Spice Cake Cookies

Ok so as some of you know I went down to New Orleans this weekend. My grandmother was having a huge eightieth birthday party at the country club.

We had a great time and it was so good being back home. Now we're only four hours away right now but it seems we never go home that often. So this was a treat. 

Well we are back home.....to my surprise that we didn't die....yes DIE.  Have I ever told you that my husband falls asleep in a matter of seconds? Seriously you can be taking to him and he'll just doze off. Yep!

Well normally I do all of the driving because, well I like my life.....BUT.....I decided to let him drive. 

The entire drive I was saying......baby....you tired? Baby your eyes are closing. Baby hey watch that car. Baby RED light!.............

Which, to all of my comments he replied "I'm not sleeping"

Now look.....either he's calling me a liar or he's sleeping .....right? sounds right to me. 

But Nope I must be making the stuff up. Gotta be. From now on he can ride in the passenger's seat. He can nap. 

Well before we left I baked six dozen cookies for the kids (they stayed home). No worries My son is 18 so they were all in good hands. They may have played video games all weekend and ate trash like pizza rolls, but I came home to 5 children who were still alive and look like they had more fun than they could handle. 

Wanna know how I made these? I thought you would. I got the recipe from my brother in law, who loves to bake as well. 

These are Spice Cake Cookies.....Don't they look yummy? Well they are! 

Spice Cake Cookies

1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

2/3 cup Heath Toffee Bits (1/2 bag)

Preheat oven to 350˚

Mix cake mix, eggs and oil until completely mixed.

 After that's completely mixed....

Fold in Heath toffee bits.

Fold in well so the toffee bits are evenly distributed.

Using a cookie scoop....place cookie dough on cookie sheets

  Bake for 10-15 minutes.

I do mine for 11 min, but each oven varies.

 I take them out when the centers are a little underdone.

Let cool on cooling rack and serve to your little cookie monsters. 

Mr. Bingle

Ok so I really didn’t want to go out last night Christmas shopping AGAIN.....It’s cold. When I left four years ago to live in Germany it was not cold around this time of year in New Orleans.  It’s normally warm around Christmas time. I come back and I think I brought the cold back from Germany. 

Not loving the weather.

So off I went yet again out in the cold to finish Christmas shopping. Only one kid left to buy for. Four out of five were done. That’s not so bad, right? Normally I do it all in one day but it didn’t work out that was this time. So last night I got the fifth child’s presents and was DONE! 

Ok well not done, done.

I’m bad....

Really bad about Christmas. I’m not ever OFFICIALLY done. I start off good, with a budget and all. 

I finish.....I stick to the budget......

then I add.....and add some more. Until there are not anymore days left to shop...like until December 23rd.  

I’d shop on the 24th but our family does their annual Christmas party on Christmas Eve. It’s been that way since I was born and we still do it that way.  

So yeah, I’m one of those parents. The one who buys and buys and buys until I run out of shopping time. 

Yes, my kids are spoiled. 

Yes, they have too much junk.

 Yes, I will regret it. 

I always do. Especially when I’m tripping over toys.....or worse, stepping on them. 

Are you ever barefoot and step on a toy? Yeah, that Hurts like doo doo. 

So I worked on some cookies before I went shopping last night. 

All this Christmas shopping gets me thinking about when I was a kid and so excited about Christmas. I’m really gonna show my age here, but do you guys remember

Mr. Bingle

? No, I’m not that old, only in my thirties but I do remember Mr. Bingle. He was the Christmas icon of the department store, Maison Blanche. He was Santa's assistant. He’s was a true New Orleans icon.

So I could not go making Christmas cookies without making a cookie of Mr. Bingle. 

What reminds y’all of Christmas time as a child? Any special memories? I’d love to hear them.