Christmas Cookies

I did a lot of tree trimming today!

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What I Did Wednesday #28

1. Bagged the wedding favor cookies and tied with ribbon.  300 bags and 150 yards of ribbon.  I felt like I was almost done, but it still took my 5 hours to do this last step! 
2. The washer broke Saturday.  Repair man came Tuesday.  It's more cost effective to buy a new one, which is coming tomorrow.
3. Fortunately, I had all the laundry caught up the day the washer broke, so I've only had to do 2 small washes in the sink.
4. Dusted 2 rooms.
5. Added water to the outdoor fountain.  This is in a courtyard outside our bedroom.  I love the sound of the water in the night.  The Mister says it keeps him awake!  He had to go out and unplug it last night. ha.
6. Watered the tomato plants.  They still haven't been planted!  Too busy this week!  Socks seems to be guarding them. ha.
7. Cleaned the bathrooms, restocked the essentials.
8. Noticed the rosebushes are blooming!  These are Carefree Delights.  Love them!

Did you have a nice day?

Lovely weather here...comfortable breezes...perfect for having the windows open.

Tomorrow I work an auction.  Hope there's lots of neat stuff in the trash. :)

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Wedding Cookie Favors

Wedding Favors

300 vanilla sugar cookies

Three days of baking.

Two days of frosting.

Tomorrow I bag them and tie with a ribbon.

Tonight I sleep well.

haha.

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Celebrating Easter

A few days worth of preparations all came together today as we celebrated Easter.

The miracle of Christ's resurrection and his victory over death was remembered in

our church service and in our prayers as a family.

 We started the day eating these giant cinnamon rolls with warm buttermilk glaze. 

I used a recipe of my crescent roll dough, rolled out and filled with butter, brown sugar and

lots of cinnamon.  Roll, slice into 12 huge rolls, rise and bake 25 min at 350.

 Easy to make and smelled so good while they were baking that we had to

sample them the day before, too!

 And I think the cross cut-out cookies ended up being my favorites! 

 I used edible ink markers for the detailing. It's always fun to make up the Easter baskets. 

 Taylor's little basket is a Longaberger one that I bought him for his very first Easter.

  It has a little chocolate stain on the outside from his little toddler finger that

 I smile at every year when I pull it out. :)

Fresh flowers, an old ceramic bunny and chocolate eggs make the foyer table cheerful!

Trader Joe's naturally flavored Citrus Gum Drops have become a tradition in recent years.

I went the natural route coloring eggs this time.  Check out the process HERE!

And I can't resist making some cookie eggs with fancy frosting.

British chocolates are so sweet with their nest and chick wrappers.

I love the way they look under this etched dome.

Nothing smells better than homemade rolls rising and then baking!

The traditional ham was dressed up in a pineapple-mustard-brown sugar  glaze and I tried a new recipe, Braised Ginger Carrots, from the book French Women Don't Get Fat.  The devilled eggs got dressed up with the first little snips of dill from my herb pots!

These crescents beat anything from a can.  If you'd like to try them, the recipe is HERE.

Dessert was layers of scratch yellow cake with raspberry preserves in the middle and a lemon drizzly glaze poured over the top.  Gloria's raspberry ice cream was the perfect accompaniment and the first ice cream I've made this year.  If was fun to pull the ice cream maker out, too!

I'm stuffed, sitting here with a cup of hazelnut coffee and feeling sleepy.

I hope you've had a wonderful day!

I'll be back in the morning with my "H" word for the

A to Z Challenge!

♥

What I Did Wednesday #16

1. Added a little Christmas cheer to the pot of ivy on top of the frig
2. Put out some candy in the crystal ice buckets I picked up from the auction trash.
3. The little Homer Laughlin Christmas plate is from the auction trash, too. It fit perfectly in my vintage metal stand. Now it sits in the foyer, offering candy to anyone who knocks on the door.
4. The last of the gift baskets were shipped today. I love that you can now print labels and pay postage online and even request that the post office pick up your packages from your home. How easy is that!
5. Finally finished decorating the Christmas tree!
6. Watered the little pink variegated poinsettia that jumped into my grocery cart last week.
7. Tried my hand at baking shortbread for the first time.
8. Brought out Mr. Penguin. See, Pat. It really is a zoo here!
9. Watched a little dusting of snow fall this morning.
10. Baked a few dozen ginger bread men.
11. Let Tiger come in for a visit. He sat like a prairie dog beneath the bird cage most of the time.
12. Noted the new extra large yard lake from days and days of rain!
13. Baked and decorated snowflake cookies.
14. Enjoyed putting out my glass bird ornaments
15. Hung a big shimmery star about my desk.
16. Noted a petrified slice of banana on the floor in the foyer. Yep. I need to stop making gift baskets and clean the house. ha.
17. Fed kittens this morning. Two large kittens (Whiskers and Tiger) and 5 little kittens (new litter who 'found' me). I thought it was funny how they lined up on opposite sides of the bowls. ha.
18. Put a little bird tree in the kitchen. Because, if Susan Branch can do it, so can I! :)
19. Set out my vintage Christmas postcard collection.

I hope you had a wonderful day!

What did you do?

♥

Easter Lamb Sugar Cookies

For more Sweets for a Saturday recipes, click HERE!

Yes, I'm counting sheep!

I've had this darling Brown Bag Cookie Mold for ages

but never used it until today. Their website has special

dough recipes formulated for the molds and several

helpful hints in making the cookies. If you are interested

in visiting their website, click HERE!

These are big cookies! Bigger than my hand!

It was kind of like playing with Play-Doh!

After baking, I did a thin rough coat of frosting. Then used a pastry bag and tip to make the wool. The website gave a lemon sugar cookie recipe. I adapted it to

almond since I made lemon brownies today.

********

Cookie Mold Almond Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 T almond extract

1/2 T water

2 cups flour

1/4 t salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, extract and water.

Add flour and salt and mix well.

Chill dough 20 minutes.

Lightly oil and flour mold.

Mold cookies and bake 350 for 14 minutes or until edges are brown.

One recipe made 5 cookies.

******

I think they will look cute tucked into the Easter baskets!

And they smell wonderful!

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Tearoom Peaches

These beautiful cookies always get attention on a dessert buffet.

They look complicated but are easy to make

and delicious, too.

cookies are baked... two are held together with frosting... after quickly running under tap water, they are rolled in orange and then red colored sugars. Peaches certainly are a *a-hem* sexy looking fruit, wouldn't you say? lol. RECIPE 1/2 c sugar 1/3 c butter, soft 1 egg 1/4 c lemon juice 1 t lemon extract 1/2 t baking powder 2 c flour In mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add egg. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined. Shape into balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 325 degrees for 15 minutes or until bottoms are barely golden and tops have not colored. FROSTING lemon icing...I just mixed a little soft butter, lemon extract and powdered sugar with a whisk. You don't need much...just about 1/2 c total. SUGARS 1 1/2 c orange sugar (add 2 drops red and 3 drops yellow coloring) mix and stir with back of a spoon until evenly combined. 1/2 c red sugar (2 drops red coloring) Hold cookies very briefly under tap water. Roll in orange, then red sugars.

Yum

♥

I've joined Sweets For A Saturday.

Click HERE for more recipes!

Autumn Wedding Favors

I've been working the last two weeks on a wedding order ~

chocolate oak leaf cookies...265 of them!

First you roll out, cut and bake the leaves.

Then you frost with one color and drizzle a contrasting

color in the middle. Run a toothpick through while wet

to get that marbleized look.

Next, using a pastry bag and tip, pipe a thicker

icing around the edge. Wine and gold colors are beautiful wedding colors for November, don't you think? After they are dry, give a little sparkly gold dust detail. Wrap in cellophane bags, tie with ribbon and tags.They will be laid at each place setting at the reception. Fun! Yum!

What I Did Today...

A group of ladies had a meeting last nigiht.

Refreshments were catered by me!

Hope they enjoyed them!

We're nibbling on the leftovers! Yum!

Come have a cookie and cup of tea with me!

What's your pleasure...coconut, almond sugar snowflake,

chocolate crinkle or iced chocolate heart?

Two Babies Born in Town....

...will be welcomed home with my

moon cookie baskets!

Welcome little ones! Sweet dreams!

Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

One of my blog readers requested my recipe for the Moon Cookies I posted in February. 4 c flour 1/2 t salt 1 t baking powder 2 sticks softened butter 2 c sugar 2 eggs 1 t vanilla 1/2 c cocoa Mix as for typical cookie dough. Chill 30 minutes. Roll out 1/2 " thick. Cut into desired shapes. Bake 350 12 minutes or until dry on tops and golden on edges.

Moon Cookies

I've always been fascinated with the moon!

So, it just seemed natural to make

moon cookies for a gift basket

for a new baby girl.

Hopefully the new mom and dad will enjoy

looking at and then munching on these sweet treats!