Posts Tagged ‘cookies’

Not too much of note going on around here this week. I've been working on a quilt for the new baby girl and Rob is knitting her an afghan, but it's doubtful that either one of these projects will be completed before her expected arrival. Megan is scheduled for a C-section on Valentine's Day. She is having frequent doctor visits and tests and so far has been doing very well. Drew had already arrived by this point. We are thankful that this little one isn't following in her big brother's footsteps in that regard. We will appreciate your prayers for continued good health throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.

I have finished up a couple of little girly projects, including:

Two more pink blankets:

A mesh bag for all the little socks that tend to get lost in the wash. (When Megan was a baby Rob came home from work one afternoon and when he changed clothes he discovered he had worn a shirt with a baby sock in the armpit all day.) I saw the idea on Pinterest but there were no instructions so I just had to come up with my own spin-off.

This little "toy" is like one I made for Ryan that he has really enjoyed playing with. It's just two pieces of flannel with a piece of crinkly plastic cut from an empty baby wipe container sewn inside. Babies seem to love hearing the noise from crinkly things. Ryan kept wanting to play with the baby wipe container so I thought I'd make him a toy from an old one. The plastic is a little hard to stitch. I found that it helped to put strips of tissue paper on top of the plastic and then it was much easier to stitch.

My dear husband got me a big bag of shelled pistachios last week so I made a batch of these cookies. They are really tasty and are a pretty Christmas cookie with the red cranberries and the green from the pistachios.

I have a question for the quilters who read my blog. I am using a spray adhesive to "baste" the layers of my quilt together this time. Have any of you used this technique before? So far it seems to be working very well.

Becka

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Rob and I were busy this fall making a few items for Christmas gifts.

I made several people these sets of kitchen towels and dishcloths:

I also made some Christmas themed insulated mats that can be used under casserole dishes:

Rob knitted flower headbands for Nora and Megan:

He also knitted a couple of shawls that are going to be worn in a campus production of Fiddler on the Roof this spring. Here's one of them:

I made a jungle themed quilt for Ryan but unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt. Here's a picture of the layout:

I made these little fleece sleep sacks for Ryan and the new baby girl:

I made another one of these wreaths from an old hymnal:

Jan, one of my faithful readers from Iowa sent me this delicious cookie recipe in a lovely Christmas card. I had some of the little Christmas cupcake liners which fit into the mini muffin tins and decided to use them even though I did make them after Christmas. These cookies are quite tasty and would also work for Valentine's Day or for a shower or tea.

Cherry Miniatures

1 3 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (I used almond extract)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
(plus more for decoration)
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans) (almonds might be good too)

Glaze Ingredients:
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
approximately 1 Tbsp. cherry juice

Cream softened cream cheese and butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add combined dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir in cherries and nuts. Place rounded teaspoons of dough in miniature muffin pans that have been greased or lined with miniature cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 mins. or until lightly browned. Remove from pans and allow to cool. Make glaze and spread cupcake tops with it. Decorate with cherries. Makes 3 to 4 dozen.

To make glaze:
Combine sifted powdered sugar with enough of the cherry juice to make a glaze.

Keep this in mind for your next event when you need a pretty, dainty little cookie.

Becka

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I signed up to make some cookies for our Women's Missionary meeting at church this month and decided to make these Fudge Puddles. It's an old recipe we found in Southern Living several years ago. These cookies are a bit easier than some filled cookies because you just make small balls of the cookie dough and place in mini muffin tins. After they are baked the cookies "fall" in the center making a perfect little indention for the delicious chocolate filling. If you are looking for a new Christmas cookie recipe to try this might be a good one.

Fudge Puddles

Cookie Dough:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Chocolate Filling
2 cups chocolate chips
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and peanut butter. Add sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Blend well. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour. Roll into 48 1 inch balls and place in mini muffin tins. Bake at 325 degrees for 12-14 mins. Cool in pans for 10 mins. and then remove to racks to cool.

When cookies are cool make filling: Combine chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until chips melt. Spoon into a gallon size ziploc bag. Seal the bag and then clip off one of the corners. Pipe filling into cookies. Can garnish with chopped peanuts if desired. Cool. These freeze well. Leftover chocolate filling is delicious warmed and served over ice cream or pound cake.

Becka

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A few weeks ago I had the discouraging experience of finding weevils in a brand new bag of flour in the pantry. This necessitated a thorough checking of everything in the pantry. I ended up disposing of some things and putting some things in the freezer and as much as possible in glass jars or tupperware-like containers. In the process I found some odds and ends that needed to be used up. One of these items was a half bag of dried blueberries. I found this cookie recipe and tried it recently. These cookies are really good--now I may need to go out and buy some more dried blueberries!

Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dried blueberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl cream butter with sugars and vanilla. Add eggs then baking soda and salt. Stir in oats, flour, blueberries, and chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 mins. or until lightly browned. Cool briefly on cookie sheets before removing. Makes about 5 dozen small cookies.

You can substitute raisins or craisins for the blueberries. The white chips would be good with cranberries but you might want to use chocolate chips with the raisins or you could substitute chocolate covered raisins for a taste thrill.

On a totally unrelated note another wild creature was in our house this evening:

Becka

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I'm hoping to have time this weekend to do another post about the wedding, but until then I thought I'd post this recipe that I already had here in the computer.

For Nora and Topher's wedding reception we had cake, groom's cake, fruit, a variety of cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, coffee, and punch. I realized that I had never posted the recipe for these cookies on the blog. They are one of our favorites. I found this recipe in a church cookbook years ago. Before the wedding I experimented and found that you can prepare the balls of cookie dough, roll them in powdered sugar and then freeze them on a tray. After they are frozen they can be slipped into a ziploc bag. When we baked them we just baked them for about two minutes longer than normal and they turned out great. This was a big timesaver in preparing for the wedding.

Double Chocolate Treasures

2 cups chocolate chips, divided
1 stick margarine or butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups oatmeal (not cooked)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
about 1 cup powdered sugar

Melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips and then set aside to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs, vanilla, and melted chocolate. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix into the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats and remaining cup of chocolate chips. Shape the dough into 1" balls and roll in powdered sugar, coating heavily. Place on cookie sheets (I like to line them with parchment) and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 mins. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheets. Roll in powdered sugar again while they are still warm if you like a heavily sugared cookie. Makes about 5 dozen.

Baby Ryan is absolutely darling and we have come up with any number of excuses to run out and see him. Here's one of his latest photos:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Becka

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