A Recipe - Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. butter

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 c. packed b. sugar

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

3 c. flour

2 t. b. soda

1/4 t. salt

Filling:

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

3 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1.)  In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter, and sugars.  Add eggs. one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.  

2.)  Shape into 1-in. balls and place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Flatten to 3/8-in. thickness with fork.  Bake at 375 for 7-8min or until golden.  Remove to wire racks to cool. 

3.)  For filling, in  a large bowl beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency.(I ended up using more milk than it suggested)  Spread on half of the cookies and top each with another cookie. 

This is a unique twist on a traditional peanut butter cookie.  The filling keeps the cookies nice and moist if you have soft cookies. It also adds a bit of soft texture if your cookies are more on the crunchy side(if you well-bake your cookies =P ).

I would suggest spreading the frosting more on the thin side--otherwise it makes the sandwich overpoweringly sweet(my opinion).

I'm entering the recipe in this contest.  Head on over to see other recipes and enter your own!

While you're baking, go ahead and listen to this powerful song by Chris Tomlin.

Our God
Water You turned into wine
Opened the eyes of the blind
There's no one like You
None like You

Into the darkness, You shine
Out of the ashes, we rise
There's no one like You
None like You

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God, You are higher than any other
Our God is healer, awesome in power
Our God, our God

And if our God is for us then who could ever stop us,
And if our God is with us then what could stand against?
And if our God is for us then who could ever stop us,
And if our God is with us then what could stand against?
Then what could stand against?

Love in Christ,

Tuesday's Tips -Scrolling Button Widget

Have you ever wondered how to make on of those nifty little scrolling gadgets that help to keep your sidebar clutter-free?
Wondering what I'm talking about? Check it out below:

Some of my Favorite Photographers:

Clicked & Captured Photography

a story told in pictures

Expressions of His Gracce {Photography}

Farmgirl in Flip-Flops

His Creations Photography

His Light Photography

So how on earth do you make it, you ask?
Simple as 1,2,3 I say!


1.) Head on over to your blog dashboard>design tab>click new widget>select 'html/javascript' widget

2.) Paste the following code into your widget:

<center><div class="textwidget"><marquee direction="up" width="250" onmouseover="this.stop()" scrollamount="3" onmouseout="this.start()" height="250" align="center"><center>
(YOUR BLOG BUTTONS HERE)
</center></marquee></div></center>

3.) Head out to your favorite blogs and get their buttons to replace (YOUR BLOG BUTTONS HERE).
[If you want to know how to make a blog button, html code, and grab box head over to my tutorial on that HERE.]

Customizing

<center></center>

--makes your scrolling button widget centered.  You can change 'center' to 'left' or 'right' if you'd like.

align="center"

--also makes it centered, if you change the previous customization to 'left' or 'right' change this to match.

direction="up"

--controls the direction the widget scrolls, you can change "up" to "down", "left", or "right".

width="250"

--controls the width of the widget, you would want to change this to the width of your sidebar.

onmouseover="this.stop()"

--This allows the widget to stop scrolling when you mouse over it, allowing you to stop the widget so you can read the buttons without it scrolling.

onmouseout="this.start()"

--This allows the widget to continue scrolling after you mouse over it and back.

scrollamount="3"

--controls how fast the widget scrolls. The higher the number the faster it goes!

height="250"

--This controls how tall the window for the scrolling button is--so customize it for how much space you want it to take up on your sidebar.

Troubleshooting
Oh, yes. I've had several issues with this widget myself. I don't know all the reasons it doesn't work. =(  I do know that it doesn't show up in all browsers with some templates(one of which is the blogger watermark template).  The classic minima template works very well with it though. I've also had it not work due to weird button codes. (for that I suggest going through and editing the button codes so they follow this example to avoid any odd glitches)  Let me know if you come across any other errors or suggestions to make it better!

As always I'm always open to suggestions for Tuesday's Tips! =D (as a little heads up: a tutorial on block quotes and one on the sliding menu like mine are in the works...) 


Love in Christ,

The Sweetness of Life

1.)  Going through old pictures and remembering all the good times one had forgotten.

2.)  Receiving one's new laptop! =D (now I don't have to use my brothers--win win situation for the both of us! =P)

3.)  Writing in third person--even though it isn't required (most of the time one doesn't like to have to write in the third person) =P

4.)  Conquering HTML once again! :D (especially when it means one is finished with the entire new design of one's blog--releasing March 1st!)

5.)  Finally feeling like one's school project is manageable.

6.)  Perfecting a dance so well that one's teacher allows one to finish practice 10 minutes early.  (this is especially appreciated when one has blisters on one's feet)

7.)  Chocolate. 'nuff said. =)

8.)  Figuring how to graph on one's TI-84 Plus graphing calculator issued by the school. It is one pretty sweet calculator. :)

9.)  Warm fires, soft sweatshirts, and fuzzy socks!

10.)  Reading the last sentence in a book series, the one that makes everything right. =D

What makes your life sweet?

Love in Christ,

Tuesday's Tips -Comment Form Message

Today's tip is on customizing the comment form.  Recognize this lovely?

It is my comment form as of right now. =) The highlighted area is the section that we are going to be customizing.

1.) Go to your Dashboard>Settings>Comments

2.) Scroll down until you see the 'Comment Form Message' section

Whatever you put in the box is what will appear above the comment form on your blog.  You can even use some HTML tags.  (go here for examples)

3.) Click save and you're done!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns just drop me a little note below! I'll get back to you as soon as possible. =)
Any suggestions for a topic to cover would also be appreciated--most of the tutorials are here because someone asked!

Love in Christ,

These songs played on the radio recently and caught my attention.  Thought I would share them with you.  They are both by Tenth Avenue North. 

Let it Go

I've been holding on so tight 

Look at these knuckles 

They've gone white 

I'm fighting for who I wanna be 

I'm just trying to find security 

But You say let it go, You say let it go 

You say life is waiting for the one's who lose control 

You say you will be, everything I need 

You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul 

You say let it go. 

Well it's hard enough to hear 

Harder still, to move beyond this fear 

We know there's nothing I can bring, 

So tell me what do you want from me? 

But You say let it go, You say let it go 

You say life is waiting for the one's who lose control 

You say You will be, everything I need 

You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul 

You say let it go, You say let it go 

What do I love? 

What do I hate? 

What will I lose? 

What will I gain? 

How do I save my soul? 

What if I bend? 

What if I break? 

What will it cost? 

What will it take? 

For you to save my soul. 

You say let it go, You say let it go 

You say life is waiting for the one's who lose control 

You say You will be, everything I need 

You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul 

You say let it go, You say let it go 

You say life is waiting for the one's who lose control 

You say you will be, everything I need 

You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul 

You say let it go, You say let it go

Healing Begins

So you thought you had to keep this up 

All the work that you do 

So we think that you're good 

And you can't believe it's not enough 

All the walls you built up 

Are just glass on the outside  

So let 'em fall down 

There's freedom waiting in the sound 

When you let your walls fall to the ground 

We're here now 

This is where the healing begins, oh 

This is where the healing starts 

When you come to where you're broken within 

The light meets the dark 

The light meets the dark 

Afraid to let your secrets out 

Everything that you hide 

Can come crashing through the door now 

But too scared to face all your fear 

So you hide but you find 

That the shame won't disappear 

So let it fall down 

There's freedom waiting in the sound 

When you let your walls fall to the ground 

We're here now 

We're here now, oh 

This is where the healing begins, oh 

This is where the healing starts 

When you come to where you're broken within 

The light meets the dark 

The light meets the dark 

Sparks will fly as grace collides 

With the dark inside of us 

So please don't fight 

This coming light 

Let this blood come cover us 

His blood can cover us 

This is where the healing begins, oh 

This is where the healing starts 

When you come to where you're broken within 

The light meets the dark 

The light meets the dark 

Now I'm off to finish school...yuck...

Love in Christ,