Cant sleep..so I hear a DRUM ROLL!!!

Okay, as I promised I am catching up and first things first is a rant about how someone thinks we have "fake" reviews, then our winners and another BIG thank you to our sponsors Stephanie with Pampered Chef and Sandra with Scentsy.

Let me just say, I did receive an e-mail from someone saying that my reviews are not real, well written and don’t carry my opinion. Well let me assure you all, Ashley and I use every product sent to us, we do NOT do this for fun and to write a “fake” review. I work very hard on my blog and consider it a great way to share my tips, life, school trials and work with everyone. While I may not be the best reviewer, nor do I have kids, which that is why we have the lovely Ashley, but I do try my hardest. I put everything out there and on the line and I share a lot of stuff with everyone and try to make sure you all have fun reading my blog and reviews. I do try to give Ashley our children and mom friendly items, since my child is a fur baby. Which let me say, she does love her new stuffed animal, big thanks to Sandra! I just wanted to clear the air and say that here at A Girl In A Guy’s World, we are serious and we do write real reviews and if you feel other wise, feel free not to read about my life. I am not forcing you to, but I do think it is the nice thing to do. Since the golden rule is..If you cant say anything nice, do NOT say anything at all.

Back to the winners! Our first winner is for the way over due announcement of Stephanie’s Pampered Chef giveaway is #2, Amy Craft. Thank you to the two of you who entered. Make sure we thank Stephanie for this giveaway, because without her, I would not have this new amazing peppermint chocolate sauce for my ice cream on a bad day.

Our second winner is for the Scentsy Buddy giveaway, thanks to Sandra Foy. Our winner is #8, Lindsay Leigh. Thank you to all who entered this giveaway and lets remember to thank Sandra, she is our largest and most generous sponsor. She has bent over backwards and helped us keep our word to you by providing giveaways when consultants have bailed. 

Lets make sure we say a big thank you to both these ladies. They both stepped up for our blog when other backed down on short notice. Also, if you are a winner please make sure you respond to the sponsors e-mail with in 48 hours, or a new winner will be picked. Thanks!

Happy New Year

The 2001 year has come to an end and 2012 has stared with a bang! I am sick as can be, running so behind on the blog due to Cole's surgery and feel like I havent cooked anything in awhile. So this is what I have come up to help, me, the blog, my readers and my life. I now have OFFICAL blog hours! I will be blogging every Tuesday and maybe once a weekend depending on my course load in school, and my outside life. I will say, I do have giveaways and reviews to put up, a winner to announce and a lot of recipes to share!

So the NEW BLOG will include the following:
A review and giveaway
Recipes at least twice a month
My trials in school, life and hopefully work soon
My job hunt
Ashley's family life
Ashley's side of being a mom
Frugal Tips


So with this said, here is your first reciepe for 2012 from me!

Churro Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar (see note below)
1/4 tsp salt
16 T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
2 T cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2T melted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2T plus 2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt


Note: If you can't find superfine sugar (castor sugar), simply process 1 cup granulated sugar in a food processor for about 30 seconds, then measure out 3/4 cup for the recipe. 

Directions:
1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time. Continue to beat the flour-butter mixture until it looks crumbly and slightly wet, 1-2 minutes.

2. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until the dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Knead the dough in the bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large cohesive mass. 

3. Roll cookie dough into rods about 3/4-1 inch in diameter. Cut the rods into 3 inch pieces, place on a plate and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2T plus 2tsp cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. 


4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cookies on a baking sheet, with about an inch between each cookie. Using a pastry brush, brush each cookie with melted butter, and then sprinkle with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar mixture. 


5. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and immediately place indentations lengthwise along the cookies using a wooden skewer. Let cookies cool for five minutes on the cookie sheet, then place on a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Optional - For more cinnamon-sugar flavor, brush cooled cookies with more melted butter and sprinkle again with cinnamon sugar. 

Serving Ideas- Vanilla Ice Cream or Custard or some amazing Spiced Apples or Apple Pie Filling maybe even some Apple Butter

Hope everyone has a great 2012!