for reading!

For a printable recipe card, click here.

His Biblical Beauty,

Paige

Happy MOLE Day!

Hey guys, guess what today is?! My favorite holiday of the year! MOLE DAY!

Ok, so I didn't know Mole Day existed until a few weeks ago, same diff! One of the perks about high school math and science classes is there is usually a silly day to go along with a measurement unit. In math it's called Pi Day, and in chemistry it's called Mole Day. A mole is a unit of measurement in chemistry that is equal to 6.02 x 1023. Because I love to cook, for this project I decided to bake the class a cake. Not only will you have fun making this easy, delicious cake for your family and friends on 10/23, you will be able to enjoy it anytime of the year!

CHOCOLATE CARAMOLE CAKE:

Ingredients:
1 German chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. (13 oz) Kraft caramels
1/3 c. milk
1 c. chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Mix cake as directed. Pour 1/2 batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes. Melt caramels, butter and milk. Pour over cake. Sprinkle chips and nuts over caramel. Cover with cake mix. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes.

See how easy that was? Woah. I make mine without the nuts, but that's because I'm nutty enough already ;) Enjoy!

His Biblical Beauty,
Paige

Desserts by Donation

Hello all! As some of you know, I am going on a mission trip in July to Costa Rica with Big World Ventures and Never the Same Missions. I am so PUMPED! I have never been on a mission trip before but have felt called by the Lord into this particular field. I raised all my funds (praise Jesus!) in 2013 through support letters alone, thank you to everyone who donated!

There was a campaign called 3000 Bibles for Costa Rica that I had a fundraiser for on July 10. It was called 'Desserts by Donation' - a bake sale with no set prices on the desserts. I raised $537.12! That's 179 bibles. I was so overwhelmed and grateful, thanks to everyone who supported me! I even took leftovers to friends the next day and ended up raising $25 more or so.

Please pray for my team and I as we prepare our hearts and minds for the trip, and also for the people of Costa Rica that their hearts would be open to the gospel.

"He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation'" - Mark 16:15

His Biblical Beauty,

Paige

Josh's Graduation

Well it's that time of the year again! Time for pulled pork sandwiches, lots of pictures and emotional goodbyes. It's graduation :)

We are family friends with the Decker's and their son Josh graduated this year. They asked me to decorate KU cookies for his party since that is where he will be attending in the fall. I was so honored!! I love baking and it was exciting to do my first "official" catering job.

My mom also helped out at the party by taking pictures. Josh had tons of yummy food :)

Congratulations, Josh! It's been so much fun getting to know you over the years with our families being friends. I'm excited to see what God has in store for you at college!

Bailey, Josh and I

Josh and I with his cookies

Pray for all your graduates that they will continue to seek the Lord in this new chapter of their life!

His Biblical Beauty,

Paige

Levi

"Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord." -Psalm 127:3

I had an awesome time babysitting for my choir teacher this past month as the singers prepared for the variety show. Levi is such a sweetheart! Here are some of the adventures we had:

Since I don't have a car of my own, my parents would have to drive us from the school to his house after my dance class. He loved our sun roof!

Another night we made lemon bars for my friend Alec's tennis meet the next day. Levi is quite the chef!

Another time we made cookies. He wanted me to take a picture of EVERY SINGLE cookie, so here is a little cookie gallery for you :)

Sometimes we snuggled up and watched Disney movies in our slippers.

We also made cards for the singers and his mom. He's quite the artist!!

I love you Levi! Thanks for the fun memories :)

God bless everyone and all the little children everywhere :)

His Biblical Beauty,
Paige