Tetris Cookies

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved playing Tetris on my GameBoy. Just the word "Tetris" gets that electronic Russian music in my head all over again like an '80s earworm. It's hard not to like Tetris. It's problem solving, creative thinking, and stress management for adults and just plain fun for kids. My husband had a game night at his work and I wanted to contribute something, so when I saw these Tetris cookies by PSHeart, I thought they were perfect! I doubled my recipe, just like the original post did, but there's one little detail they left out that I want to warn you about...

Before I get to that, here's what you'll need to make 88 Tetris sugar cookies (more or less, depending on how large or small you cut them!):

1 cup of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 Tablespoon of milk
4 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 and cream the butter in your mixer. Add your sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, and milk and beat hard.

Add the flour and baking powder and beat again - if it's more liquidy than doughy, it's ok.
Cover your workspace with flour and roll out your dough. The thinner the dough, the crisper the cookies. If it's thick, the dough will puff up in the oven!

Now it's time to make the shapes. If you want to use a template, that'd be the smart solution. I decided to eyeball it instead. Meh.

Pop them in the oven until the bottoms and sides are golden brown (anywhere between 5-9 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies.

Let them cool before icing. Now if you have the time, you can make your own royal icing. However, by the time I finally got these puppies out of the oven, two hours had already gone by and I was exhausted. I colored white Pillsbury frosting out of a can instead. Don't kill me.

Now my version of Tetris on the Game Boy wasn't in color so I had no idea what color the pieces should be. Really, you can use any colors you want. If you have a black food writer pen, that'll probably work better than the black Wilton sparkle gel icing I used.

All in all, they were a big hit at game night, even if they didn't look perfect and took over 4 HOURS to make. This is one of those times where you can and should tell your kid, "Don't forget to play with your food!"

TOTAL COSTS: About $20 to make 88 cookies

$.99 for the butter

$2.69 for the sugar

$2.79 for the eggs

$2.29 for the milk

$3.29 for the flour

$1.99 for the baking powder

$1.99 for the frosting

$2.99 for the black Wilton Sparkle Gel

Used homemade vanilla extract and had food coloring on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: A little over 4 hours

10 minutes to make dough

2 hours to cut and bake 88 cookies

2 hours to decorate 63 of them

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5

Getting the right thickness, making sure they didn't burn, getting the black lines to be straight...yeah, there are a few places you could mess up. Heck, I dropped and broke quite a few, so try not to get too frustrated if they don't turn out perfect. Whoever is eating them will think they look and taste delicious, no matter what!

Mini Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

I'm from Kalamazoo, MI (odd name, I know) but they're home to some of the best donuts (doughnuts?) in the country - Sweetwater's Donuts. I have found no real comparison in Los Angeles, so when I saw this recipe on AverieCooks, I thought I'd make my own as a nice morning treat with a cup o' coffee. If you have half an hour to spare and a mini muffin tin, you should definitely give these a shot (I may or may not be typing with one hand with a mini doughnut in the other...)

To make 24 mini donuts, you'll need:
1 large egg
5 Tablespoons of softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of buttermilk (I used 2% and they came out fine)
1 1/4 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
Pinch of salt

For the sugar coating you'll need:
3 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon (the more cinnamon you use, the darker they'll look)

Start by preheating your oven to 350 and spray the inside of your mini muffin pan with PAM.

Add the egg, butter, sugars, and vanilla to a stand mixer and beat until it's light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape the sides to it's all whipped together. Add the (butter)milk and beat to combine.

Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt on low until just incorporated. Expect it to be a little lumpy and thick.

Add the mixture to your mini muffin pan until each cavity is 3/4ths of the way full.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick and the center comes out clean. Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pans before removing, at which point, you can make your sugar coating.

To make the sugar coating, use two bowls - one with the melted butter (about 20 seconds in the microwave should do it), the other with the sugar and cinnamon. Do not combine the two!

Once the donuts have cooled, dip the tops into the melted butter bowl and then roll around in the cinnamon sugar bowl so the tops are completely covered. If you want to cover the entire donut with cinnamon sugar, just make sure you melt enough butter and have enough cinnamon sugar on hand! Note that depending on how much cinnamon you use will depend on how dark the donuts look.

You can eat these right out of the oven, refrigerate them for later, or freeze them for up to 3 months for another morning snack (though to be honest, I'd be surprised if these lasted for more than a couple days in any household!)

TOTAL COSTS: About $24 (if you don't have any ingredients - prices from Vons)
$2.79 for eggs (though you only need one)
$.99 for butter
$2.69 for sugar
$2.29 for milk
$3.29 for flour
$4.79 for cinnamon
$1.99 for baking powder
$3.98 for nutmeg
$.99 for salt (though you only need a pinch)
Used homemade recipe for brown sugar and vanilla extract

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 30 minutes
15 minutes to prep mini donuts
10 minutes to bake
10 minutes to cool
5 minutes to dip all in butter and cinnamon sugar

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The hardest part is making sure they don't burn in the oven but as long as you keep an eye on them, they'll be fine. My favorite part? They're enjoyable for any season!

Vanilla Almond Granola

Let me start off by saying, mine did not turn out like the original. At all. Still, this vanilla almond granola is delicious and would make a great treat for cereal, trail mix, etc. I found the original post from MyGlutenFreeKitchen (they used gluten-free oats but I used old-fashioned). Along with 4 cups of oats, you'll need:


* 1 cup of sliced or slivered almonds (you can buy them pre-sliced)
* 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon of salt
* 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/3 cup of butter or vegetable oil
* 1/4 cup of honey
* 2 Tablespoons of sugar
* 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract (not imitation extract)

Start by preheating your oven to 300 degrees and laying parchment paper down on 2 cookie sheets.

Combine the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, honey, and sugar. Whisk together until the sugar has completely dissolved. After about 30 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and add your vanilla.

Pour the butter/honey/sugar/vanilla mixture into the bowl of oats and stir thoroughly. Pour the oats onto your cookie sheets and bake. Now the original post says to bake for 25-30 minutes but after 20 minutes, my almonds were burning so I took them out. Be sure to stir them a couple times on the pans while they're in the oven so they're all baked evenly.

Now this is where my granola didn't follow orders... while it's cooling, it's supposed to clump up. If you stir often while it's cooling, it'll supposedly form smaller clumps. Mine didn't clump at all so I decided to add pretzel sticks, peanuts, and chocolate chips to make it trail mix. Perhaps you'll have better luck with the clumping but either way, it's still delicious!

TOTAL COSTS: About $25

$1.99 for oats

$3.99 for almonds

$.99 for salt

$4.79 for cinnamon

$.99 for butter

$4.29 for honey

$2.69 for sugar

$4.99 for vanilla

I made my own brown sugar - see my instructions here

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour

20 minutes to prep

20 minutes to bake

20 minutes to cool

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5

When I think of granola, I think of clumps of oats. I managed to get maybe 3 or 4 clumps in the entire batch. Perhaps it requires more of the butter/honey/sugar/vanilla mixture, maybe less time stirring while in the oven or while it's cooling, maybe less time in the oven, it's hard to say. There are a lot of different variables here so be prepared to do a little trial and error!

Scrabble Cookies

While trying to find unique Valentine's Day sweets, I came across this post on Instructables and thought, "That's perfect! It looks so easy and with so few ingredients needed, I'll give it a shot!" Little did I know this was a lot harder than it looked... still, if you want a unique treat, here's what you'll need:


1. Sugar Cookie Mix (or you can make them from scratch if you're fancy like that!)
2. 1 stick of butter
3. 4 eggs (1 for the cookie mix, 3 for the icing)
4. Flour (for the table)
5. 4 cups of powdered sugar
6. 1 t of vanilla
7. Black icing

First, make your sugar cookies, either from scratch or following the recipe on the back of the cookie mix. Once made, roll out the dough onto a floured surface to 1/4" thick. Make sure to flour your rolling pin, as it will get sticky.

Cut your tiles as small as you like. Regulation Scrabble tiles seem to be 3/4"x3/4" but I made some smaller and some larger than that. Totally up to you how big to size your cookies.

Once they're all cut, I recommend placing them on parchment paper, though you certainly don't have to. I was able to make 114 cookie squares.

Place them in the oven for 8-9 minutes at 375 degrees. Once they're done baking, let them cool and start on the icing. I decided to follow this recipe for royal icing and you will have a LOT of leftover icing so I recommend cutting the recipe in half. However, if you want to make the full recipe and save some icing for later, mix 3 egg whites in a mixer until they're frothy. Then add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.

Once all the sugar is added, place the mixer on high until the icing peaks. It'll take a little while, about 5 minutes, so don't be discouraged if it's too runny at first.

Now frosting these little squares as perfectly as the original post was not easy. I tried different methods, to see what worked best:

Worst method: trying to frost X's on a bunch, then going back and spreading them with a toothpick. The reason this didn't work was because the frosting hardened so fast that it ended up looking like a mess.

OK method: frosting one at a time and using a toothpick to smooth it out. It was really time consuming but it did the job.

Best method: Frosting thick outlines and then the inside of the squares all in one swoop.

Once the frosting hardens, which doesn't take long at all, best of luck in piping on the letters and numbers. You need a really steady hand, especially if your tiles are small. And I only ended up piping a quarter of the tiles because it was so time-consuming.

Play a round of Scrabble with your friends, your partner, whoever you like and try not to eat your hand!

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 to make 114 cookies (if you don't own any of the ingredients - prices from Vons)
$2.50 for sugar cookie mix
$1.99 for powdered sugar
$2.99 for black icing gel
$2.39 for eggs
$.99 for butter
$4.99 for vanilla
$1.99 for flour

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 2 1/2 hours
1 hour and 30 minutes to make dough, cut into tiles, and bake
15 minutes to make icing
30 minutes to frost all the tiles
15 minutes to pipe on letters (though I only got through a quarter of the tiles)

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 4 out of 5
If you don't have a steady hand, the letters and numbers will come out uneven and your lines won't be straight. If you go in not expecting this to look exactly like the original post, then you'll have fun and will make something your friends and family will enjoy!