Nakita Grinie

Kate had her last week of "swim team"
It was at our neighborhood swimming pool and it was the pre-swim team program for kids ages 3 to 5. They had 30 minute "practice" 3 times a week (where they learned to swim).
Each kid had 1 on 1 swimming instruction from high school & college aged kids.
It was basically swimming lessons, but they called it "swim team"
It was a great experience and Kate's swimming has improved SO much this summer.
She can actually swim!
I can't wait for both girls to do it next summer!
I was so appreciative of the coaches and I wanted to give them a little something as a thank you. These high school kids (coaches) are members of the actual swim team & they volunteer to coach the little swim team.
There were 12 coaches that helped with the pre-swim team, so I knew I needed to do something that wasn't too costly. Originally, I wanted to get them all either $5 Jamba Juice cards or a $5 iTunes card, but with 12 coaches, that was going to add up quickly.

Since Kate & I both love to bake (and high school kids love to eat) I decided to make them chocolate chip cookies and put them individually in a CD sleeve with a thank you sticker that I designed.

Here is what I used - CD sleeves, 2 inch scallop punch & then I printed out the design that I made (in Photoshop) onto sticker paper.
(I had all these supplies already. Perfect for Procrastinators like me!)

\\Close up of the design. Blue & Red are the swim team colors.

Then, I stuck the stickers to the front of the CD sleeve:
I made my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

But, I made the cookies bigger and baked them in my muffin top pans because I wanted big cookies!

Once the cookies were cooled, I one in a CD sleeve to see how it looked.
Almost immediately, I noticed the (butter) grease from the cookies was leaking trough the sleeves.

My solution?
I put each cookie in a clear sandwich bag and then put it in the CD sleeve.
Worked like a charm!

We loaded up our cookies into a basket & then headed off to swim team.
{Originally, I was going to wrap each CD sleeve with baker's twine to make them look cuter & more finished looking, but then I realized that these are high school kids (mostly boy coaches) and they could CARE LESS what the packaging looked like. All they care about it the cookie. So, I stopped myself from wrapping them up, even though the OCD in me was dying.}
These were the perfect little appreciation gift and I will definitely be making them again for a teacher gift, coaches gift, dance teacher gift, or even a shower/party favor.

So, if you need a last minute quick & easy gift, these are perfect!

The coaches loved them & Kate was so excited to give them out to her awesome swim coaches.

I am planning on making these during Christmas and handing them out to neighbors, Sunday School teachers, our mail man & their gymnastics coaches!

******UPDATED with FREE PRINTABLE!!************
I made 3 versions for you.
One for swim coaches:
{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}


One for Teachers:
{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}

One that is blank & just says "Thank You"
{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}

I printed them on sticker paper & then punched out the labels with a 2.5 inch scalloped punch.
{You could also print on normal paper & attach to the CD sleeve with double stick tape or washi tape}

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

The girls and I have been off school all week.

It has been glorious....no big plans...staying in our pj's most of the day & doing some baking!

In October & November I make tons and tons of things with pumpkin in them, but once December hits, I switch over to Christmas baking mode and I keep the pumpkin on the shelf and replace it with all things Peppermint & Chocolate. 

The girls wanted to make cookies this week, so we decided on these ones:

 Here is what you need:

 Bake at 350 for 14-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centers. 

You will love these cookies. 

They are soft and delicious.

The pumpkin, oatmeal & chocolate chips taste so good together.

 All 5 of us love them....Luke even pulled up a chair to the counter and stole 2 of them from the plate when he thought we weren't looking. 

Hope you love these as much as we do.
Need more Pumpkin Recipes? Check out these ones:
 Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies {HERE}


 Pumpkin Ice Cream Cake {HERE}

Pumpkin Bread {HERE} 

And, some savory recipes with Pumpkin....
Sweet Potato Black Bean & Pumpkin Chili {HERE}

Baked Ziti with Pumpkin, Sausage & Spinach {HERE}

 I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

I've mentioned it before, but I am a cookie snob. 

The perfect cookies need to be soft, with a slight crisp around the edge. 

They better not be over cooked & crunchy!

My favorite type of cookie is Chocolate Chip Cookies.

May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so in honor of that, I wanted to share my current favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies:
 I have made these more times in the past few months than I would like to admit.
They are THAT good.

Here is what you need:

  1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla
¾ t baking soda
1 t salt
3 cups flour
1 package Milk Chocolate Chips
1/2 package of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
(You can do 1 package of semi-sweet & a half package of milk chocolate if you prefer...I like milk chocolate better, so that is why I use that ratio. You could use all semi sweet or all milk chocolate chips, just make sure you use a total of 1.5 bags of chocolate chips)
 Sea Salt for the top of the cookies


Directions:
Stir until combined.
Add dry ingredients & Mix in chocolate chips......I love this recipe because it calls for TONS of chocolate chips!

 Use a cookie scoop (THIS is the one I have)

 Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes.

YUM.

This recipe makes 3 dozen cookies.

You need these cookies in your life :)

 Monster Cookies:
 
Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookies:

 Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Happy Friday & Happy Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!