St Patrick's Day Cookies!

I'm not Irish. I'm Mexican and German, quite a combination. However, I really like St. Patrick's Day and I like playing it up. When I was younger it was more about the green beer, and now with kids it's more about the leprechaun traps, but it's all fun. This year Laylah has had an especially busy Irish season. She's made leprechaun traps at school where they have their own leprechaun, Jamie, who makes all sorts of mischief but never gets caught. She had a St. Patrick's Day party at school and was invited to another at a friend's house. We've gone on leprechaun hunting walks, and read books about how to catch one. We're making our own traps to place in every room of the house, just in case, so that no matter where that sneaky leprechaun goes he'll be sure to be caught somewhere. She painted shamrocks for the windows, walls and doors. We're having shamrock shaped french toast for breakfast with green eggs baked inside shamrock shaped green pepper slices. We're going to watch "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" for the first time. I highly recommend this old Disney movie; a pre-Bond Shaun Connery ain't too bad on the eyes either. All is in readiness. Today we added the last touch for our numerous traps. Leprechaun Bait. Minty green little morsels of shortbread just perfect to lure a leprechaun into our clutches. I came up with the idea from a recipe I found on Pinterest, but I added my own spin. They are quite tasty too, if someone larger than a leprechaun had to, say, go around to all the traps in the middle of the night taking said bait and eating it herself while leaving a leprechaun sized mess behind. I don't know if they taste good with green beer, but the Pear Vodka and Midori martinis we're making tomorrow night might be the perfect bonus. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Leprechaun Bait

1 cup butter
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
two drops green food coloring
1/3 cup green sugar

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix butter and sugar (both green and white) until creamy then add the mint extract and green food coloring. Add flour a little at a time until all incorporated. The dough is a little dry so you'll have to kneed it a little to get it into a nice smooth dough. Lay the green dough on a parchment lined cookies sheet and roll out into a rectangle-ish shape approximately 3/4 inch thick.

Take a knife or pizza cutter and cut into little squares about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch, small enough for a leprechaun to handle easily.

Put the whole thing in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. It will get slightly golden around the edges. After they are done take the same knife and go back over the lines of the squares to separate the individual cookies. Let cool a few more minutes then place strategically in leprechaun traps, possibly in little sealed baggies so the ants won't be tempted but the leprechauns can still get to them. I'm hoping they work. I want to re-do the master bath and a nice big pot of gold would do nicely.

Sick Day Cookies

When you have small children, especially if any of them spend any amount of time outside of the house, at playgrounds, school, play dates, the store, the mall, daycare, etc., it is inevitable that they will bring home some kind of virus that will get everyone sick, no matter how many times you wash their hands or slather them in anti-bacterial stuff. They put things in their mouths, they lick things, they hug and kiss each other, they wipe things. There really is no avoiding it. In our house this year we spent the time between Halloween and New Years taking turns being sick with some form of cold, ear infection, or flu. I tried everything to make it stop. In January it seemed to calm down a little and we've only been slightly sick once since then. Knocking on wood as I type. During this last episode (because I was desperate not to have another three months of stuffy noses, coughs, and sore throats) I decided I would make a treat that put everything in it that could help prevent a cold, and also treat one if it's already invaded your home. All the stuff my daughter refuses to take when she's sick. Echinacea, flax seeds, honey, wheat germ, blueberries, prunes, ginger, elderberry syrup. If I could have figured out a way to squeeze garlic and lemon juice in there I would have. Hence, Sick Day cookies were invented. And, I'm proud to report that they not only taste great, but this last cold lasted only two days, the adults did not catch it, and we have not been sick again since. Again, knocking on wood. Connor loved them too. These, along with chicken soup will be my new go-to remedy when we have sick people. Now if only I could figure out how to get someone to make them for me when I'm sick, too.

Sick Day Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
one packet Celestial Seasonings (or other brand) Echinacea tea
1/4 cup ground flax reads
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tblsp Elderberry syrup
Choice of blubbery preserves, prune "amazins", dried cranberries, or honey for garnish

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugar until creamy. Tear open tea packet and add dry leaves to the mix. Add Elderberry syrup. Add flour in increments. When it's all mixed in start adding the flax and wheat germ. This will form a nice solid smooth dough.

Place walnut sized balls about two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Here's the fun part. Depending on your preference you can just flatten them with a criss cross fork pattern (like peanut butter cookies) and leave them plain, Laylah's preference. Or you can make them into thumb print cookies and add a dollop of blueberry preserves. Or you can make thumbprints and fill them with prune pieces, dried cranberries or cherries, whatever strikes you or it handy.


Bake for about ten minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. Let cool, they will be soft when they first come out but harden after cooling. I like to put raw honey on them and eat them that way. Addicting!!! Plus honey is so uber good for colds it's ridiculous. They were a big hit at our house and I'd like to think they helped us get over our colds faster. More experimenting is probably in order, but I hope I won't have to make them again too soon!

The perfect cookie for Valentine's Day

Hi everyone. I haven't written in what seems a very very long time, since before Christmas. This is because Christmas was very busy, January was filled with getting everyone healthy and putting in ear tubes, and now February has come along way too fast and I need to write something quickly before it's over. Valentine's Day is one of my favorite times to make treats. Along with Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, my children's birthdays, or just wednesday. But on Valentine's Day you can make them pink. Pink makes me happy. Pink is Laylah's favorite color. This year instead of pink frosting on something (kind of overdone in my opinion) I decided to actually make a pink cookie, and....wait for it....NOT USE RED FOOD COLORING!!!! Dear God, is that possible??? Yes, yes it is. And they are very pink, and very yummy. I did kind of steal the idea but I added my own twist, as usual. So here they are White Chocolate Maraschino Cherry Valentine's Day Cookies!

Pink Wonderfulness Cookies filled with LOVE

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup for the dough and 1/4 for the coating
1 cup butter
3/4 cup finely chopped maraschino cherries, drained and saved
2 tblsp maraschino cherry juice
1 cup white chocolate chips for the dough, 1 cup melted for the coating
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons shortening
Sprinkles

With batter attachment on your mixer, if you have one, if not a normal whisk is probably fine, add the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and butter. Mix until crumbly, like you're making pie crust. Add the maraschino cherries. The dough will be crumbly so add the cherry juice and almond extract to help it come together to make a smooth dough. Add the white chocolate chips and mix till evenly distributed.

Make cherry size balls of dough and place about two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Get a glass with a nice smooth bottom and wet it a little then stick the glass in the reserved 1/4 cup sugar and press the cookies with the sugared glass till they are flattened rounds about a 1/4 inch thick. They will be bumpy because of the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for about twelve minutes, they will get a little golden around the edges.

When the cookies are cooled melt the rest of the white chocolate chips with the shortening in the microwave for one minute at a time until smooth. Dip half a cookie in the white chocolate and put on parchment paper. I added Valentine's Day Sprinkles I found at Michael's on the melted chocolate so that it would stick, but you can leave them off or just use red sugar. Let the chocolate harden, this takes about five minutes. Then try not to eat them all at once. Since these cookies are so small this recipe made about sixty of them. We gave them to Laylah's teachers in their goodie bags as well as a few friends and family. This one is a keeper! Happy Valentine's Day! Enjoy!