Snickers Pillow Cookies [source]

Snickers Pillow Cookies   [source]

½ tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough, softened

¼ cup all-purpose flour

24 miniature Snickers candy bars *

Red and green colored sugar **

1) In a small bowl, beat cookie dough and flour until combined.

2) Shape 1½ teaspoonfuls of dough around each candy bar. ***

3) Roll in colored sugar.

4) Place 2 in. apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

5) Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

6) Remove to wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen.

* = Using half the tube as directed, and a tablespoon of dough per cookie, I only managed to yield 10 cookies, and 9 when I used the rest of the tube.   ** = Obviously I used silver and gold sugar, because red tastes gross and it's not even Christmas yet. *** = As I mentioned above, except for the very last cookie (center gold), I only used a tablespoon of dough per cookie.

Gradient Nails, EASY

All of the gradient nail tutorials on youtube were way too labor intensive for me, until I finally found one that was just two stripes of color on a makeup sponge, stipple & repeat until you get the desired coverage. FINALLY! Something I could see myself spending a few minutes on!

I grabbed a packet pf makeup sponges today, months later, and tried it out. AMAZING! But now I can't find the video that taught me. This one comes closest.

    P.S. Right hand included for posterity, even though it looks shit. The left hand looks fantastic in person, though! More so than it does in the photo. I should have switched to the other side of the sponge when I started on the right.

Re: Gradient Nails

Whatever, I get obsessive! I know! But I had to make them match my hair and jewelry, didn't I?

Again, can't find the tutorial video I learned from, but this is the closest.

    P.S. Now this time the right hand came out better, rather than the left. Probably I was trying to correct for last time, and was just hyper-careful. Either way, the both hands look more like each other this time, so I'm getting better.

source

Someone needs to stop me from watching tutorial videos on youtube!

Only shirt we could find was a medium, but it was stretched out – and the cutting opened it up even more – so it's fits my XXL shape well-enough. Still wouldn't wear it in public though, because I hate the color. Oh well!

Apparently I'm just super into flowers right now?

Editing the brown spots outta these orchids was probably way more fun for me than it shoulda been.

...Is it my imagination or does the shadow on the yellow-faced orchid look like a man in a fedora? I'm getting serious Dick Tracy vibes here.

I’ve been fiddling with this recipe quite a bit this year, trying to keep it dairy free but similar in taste and texture to the orignal, and it’s my absolute favorite bread for sandwiches. Even when the results come out a bit wonky!

(P.S. - This bread machine cost me $5 at the thrift store and it’s probably the best $5 I’ve ever spent. If you can’t afford a bread machine but really want one, go thrifting! Who knows, you might luck out like I did.)

Sour Cream Bread - 1½ lb Loaf page 53 of The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger [amazon link]

Ingredients: ½ cup + 1 Tbsp Water 1 cup Sour Cream* 3 ½ cups Bread Flour 1 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar 2 tsp Gluten (no offence to author, but definitely optional) 1 ¼ tsp Salt 2 tsp SAF Yeast OR 2 ½ tsp Bread Machine Yeast

*Vegan Variation for Sour Cream: 8 oz Kite Hill Cream Cheese ½ tsp Lemon Juice ¼ tsp Apple Cidar Vinegar 1 Tbsp Water

Instructions: 1.) To create “sour cream,” in a medium sized bowl mix together Cream Cheese, Lemon Juice, Apple Cidar Vinegar, and 1 tablespoon Water until consistency is smooth 2.) Place all ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions, with the water and “sour cream” put in first, and adding the dry ingredients in on top. 3.) Set crust on Medium and program for the Basic cycle; press Start. 4.) When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Notes: The cream cheese concoction used in this recipe is drier and thicker than normal Sour Cream, so you will almost certainly have to add another tablespoon of Water while the bread is mixing, and scrape the sides down to help the dough come together. I also like to center the bread after the last Punch Down to help prevent over-rising, which this variation of the bread is prone to. If it does over-rise, don’t be afraid to gently press back the dome a bit right before baking begins. I promise, even though the recipe sounds a little finicky, the results are well worth it.