Lime Crescents

Because Dani Duck claims my blog is mouth-watering, and because I've not posted a recipe in a while, I thought y'all might want to see a recipe post for a change. :)

These beauties are Lime Crescents, or (sub)Lime Crescents as I like to call them because they really are sublime.  The flower sprinkles I put on them, maybe not so much, but in the depth of winter, I can either try to find my invincible summer or make my cookies spring-y. Guess which I opted for? Sorry, Camus.

I don't think I need to add that this is one of my favorite cookies. :)

Lime Crescents

cookie dough:
1 C butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1.5 T grated lime rind
1 T lime juice
3/4 C confectioners' sugar
2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt

drizzle:
2/3 C confectioners' sugar
1 T lime juice
green decorator sugar (I used different sprinkles in the photo above)

Directions:
1. Beat butter, egg yolk, lime rind, and juice in large bowl until smooth. On low, beat in confectioners' sugar, flour, and salt until blended. Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until firm.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Form 1 rounded teaspoon dough into 2.5 inch log; bend into crescent. Place on ungreased baking sheet (not too closely). Repeat with remaining dough.

4. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are just golden and tops are slightly cracked. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove cookies to wire rack and let cool completely.

5. Drizzle: stir together confectioners' sugar and lime juice in small bowl until smooth. Place wire rack with cookies over waxed paper. Decorate cookies with drizzle. Sprinkle with decorator sugar.

Makes about 4 dozen crescents.

Enjoy!


"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Virtual Cookie Swap!

My dear friend Michelle always has great ideas; this time it's a Holiday Cookie Swap. Here are the details:

Ever since my buddy Tom gave us a gift of salted peanuts from Whitley's, I've been a fan of their peanuts, so I like to find recipes that call for peanuts. And this one, Chewy Chocolate Peanut Bars, is from my alma mater, the University of British Columbia, which makes it doubly special for me.

Ooey-gooey, crunchy, and chocolatey...what more do you want?

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Bars

"Reminiscent of Almond Roca, this bar is more like candy than other bars. Thin, crisp and delicious, it's great with fresh fruit." I've never had it with fresh fruit, but there's no wrong way to eat this.

Bars:
2 C oatmeal (500 mL)
1 C graham wafer crumbs (250 mL)
3/4 C brown sugar (175 mL)
1/4 t baking soda (1 mL)
1/2 C salted peanuts (125 mL)
1/2 C corn syrup* (125 mL)
1/2 C melted butter (125 mL)
1 t vanilla (5 mL)

Topping:
1 6oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips** (170 g)
1/2 C smooth peanut butter (125 mL)

Bars:
Preheat Oven to 375F (190C).
Grease 10x15" (38x25 cm) pan with sides.
Combine oatmeal, graham crumbs, sugar, baking soda and peanuts; mix well.
Combine corn syrup with melted butter and vanilla. Stir into oat mixture and mix well.
Press firmly into pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Topping:
Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a double boiler.
Spread over warm, baked bars and let cool 10 minutes.
Cut into 2x1" (5x2.5 cm) bars and refrigerate to set.

*I had a jar of organic corn syrup to use up, but if you don't or don't want any part of corn syrup, you can try a substitution: recipes at  Food.com, Taste of Home, or alternatives at FitDay.

**We prefer less sweet desserts so I used bittersweet chocolate chips.

Hope you like them as much as we do!

Now go visit the other participants' blogs to see what scrumptious goodies they're handing out: [PLEASE NOTE: AS THIS POST WENT LIVE, SOME OF THE FOLLOWING HAVE NOT YET POSTED THEIRS YET, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO KEEP CHECKING ON THEIR SITES TO GET THEIR RECIPES!]
Alina,
Monica,
Kathy,
Carrie,
Michelle

Heads up: next week, my regular Monday post will be postponed (no pun here; move along) to Wednesday, December 19th for a special holiday edition dedicated to my very special sci-fi critique group, the "SFF Minnows."

Until then, have a terrific week...and bake lots!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Looking back

At the beginning of the year, which feels like yesterday but is actually about 352 days ago, I had publicly declared that I'd complete 6 sewing projects and 6 knitting projects this year. Was I too ambitious? I may never know because true to form, I stopped keeping track half way through the year and don't remember what I completed. Why is it that I can never keep good records? For some reason, people think I'm organized. I don't know why because I certainly never try to give that impression of me.

Of the things I do remember, here's a run-down of the sewing projects. I started off with the fleece jacket with the Darth Vader pattern fabric. Turns out it's a tad too small for either of my boys and they've not worn it even once. So, I'll be giving that away. I sewed 2 gift bags for my sister to use with her soaps, started sewing a laundry bag that I never finished, and hemmed several pairs of pants for hubby and my FIL.

For knitting, I made a pair of socks for me, a pair of baby socks for hubby's cousin's baby, am almost finished with another pair of socks for me, and am almost done with the third panel of a rug that I'm knitting with yarn I won from Robin's Rurification blog. Here are 2 of the panels, done (each panel measures about 1' x 3.5').

So, not exactly 12 projects total completed for the year (unless I completed other things that I can't remember...which is very possible), and I know I could do better, but why beat myself up for not doing it all?

Besides, what's more important is that I baked a lot too. Lots of loaves of bread

and cookies and kuchens

 and stollen

and more!

Also important was that I home-schooled the rugrats. Here is Son2 in his science group (I've blurred the faces of the other people in the photo for privacy reasons). I'm very grateful to my friend THS (to the left) who lead this co-op. I merely had to clean up our house before and after. :)

The chemistry lab I have to run by myself (materials courtesy of Meg who kept everything so well organized!). Son2 is doing it with Son1 so I won't have to repeat it again in a couple of years. I already have to redo the biology and physics labs with Son2 when the time comes. Sooo looking forward to that. ;P

In between the above listed things, I did some writing too, mostly thanks to the whip-cracking efforts of my critique group gang leader, Russell James (who has a terrific novel out that you can win on Goodreads.com).

Did you have resolutions this year? Did you keep up with them?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Virtual Cookie Swap

My Kids Eat Squid is doing a Virtual Cookie Swap this year for the holidays, and I've been invited to the party! I'm so excited...what shall I wear? Judging from my recipe, I guess I'll be wearing butter. And I'll probably be wearing it - right around my waist - until I start working out daily.

I got this recipe probably close to 30 years ago from a friend of my sister's. I only make it once a year because it is the epitome of decadence (by which I mean "fat").  Here's the recipe, with a few more notes underneath:

Whipped Shortbread

2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C icing sugar
3 C all-purpose flour

1) Beat butter until creamy
2) Blend in icing sugar
3) Add flour and beat for 10 minutes
4) Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
5) Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes
6) Cool cookies on rack

Makes about 72 cookies

Beating the batter for 10 minutes is only necessary for an old clunker like the Sunbeam mixer with the dual metal beaters. In a work-horse like the KitchenAid mixer, 5 minutes of beating is more than enough.

Be sure you remove the cookies from the baking sheet and onto the a cooling rack within 5 minutes of taking them out of the oven. Once the cookies cool completely on the sheet itself, you won't be able to remove them without breaking them.

(cookies, pre-baking)
Use a thin spatula to remove the cookies from the baking sheet. These cookies are ultra delicate (wouldn't you be if you were 30% air and 70% butter?). Even after they've hardened a bit after cooling off completely, you'll still need to handle them with care.

Crumbly goodness!

Here are the other folks doing the Virtual Cookie Swap - go visit them!

Blog: My Kids Eat Squid

Cookie: Nutella

Blog: GarlicGirl

Cookie: Peanuty Peanut Butter Cookies

  

Blog: Laura's Delicious Food

Cookie: Raspberry thumbprint cookies

Blog: Boston Food Swap

Cookie: Old-fashioned molasses cookies

Blog: Frugal Kiwi

Cookie: Chocolate Marshmallow Raspberry Cookie Delight 

Blog: MarthaandMe 

Cookie: TBD

What about you? What's your favorite holiday or general cookie to bake or to eat? Hope you find a fun new recipe at this swap to try!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Linzer Thumbprint Snowballs - a recipe

I realize I've been sporadic with my posts. As all of you busy folks know, that's what happens when life gets in the way. I will try my darndest to post once a week on a set date...haven't decided what the best day of the week is yet. Any suggestions?

My friend Michelle requested the following recipe from me. She thought they were really tasty. :)  I'm just thrilled when people enjoy my baking!

Linzer Thumbprint Snowballs

2 1/4 C flour
3/4 C walnuts, finely ground
1 t ground cinnamon
2 t grated lemon peel
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C (1.5 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 C raspberry jam [I had no raspberry jam in the house so I used Trader Joe Organic Strawberry Jam]
powdered sugar

Lightly grease cookie sheet. Stir together flour, walnuts, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Beat granulated sugar and butter in large bowl on medium speed until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Press thumb in center of each to make indentation. Fill each indentation with 1/2 t jam.

Bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 4 dozen.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

C is for Cookie; that's good enough for me!

The boys needed cookies for an exchange at their teen holiday party, so I baked oatmeal chocolate chippers (bottom of photo) and, one of my favorites, Chocolate Almond Bites (top):

I know you are lusting after those cookies, even with my lousy photo, so here's the recipe:

Chocolate-Almond Bites

2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks = 1 C = 1/2 lb)
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t salt
1 C toasted almonds, finely chopped

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a baking sheet.  On to a sheet of wax paper, sift flour with cocoa.  In a large bowl, with electric mixer on high beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until pale and creamy.  Beat in flour mixture, then almonds.

2) Shape heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and arrange on baking sheet.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until firm.  Cool briefly on the sheet before transferring to a rack.  Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

One thing I like about this recipe is that it's not very sweet; I don't have to half the sugar like I normally do for recipes.  I think this freezes reasonably well in case you want to make it a couple of weeks before you need them. 

Good as that cookie is, some of you are actually waiting for the following: stollen!

I'm following in my friends' footsteps and making stollen every year now. If you missed it previously, here's my tutorial from last year.

Hope you'll try making the cookie or stollen. :)

I am going to be taking a blogging break for a bit.  I've signed up for a writing class again this January/February, and that will eat up any spare minutes I have left in the day.  See you back here sometime mid to late February...unless I have some fabulous news I want to share.  LOL!

Wishing all my dear blogging friends a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Food, kids, upcoming giveaways

It's officially Autumn - both climatologically and astronomically - and because the weather is cooling, I'm back to happily baking, starting with Coconut-Cranberry Chews (thanks to Abby for the recipe!)I'm making tiramisu today, using the sponge cake recipe from the King Arthur Flour cookbook, and Lavender Soap's mascarpone topping recipe.

Last week, our friend, Carol, gave us some concord grapes. The harvest wasn't great this year, but there was enough to attempt a juice recipe I saw in Mother Earth News. Since we'd run out of quart jars from canning 80+ jars of tomatoes, I had to make do with other jars we still had left. But, aren't they cuuute? Egassner might recognize the smaller jars as the ones she'd canned tuna in (very yummy tuna it was too!).Here's the recipe by Suzanne Mullins of Charlottesville, VA:
Measure 2 cups of whole stemmed grapes into a quart jar.
Add 1 cup of sugar (more or less to taste)
Fill the container with boiling water.
Process it for 10 minutes in a water-bath canner.
6 weeks later, strain out the liquid, dilute this concentrate by half with water, and you'll have 2 quarts of ready-to-drink grape juice.

Speaking of cuuute, here are the teens (ds#1 is the hunched one to the left...egads that kid has bad posture) doing the biology lab - thanks, Meg for passing along your lab stuff and your knowledge!!! - that I'm running for them this year.
On Friday when dh had a late day, I made anchovy pizzas for dinner (using the dough recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day), and I also made bleu cheese dressing for the salad made with lettuces and greens from our garden. This is a bleu cheese dressing recipe from dh's mom that I've never tried before. It turned out really well! Here it is, in the little blue bowl that used to belong to my dear MIL, and the recipe in her own handwriting:As for the giveaway, the prize will be this handmade (by moi!) bone-motif ceramic bead. But, you'll have to come back mid-week for details. Yes, I'm a tease."I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Coconut Cranberry Chews

Courtesy of Abby - thank you so much, Abby!!

Makes about 6 dozen cookies
These are great to make and then freeze!

1 1/2 cups (3/4 lb.) butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1 1/2 cups butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes*. Mix in cranberries and coconut.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on buttered 12 by 15 inch baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350 degrees until cookie edges just begin to brown, 8-11 minutes. If baking 2 sheets at once switch their positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

* note from Teresa: it took me only about 1 minute on my KitchenAid mixer.

second note from Teresa: I overbaked mine by accident, but they were still incredible

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Incredible cookies, more ceramic art, etc.

Well, I'm back...didja miss me? Right, in my dreams. ;)

Yesterday, after doing ceramics in the morning, I made the Coconut-Cranberry Chews that Abby posted a recipe for (sorry, her blog is private, so I can't link you there). They turned out every bit as amazing as she said they were.

I made a few adjustments to suit what I had on hand. Instead of flaked coconut, I only had shredded, so I used that. I didn't have the kind of dried cranberries that I'm sure the recipe's originator was thinking of, but I had to use up some Just Fruits dried cranberries. They come as whole berries, so I had to chop them up: First I creamed the butter, sugar, vanilla, etc:Speaking of vanilla, I thought of my friend, S, as I put in one or two more teaspoons of vanilla than the recipe asks for. I never measure out vanilla. I free-hand it generously because I love vanilla so much.Here's the dough, all ready to go, creeping up the sides of my trusty, much-loved, KitchenAid mixer:The recipe says to butter the cookie sheet, but you know what? If you have one of these babies, you'll never need to butter another cookie sheet again:The brand is:and I got mine courtesy of dh's wonderful, wonderful Aunt Lee! She gave me one, and then when her sister moved into a retirement home, her oven was too small for those, and Aunt Rosemary gave me a couple more. Score!!

Here are the cookies, all done. I am not kidding you when I say that these are some of the best cookies I've ever had.So, back to ceramics. We got some more stuff done - some stunning leaf plates and a few ceramic beads.

Here is ds#1's hickory leaf plate:And ds#2's poke leaf plate:And finally, my sycamore leaf plate:They turned out really beautifully, and I think that over the holidays when I have some free time (yeah, I'm an optimist), I should set up an Etsy shop.

Our ceramic beads, our first tries, turned out pretty well too. I'll have to decide which to make into jewelry and which to sell as plain beads.And speaking of Etsy, here are some goodies I got from some of my blogging/Etsy friends: Gassner Custom Soaps, Spotted Cow Soaps, Twin Birch Bath & Body/One Bubble at a Time blog, and Ladybug Soapworks. Not everything I bought, nor the extra goodies these lovely ladies have thrown in, are shown because I've already started using some of the stuff. :}As for my own gifting, I've made some stuff to give away...hope none of my neighbors are reading this blog. Well, this has been a long enough post to make you go cross-eyed, so I will bid you all a fond Thursday farewell.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Food things, and other things

We had a restful weekend. Aside from hitting the Farmers Market for some honey, meats, and a blueberry plant, we mostly did work around and in the house. I wanted to do some baking even though we had a record high weekend in terms of temperature. We had one Key lime ripen, so I wanted to make lime crescents. Here's the little lime getting zested (the green zest came from store-bought limes):The crescents in the oven:Last year when I made the crescents, they were superb (I scribbled that on the recipe so I'd remember to make it again). This time, it wasn't nearly as good. Not sure why, but I suspect it may have been that not all the limes I used were ours (only the one little one). The other limes were organic ones that dh found in Kroger, but they weren't nearly as tasty.I also made Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins (shown in a dish ds#1 made in ceramics class):I baked hot dog and burger buns too. Does anyone know how to make buns look better? Mine turn out nicely after being baked (i.e. they're tasty), but they are the ugliest things before baking:I stayed up until 11pm (way past my bedtime) stringing up our chile peppers. I think they look rather like we're having Christmas in Santa Fe, don't you?Today we (3 moms and our various homeschooled kids) had a landscape painting workshop taught by a local artist, Judy Farnsworth. As usual, I completely forgot to bring my camera, and so I have no photos to post of our very fun and educational afternoon.

"Happiness depends upon ourselves." ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Soaps, soaps, soaps, and some cookies

Sorry, no sage, deep thoughts this week, but I believe they have some on sale half-price at the local Super-Valu.

I was trying to rid the sweet potato sap from my hands after sous chefing yesterday (didn't know sweet potatoes had sap, did you?), and while scrubbing my hand for minutes on end, it occurred to me that we have a lot of really terrific soaps in the house. I once asked Joanna, who is a much bigger soap addict than I am, how she manages to use all the great soaps she gets, because I'd love to use them all as soon as I buy them, but I can only use so many at a time, and the rest sit patiently in my bathroom closet waiting to be the next chosen one.

So, what do I have going right now? Starting at my sink, I have Lemongrass Clay soap from Vintage Fresh Soaps and Shower Butter in Pamplemousse from Twin Birch Bath and Body (don't ask why I have shower butter next to my sink, but let me tell you, that stuff is fabulous!).

Moving next door into the full bath, and dh's sink, we have Birch Bark Soap's Plum Spice soap, Product Body Lab's Mocha Espresso soap, Product Body's Crush On You in Yuzu, Twin Birch Bath and Body's Pamplemousse soap, and a bar of I-forget-what soap (but it's very mild) by Savonara.

In the kitchen, I have Under the Willow Gift Shoppe's Bennington Maple Sugar soap. Next door in the laundry room, I have Twin Birch Bath and Body's Starry Night Foaming Hand Wash, and Savonara's Soapstone Hand Soap.

Downstairs, I have one of Birch Bark Soap's sample bars, which I can't remember the flavor of right now, and Gassner Customer Soaps' Organic Foamy Soap in Lemongrass.

Waiting in the wings is Spotted Cow Soaps' Fruit Tonic Whipped Soap for my facial cleansing.

It's officially cookies season again, at least in my house. I made one of the guys' favorite yesterday: gingerbread drop cookies. Here's the dough:And here are the cookies:Yummy!

"Happiness depends upon ourselves." ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

Well, not really, but Elizabeth of Gracefruit asked that I share my holiday cookies recipes in her post, The Dreaded C Word. So here they are, my Christmas cookies that are total crowd pleasers. (Note: photo above does not show the cookies in the recipes below)

Whipped Shortbread

2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C icing sugar
3 C all-purpose flour

1) Beat butter until creamy
2) Blend in icing sugar
3) Add flour and beat for 10 minutes
4) Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
5) Bake at 325 F (um, sorry, not sure what the conversion is for C) for 20 minutes
6) Cool cookies on rack

Makes about 72 cookies

~~~~~~~~~~
Chocolate-Almond Bites

2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 sticks (1 C) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 C toasted almonds, finely chopped

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a baking sheet. Onto a sheet of waxed paper, sift flour with cocoa. In a large bowl, with electric mixer on high, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until pale and creamy. Beat in flour mixture, then almonds.

2) Shape heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and arrange on baking sheet. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until firm. Cool briefly on the sheet before transferring to a rack. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Enjoy!

"Happiness depends upon ourselves." ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)