Momma Told Me: Blog POP! Christmas Wishes: #SpreadCheer With Betty Crocker + $50 PayPal Giveaway 12/15

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Blog POP! Christmas Wishes: #SpreadCheer With Betty Crocker + $50 PayPal Giveaway 12/15


Momma Told Me: It's the most wonderful time of the year.

We have been making cookies every week here in our household- As a young girl Momma would often gift handmade and homemade gifts during the holidays. Even when our family was having a particularly tight budget-wise year, we could always afford to #SpreadCheer with some simple twists on classic favorites, like 'Christmas Crack' sweet and salty bark, or even simply sugar cookies. Momma would handle the heavy lifting (baking) and I was always in charge or decorating the containers, cards, or gift tags to make them a little more personal.
With all the cookies I've been making for the cookie swaps and pot lucks of the season, the kids have been anxiously asking when thy would get to 'make cookies' too. I don't have time to get down and dirty instructing a 4 and 7 year-old on the finer mechanics of homemade confectionery practices, but I did happen to spot one of our favorite Betty Crocker products in the aisle on a recent trip to Walmart; red pouch cookie mixes. Available in ready to bake, just add egg, water, and oil/butter, varieties these 1lb 1.75oz bags are the perfect tool to bring the holiday spirit into your kitchen, without all the mess and fuss of measurements.
In fact, the instructions are so simple your kiddos can help make the dough! We dumped 2 pouches into a giant mixing bowl, doubled the required butter, egg, and water, and went to town mashing up all the sticky ingredients until a giant dough ball formed. Then we tossed out the flour on a few baking sheets, rolled our sugar cookies to about 1/3" thick, and cut them into (kinda) uniform squares. The beauty in a traditional sugar cookie mix is that you really can let your creativity shine with your cutout shapes and icing decorations! You also don't have to wait too long for those cookies to bake (just 9-11 minutes in most ovens.)
While the cookies were baking, or cooling, we took some Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and portioned it out int several microwave safe bowls. For 2 dozen large cookies we required 3 tubs. We then added a few drops of neon food coloring to each, as I wanted a nice bright, happy, set of colors to best communicate the cheer of the season. Next, we placed each bowl in the microwave on half power for about 10-15 seconds. The result was a pout perfect icing that would quickly set before it ran off the edges. With a spoon, we dropped some of the heated frosting in the center and spread it around to the outer edges.
I made several of my own decorated cookies, to resemble holiday presents, for a few gift baskets I was putting together to surprise school staff members. The kids eagerly watched, taking note of my icing tips and techniques, though I think they simply wanted to get sugar sticky and lick everything in sight!
Simple sugar cookies, such as Betty Crocker's Sugar Cookie mix, provide a nice, even baked, delicious sugar cookie base that is perfect for holiday decorating. My tip to you is to use a deviled egg tray to hold various shapes and colors of sprinkles and cookie decorations so small hands can have full creativity over their cookie designs. Egg Keepers such as the one above will also cut down on some of the mess of toppled sprinkle containers from excited arms and hands.
While these cookies didn't quite come out looking like mine- make no mistake, each and every pipe of icing and sprinkle was placed with full intent. Since the kids were decorating their cookies for their teachers, there was a lot of discussions like 'I wonder if Ms. Sydney likes the color purple,' or 'I'm going to draw a 'D' for Mrs. Davis' followed by a pile of sprinkles and icing on top of the letter, to the point it's no longer even visible. What can I say, these cookies were layered with love- and the kids had a blast- I'd even thought to set up our cookie decorating station outside, where the mess could be easily cleaned and contained. Yea, here in SoCal, we can still decorate our cookies outside, be jealous.
Click here for the FREE #SpreadCheer Printables! (ad)
Betty Crocker cookie mixes from Walmart are not only the prefect, stress-free, solution for delicious baked goods with maximum personalization potential, but the brand is also encouraging you to #SpreadCheer by gifting treats and goodies to unsuspecting people too! Whether you surprise the school staff with some handmade treats, or ding-dong-ditch the neighbors with a holiday themed gift basket, they want you to ring the season's greetings to strangers and friends with no other reason than, because you can. In fact, they're even put together a wonderful #SpreadCheer hub where you can browse simple cookie decorating ideas and print out FREE gift tags! We spread cheer to an entire school this week- who do you know who could use a Spread Cheer surprise?

What Daughter Says: Spreading Cheer doesn't have to be complicated, trust name brand cookie mixes to bring the delicious baked goods with a homemade taste, how you dress up and present the cheer is completely up to you!

Betty Crocker wants to help you Spread Cheer and is giving away $20 via PayPal to help get you started. We're throwing in another $30 so you can pick up some baskets, decorating supplies, and more. Enter below to win a total of $50 via PayPal for holiday cheer! Hop along to the other Blog POP! Christmas Wishes giveaways on the LINKY!


41 comments:

  1. I would #SpreadCheer by baking delicious cookies decorated with festive icing and give them to my grandson's teachers at school!

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  2. This would be good for my brother. Happiness and sweet.

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  3. I would spread cheer to my Grandmother who is almost 98. she would love a little extra cheer this holiday with some cookies and a visit

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  4. I would #SpreadCheer to my friends and family.

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  5. I would #SpreadCheer to my friends, neighbors and family.

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  6. I have a few lovely neighbors, who are the only elders left in my life. I would love to #SpreadCheer to them with some of these adorable cookies!

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  7. I will spread cheer this year to my local nursing home by baking goodies and going to visit and sing carols to them. It's a tradition in my family...we do this every year!

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  8. I would #SpreadCheer by donating to toy drive.

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  9. I would #SpreadCheer to my friends by visiting them and delivering gifts.

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  10. I would #spreadcheer to the local nursing homes, police and fire stations, and the hospitals.

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  11. I'd #SpreadCheer to my neighbors.

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  12. I'd #SpreadCheer to my neighbors.

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  13. Jennifer Boehme...I would #SpreadCheer to my 3 elderly neighbor ladies. They have no visitors and can not bake.

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  14. I am going to #SpreadCheer to my Landlord who's wife passed away last year.

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  15. I would #SpreadCheer to my neigbors by baking them Christmas cookies!!

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  16. I would #SpreadCheer to my friends and family and coworkers.

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  17. I would #SpreadCheer to my best friend in Colorado.

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  18. I would spread cheer to my mother in law by baking her lots of christmas goodies.

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  19. I would #SpreadCheer to my mother in law by baking her lots of christmas goodies.

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  20. I would like to #SpreadCheer with my family this holiday season.

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  21. My sisters and I make cookies, candies, fudge, and peanut brittle every year and share with our neighbors and the residents of our local nursing home.

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  22. I would spread cheer to my neighbors.

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  23. I want to spread cheer with the Friday night bridge club

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  24. I would (will) continue my grandmother's tradition of spreading cheer at our local volunteer fire department and ambulance corps. She was part of both back in the day and had always supported them long after she retired from nursing and being able to be a volunteer.

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  25. The one doll that my 3 year old really wants is- A baby alive My baby all gone in brunette or blonde.... I was going to buy it at toys r us about a month ago but I figured they would go on sale and they had like 3. now they have none and they'e not getting restocked... I was also looking on amazon about three weeks ago and they were $65 which I thought was steep but I figured I would wait and use my amazon gift card- well stupid my- now the blonde dolls are over $150-300 and the brunette is $103+.... SO if I won- I would hopefully be able to buy this doll. I can't in my right mind buy it at that cost. but if I win the money then it would make me feel a little better about buying one.. I can't believe these sellers on ebay are hiking the prices up like that knowing someone will pay it ...... that's not Christmas. I'm not saying this because I have a little girl that wants one- I am saying it in general... If I had 2 I would donate one or look for a mom like me and sell it a reasonable price and give one to my daughter. People are mean jacking the prices up like that. Maybe once Chritmas is passed they will go back down again and she will have her doll for her birthday or something- but probably not because they are a discontinued item so what's out there is all there is...

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  26. I want to #spreadcheer to my childrens schools

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  27. I might #SpreadCheer to neighbors with cookie baskets.

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  28. I would #SpreadCheer to my neighbors who lost one of their sons this time of year, last year. It's a sad time for them and I know they could use some uplifting. I would bake some cookies and add a cute ornament for their tree. I use any left over to buy my husband something special.

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  29. I would love to spread cheer to my Kid's, especially my Daughter who has MS.

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  30. I'd like to spread cheer to all my friends back in Colorado.

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  31. I would like to spread cheer to my grown daughter. I think she would enjoy the holidays better

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  32. I would like to #SpreadCheer with my hubby. He is always so serious.

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  33. I would #SpreadCheer to my husband

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  34. I spread cheer by baking vegan sugar cookies (and other vegan cookies) to work. I try to bring them once a week from the beginning of November through Christmas, but it depends on how much time I have to bake. It is amazing to me how many people don't bake or don't have someone to bake them homemade cookies, so it feels good to bring that to people every week.

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  35. I would #SpreadCheer to those in need

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  36. I would #SpreadCheer to my neigbor by baking her Christmas cookies!

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  37. I will #SpreadCheer to all my neighbor by baking cookies with my son and giving them all a little gift basket!

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  38. I would #SpreadCheer with my Dad, maybe take him out to dinner.

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  39. I would #SpreadCheer to my friends by making them sweet treats!

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  40. If I won, I would #SpreadCheer to my mother by giving her a basket of her favorite things, coffee, cookies, candles and a few books. :)

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