Salt Dough Ornaments

I first learned to make these when I was a little girl in Germany while my father was stationed there. I don't remember exactly who taught us to make them, or when, but I've been making them since about the age of five and have made probably a thousand. My mom actually has a cute story about how once when she has a migraine I told her, don't worry, I'll entertain myself and do salt dough. Apparently there was some in the fridge. I got it out and made what turned out to be my mom's favorite work of art in the house, little brown and white salt dough people, all crooked and wonky, but to this day I'm very proud. So, when I tried to think of a home made decoration to make with Laylah this year (we've made something different together every Christmas since she was born) I thought it was time to introduce her to salt dough ornaments. I've made salt dough with her before for other things. It's a super easy play dough type substance that I usually always have all the ingredients for, but we've never made Christmas ornaments out of it. This year our goal came in the form of the Pottery Barn Christmas catalogue. It had several really pretty snowflakes in it. I'm a sucker for snowflake ornaments. The sparkle, the individuality, the romance. So we made our dough, put the catalogue in front of us and got to work copying the $12 a piece ornaments with .50 cents worth of dough. I think ours turned out better than theirs and they will always mean more.

Salt Dough Ornaments

2 parts flour
1 part salt
1 part water


Mix everything together until it forms a smooth dough.

You can add food coloring or natural coloring (in Germany we added instant coffee to the water before adding it, making a nice warm brown), or you can paint the pieces after you bake them. Make into whatever shapes you wish. We've made little people, handprints, we've used cookie cutters, wreaths, hearts, whatever, just make sure to put a hole somewhere to thread a ribbon through to hang them up on the tree or the wall. Another things we always did in Germany was used whole cloves for the eyes and a garlic press to squish out some ropes of hair. This time Laylah and I made snowflakes and other christmassy figurines. Bake in a 250 degree oven for around two hours depending on the thickness of the figure you've made.
For thicker figures you'll want to take them out and turn them over half way through to make sure the underside gets cooked. They are ready when they are hard all the way through and pushing a fingernail into the back doesn't make a mark.

Let them cool then decorate. This time Laylah and I painted our snowflakes silver and added white glitter, they turned out spectacular!

Easy Eggnog Cookies

I came up with these cookies about two years ago and they have been a huge hit ever since. Actually, upon hearing of them, a local coffee shop owner asked my husband to bring some by for him to try! I, of course, immediately saw myself supplying all of his cookie needs, branching off to my own cookie shop next door, raking in the moola. I haven't actually taken any in to him to date, but I hope to by the end of the season.
Anyway, I made up these cookies after reading one of my favorite mystery novelists (who also includes cookie recipes and is about a cookie shop owner) Joanna Fluke. They were a super easy cake mix recipe which left a lot of room for someone to experiment with flavors. The first opportunity I had to make them I decided hmmmm, eggnog! And this chewy, nutmeggy, rummy, concoction that kids love to get their fingers into is what I came up with.

Easy Eggnog Cookies

1 box vanilla cake mix
1 8oz container cool whip (vanilla cool whip is even better)
1 egg
1 tsp rum exract
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup powdered sugar for rolling

Mix everything together except the powdered sugar.

Let cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour to harden up the dough a little because it's very sticky. If you are in a hurry you can make them right away but they are very very sticky.

Take tblsp sized scoops of the dough and roll them in the powdered sugar then place 2" apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Transfer parchment paper off the hot pan and let cool completely before removing them. You end up with wonderful, crackled, round yummy disks of eggnoggy chewiness. Laylah loves to roll the balls of dough in the powdered sugar. Very easy. Very good.

Baclava Cookies

Disclaimer: these cookies do not look at all like the Greek honey and nut pastry Baclava, however, they taste remarkably similar. I made these cookies by accident a few years ago because I was making my first batch of baclava at home and had some ingredients left over. It happened to be around Christmas time and I was also making my Heidesand cookies (German Sand Cookies) and thought, why not? I'll add what I have left from the baclava to the Heidesand dough. What came out of the oven was a revelation. I honestly didn't think Heidesand cookies could get better than they are, but these? WOW! They also have the wonderful ability to stay tasty after being frozen for a few months. I think I had some of these in the freezer for over six months, making a batch here and there to savor. This year we have my whole family coming for the Holidays so I thought I'd make some ahead of time to put in the freezer and make when we need them. I am sure they will be a big hit. Oh, and if you don't like the name, or think they do not taste at all like baclava because you are some kind of baclava expert, you can call them Spicey Nutty Sandies.

Baclava Cookies (Spicey Nutty Sandies)

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup each of two kinds of ground nuts (I used pecans and walnuts because I had them, but pistachios are also fabulous)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp almond extract

The morning or night before you wish to make these cookies brown the butter and let it cool in the refridgerator to harden again. Browning the butter means to let it melt and burn slightly until it has turned a light brown color. It takes about 15 minutes and you have to watch carefully so that the butter doesn't boil over or burn. After the butter hardens again beat it with the sugar until creamy, add the almond. Add the flour in small increments until a dough forms.

In the meantime put your nuts in a food processor along with the spices and grind them to a find powder. Add the nuts and mix again. Form into even logs and wrap in parchment paper then tin foil.

Refridgerate at least an hour, or freeze up to six months (maybe longer). When ready to bake cut logs into 1/4 inch cookies, bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown. Let cool, then gobble.

Mexican Bombshell Cookies

I've been thinking about making a cookie in honor of my mother for a long time, but hadn't quite hit on something that made me think of her until now. November 15th is my parent's 49th wedding anniversary and I'm sending them a package with some goodies, so I thought, what better time to make a cookie all about my Mommy? First off, a little background. My mother was born and raised in Mexico by an expat American father and a second(?) generation expat English mother. She grew up in Mexico city speaking English and Spanish from birth. When she decided to go to college she picked the University of Miami, where she met my dad at a party where she was a little, um, tipsy. They fell in love and have now been married for 49 years, through four children, thirty years in the Air Force, 27 moves, a deployment where my dad was gone for over a year and my mom gave birth to my brother alone, and battling cancer. It's pretty impressive. So that's kind of the Mexican part and the part about why I'm making them now. The bombshell part. My Mom is a stunning example of a blonde, buxom, beautiful sex symbol. She came of age right when Marilyn Monroe (name possibly chosen over Norma because she saw my mom, Marilyn, at some point in her past) was at her most sexy. Talk about a set of measurements! My Mom was and is the ultimate bombshell if ever there was one. Here's something to give you an idea. When my great grandfather talked about why he married my great grandmother he said it was because she had a great set of, well, boobs. I don't know what they called them in those days, but insert appropriate slang. My Mom? She totally inherited that. Like I said, she's a looker. So, Mexican Bombshells, in honor of my beautiful mother on her awe inspiring anniversary. They are a version of Aztec or Mayan chocolate cookies, meaning chocolate with a kick of chili, cinnamon, and nutmeg, plus a dab of cajeta on top (cajeta is Mexican caramel sauce made with goat's milk, found in Latin grocery stores). They are quite the exotic adventure for your taste buds and with chocolate and chili in them, they are totally also an aphrodisiac. What better way to celebrate an Anniversary?

Mexican Bombshell Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup Aztec Hot Chocolate mix (I got mine from Whole Foods)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp Adobo sauce from a can of Chipotle peppers
1/2 tsp baking powder
Cajeta

Cream the Butter and brown sugar and add the vanilla. Sift together flour, hot chocolate mix, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder. Add dry ingredients a little at a time while mixing. Add adobo sauce.



Get equal sheets of parchment paper and tin foil. Make about three even logs of the dough and wrap in parchment paper then tinfoil (see technique in the Maple Bacon cookie recipe) and refrigerate for at least an hour.

These can also be frozen for a few months. When the logs are chilled, cut them into 1/4 inch cookies and bake at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until set and not shiny. Let cool and then spread with cajeta, about a tsp on each cookie. Enjoy them with someone you love and watch out for the kick at the end!

Steve Jobs Apple Cookies

In honor of the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, inventor and innovator, creator of my most treasured link to the outside world (my iPhone) of adults, I decided I had to create a cookie to show my appreciation for all that he brought to my world. It may seem trite, but I really love cookies, and I'm good at making cookies, so this really is meant as a tribute. When I decided that I wanted to make these my only inspiration was the apple shape, so I found an apple shaped cookie cutter on Amazon for $1.29. Not knowing Mr. Jobs personally, I had no idea what type of cookie he might prefer, but I figured he named his company after apples, so he might like those. Then I found a recipe for apple cider caramel and I thought, oooh, that sounds really good. So apple flavored apple shaped cookies with apple cider caramel filling? Yeah, that sounds like a mighty fine cookie to me. And as it happens, they are apple-tastic! If Steve Jobs were still with us I'd like to think he'd like these cookies, I hope he would. The world will always miss him and his amazing ideas, and every time I make these cookies I'll offer up my thanks to Apple's Father for the inspiration, the innovations, and just making my life easier in so many ways. Make them while reading the recipe off of your iPad, while listening to music on you iPod, and updating facebook on your iPhone.

Steve Jobs Apple Cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp maple extract
1 tbsp Sour Apple liqueur (like Pucker's)
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup peeled, finely diced granny smith apple
One Apple Cider Caramel (for the filling) or just plane caramel melted, not caramel sauce, melted caramel candies

http://candy.about.com/od/caramelrecipes/r/applecaramels.htm

Beat butter, brown sugar, maple extract together until creamy. Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice. Add dry ingredients a little at a time. Add sour apple liqueur and finely diced apple.



This will form a nice dough with the bits of apple showing through here are there.


Roll it out and use cookies cutters, apple shaped or not, make an even number that fit together. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Let the cookies cool on the parchment, then take the warm but not hot melted caramel, put about a tsp on the bottom cookie then put another cookie on top to make a caramel cookie sandwich. When I made these I used my apple cookie cutter and for the top cookies I cut out a little bite like the apple logo where the caramel showed through. A big hit all around. These cookies are also good without the caramel and just plain, or with pumpkin pie dip, 1 package cream cheese, 1/2 cup prumpkin puree, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. I made them that way for our neighborhood halloween party and they were a hit.

Fabulous Fall Cookies!

I love the fall. The colors, the weather, the end of summer's oppressive heat. Not a big fan of being hot, or wearing shorts, or sweating. You get the idea. So when fall begins bringing it's cool breezes, spicy smells, and falling leaves, I get much, much happier. It's been my favorite season since I was little. Perhaps because my birthday is in November and I knew when fall started my special day wasn't far off, but now it's more because I just really enjoy almost everything about this time of year. Halloween, pumpkin lattes and pumpkin beer, apple picking, leaf rubbing, Octoberfest, squash, soups, fires in the hearth, wow, I love it. Plus I get to put away all the summer clothes that I get so tired of and bring out my cold weather stuff. Long sleeves, sweaters, layers, accessories, BOOTS!!!! I love boots. They go with everything, they never go out of style, they come in every color, and they are by far the most comfortable form of shoe for my feet. If I could wear boots all year long I would be soooo happy, but summer robs me of that for almost four months! Fall brings back all of my cuteness. So, to celebrate fall's arrival this year I decided to make a cookie that takes some of my favorite fall flavors and blends them into a relatively healthy, yummy, fall-licious snack. Originally these cookies were going to be called Pomegranate Cranberry Walnut Maple Oatmeal Shortbread, but that's quite a mouthful, so I went with something a little simpler. An ode, if you will, to my favorite time of year, Fabulous Fall Cookies!

Fabulous Fall Cookies!

1 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp maple extract
1 cup flour
2 cups oats
3/4 cup chopped pomegranate infused dried cranberries (crasins from Ocean Spray in pomegranate flavor)
3/4 cup shopped walnuts


Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add everything else except cranberries and walnuts. When everything is incorporated add the chopped cranberries and walnuts. This is a thick dough. Flour a smooth surface and pat the dough into a large rectangle. You can try to roll it out with a lot of flour on the rolling pin so it doesn't stick. I usually use a combination of rolling and patting until I get a rectangle about 1/4 thick measuring about 20x12-ish. Cut the dough into small bars or rectangles about 1x2" each, this recipe yields about 4 dozen bars depending on size.



Place bars on a parchment or tinfoil lined baking sheet about an inch apart and bake at 350 degrees for 1-12 minutes or until just getting brown around the edges. Let cool, but not for too long, they taste fantastic a little warm and crumbly with a cup of hot apple cider. Sit by the fire with a plate of these, a good book, and some soft music while you dream of buying more boots. That's what I'd like to do, but it's more likely I'll be grabbing one on my way out the door to pre-school pick-up, in between arguments on whether I'm allowed to make a halloween costume instead of buying one, and chasing after an almost crawling Connor who wants nothing more than to eat my iphone. Either way, they're yummy, and remind me of fall.

Laylah's Magic Wand Cookies

September is birthday month around here. Yes, I said month. Not only is Laylah's birthday in September, but Connor's, two of my nephews, a brother, and a brother-in-law. Plus an anniversary in there somewhere too. It's a lot to remember, plan for, organize and celebrate. This is why I have not written anything in a while. September may be crazy, but it's also fun and full or excitement. Laylah starts asking when her birthday is the day after her birthday, so you can imagine as it gets closer, she can hardly talk about anything else! This year she wanted a Cinderella theme, and somehow Laylah always gets what she wants. We had Cinderella come to her party, she dressed as CInderella, she got not one, but four Cinderella dolls as presents. In keeping with this theme, we decided to make magic wand cookies for her treat to bring to school on the day of her birthday. I didn't want to make them too complicated so that Laylah could help make them, and I also didn't want to use actual sticks for the wand part, which almost all the recipes I found online and in books did. I figured a bunch of three and four-year-olds with left over sticks might just poke someone's eye out. Better to make the sticks edible too. Then inspiration. Pretzel rods! From there all we had to figure out was how to keep the pretzel and cookie firmly together and what shape to make the top cookie part. Laylah chose hearts, pink cherry icing, white decorations and sprinkles, lots of sprinkles. They were a big hit at school and Laylah loved making them. I would not recommend them for adults so much, a little too much icing, way too many sprinkles, but the kids? They loved 'em.

Laylah's Magic Wand Cookies

Shape Cookie dough recipe
1/2 c Fruit preserves (we used blueberry but you can chose what you like)
Large pretzel rods, not the little sticks, the big ones that are about 10" long
icing of choice
sprinkles




Begin by making the dough for the Shape Cookies. This recipe is in the August posts of this blog. When the dough is ready, roll it out as usual, but instead of using lots of different cookie cutters, pick one, relatively large one, like a heart or a star and make an even number of cookies. You will need two shape cookies per magic wand. Our recipe made about 20 magic wands, so 40 shapes.

Put parchment paper on your pan and place the bottom shape cookies about two inches apart on the pan, make sure to leave room for the pretzel rods, check the picture below to see spacing. Spread about a half teaspoon (or more if you want them really fruity) of the fruit preserves on each bottom cookie. The preserves are what help the pretzels and cookies stick together, so make sure to spread right to the edges. Press the pretzel rod in the center of the cookie with about an inch inside and the rest sticking out as the stick part. Do not press all the way through the cookie, but press a little to secure it. Place a top shape cookie over the bottom one to sandwich the preserves and the pretzel between two cookies. Press the edges closed and pay special attention to the area around the pretzel, kind of molding the dough together around the pretzel to get it to stick.





I got about eight cookies per baking sheet. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to get golden brown. Remove them from the baking sheet while still on the parchment paper and let cool. Decorate as desired. Laylah had great fun with the decorating part, mostly eating the decorations as I was trying to put them on. Her teachers said they were a big hit with the kids. I liked them because they were cute, fit the theme, and were sturdy enough that a kids could wave them around like a wand and the cookie was not going to fall off. Plus the whole not having a dangerous stick left over part. I'm sure using peanut butter, nutella, cajeta, or any other sticky filling would work if you want to change it up. I'm not sure they granted any wishes, but my little princess was very happy with them. May all your cookies be magical too, Bippity-Boppity-Boo!

Bacon Maple Sand Cookies

When I had the inspiration for this bacon cookie, because, well, who doesn't love bacon, I did what any aspiring recipe writer would do. I googled bacon cookies to see if someone had come up with this before. Possibly not surprisingly, some people had. However, I had to think if they were really all that good I would have seen them somewhere. In bakeries, on the food network, somewhere. To date, I have not seen bacon cookies made or sold anywhere. So, I decided to try my hand at it and come up with something a little different.

The base of this cookie is the German Heidesand (sand) cookie that I learned to make when I was probably about six years old from my German Nanny when we lived in the tiny hamlet of Dunzweiler, Germany. They are possibly the reason I love cookies so much. Hands down, I can't think of a more perfect cookie and every year when I make them for Christmas they are a huge hit and the first gobbled up. Growing up we would make such large batches of these cookies that we'd have them in the freezer all year long, just in case the craving struck. They freeze really really well. As in, I've had Heidesand cookies that we lost in the deep freeze that were probably in there for two years and they still tasted amazing. I wouldn't recommend doing that, but you know, just in case. The secret to Heidesand cookies is twofold. One, they are made with browned butter, in itself one of mankind's best inventions. Two, they generally have vanilla sugar instead of extract which adds remarkably to the flavor and texture, making them dry and crumbly, hence the sand part. Now, for my bacon cookies I decided that browned butter was a must, and that the texture of Heidesand cookies would be really good too, crumbly, like bacon. The only problem was that I didn't really think vanilla and bacon would work. Then EUREKA! Maple extract! Maple bacon is possibly even better than bacon bacon, and maple is a good flavor for baking. It all started to fall into place. One problem. Although quite prevalent growing up, somehow maple extract has become really hard to find. At least anywhere near Vienna, VA. I had to go to four stores to find it and I actually had people ask me what it was! Thing is, maple syrup just wouldn't work for this, it would ruin the texture of the cookie, I needed the extract to get that true strong maple flavor. I almost ordered some from Amazon, but then of all places I found some at Target. Stupid grocery stores not having maple extract! It delayed me making these for over a week!

Anyway, what resulted from the combination of my all-time favorite cookie from childhood, plus bacon and maple, well, that you will have to make sometime and see for yourself. In my opinion, original Heidesand cookies are hard to beat, but these, well, these have bacon. Enough said?

Bacon Maple Sand Cookies

4 sticks of butter (real butter NOT margarine)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (or more if you want) of maple bacon, cooked (see below) and chopped really really tiny
2 tsp maple extract
Bacon fat :)

The easiest way to make these cookies is to prepare the butter the day before, that way there isn't any waiting around and the rest goes pretty quickly. So, the day before, melt the butter on the stove and brown it lightly. This takes some time and attention. It takes probably ten minutes to get the butter to the point where it starts browning and you have to watch it carefully or it could burn and turn black. It also tends to bubble over while boiling so I recommend starting out in a deep pot and standing over it to blow on it and remove it from the heat if it starts to bubble over. Cleaning up melted butter form a stove-top is no fun. When the butter starts turning brown, it will look like brown sediment swirling around the bottom, turn off the stove and remove it from the heat. Transfer the butter to some kind of storage bowl, cover, and put it in the fridge till the next day when you are ready to bake. The butter needs to get solid again to use.

Bacon: The best way to make bacon by far is to put it on a baking sheet with a lip, not a flat one, that has been covered in tin foil, and put it in a 350 degree oven for about twenty minutes or until nice and brown and crispy. You don't have to turn it, you don't have to think about it, you don't have to get splattered with bacon fat. It's also the easiest way to clean up after. If you want to keep the bacon fat drain it from the pan into a bowl and let it cool, if not bundle up the tin foil and throw it away, no icky frying pan to clean. Bacon this way always comes out perfectly. For this recipe I used about 12 pieces of bacon and reserved about a tablespoon of the fat. When the bacon is done put it on a paper towel to drain and cool down. Then crumble first with your hands, and then finely chop to reach the right consistency.

When the butter is solid, break it up into chunks and put it in your mixer to beat until creamy and light. (Notice Connor's hand in the picture, see he helps!)Add the cooled bacon fat while getting creamy. Add the granulated sugar and maple extract, beat for five minutes to help the sugar and butter blend. Add the flour in increments, mixing after each addition. Add the powdered sugar at the end if the dough still seems too soft. The dough should be crumbly but hold together if you squeeze it. Add the bacon :)

Once you have your finished dough proceed to make logs. This is easiest by measuring out five (that's how many logs I made with this recipe) 20" pieces of wax paper, and five 20" pieces of tin foil. Divide the dough into five large handfulls. Put one handfull onto the center of the waxed paper longwise and shape into a log. Martha Stewart taught me a trick (yes, personally!) that to get the logs to come out round, fold the wax paper over your log and then put a ruler against the edge and pull the wax paper tight against the ruler, it pulls the dough in tight and rounded. Next roll your log up snug and twist the ends of the wax paper, if you are baking these soon there is no need for the tin foil, but if you intend to freeze them then cover the logs with tinfoil. Put in the fridge or freezer. If you want to bake them that day, leave the logs in the fridge for an hour. If not, like I said...two years!



When you want to bake them unroll the wax paper and cut cookies about 1/4" -1/3" thick. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, they do not grow so they can be close together. Each log should make about 30 cookies, which you can and will eat in one sitting. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until slightly gold brown. The house will smell delectable. Do not remove from the parchment paper too soon! These cookies are crumbly and need to cool to hold together. You can slide the cookie baring parchment onto the counter but don't pick the actual cookies up or move them for at least five minutes. This is hard, this is very hard, you will want to eat them, but wait, it's worth it, plus they will burn your tongue, this from personal experience. Gets me ever damn time!

Serve, well alone. Maybe coffee? Milk? They are just so good I can't think of anything to go with them that would improve them. These are Bacon cookies the way they were intended by the Bacon Gods to be made. Go in peace and may you always have bacon in your home!

Ahh-mazing simple sugar cookies

Finally, another cookie recipe, the whole point of this blog, right? Well, this one is not mine, but I had to share it, it's just so very yummy. One of my guilty pleasures, there are few and far between nowadays, is reading Joanne Fluke mysteries. She writes short mysteries about a lady in Minnesota who owns a cookie shop. Between the chapters, after reading about all the delicious things the characters are eating, she puts in recipes. I've made several of these, some good, some not so much, but this one is a keeper. She calls them Old fashioned sugar cookies. I call them heavenly. Laylah loved making and eating them and they were super easy too. The subtle hint of lemon is fantastic, and they pair up nicely with vanilla ice cream as a post dinner, post getting kids in bed, treat. This will be a recipe we make for years to come, I hope you enjoy it too!

Sugar Cookies -Joanne Fluke's recipe in "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder"

1 cup melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 1/8 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl for later



Melt the butter and add the sugars, mix in the egg lemon zest, vanilla, baking soda and cream of tartar. Add the flour in increments, mixing after each addition. Chill the dough for an hour or even overnight, it's too sticky to work with right away. When you want to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll walnut sized balls of the dough, Laylah loved helping with this part, then put the balls in the bowl of sugar to coat them. Place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, and press down to slightly flatten the balls. They don't grow much so you can put them close together. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the edges are just golden.



Cool for however long you can resist snagging one. You can put on icing but they really don't need it. We added some colored sugar to the coating to make them festive. This makes about 4 dozen cookies. YUMMY!

Best Fried Chicken EVER!!!

I have no pictures of this amazing recipe to prove what I say. I only have the praise of my family after making it, but if you consider that my husband was born and raised in Kentucky (the official home of the most famous fried chicken in the world) and has made it his mission in life to seek out and eat as much good fried chicken as possible, well, then maybe you will believe me. This fried chicken was amazing! And if you have a weekend with some time on your hands and a craving then I encourage you to prove me wrong and make a better recipe. This one does take at least two days to make, but it's worth it, sooooo worth it. The crust is flavorful and has that combination of crispy and flaky that you need on good Fried Chicken. The meat, oh the meat! It's juicy, tender, dripping with flavor. Actually it's so moist you'd think the crust would get soggy, but somehow it doesn't. It stays crisp from the first to the last bite, and if you are lucky enough to have leftovers, it's still crispy the next day too. I actually made this recipe up by combining two recipes from food magazines and inventing a few things along the way. Hope you enjoy it!

Real Southern Fried Chicken

Chicken (haha) we like white meat around here so I got four large breasts, bone in, skin on

Day before you want to eat the chicken

Brine:
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
two bay leaves
1 tsp dill
3/4 cup Kosher salt
1 tsp thyme or a few fresh sprigs
1 tblsp chopped garlic
a few peppercorns
~6 cups water

Put everything together in a pot big enough for all your chicken to fit in later. Mix, put on the stove on high heat until it boils. Take it off the heat. Cool in the refrigerator, I did this the night before and let it sit overnight.

Day you want to eat chicken

Early in the morning, but no more than 14 hours before you want to cook the chicken, place all of your chicken in the brine, return to the fridge and let it all marinate. You cannot have the chicken in the brine for more than 12 hours or it will be too salty! Two hours before you want to serve the chicken, take it out of the brine, wash it off to get all the brine off, and pat dry.

Coating:
Wet ingredients:
extra large zip lock bag
1 quart buttermilk
2 tsp tabasco
bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
1 tblsp chopped garlic

Dry ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tblsp baking powder
1 tblsp paprika
3/4 tbslp cayenne
1 tblsp onion powder
1 tblsp nutmeg
1 tbslp sea salt

Half Vegetable shortening and half vegetable or peanut oil for frying, large cast iron skillet.

Take the brined, washed, dried chicken and put in a large ziplock bag with the buttermilk mixture. Seal and put it in the fridge for one-two hours. Meanwhile combine all the dry ingredients and set up your frying station. Get three shallow bowls and a cooling rack with wax paper beneath to catch stuff (like what you'd put cookies on to cool). Put half the flour mixture in the first bowl and the other half in the third bowl. When enough time has passed take the chicken out of the buttermilk bag, but keep the buttermilk mixture and put it in the second bowl, between the two flour bowls. Here's the fun part! Take the chicken piece, already coated in buttermilk, dredge it in the first bowl of flour, briefly dip it in the bowl of buttermilk and then dredge it again in the third bowl of flour, making sure to get everything coated. Transfer the chicken to the rack and continue to coat your chicken pieces until you run out of chicken. Let the chicken rest on the rack for about twenty minutes to set the crust and bring the chicken up to room temperature. Meanwhile start heating your oil mixture. It must reach 350 degrees. When the oil is ready start putting the chicken in the oil, working from the first piece you coated to the last. I did two big breasts at a time in my skillet. Let the chicken sit in the oil without touching it for 3 minutes to set the crust, I also kind of used a spatula to splash a little of the oil up and over the chicken to set the side the oil wasn't touching, but be careful. Continue to fry, turning when needed, until the chicken comes up to 160 degrees in the breast, which, if you keep your oil at 350 should be 12-15 minutes. I couldn't get my oil to stay at that temperature so I fried my pieces for about fifteen minutes and if they still weren't all the way cooked I took them out so that the crust wouldn't burn, and then put them in a 400 degree oven for ten minutes. Either way, remember when you take them out of the oil to place them skin side up so that the juices run through the chicken and not out to make the top crust soggy. We had this with fresh corn on the cob we did on the grill. I also like my fried chicken with a slice of lemon and a little sea salt. Everyone loved this, everyone. This is amazingly rare in my family. Actually it may be the first time we all had the same thing for dinner. Make it, it's good. Sorry again for the lack of pictures, and I'll do a cookie recipe next time, promise.

Shortbread Shape Cookies

Ok, so I didn't make up this recipe...mostly, but I've been using and changing it for years. It's Laylah's absolute favorite cookie to make, she calls them shape cookies because we use cookie cutters (shapes). We have about a thousand cookies cutters thanks to a jumbo pack my mom sent one year-dinosaurs, every letter of the alphabet, holiday shapes, patriotic shapes, animals, vehicles, sports, and last but not least, plain old shapes. Out of every cookie, cupcake, treat, or brownie we've made together, she chose these to take to pre-school for her birthday. They were a huge hit! Parents and teachers asked for the recipe. They wanted to make them with the kids in class!



This recipe came from a newspaper clipping my mother found right before my husband came back from serving in Iraq for over a year. It was supposed to be for heart shaped cookies to use for chocolate fondu. She thought it looked like something romantic for me to do when he finally got home. He missed getting home for Valentine's day by three days, but I made them anyway, with the fondu, and lots and lots of champagne, for his homecoming dinner. It's been a favorite ever since.



Now we have the two "helpers" in the kitchen, and this is the perfect cookie recipe for kids. It's easy, it's fast, they are almost fool-proof to roll out (none of that breaking apart crap you get with some roll out cookies because the dough is too sticky), and the flakey, buttery, vanilla taste is totally addicting. Though you can substitute other flavors, I've also used maple during the fall, and almond and rum work well in the winter months.

Laylah's Shape Cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
~1 tsp heavy cream or milk if needed

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Measure flour, baking powder, and cornstarch into a bowl and sift together, or whisk, works just as well, and takes less time. Laylah loves putting the baking powder in and whisking, it kind of makes a bit of a mess, but it's fun. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixer until creamy. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until incorporated. If the dough will not hold together (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't) add a little bit of cream or milk, a few drops at a time, until it holds together and you can form it into a ball.



Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/4 inch, maybe thicker depending on what shape of cookies cutters you use (hint: I use parchment paper, sprinkle with flour, roll out the dough and do the cut outs, then remove the excess around the cookies and slide the whole thing onto a baking sheet, this eliminates the often disastrous step of moving the cookies from floured surface to baking sheet). This dough does not expand, so you can put the cookies as close as you can without touching to use up more of the dough each time you roll it out. Bake for about twenty minutes or until just golden around the edges.



Let the cookies cool completely before decorating. I've used all sorts of stuff to decorate them, colored sugars put on before baking, store bought icing in a variety of flavors, home made butter icing, home made glaze, dipping in whipped cream, making them into jelly sandwiches, all of it is super tasty with these cookies. Laylah's favorite is probably strawberry store bought icing (it's pink) with an un-holy amount of sprinkles piled on top. Today we did colored icings, she actually did a really good job, I only helped on a few of them. Connor helped too, mostly by eating the dough (which is also great, no raw eggs so safe to eat!) but he liked the Mickey Mouse cookie cutter too.




Hope you enjoy eating them, but mostly I hope you enjoy baking them with someone you love.

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Pretzel Cookies

This being my first post on this new blog, I thought I'd share the recipe for cookies with the best possible combination of ingredients known to man. Chocolate, mmmm. Peanut-Butter, mmmmm. Pretzels, mmmmmm. You get the idea. Actually, taken individually these ingredients aren't uncommon or particularly noteworthy, but together, and even better, together in a cookie? The only word I can come up with is SUBLIME! I truly have to give myself credit here, I mean, there are chocolate cookies, and peanut-butter cookies, and even chocolate peanut-butter cookies, but with pretzels? Nope. At least not that I've ever seen. They have just the right hint of salty to balance the sweet, and just the right crunch to go with the gooey.

This week Laylah, Connor and I made these cookies in honor of my Dad's birthday. We are sending him a big batch in a birthday package. They are a slightly (only slightly because girls can like this stuff just as much) manly cookie, I think maybe because of the pretzels. They remind me of my dad because he loves pretzels, and peanut-butter, and chocolate. I think if he could eat these with a pint of good chocolate stout, he'd a be a happy happy man. Just think, cookies that go with beer just as well as they go with milk? HOW COULD THIS GET BETTER? It does, because kids love them too and love to make them. Pulverizing the pretzels is especially fun.

So, give them a try, see what you think. I welcome comments and suggestions, it shows you actually read this and maybe even made the cookies I dreamed up. Hopefully next week I'll think up something equally delicious, I kind of doubt it, but we'll see how much sleep I get.

Sublime (new name) Cookies:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (or just more butter, but this adds a certain crunchiness)
1 egg
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup crumbled pretzels (we used pretzel sticks, easer to break up/smash into 1/4 inch pieces)
1 cup peanut-butter chips
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut-butter


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (you don't have to, but I highly recommend it).

2. Combine flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and either sift, or use a whisk to break up any clumps and combine well.



3. Beat butter, vegetable shortening, and sugar in a mixer. I used the paddle attachment because I think it does a good job with cookie batters. Once creamy, add the vanilla and egg. Put mixer on slowest setting and add the flour and chocolate mixture a little at a time.


4. Once all the flour is incorporated, stop the mixer, take your bowl out and start adding the yummy stuff (chips and pretzels) it's way easier to do this with a spatula than with the mixer. These are very chunky cookies and take some muscle to mix. Once the chips and pretzels are evening distributed, add the peanut butter. This is kind of tricky. You don't want to mix it in too much, you want to kind of marble it throughout the dough, it will leave streaks of peanut-yummy goodness.



5. Take ice-cream scoop sized, umm, scoops and place them about three inches apart on the parchment paper. These cookies are so full of chunks that they really don't spread too much. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the edges are set. While one batch is baking I get another piece of parchment paper ready with the next batch, then when the cookies come out of the oven, I slide one paper off the cookies sheet onto the counter and slide the new one right on to go in the over. Saves time. This recipe should make about three dozen cookies depending on size.




They should probably cool, but frankly, they taste and smell so darn good I never really let them. Have a glass of cold milk (or beer) standing by and enjoy! I'm going to go eat some now, hope we have enough left for Dad....