2016 Holiday Shopping Guide

2016 Holiday Shopping Guide!

It's all below the cut! I've tried to add highlights of each sale, because there's no way I can go into exhaustive detail and list all of the deals. Links to the flyers have been added for each entry, so you can check whichever retailer you would like.

Also, just gonna leave this here for now: Kinja's one-stop "how to Black Friday" guide

December update

Hi, everyone!

Just a quick update. Posts are going to be kind of light from now until the end of the year. I'll have one more mini review, and possibly some news posts, but that's about it. Basically, I am feverishly working on trying to finish a handful of homemade Christmas presents that got pushed off and pushed off until I realized that Christmas is basically two weeks away. No more time to spend on the blog, it's crunch time!

Also, I've been enjoying my shiny new PS4, so that ate up some time. I bought "I am Setsuna." and a few games from the PSN store sale. So I've been spending a bit more free time than I planned with it.  I'm also planning to just relax as much as I can during my Christmas break.

Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 12: Kitchen Sink Cookies

Hi guys. This is the last day of the Cookie Blitz, and I am exhausted. My kitchen is covered in odds and ends of ingredients, and I don't have the stamina or the brainpower to try a new recipe or go shopping for anything else or even care about how these look. So I am just going to whip out an old standby: Kitchen Sink Cookies.

The beauty of these darlings is that you can dump just about whatever you've got lying around the house in them. Raisins? Sure. Funky flavored baking chips? Yes. Pretzels? Go for it. Crushed up mystery cereal? Why not. It is flexible and customizable. It is also a recipe that I posted last year and I am technically cheating but WHATEVS YOU GUYS I DID IT AND I AM DONE. Enjoy your last cookie recipe while I stagger off and go sleep.



The Ingredients:

• 1 cup of shortening or butter
• 2 eggs, beaten**
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2-3 cups dry ingredients***
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar****
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

**I have actually tried using an egg substitute in this at one point. If you don't have any eggs on hand or can't have them, try this: Combine 1 1/2 Tbsp oil with 1 1/2 Tbsp water and 2 tsp baking powder. Mix them together; they should combine into a fizzy whitish-grayish substance. That is equal to one egg. Double, or triple it up for more than one egg. It makes the cookies very light, thin, and fluffy.
***This is where you get creative. You can use stale cereal, oatmeal, dried fruits, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, etc. My favorite combo is chocolate chips, pecans, and Craisins.
****If you're putting in sweet dried ingredients, you can probably drop the sugar by 25-50%.


The Tools:

• An oven (natch)
• Cooking spray
• Cookie sheets
• Mixing bowl
• Hand or stand mixer 
• Soup spoon

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. grease the cookie sheets with the cooking spray.
2. Cream the sugars and butter/shortening together with the mixer (it's almost impossible to do by hand, I've tried). Add the eggs and mix again. Then add the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and mix again. Mix in salt, vanilla, and dry ingredients. 
3. Use a spoon to form small balls of dough, about half the size of an egg.
4. Place the balls of dough on the cooking sheets.
5. Bake between 10 to 17 minutes, or until lightly brown. The amount and type of ingredients used can change the baking time, so keep an eye on them and check periodically.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 11: Oatmeal Scotchie Cookies

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

Right, so remember how I made those butterscotch pudding cookies earlier? And I altered the recipe because one bag of chips was way too much? ...I might have purposefully chosen this recipe to use those up. Well, also because my mother was hinting that she wanted these, because she loves cookies with oatmeal. Like, adores. So Mom, here's to you!

The ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed down
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick of "old-fashioned" oats
• 1/2 bag (or 1 cup) butterscotch chips

How to make them:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Place the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into a medium bowl and mix together until combined. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
• Slowly mix in the flour. Once combined, fold in the oats and butterscotch chips. 
• Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto ungreased baking sheets, and bake for 7 to 8 minutes. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes for moving them to the wire racks.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 10: Rocky Road Cookies

Welcome to the Hobby Haven, everyone! Oh man, I'm really excited to share this one, with you guys...these are super delicious and really rich. The only way to improve them? Maybe adding a tablespoon or two of cocoa (or chocolate pudding mix) to make it even more like real Rocky Road ice cream. Yum!



Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips**
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds***
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

**I recommend semi-sweet, but use whatever kind you like!

***If you can't get chopped, slivered also works.

The tools:

• An oven
• A large baking pan
• Parchment paper
• 2 large mixing bowls
• A wire whisk
• An electric mixer (either a hand mixer or a standing mixer)
• A rubber spatula
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Oven mitts
• A wire cooling rack

How to make it:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the baking pan with the parchment paper.
• Place the flour, baking soda, and salt into one of the bowls. Whisk it together until well mixed.
• In the other bowl, use your mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Once combined, Add the pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla, and continue creaming until well mixed.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing continually. Once it's all been combined, turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips and nuts with the rubber spatula.
• (The original recipe said to measure out the dough into "two tablespoon" portions, and then roll them into balls. I don't really recommend this, since they turn into big mound-like cookies that take forever to bake. It also doesn't match the pictures they showed...it works way better if you measure it into a tablespoonful.) Measure out the dough, rolling it into balls and placing it on the baking sheet.
• Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. You want them to be just set on the top. Pull them out, and turn the broiler on. While it's heating, place the marshmallows on top of the cookies--you might have to push them down slightly. You can also top with more nuts if you like.
• Place the cookies under the broiler and let them broil for about 30 seconds. Watch these carefully! You want them to turn slightly golden brown, so pull them out the instant that happens.
• Cool the cookies on the sheet for about 5 minutes before placing onto the wire cooling rack.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 9: Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Welcome to the Hobby Haven's Cookie Blitz!

Remember the pudding cookies, you guys? Well, here it is: Revenge of the Pudding Cookies! I admit, when I see new products at the grocery store, I get excited. And when I saw a box of red velvet instant pudding, my first thought was, "I want to eat that. What should I put it in?" And the answer, like always, was cookies. Now, finding a recipe to use this in was kind of difficult, since just about every "red velvet" recipe out there calls for chocolate pudding mix and red food coloring. And I don't keep food coloring on hand, it kind of creeps me out. So these are "red-velvet-in-flavor-but-not-in-looks-because-Miss-Scarlett-is-ironically-grossed-out-by-red-food-coloring pudding cookies."

The ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 box red velvet pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips**

**You can also substitute white chocolate chips if you want!

How to make them:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set the bowl aside.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the pudding packaged and beat in. After it is well mixed, add the eggs and vanilla, and finish beating them in.
• Slowly add the flour in until it has been totally mixed in. 
• Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Scoop the dough in tablespoonfuls and roll into balls. Place onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 8: Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

I guess I'm not done with the sugar cookie just yet. I've tried them before, and sat thinking, "What would improve this cookie?" The answer is chocolate. It's always chocolate. So here we are. What we never knew that we always needed: chocolate sugar cookies. (And then I swear I'll be done with this, I promise.)


The ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar (for rolling the cookies in!)

How to make them:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the butter and brown sugar into a large bowl and cream for a few minutes.
• Add the first egg, mix for one minute, then add the other egg, beating for another minute. Add the vanilla. 
• In a separate bowl, add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking soda together. Mix until just combined.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing well.
• Cover the bowl and chill for one hour.
• Scoop the dough into tablespoon-sized chunks and roll into small balls. Place the white sugar into a small bowl and roll the cookies in it until covered.
• Place the cookies onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes.
• Let cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 7: Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

I really wanted to try making some cookies with pudding mix, since I've heard good things about doing that. Hence, this recipe. These ended up soooooo moist, and I'm thinking about doing them again. Maybe chocolate pudding mix and peanut butter chips? Or cheesecake mix and cinnamon chips? The possibilities are endless! (And delicious!)


The ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1 small box of dry instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 bag butterscotch chips**

**The original recipe called for an entire bag, but there wasn't enough dough to support all of those chips! I cut it down, and that worked out much better. Plus, they won't be cutting into your hand when you shape these!

How to make them: 

• Place the butter and both types of sugar into a large bowl and cream together for about two minutes. Once light and fluffy, mix in the vanilla and egg. Set to the side.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, pudding mix, and baking soda. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix these until they are just combined. Then fold in the butterscotch chips.
• Cover the bowl and chill for about one hour.
• Once it's time to start baking again, place the bowl of dough onto the counter, then preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop the dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons' worth, then roll them until smooth.
• Place the dough onto greased baking sheets, giving them a bit of room to spread.
• Bake them for about 12 to 15 minutes, and let them cool completely on the baking sheets.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 6: Jam Thumbprints

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

Okay, so this was my first time making these, and boy do I have some tips to share with you! I made these since I wanted a fruity cookie to balance out all the heartier flavors, and was basically, "Huh, this looks good. Let's go!" But they're kind of tricky.

In step three, please make sure that you make a good-sized indentation! You don't want it to go all the way down to the bottom of the cookie, just maybe halfway. This recipe calls for putting the jam in before you bake it--which I do like, it makes the fruit flavor stronger, I feel--but if the thumbprint is too shallow, the jam overflows and covers the cookie with stickiness. And furthermore, using jam is not quite the way to go. I tried this using both jam and fruit preserves, and found that the preserves held better together than the jam, which had a tendency to melt and run. Finally, the last step requires these to be dusted with powdered sugar. Use a sifter, or else lightly dunk these upside-down in the sugar

Learn from Miss Scarlett's mistakes wisdom, y'all.


The ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 jar of fruit preserves**

**This can be any flavor that you want! 

How to make it:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While it is heating, line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy--about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt, mixing for a bit. Then add the flour, and mix it in until just combined--you don't want to overmix!
• Roll the cookie dough into small balls. Place them on the cookie sheets. Press down on each cookie with your thumb; you want them to spread out a little and have a nice little dent you can place the jam in.
• Fill each dent with no more than a teaspoonful of preserves. Trust me, it's plenty.
• I should note here that the original recipe called for 325 degrees and no more than 15 minutes, but I found that the cookie were still raw after doing it. I bumped the temp to 350 and cooked for about 18 minutes, and was satisfied, but you might want to keep an eye on these. You want them to be puffy, and with slightly golden brown bottoms.
• Let these cool a few minutes on the sheets, then transfer to cooling racks. Dust with some more powdered sugar.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 5: Snickerdoodles

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

Snickerdoodles are another holiday classic--Starbucks doesn't make holiday drinks based on just anything--so I figured I would make some this year! I'll admit that I normally don't care for sugar cookies, but the cinnamon-sugar that they're coated in makes them just plain good. (Again, this is another cookie that you can use a commercial mix for--just skip to the third step if you are--but I decided to go all-out for this holiday and make some home-made ones.)

The Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon (to roll the cookies in)

How to make them:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Take one bowl and mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Once combined, set the bowl to the side.
• In another bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar (remember to take a few minutes for this!), adding in the eggs once the butter-sugar mixture is light and fluffy.
• Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
• Place the cinnamon and sugar into a small bowl. 
• Shape the dough into small balls, rolling in the cinnamon sugar.
• Place the cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to cooling racks immediately.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 4: Peanut Butter Blossoms

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

Morning, everyone! This recipe is an old favorite at our house. It's simple but really cute. (I know you can make it with peanut butter cookie mix, but I try to make it from scratch when possible. I think it's tastier that way!) It's like a Reese's cup, but in cookie format, and these go especially well with a glass of cold milk. And protip: unwrap the chocolate kisses BEFORE starting this, so you're not rushing to get it done while the cookies are baking.

The Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter**
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar (for coating the cookies!)
• 1 bag chocolate kisses

**Trust me on this one, crunchy won't work.

How to make them:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Place both types of sugar (but not the coating sugar), butter, and peanut butter into the bowl, mixing until they are light and fluffy--take your time with this! You'll want to combine them for a few minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and salt, and continue mixing until it is all blended. Then add the flour and baking soda. Make sure it's thoroughly mixed!
• Shape the dough into small, round balls. Place the sugar that you will be coating the cookies with into a small bowl. Rolls the cookies around in it until they are thoroughly coated.
• Place the cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for about 8-10 minutes. They should be very lightly golden brown, but still a little soft. 
• Take the cookies out of the oven, and immediately place one chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie. Press down gently, but with enough force that the surface of the cookie splits a bit.
• Let these cool on the sheets for a few minutes before placing them on the cooling racks; be careful!

Game sale!

Just a quick update, everyone: Good Old Games' Winter Sale is now live! As always, there's tons of mini activities to do to earn points that you can redeem for games, plus every purchase of a game earns you points.

Well, I'm off to continue with this cookie fest. Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 3: Chocolate S'mores Cookies

Welcome, everyone, to Miss Scarlett's Holiday Cookie Blitz!

Okay, so I have to get this part out of the way: there are no graham crackers involved in the creation of this cookie. Or rather, the "graham cracker" has been swapped out for a soft chocolate cookie. I might experiment with this for next year to see if I can make a richer, graham cracker-like cookie to make these true s'mores cookies, but for now, you'll all just have to live with chocolate cookies, LOL.

Getting these "picture perfect" is a bit tricky, since the marshmallows have a tendency to slide. But we're here to eat the cookies, not Instagram them, right? In any case, the recipe is after the jump.

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 2: Chocolate Crinkle cookies

Welcome to the Hobby Haven: Cookie Blitz edition! I'm your host, Miss Scarlett, who is very shortly going to be up to her eyeballs in holiday cookies (not like that's a bad thing).

Today's cookie is one of my all-time favorites. The chocolate crinkle is a very rich, moist, chewy cookie, and is best paired with a glass of very cold milk. This darling is a refrigerator cookie; you just make the dough, chill, and then bake later. So it requires a bit of planning ahead. It's not what I would call a "spontaneous cookie."

Everything you need to know about making these delicious treats can be found after the jump!

Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! Day 1: Cookie Butter Chocolate-Chip cookies

Welcome, everyone, to the Ho-Ho-Hobby Haven! I'm your host, Miss Scarlett, and today I am introducing a new feature for the holiday season! (Yes, apart from the Shopping Guide.) This is something that I've been thinking about for a while, and I've decided to try it out this year.

Today begins the first-ever Hobby Haven Holiday Cookie Blitz! For the next 12 days, you'll be treated to one delicious cookie recipe per day! Cookie swaps? Holiday parties? Currying favor with your boss? No problem!

So check back every day now through December 12th to get your daily cookie recipe fix. And to kick it all off, today's first recipe will be below the jump.