Happy Friday!

First off, you HAVE to go read my post on Babble this week where I share 5 shortbread recipe variations. Every last one of the flavors was divine. In addition, I have two fun holiday posts on Babble that I never shared here on the blog, so here you go!

• Blood Orange Basil Mocktail/Cocktail
• 9 Unique Holiday Food Traditions

Before I sign off, Nate and I have been watching The Walking Dead on Netflix and went to bed last night after watching episode 8 of season 4 and all I have to say is…why are we torturing ourselves with this show?!?!?!? Good GOLLY. It’s just so good, we can’t stop!

Show and Tell means the whole class gets to share…show us what you’ve got this week!

Hi Everyone! I am currently buried in boxes and shipping tape, so I’m just going to quickly share two of my holiday posts on Babble this week!

• 3 Kids, a Mom & a Kitchen: A Quest for Grandma’s Pepparkakor (Gingersnaps)…the quest is not yet complete, but we did find a great recipe in the process!
• Copycat Recipe: Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle Holiday Mix (this is GREAT for gifts!)

You know the drill…share your stuff! 

The giveaway in this post is now closed, but keep reading to find out about some really cute Christmas dishes and to get the shortbread recipe!

This post is sponsored by Q Squared NYC. As always, all opinions are 100% my own, including the opinion that these cookies are awesome.

I am so happy it’s the holiday season! Well, I mean, now I am, after my annual early-December freak out last night over the stress that this month brings (my busiest work month, two birthdays and Christmas all wrapped up into one not-so-calm package). But now, with the freak out officially behind me, I am ready to dive into present wrapping and cookie baking!

I started the whole holiday baking shebang with these chocolate-dipped peppermint shortbread cookies. I’m a sucker for shortbread. No, really, I kind of can’t control myself around the stuff. I decided to give my favorite shortbread recipe a holiday twist by incorporating chocolate and peppermint. The twist worked beautifully. And now there are about 30 ridiculously-adorable and delicious cookies taunting me in my kitchen.

These cookies are peppermint perfection. Even though there is peppermint in every element of the cookie, the peppermint flavor is not overpowering. The shortbread, which has just a hint of peppermint, is then dipped in high-quality dark chocolate, also sporting that peppermint hint. Top it all off with crunchy peppermint pieces and you’ve got yourself a COOKIE, filled with flavors and textures that work together oh so nicely. And they look crazy cute!

In addition to these lovely cookies, I have some lovely dishes to share with you today, too! You all know how much I love Q Squared. Well, I love them even more now that their holiday dishes are out! When I put in my order for the Winter’s Eve collection, I knew the dishes would be cute but I was not prepared for how much I would love them once I saw the dishes in person. Serious love, people.

Today we are giving away a complete set of the Winter’s Eve collection from Q Squared! One randomly-selected winner will receive 1 large platter, 1 serving bowl, 6 dinner plates, 6 tapas plates and 1 coaster set. To enter, please do the following by midnight PT on Tuesday December 9, 2014 (prize must be shipped to a US address):

• Leave a comment on this post! Easy Peasy!
• Bonus entry: Like me on Instagram! (You need to leave a separate comment telling us you liked! If you previously liked, it still counts but be sure to leave the extra comment!)
• Bonus entry: Like Q Squared on Instagram! (You need to leave a separate comment telling us you liked! If you previously liked, it still counts but be sure to leave the extra comment!)
• Bonus entry: Like This Week for Dinner on Facebook! (You need to leave a separate comment telling us you liked! If you previously liked, it still counts but be sure to leave the extra comment!)
• Bonus entry: Like Q Squared on Facebook! (You need to leave a separate comment telling us you liked! If you previously liked, it still counts but be sure to leave the extra comment!)

Good luck with the giveaway – I wish you could all win!

And now for the recipe!

Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Shortbread

 

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Delicious chocolate-dipped shortbread with just the right amount of peppermint.

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 25-30

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch kosher salt
• ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract, divided into ½ and ¼ teaspoons
• 1 cup high-quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• ¼ cup broken peppermint pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Cream butter, brown sugar and ½ teaspoon peppermint extract together on medium-high speed in a stand mixer for about 3 minutes with the paddle attachment. Scrape down bowl.
3. Add 1½ cups of the flour and a pinch of salt. Beat with paddle attachment on medium speed until fully incorporated.
4. Set aside the paddle attachment and switch to the dough hook.
5. Add the rest of the flour (3/4 cup) and mix on medium-low speed with the dough hook, kneading the dough in the mixer for about 5 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed.
6. Roll dough out on a floured surface to about ½-inch thick. Using a ~2-inch sized cookie cutter, cut cookies and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Prick the tops of the cookies with a fork.
7. Form leftover dough into a ball and roll back out to ½-inch thick and repeat process until you've cut all the dough into cookies.
8. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until bottoms of cookies are light golden brown. (The time will vary depending on how thick you actually rolled out the dough. The thinner the cookie, the less cook time.)
9. When cookies have cooled completely, in a small microwave-safe bowl cook chocolate chips and coconut oil on high for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir well until all chocolate has melted.
10. Add ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract and stir well.
11. Dip each cookie partially into the chocolate then set on a cooling rack to let chocolate harden. Sprinkle with peppermint pieces immediately after dipping cookie.
12. Place cookies in fridge to harden the chocolate, around 30-60 minutes. When the cookies return to room temperature, the chocolate will soften a smidge. The chocolate will be hard enough so that the cookies will be pretty and stackable (for packaging and giving!) but just soft enough that it's easy to bite through when eating the cookie. Store extras in the fridge.
13. You will have extra melted chocolate. I like to have extra so it's easier for dipping. Just pour it over a bowl of ice cream or spread it on a silicone baking mat, sprinkle with peppermint pieces and put in the fridge for a quick peppermint bark. You need to put that chocolate to use!

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This post is sponsored by Q Squared NYC.

I was recently chatting with my dear friend Amy about the holidays and she mentioned the dishes her mom used when she was growing up. Amy talked about how those dishes are firmly entrenched in her memory and that the dishes themselves are as much a part of the experience of the holidays as anything else. As she got thinking about it, she found she felt the same way about the dishes her grandmother used, too.

I loved this conversation because it really got me thinking. Often when I look back on holiday meals with the family, the food is what I focus on. In fact, when I pass traditions on to my kids it’s almost always focused on the food and sharing family recipes. But I haven’t thought much about the significance of the dishes we used. After chatting with Amy I realized my experience was the same as hers, that the dishes actually played a large role.

When I was very young, most of our holidays were spent with the extended family, so a lot of the memories of dishes I have are from my grandmothers. My Grandma Wallin was the type of woman who would bring china to the beach for a picnic, so you can imagine what her table would look like for the holidays. Crystal glasses (perfect for serving 7-Up!), crystal bowls and china dishes abounded. As a young girl, I loved it. Her dishes made those family dinners feel extra special and fancy.

My Grandma Blomquist had 7 children, so when that family got together it was always a large group. I’ll never forget the tall stacks of plates on the buffet table or the basket she used for her giant rolls. What stands out most, however, is the silverware. She had several sets of silverware, complete with intricate patterns. I remember helping get the silverware out of the drawer in her china cabinet (and how that drawer was always a bear to open!). We would wipe the silverware down with a towel and, when dinner was done, carefully put it all back in the drawer.

Eventually we moved far from our extended family, at which point the dishes my mom used for the holidays take over my memories. My mom had a set of Christmas china that made an appearance very year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We loved those dishes and using them at Thanksgiving quite literally marked the start of the holiday season in our home. Once the holidays were over, we would scour the post-Christmas sales to find more pieces to add to the collection. Those dishes are firmly planted in my holiday memories and, to this day, whenever I see that set of dishes at a store, I am transported back in time.

As I mentioned before, while I’ve always had these memories, I’ve never stopped to think about how strong they are. And, on a related note, I haven’t really thought much about the dishes I use for the holidays and whether or not my kids have the same kinds of memories. Our family is young, relatively speaking, so I’m still in the phase of collecting those dishes that will play a special role at our holiday dinner table year after year. After doing all this thinking about these particular memories, it makes me that much more excited about adding new dishes to our holiday collection and setting the table with my kids each year.

I want my children to have similar memories to what I have, memories like polishing silver and pulling china down from the high cupboard. Of course I have fond memories of the food, but as I ponder those holiday meals from the past, I find that the act of preparing the table for those meals is where the strongest memories lie. Making the table special and beautiful with the women that meant the most to me in my life ended up being the times where we talked and bonded most and I will be forever grateful for those memories.

I hate ending posts with open-ended questions because it feels super cheesy, but I’m breaking my own rule today because I really want to hear from you! Please tell us about your own memories!

Pictured above: I’ve added some really lovely pieces to our holiday dish collections from Q Squared NYC. For Easter we use white dishes combined with serving dishes from the Heritage collection. For Thanksgiving we’ve added serving dishes from both the Ruffle and the Diamond collections, both of which are pictured above. Also pictured is the Maple Apple Bijou candle, which is the perfect scent for Thanksgiving and looks beautiful on the table, too!

I have a monster of a post for you today (mwah-ha-ha!!!), complete with ideas for completely cute yet simple Halloween party table decor as well as a 13 (mwah-ha-ha!!!) ridiculously adorable Halloween recipes.

When it comes to entertaining, I keep it simple. I like to have a whole bunch of white serving dishes in storage that I can pair with a few accent pieces and a colored tablecloth for the occasion. Then I just throw a few decorations on the table – simple but elegant. A vase of flowers, a Christmas wreath with candles, a few pumpkins for a Halloween party…you know, SIMPLE. There’s enough going on to get ready for parties I just can’t go over the top with my decor. But I find by playing in a simple way with color and using lots of white dishes, the table always looks impressive.

My ruffle dishes from Q Squared NYC are just such pieces that come in handy for all kinds of occasions. The ruffle design is elegant and a little bit different than your standard white dishes. BUT…if you pair it with a black tablecloth and a few of Q Squared’s slate platters, those wavy white dishes suddenly take on a spooky air! Seriously, I can’t tell you how much I loved using these dishes to decorate a Halloween table! Throw a few pumpkins on the table and make Halloween-themed food and you’re all set!

I think Halloween food is the most fun food in all the land. Whenever October rolls around, I am always so impressed with the creative food I see in magazines and on blogs! Here are a few favorites I’ve found this year, including a couple I used for my own Halloween party decor!

My friend Kristen from Dine & Dish shared Frankenguac just this week. Is this not the cutest guacamole ever? Be sure to click through to Kristen’s post for details! (I put my Frankenguac on a slate platter and it was beyond adorable and a great centerpiece for the table.)

My friend Sommer from A Spicy Perspective posted these adorable Halloween skewers, which my kids happily gobbled up! I couldn’t find dark grapes, so I used blackberries instead. I think blackberries (i.e. black pickled brains!!!) might even be spookier. Check out Sommer’s post for more details! (The skewers looked perfect on the ruffle long platter.)

Here are a few more Halloween recipes I am dying to try! (Mwah-ha-ha!!!)

Gingerdead Cookies from Kailley’s Kitchen

Healthy Halloween Monster Mouths from Texan Erin

Butterbeer Popcorn from An Edible Mosaic (because I simply cannot resist anything Harry Potter!)

Jalapeño Popper Mummies from Simply Sated

Mummy Milanos from Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Graveyard Chocolate Cheesecake Dip from The Law Student’s Wife

Peanut Butter Cookie Ghost Cups from Food Faith Fitness

Easy Pumpkin Patties from Mom On Timeout

Healthy Halloween Pasta Salad from Smile Sandwich

Carrot Rice Ball Jack O’ Lantern Bites from Apron Strings

Spooky Spider Brownies from Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

Well, that list should keep you busy until Halloween rolls around next week. Happy Hallowen!

This post was sponsored by Q Squared NYC. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Seriously, those dishes I used are PERFECT for Halloween. Get shopping!

I think it’s time that I share the biscotti I teased you with yesterday!

This year I’m taking part in the Handmade Holidays Bake, Craft, Sew-Along with Rachel, Cindy and Kelly. They are some pretty awesome ladies and every year they organize 30 days of blog posts on their blogs written by a whole gaggle of great bloggers sharing homemade holiday gift ideas that you can bake, craft and sew! It’s pretty sweet (pun intended)!

My post went up today on Rachel’s blog A Southern Fairytale. I share a recipe for mini homemade holiday biscotti along with a super easy and inexpensive holiday treat packaging idea. Be sure to jump on over there to check it out!

In addition to all the great posts, Handmade Holidays is also hosting a wonderful giveaway! You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below to win $600 dollars worth of goodies! AND you can enter once a day! Here is the prize package:

• Ninja Ultima Blender, donated by the wonderful people at Ninja Kitchen
• Stella epiphanie bag (my favorite camera bag!) in your choice of color
• ONE YEAR subscription for Momables’ amazing meal planning service and a $25 Amazon gift card
• A copy of the newly released Bountiful: Recipes Inspired By Our Garden by Todd Porter and Diane Cu
• A copy of Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots
• A $100 design credit from Design Chicky – to help you create custom recipes cards, a Facebook page, or any of her other services!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and remember you can enter once a day! Be sure to visit A Southern Fairytale, Skip To My Lou, and According To Kelly every day this month for a new handmade gift ideas!