Some people are proud and love the fact that they have doctors and lawyers in their families. Personally I’m grateful to have a web developer who will stay up all night finishing my cooking blog’s redesign so that it no longer looks like an advertisement for the “Pretty Pretty Princess” board game.

So what do you think? Halfway through the revisions I realized that the new layout was starting to resemble the Christmas decorations that are up all over our apartment, but I’d rather have someone make a comparison to Erin Cooks with something dignified than have them roll their eyes and shout, “OMG Ponies!” I hope you enjoy the new layout as much as I do, and please let us know if anything is behaving bizarrely so I can yell at Chris and withhold things from him like dinner and cookies until he fixes the issue.

Disappointingly I’ve only managed to purchase two gifts for family members so far this holiday season and they were gift cards. Each day I spend quite a bit of time frantically searching online for ideas, (mainly via lots of link sharing with Anna on Google Reader) and I’ve found quite a few gifts that would be great if only my family members were…well…like me. So without further adieu no “Erin Cooks” Christmas could possibly be complete without the following ridiculous things that no one needs but we buy them anyway.

One of my favorite kitchen helper activities when I was a kid was grating cheese. If you know a kid who’s weird like that too then I’d suggest buying them this fab shirt from Threadless. I know I’m not the only one out there who prided themselves on their grating prowess so spill your guts!

Chris picked up a bottle of 2005 Keesha Pinot Grigio at Best Cellars and now I’m completely hooked. It has a very unique citrus taste that I didn’t think I liked at first but it totally grew on me. Everyone loves wine, especially your hostess with the mostess so stock up for all of those unexpected last minute gift giving moments.

To rev up the stockings of your adventurous gift recipients, mountain climbers, or even just people who use the stairs and not the elevator I’d definitely suggest picking up some of these special edition seasonal Cliff Bars. I bought Chris a few for his birthday last month. They come in Spiced Pumpkin Pie and Iced Gingerbread flavors.

Your lip gloss addicted little sister could probably use a pot or two of these tasty Ben & Jerry’s flavored lip glosses. Now If they made Cinnamon Buns lip gloss I might be tempted.

Fred Flare has a ridiculously over priced skillet for sale that has a Panda face painted on the side. It’s super cute, but in the interest of full disclosure you’d be much better off putting that $75 towards a nice piece of All-Clad.

And finally, if you have some crafty, Martha Stewart loving cousins to shop for these adorable embroidery patterns feature a Peppermint Fairy, penguins, deer and even a gingerbread house. But since I hate crafts don’t buy me these. Believe me, I’d much rather have the wine.

Most of my favorite Holiday memories involve some form of decorating or baking. I’ve always loved Christmas. I was the kid who would beg to put up the tree starting in October. I made Christmas countdowns and scoured the Sears Wish Book making extravagant and detailed lists of the toys and gadgets that I just had to have. But what I really loved was making Christmas cookies. One recipe in particular is a family favorite that will cause the uninitiated snacker’s eyebrows to raise and their brow to furrow. The recipient of this sweet and savory treat will hesitate shyly before taking one from the plate. They’ll wonder aloud as to what these strange looking cookies are and maybe even laugh a little when you tell them that they’re Butterscotch Morsels. But eventually they’ll take that first reluctant bite and be hooked for life.

The perfect combination of sweet and salty with a pleasing crunchy texture, these quick and ridiculously simple cookies are an excellent treat to whip up for an afternoon snack attack, office party, or hostess gift, and are also great to make with kids since there’s no stove involved. Don’t be scared of the Chinese Noodles! I promise that you’re going to love these.

Four Ingredients	Pour and Spoon
Melt in the Microwave	Stir to Combine
A Crunchy Christmas Treat

Butterscotch Morsels

11 ounces Butterscotch Bits
6 1/2 ounces Cocktail Peanuts
5 ounces Chow Mein Noodles
4 Tablespoons Creamy Peanut Butter
Wax paper

Place the peanuts, noodles, and peanut butter into a large bowl.

Melt bits in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat 30 second cooking intervals until the bits are melted.

Combine the melted bits with the peanuts, noodles, and peanut butter and stir until everything is coated.

Use an ice cream scoop to shape the cookies and drop them onto the wax paper. Cool until hardened. If using a 1/4 cup scoop you should make approximately 21 cookies.

To keep them from getting too soft store the cookies in the refrigerator.

Whomever said gift cards were impersonal presents obviously hasn’t heard about the brand new offer from Starbucks. This holiday season you can create customized gift cards for your family and friends that will undoubtedly bring a huge smile to their faces. The customization goes beyond your basic choice of adorable illustrations. You now have the opportunity to immortalize your signature drink spelled out on a Starbucks cup, or marked off in the “secret language” of Baristas via those little boxes.  You can also create a cartoon of your recipient and place them in various settings, or finally you have the opportunity to add a highly personalized message to your card. Perhaps you can thank them for being a great sister or remind them about the time they stole your Barbie and chopped off her hair. The possibilities are endless.

Best of all it can be done from the comfort of your own home. So avoid the insane mall parking lots and surly shoppers and get the coffee lovers in your life something they’ll really use. There is a $4 fee added onto the dollar value you apply to the card. This covers processing, printing, and shipping but since a lame greeting card costs that much anyway I think it’s a small price to pay for being a highly original gift giver.

(Originally posted on the Well Fed Network’s blog A Nice Cuppa)

I saw these glasses in the Sur La Table catalog and now I’m physically holding myself back from purchasing them in hopes that Santa will perhaps bring them to me because I’ve been such a “nice” girl this year. We’ll see. Frankly I think they’d make a perfect hostess gift for those of you attending holiday parties.  Like for instance the one I’m throwing at our apartment next month (hint hint).

I’ve begun working out again and to numb myself from the inevitable boredom of the elliptical machine I’ve been watching some films from my vast collection of chick flicks. First up was The Holiday, and now I’ve settled on Sense and Sensibility. Yes, Kate Winslet is my hero. Jane Austen is also my hero and I get a huge kick out of the array of Austen related items that the Jane Austen Blog points out on a daily basis. One such post was a link to some fabulously decorated cookies complete with a silhouette likeness of Jane herself. You have to check these out! Seeing something like that makes me lust for a decorating class as my clumsy icing abilities definitely pale in comparison.

The other night Chris and I were watching TV on the couch when this infomercial came on for the Furi Ozitech knife sharpener and it totally sucked us in. Or maybe it was the presenters Australian accent. Either way I’m one of those people who has the orange handled Rachael Ray Furi knife and honestly I really like it and I rarely use the set of Henckels that I just had to have. But it’s been  dulling a little more quickly in between sharpening sessions so we decided to give this gadget a try, and believe it or not it actually works. I’m just as surprised as you! So since this item wasn’t a complete scam, should I trust in the wonder of the Magic Bullet as well? Hmm…probably better not push my luck.

Sometimes I crave Toll House Pie. For instance yesterday I was sitting on the couch enjoying having Monday off and watching Wives and Daughters via Amazon’s very cool “Unbox” feature on the TiVo, except all I could think about was chocolate. Finally I paused my movie and started peering into cupboards in the kitchen. I noticed a packet of wonton wrappers that I’d purchased and I had an idea. What if I used the wonton wrappers to make mini Toll House Pie Tarts…and so I did.

I based the cooking time for the tarts on the Nasoya Wonton Mini Quiche recipe and lowered the baking temperature to 350 degrees. For the filling I halved the traditional Toll House Pie recipe and used an ice cream scoop to fill each tart. Each cup was made by layering two wontons diagonally in order to get a maximum amount of coverage in the muffin tin. You can whip these tarts up in around 30 minutes and they’d definitely travel well if you’re looking for something rich and sweet to bring to Thanksgiving.

Mix Batter	Stir in Chips & Nuts
Layer Wontons in Muffin Tin	Scoop in the Batter
Have a Few	Or Share With Friends

Toll House Pie Tarts (Based on the traditional Toll House Pie recipe from Nestle)
Makes 12 Tarts

1 large egg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
24 wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Layer two wontons into each muffin cup.

Beat egg in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon one scoop of the mixture into each wonton cup.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes and cool before attempting to remove tarts from the muffin tin.