Friday, December 31, 2010

Canadian Daily "Deal" Websites

Oh Canada!  Here's a Canadian-specific daily deals post for us Canadian girls.  Actually, I believe that all of these websites also ship to the US as well.  Since Canada Post is pricey for shipping, I don't think these websites are a whole lot cheaper than the American counterparts.  However, there are many reasons you should at least check them out.
  • First and foremost, they are Canadian and it's always nice to support our own businesses.
  • No duty!
  • Shipping might cost the same (or be even more expensive) but it's way faster!
  • They make an effort to find Canadian products tailored to us (e.g. mittens, boots, tuques).
  • If you live near one of their shops, local pickup could be an option for you.
  • Just a few more sites to check out for deals and to learn about interesting products for babies and kids.
Here are the Canadian daily deal sites I've encountered thus far.  Once again, feel free to add any sites that I have overlooked in the comments and I'll add them.
  • Babyheist.com (Burlington, Ontario) - The best way to keep up with their deals is to 'like' them on Facebook.  They have daily deals but also have additional deals throughout the day which they notify people of through their Facebook fan page.  They call these "SHHH" deals and you'll have to click through to the winking face on their website to find them.  This site doesn't sell out as quickly as some other daily deal websites so it's still worth checking out at any time.  They also keep deals up so they aren't "until they're gone" like most other deal sites.  You can still buy things and combine shipping which is a bonus .  Their archives are located here: Baby Heist Archives.  Baby Heist also offers coupon codes with an online store called momsfinds.ca.  I am not sure exactly what their business partnership is /(or if it's actually the same store?) but they carry many of the same products.  Maybe someone can clarify this for me in the comments.  I just ordered my first items from them so I'll update with how fast it arrives.  They just shipped it via Canada Post today and I believe I ordered yesterday so that's a good start.
  •  Motherofasale.com (Vancouver, BC) - This is a newer site and they are still working on one of their major sections which will offer coupons and is aptly named motherofacoupon.  They have daily deals (although it hasn't been updated much since Christmas).  They also have an archives section which is called motherofadiscount.  They recently had coupon codes for their already discounted items so there was an opportunity to save 70-90% on some items.  I purchased some Agoo clothing and leggings for my baby girl and got a lot of clothes for a great price.  They offered flat rate shipping as well and it arrived within a couple of weeks.  You can sign up for e-mails from them for coupon codes and and stay up to date on their Facebook page.
  • Truecuddles.ca and Motherofadeal.com (New Westminster, BC) - Truecuddles.ca and Motherofadeal.com are baby deal websites owned by the same company. (Please note that these two websites are totally unrelated to the Mother of a Sale deals website)   Motherofadeal.com is a website that provides Moms with insight on freebies and great deals.  You can "like" www.motherofadeal.com on Facebook to find out about the deals, coupons and promotions they are sharing.  Truecuddles.ca, on the other hand, has "cuddles" (aka deals) once a week as well as lots of other things going on like giveaways, featured products, stories about mom entrepreneurs and product reviews.  Of course, you can find their social networking site on Facebook as well.  They sometimes have special promotions or clearance sales that you can find out about through Facebook, Twitter or an e-mail subscription.
  • The Funky Tricycle (Victoria, BC) - Currently, they only have one deal a week although they had more during Boxing Week.  They offer higher end baby products from what I've seen thus far.  They have a very nice website and set up and offer some interesting things.  You can also keep up with them through a variety of social networking tools including Facebook. One disadvantage is that they don't ship things out until they are sold out or until the end of the week.  If you live in Victoria, you can contact them and arrange local pickup though. 
  •  Mama's ReTreat (Nanaimo, BC) - This is another newer site and so far, I really like it!  I was looking for some Zoobies on daily deal sites before Christmas and couldn't find ones I liked.  Then, Mama's ReTreat came through and I got both kids a Zoobie for Christmas with Express Post shipping at a very reasonable rate.  It was a nice change to receive a package literally a couple days after I ordered it compared to the 3+ weeks I am used to with US baby deal sites.   Most items are offered with flat rate shipping which is great for buying multiple items or taking advantage of combined shipping offers when they are available.   Mama's ReTreat makes an effort to feature lots of Canadian products although not exclusively which is fine with me.  They also take requests and make an attempt to get those things for customers.  Finally, there is a reward program on purchases and referrals although I think you need a whole schwack of points before it's worth very much.  It's still a benefit so people might as well use it since it's there and earn a few dollars towards future purchases.  There isn't an archive but you can view previous "treats" on their blog.  Of course, you can also "like" them on Facebook to stay up to date with their deals and special promotions.
Those are the major Canadian deal sites that I know of right now.  I am sticking with sites that sell products directly to consumers.  Let me know if I have missed any and I'll be happy to add them.  For all sites including US ones, please refer to my Daily "Deal" Websites post.


Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

    Wednesday, December 29, 2010

    ENVIROSAX Review and Giveaway!

    I don't usually set New Year's resolutions for myself because they never really work.  Then, I just feel incredibly guilty for failing at whatever I had decided I was going to achieve.  However, I'll go with the old adage and say "this year will be different" and that's because I am setting an attainable, earth-friendly goal that will not only benefit myself but also future generations.  With such a huge responsibility to look after our precious planet and set the right example for my kids, I am determined to be successful.

    Without further rhetoric, my New Year's resolution is to stop using plastic grocery bags and only use reusable shopping bags.  I feel guilty for not doing this already as I have had great intentions at changing before and I always seem to forget to bring my reusable bags.  However, starting immediately, I am going to make a concerted effort to stick to my plan.  I am also going to admit if I mess up and that might be rather embarrassing with the blogosphere holding me accountable.

    Now to the review and giveaway that is going to help me stay on track!  I recently discovered the Envirosax brand of reusable shopping bags and they are a huge improvement over the cheaper, non-user friendly ones that are available near checkouts in your local grocery store.  There are so many things that I like about them so I'll go with point form to keep it brief.

    What I love about Envirosax:
    • Large and roomy
    • Holds up to 44 lbs worth of stuff!
    • Stylish designs that make you want to use them for all sorts of things
    • Wide, flat handles for comfortable carrying
    • Light, thin fabric
    • Easy to fold with a button strap to hold it together once it's rolled up
    • Fully washable
    • Water resistant
    • They come in sets of five with a variety of coordinating patterns
    • The Envirosax company believes in fair trade and has no middle men with their production overseas
    There are many more reasons that they are a great shopping bag (and environmentally-minded company) and you can find a ton of information on their website, particularly in the FAQ's.  

    Here's a couple photos of the Envirosax bag they sent us to try out.  Of course, we chose Elmo from their Sesame Street series but there are lots of other designs to choose from.  We used our bag throughout the holiday season and it's still looking good as new after being stuffed full of toys and gifts.


    For this giveaway, Envirosax is giving the winner their choice of an Envirosax pouch which includes five reusable shopping bags in a handy pouch.   

    Now, let's get to the details!  There are five ways to enter this contest.  I will be numbering entries and using a random online selector to pick the winner.  If you are leaving a comment below and don't have a public profile, please make sure to leave an e-mail address.

    You can receive up to five entries:
    1.  Comment on this post and tell us which pouch is your favourite on the Envirosax website.
    2.  "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook and "like" or comment on the giveaway post.
    3.  Share this post on Facebook or Twitter.  You can just let me know you did this in the comments.
    4.  Follow my blog.
    5.  Bonus Entry:  Let me know if you already use reusable shopping bags on a regular basis OR if you promise to make an effort to only use reusable shopping bags for the New Year!  Once again, just let me know in the comments.

    The contest will be open until Monday, January 3rd, 2010 at midnight.  I will announce and contact the winner the following day.

    Here are a couple more photos of the Envirosax bag with our 8 month old daughter just to give you an idea of how big the bags actually are.

    Monday, December 27, 2010

    Christmas Photos Part Deux: The Digital Scrapbooking Version

    Here is my first attempt at using an actual digital scrapbooking program! I did some digital scrapbooking manually earlier this month and this was wayyyy easier and so nice. I am going to use this program to help compile and print a bunch of our photos for photo albums since we've got a ton of pictures sitting on our computers' hard drives and I've love to have them in real photo albums as well.  This is a great way to do it.  As you can tell, I am quite excited about this new discovery...well, it's new to me anyway!

    Here's a link to our other Christmas photos as well since I didn't leave that post on the main page for very long!
    Our Christmas in Photos

    Click to play this Smilebox scrapbook

    Our Christmas in Photos

    We arrived home safely tonight after yet another busy Christmas. The first two nights of our trip were very, very tiring but we persevered and managed to have a very successful third night with both kids sleeping through the night. It was wonderful to see so much of both our families especially with all the babies and toddlers who make traveling more of a challenge. Most of all, it was wonderful to see my grandparents have so much fun with their great grandkids. Aleena absolutely loved tugging on her great grandpa's remaining hair!

    Here are just a few of my favourite photos from the holidays.

    My baby girl and I...poor baby had a runny nose for the holidays.
    Aleena in front of the Christmas tree in her pajamas.
    Aleena in her Christmas dress.
    Striking a pose!
    It was a rough first couple of nights away from home.
    Connor wasn't loving the camera this Christmas but here he is in front of the tree on Christmas morning.
    Poor Bailey was tired too.
    Uh oh!
    I want a hippopautamus for Christmas...
    Christmas Chihauhau (aka Myloh)

    Wednesday, December 22, 2010

    Boxing Week Deals for Mommies! (Updated December 27th)

    Since I did Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for mommies, I thought I'd better post something about Boxing Day sales for us Canadian mommies!  For my non-Canadian readers, it's basically the equivalent of Black Friday except this happens on December 26th...same idea though, hoards of people pushing and elbowing their way through crowds in order to try and get the best deals.  There are also deals to be had online so that's often the way to go especially with young kids that are hard to manouver through the shopping madness.  Again, if you know of any mommy, baby, toddler-related deals for Boxing Day, let me know and I'll add it to the list!

    For frequent updates about lots of Boxing Day deals, try these websites:
     Here are some baby-related deals and coupon codes:
    • www.gapcanada.ca - Take an additional 25% off items online.  Use the code: GAP25SALE
    • Dear Born Baby - Boxing Week sale on various items including car seats, strollers, baby monitors and more.
    • Old Navy Boxing Day Flyer - 50 % off new arrivals and 70% off outerwear
    • pleasemum.com - 70% off entire store (excluding new arrivals) until December 28th.  They also have free shipping to Canadian addresses.
    • www.babyheist.com - Archives on sale for Boxing Day with $5 flat rate shipping.  I just checked their archives and they've got lots of great stuff.  
    • motherofasale.com - Everything is 50% off with the following code: motherofaboxingday.  Lots of great items are available in their Mother of a Discount section.  I tried the code today (December 27th) and it still works.  You can also use the code on the Agoo clothing site to receive $40 of purchases for $20.  The flat rate shipping is a little higher than I remember it at $15 but I guess it's worth it if you are really stocking up.   
    • Katelyn & Co. - Clearance on hair flowers and headbands. 
    • The Children's Place - Monster Sale just got even better! Holiday clearance items are now just $2.99 and up (while supplies last)!
    • Chapters.ca - They have lots of items of sales including some toys and children's books, DVDs, etc.  I noticed a doll house and toy kitchen as I was browsing through quickly.  I think it's a perfect time to get the Christmas gifts for the following year if you are patient enough to store something that long! 
    • www.babyhalfoff.com - Several deals everyday and bigger discounts on daily deals than usual.
    • www.gingerbreadmonkeys.com - Use Code 20wide for 20% off on everything in the store until midnight December 27th.  Free shipping is available on orders over $150.  (Canadian)
    • Little Soles - 30% off your entire order until December 31st with coupon code: LSIBOXING
    • Kula Klips - 40% off everything until December 31st with coupon code: boxingweek
    Etsy Shops
    • Baby Chunky Cheeks - Everything is 15% off starting boxing day, overalls are 35% off and sets are 30% off right now (Etsy Sale On Now)
    • Little Threads by Rebecca - Everything is 15% off until December 28th at 11 pm.
    • Something Sassy Tutus and more - Information from their Facebook page - "Boxing Day Special (December 26th, 27th & 28th) : purchase a tutu & get a free rhinestone flower & crochet headband AND if you purchase and tutu you can get a pair of leg warmers for $5.00.  Please email us at shopsomethingsassy@gmail.com with your order. Please note that our leg warmers are running low so order yours so...on for best selection."

      Monday, December 20, 2010

      A Photo Journey through the Christmas Tree

      I love decorating the Christmas tree and every year I remember why.  As I put up the ornaments, each one brings back a special memory.  Here's a little photo journal of the memories that came back to me tonight.
      Our Christmas tree.  A little sad as we got it late but it's happy to have a home with us.
      The angel we put on the top of our tree every year since Jeremy and I have had Christmas together.
      My Mom bought me this ornament the year I moved back to Canada after living in Taiwan for four years.  She was very happy to have me home and I was glad to be home too of course.
      Of course we're huge football fans.  A Christmas tree can tell a lot about a person!
      We bought our house together in 2003.  We did things a bit backward by starting with home ownership.
      Another new home ornament.
      I got my education degree in 2005 and taught elementary for the first couple years.  I got a LOT of wonderful Christmas ornaments as gifts from students including this one.
      Another gift from a student.
      We got our dog, Bailey, in March 2005.
      Connor's First Christmas Ornament
      My first new ornament of the year thanks to another April Mommy.  Thanks Sarah!
      I'm sure we'll have lots of ornaments to add in the years to come including a First Christmas ornament for Aleena this year.  Our Christmas tree is definitely a hodge podge of colours and themes but I wouldn't have it any other way.

      Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

      Sunday, December 19, 2010

      Almond Christmas Ball Cookies

      I am taking a detour from chocolate bar-based cookies although we had a great run together.  I plan on making more of the Toblerone, Rolo, and possibly Skor cookies this week to take for Christmas.  For my family's Christmas, I have been put in charge of making sugar cookies which are probably my favourite for many reasons.  We always got to help out a lot with making the sugar cookies.  We used to take turns stirring in the flour, cutting the cookies out and, of course, decorating.  I will be making those in a couple of days as it's a major project.

      Tonight, I decided to go for something simpler and a bit different.  One of my favourite Christmas cookies is Almond Christmas Ball Cookies.  This is a recipe I got from my Mom.  I imagine it can be found elsewhere but I love the way my Mom makes them with a whole candied cherry and not quite as much cookie dough.  These were really easy to make (with a mixer that is!).  While making them, I tuned into XM radio's Holly channel and heard a couple of my favourite Christmas tunes including Bryan Adam's Christmastime and Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  Christmas Cookie making is always more fun with the right tunes!

      Here's my Mom's Almond Ball cookie recipe:

      ALMOND CHRISTMAS BALLS 

      1 cup butter
      1/4 cup icing sugar for cookie dough & 1/2 cup icing sugar for coating slightly cooled cookies
      2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
      1 cup ground almonds (2 oz.)
      1 teaspoon vanilla extract
      18 candied cherries (red and green ones of course)
      1. Cream butter with 1/4 cup icing sugar until fluffy. 
      2. Add everything else except the cherries and mix well with your hands (I let Mixer Martha mix it). 
      3. Take a heaping teaspoon of dough, start forming it into a ball, push in half a cherry and roll again in your hands to make a perfect ball. 
      4. Bake on greased baking sheet in slow oven of 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. (25-30 minutes worked for me but it probably depends on the oven.)
      5. While still hot, roll the balls in confectioners sugar (icing sugar). 
      Notes from Mom: I always use a whole cherry. I found cutting them made a mess of the ball. I also skimped on the dough. I took enough to cover the cherry and that was all. I also remember that I watched them closely as I do not think they took that long to bake. I usually got more than 18 Christmas balls out of a batch. 

      Notes from Trudy: This is the first recipe where I actually made the amount of cookies it said it would make.  Altogether, I made 39 cookies using my Mom's instruction of just coating the cherry with the cookie dough.  Also, my Mom was right about the time in that 35 minutes is likely too long.  I set the timer for 30 minutes and that was the perfect amount of time.  In fact, the second batch was almost a bit too dark so I set the last batch for 25 minutes.  Lastly, I would recommend waiting a good 10-15 minutes before rolling them in icing sugar.

      Candied Cherries. I actually used red and green ones.
      The cookie dough after Martha took care of business.
      All rolled up and ready to bake.
      Yummy Almond Christmas Balls ready to eat!
      It's midnight and I just had a midnight cookie snack and it was super yummy.  I love these because they are a bit different and they are a good bite-sized cookie for holiday events.  Hope you enjoy!

      Other cookies recipes I've blogged about:

      Skor Shortbread Cookies
      Rolo Cookies
      Toblerone Shortbread Cookies
      Ginger Sparkler Cookies

      Friday, December 17, 2010

      The Orb Factory Giveaway Winner is...

      Kathy Cook Dickenson!! 

      Thanks to everyone that entered this giveaway!!  Also, a special thank you for "liking" The Orb Factory on Facebook in order to help give toys to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  If you happen to be reading this and didn't have a chance to participate, you can still "like" The Orb Factory as they will be donating a toy for every new member up until December 23rd.

      Speaking of toys and Christmas in general, apparently today is free shipping day on the internet.  Most online shops are participating in this so you can get your last minute online shopping done today.  I doubt online purchases will arrive on time if you don't order by today (or yesterday for that matter) but at least you won't have to pay shipping (within Canada or the US if you're American).

      Finally, I would love to feature more small, unique businesses (especially ones run by mommies) so let me know if you or someone you know might want to volunteer some goodies for a future contest.

      Wednesday, December 15, 2010

      Skor Shortbread Cookies

      So I've decided that chocolate bars and cookies are clearly a winning combination.  To stick with a good thing, I tried the Shortbread Meltaway recipe from the Robin Hood website which uses Skor toffee bits.  Thanks to Corri for letting me know about this recipe!  It was quick and easy to make.  I am developing a love-hate relationship with my KitchenAid mixer (aka Martha).  I love everything about her really...just hate that the process of making cookies has become so easy.  Time to start freezing instead of eating!

      Shortbread Meltaways

      Ingredients
      1 cupunsalted butter, softened250 mL
      1/2 cupicing sugar
      125 mL
      2 tspvanilla10 mL
      1 3/4 cupsROBIN HOOD® All Purpose Flour425 mL
      1/2 cupCANADA® Corn Starch125 mL
      3/4 tspbaking powder3 mL
      1/4 tspsalt1 mL
      1 cupCHIPITS®*SKOR®* Toffee Bits250 mL

      Preparation
      PREHEAT oven to 350ÂşF (180ÂşC). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

      BEAT butter, icing sugar and vanilla until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt; stir half into butter mixture. Stir in toffee bits and remaining flour mixture.

      ROLL heaping tablespoonfuls (15 mL) of dough into balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets, spacing about 2” (5 cm) apart.

      BAKE in centre of preheated oven for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes. Dust with more icing sugar if desired.

      Martha whipped up the dough in no time at all.
      What the bag looks like for the Toffee pieces.  The recipe on the package also looks intriguing.
      The cookie dough rolled up easily.
      The yummy cookies ready to be eaten! 


      Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

      Monday, December 13, 2010

      The Orb Factory '3D Ocean Magic' Review & GIVEaway


      Welcome to my very first review and giveaway!  I am very excited to tell you about a Canadian company, called The Orb Factory, that makes educational toys for children.  It was kind of fun for me to be asked to do this review because I actually bought one of their magnetic mosaic kits a couple years ago for my classroom.  My more artistically inclined students have enjoyed using the magnetic pieces to make a variety of designs during their free time.  Now, they've introduced products using stickers as well.  Connor and I tackled the kit shown in the picture on the right.  It's called Sticky Mosaics 3D Ocean Magic.  As you can see in the picture, Connor was quite enthralled with it all.  Granted, he's a bit young for this particular toy (Ages 5+) so it was a mommy-assisted activity.

      Once we opened up the box, Connor dug in and started to organize the sheets of stickers.  While the activity was too advanced for him, he was able to talk about the colours with me and was an excellent helper.  He took the square stickers off the sheets and handed them to me to apply to the numbered pictures.  This is how I discovered that most of the stickers were quite forgiving and could be unstuck and re-stuck without too much trouble.   The board itself is solid and I know this because it withstood my child sitting on it.  The stickers are vivid and brightly coloured and the finished product was "pretty" and "nice" according to Connor.



      I took a couple pictures of the part we finished together so you can see for yourselves.  The set also comes with some 3D glasses and it looks pretty neat with the glasses.  It kind of reminded me of those 3D picture books that were really popular several years ago.

      Here's the picture once we finished it! (We left the other fish for his older cousins to finish. I think this would be a great activity to keep kids busy at Christmas.)

      A close up!
      Look at all the pretty colours Mommy!

      Now to the giving part of this giveaway and there's a lot of it!  The Orb Factory is going to give away one of their toys to a lucky reader (your choice from their website).

      In addition, they are going to give a toy for every Facebook "like" they get to the IWK Health Centre, a children's hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I know the Maritime mommies will love this and hopefully get lots of friends to participate in this giveaway and in "liking" the Orb Factory on Facebook.

      Finally, here's how to enter!

      1. Comment on this post and tell us which toy is your favourite from The Orb Factory website.
      2. "Like" The Orb Factory on Facebook and mention my blog on their page or "like" the post about my giveaway.  (Remember this will also mean one toy being donated to the IWK hospital!) :-)
      3. Follow The Orb Factory on Twitter.  You will need to make note of this in the comments.
      4. "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook and "like" or comment on the giveaway post.
      5. Follow my blog so you don't miss out on any future giveaways! Please write this in the comments as an entry.

      This giveaway contest will be open until Friday, December 17th.  However, keep in mind that they will continue to donate a new toy for every "like" until December 23rd.

      Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

      Sunday, December 12, 2010

      A Bit of a Christmas Miracle

      The kids met Santa for the first time yesterday.  Needless to say, this photo was truly a Christmas miracle.  Aleena was a perfect angel as always...although she was a bit obsessed with Santa's beard.  If you look closely, you will see her fist firmly attached to it. We had to pry her loose after the picture was taken. 

      Connor was running around in circles and it's quite amazing that we got him to actually sit still and smile.  Our Santa was very nice by the way.  If you are looking for a friendly, gentle (mature) Santa for photos this year, we got ours taken at the Northgate Mall and it was excellent.  They were also very patient with our rambunctious two year old or we would have never gotten this picture!

      Connor wants trains for Christmas..and fruit...lots of fruit.

      Aleena asked Santa for her two front teeth.  At this point, that's Mommy and Daddy's wish for Christmas too.  Maybe we'll all get more sleep once they finally break through for good!

      Friday, December 10, 2010

      The Alys and Felix Giveaway Winner is...

      Congratulations Alisa P!  You have won a felt crown of your choice from Alys & Felix.
       
      Thanks again to everyone that entered the contest.  If you want to order from Alys & Felix, please visit the online Etsy Shop.  The felt game sets would be great for a Christmas stocking stuffer (and a great family activity for Christmas morning)!  Remember that you can use the code BLOG15 for 15% off your order.  You can also connect with the shop through the Alys & Felix Facebook Fan Page if you have any questions or requests.

      I have a review/giveaway coming up next week so stay tuned!  It features another Canadian business and it will be all about giving!

      Also, I would love to feature more small, unique businesses (especially ones run by mommies) so let me know if you or someone you know might want to volunteer some goodies for a future contest.

      Wednesday, December 8, 2010

      Simply Delicious Rolo Cookies!

      Here's another great cookie recipe.  Thanks to Jennifer for posting this one on the Facebook page.  I had lots of fun making these although my batch only yielded 34 cookies as compared to the 60 promised in the recipe so I think they are probably bigger than intended.  I guess I could have made them smaller but then it may have resulted in more leaky caramel mishaps as you will see in one of the photos below.  Nevertheless, these are delicious cookies and I'll be making these again in the future. To check out other recipes or add your own, we've got a Discussion Thread started up for Christmas Cookies on my Facebook Page.

      Rolo Cookies
      2 1/4 c. flour
      3/4 c. cocoa
      1 tsp. soda
      1 c. sugar
      1 c. packed brown sugar
      1 c. butter, softened
      2 tsp. vanilla
      2 eggs
      1 c. chopped nuts (your choice)
      60 Rolo candies
      4 tbsp. sugar

      1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

      2. In small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and soda; blend well.

      3. In large bowl, beat sugars and butter until fluffy.

      4. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well.

      5. Slowly add flour mixture; blend well.

      6. Stir in 1/2 cup nuts.

      7. For each cookie with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoon dough around caramel candy, covering completely.

      8. In small bowl, combine 1/2 cup nuts and 4 tablespoons sugar.

      9. Press one side of each ball into pecan mixture.

      10.Place, nut side up, on ungreased sheet.

      11. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from sheets.

      60 cookies.
      The stars of the show!
      Martha did a great job of mixing up the dough again!
      Cookies all rolled up and ready to be coated with nut/sugar mixture.
      I had trouble getting the pecans to stick so I had to sort of stab them into the nut and sugar mixture. I ended up setting them on top the second batch.
      I had a few leaky cookies...it didn't affect the taste but I guess you have to try getting the batter all around the chocolate.
      Rolo cookies fresh out of the oven. Yummy!!

      Make sure you enter the Alys & Felix giveaway by Friday! Click on the logo for details.

      Related Posts with Thumbnails