My daughter desperately wanted to be a Girl Scout this year and I was happy to have her join a troop.  To make a long story short...I ended up committing to be a troop leader.  Help!  I'm definitely not the sort of person that is comfortable in a leadership role.  I'm doing it though, for the little girls, because I want THEM to be comfortable in leadership roles.  The more I learn about Girl Scouts, the more I'm excited about being a part of it.  It's all about empowering girls - teaching them responsibility, resourcefulness and self reliance.  I love it!

So!  I made these sweet candy treats to celebrate our first parent meeting yesterday.

Graham Cracker S'mores Candy!


 I am usually able to just eat a (couple!) small bites of whatever I make and leave the rest alone...usually.  That was not the case with these though!  Oh my goodness!  I literally made myself ill because I over-sampled. :)  It was so worth it though.  I think it's the caramel layer that sends these treats right over the top.

Make some!



Recipe Source: Bakergirl

Chocolate Chip Cookies!  Everyone has a favorite, right?  Are you on team Thin & Crispy or team Puffy & Cakey?  Puffy all the way for me!

This is one of my favorite, most frequently used and deliciously reliable recipes!  If you've been searching for a good Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, this is it. 



I prefer to use bittersweet chocolate chips, unless I'm making the cookies for a group of kids.  In that case, I'll use semisweet, or a mixture of the two.  Kids just seem to expect the semisweet.  ?  Do try the recipe with the bittersweet though.  Your life will never be the same.

Yes!  Yes, you do need to let the unbaked cookie dough chill overnight.  I don't know the details of the magic that happens with the ingredients overnight, but it makes a difference.  One of my friends has a super-smart son, and he explained the chemistry of it once.  I just blinked my eyes and nodded my head...much, too much science for me.  Just let it chill!  You'll be glad you did.

I'm working on a little cookbook for my cousin as a wedding gift.  In doing so, I've ask our aunts and grandma to send me any recipes they would like to include in the book for her.  I'm using Blurb, and so far, everything is easy-peasy.  I'm a digital scrapbooker though, so that might help, but still.  How cool is it to make your own book!?  I'm contemplating doing my own little Brandy's Baking cookbook and maybe even a book to save my kids' bajillion pages of priceless artwork.

Anyway!  As I was opening my mail one afternoon last week, I found that one of my aunts had sent me some recipes for the book!  She was even kind enough to copy and send some recipes for my sweet grandma.  (Thank you Auntie Jackie!)  A recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Bread caught my eye.  Yum!  A quick scan of the ingredients told me that I had everything to make the bread and a short 15 minutes later, I had three mini-loaves ready to pop in the oven.


There is really only one way to describe this bread.  It's just like eating a soft, cakey oatmeal raisin cookie!  A cookie disguised as bread = brilliant!  I was planning to freeze two of the three loaves, but we ended up eating all three of them before I knew it.  My kids and I ate the bread with breakfast, as an afternoon snack, and I even put some slices in their lunchbox the next day.  Poof...gone!

Sorry I've made you wait so long for the next cookie recipe!  Life has really been getting in the way of blogging lately.

I give you...White Chocolate Toffee Cookies!


As I mentioned, things around here have gone all the way down to Crazy Town!  I've signed up for so many things lately that my head is spinning...Daisy Troop leader, PTA Historian, then there's Brandy's Baking, oh...I'm also selling Thirty-One!  My inner introvert is screaming at me.  Loudly.  Like, can't I just stay home and hide already!  I'm really trying hard to overcome that voice. 

So!  These cookies...these cookies are my new favorite.  I love that they are a departure from the standard sort of cookie.  Hello!  Toffee bars in them, and white chocolate chunks.  Yum!  Now...they do have shredded coconut.  No one is ever on the fence about coconut.  You either love it or you hate it.  I happen to love it, but I have a hater in the house.  The hater did not notice that there was coconut in the cookies until after his third one.  He stopped for a moment and took a close look at a cookie, asked if there was coconut in them, nodded his head when I confirmed his suspicion...and then ate 2 more cookies.  The moral of that little story is to say that the coconut flavor is not at all prominent.  Give them a try!  I found the recipe at That Skinny Chick Can Bake.  Check her!