Peanut & Purls & Halloween Cookies

The Nicolai sisters have always made sugar cutout cookies at Christmas time. It's one of our Nicolai-sister traditions. As grownups, we sometimes get a little creative with our cookies and they maybe don't end up being as traditional as our mom would like. I'm usually the one spearheading the cookie project. I'll gather up the sisters and try to get them to commit but inevitably what happens is...

Book Report Inspiration: Cowboy Cookies!!!!

After writing about True Grit last week, it seems like I have Westerns on the brain. Add that to the fact that Melanie Blodgett of You Are My Fave instagrammed about monster cookies last week and the obvious result is cowboy cookies. As near as I can tell, cowboy cookies have no real connection to actual cowboys, but what cookies do?

1 Cup Cat.

What's this???

 Peanut, there's a cat on it!

 Genevieve, CATS!

 Not just any cats, measuring cup cats!

 And you can stack them!

Thanks to Kitty for the awesome birthday present. I used them today!

suzie homemaker

I just finished a marathon baking session--over four hours of stirring and dough rolling and powdered sugaring. Dang, son! I am thoroughly dusted with every baking ingredient known to man, but I have treats to take tomorrow, so mission accomplished! Full details (recipes and pictures) will have to be left for tomorrow because I am tired, tired, tired, and there's a sink full of dishes. How do housewives manage? Riddle me that.

Here's a melange of treats. Hey, don't look askance at them.
I'm too done with tonight to make them look pretty.

These were baked by my dear friend Betty. I was beyond
excited when I found them on my desk this morning.  Beyond.

Here's poor, patient Matilds. All ignored while I'm baking.

And here's a dark, dark, darkling thrush picture of my tree.

A few things I've realized during tonight's baking escapades: 

1. I need more parchment paper. 

2. I would love a gel mat for the kitchen floor. 

3. And baking while listening to Gaga is the way to go. 

Bloated dead-finger cookies.

Nothing says Halloween treats quite like these delicious (yet disgusting) shortbread finger cookies.

I made some to take to our fundraiser at work. You might think that dead-finger cookies wouldn't go over well at the Washington State Senate, but let you tell you what...these cookies sold out pretty fast. I like them because they aren't too sweet, and they are just gross enough to be great.

I got the recipe from the book The Secret Life of Food.  There are some other fun recipes, but this one is by far the best. The fingernails are almond slices, and they look all cracked and gross (but great).

I also carved this pumpkin at work for our fundraiser.
It was decided that the pumpkin looked cautiously optimistic.

In other news, I'm done knitting one sock. I'll post them once I'm done with the other. I bet you can't wait!

Eat me: zombie cake

Tonight is bad movie night at Aaron & Megan's. Season of the Witch is on the agenda, and dessert is my department, so I decided to attempt a sweet creep-out chocolate cake. For inspiration, I turned to British baker and cake designer, Lily Vanilli. I've seen a couple of her cakes floating around the internet and like everyone else in the universe, I'm pretty dang impressed.

cake of the recently undead via Lily Vanilli Cake Design

Awesome? Yessir. Now here's my replicant. 

My zombie fingers are made from cookie. I think Lily Vanilli uses marzipan or something fancy. I just sculpted these suckers from dough and baked them resting atop some rolled parchment paper (to keep their graspy-reachy curve intact). I've seen some people use red sugar-glue (confectioner's sugar, red food coloring, and a little water) to stick on the slivered almond nails, but I used chocolate frosting. I mean, this cookie person is crawling up from the depths of their baked grave...there's going to be some chocolate dirt.

Now for a little Season of the Witch teaser. 

birthday cards, birthday cake

My main birthday request was for Mom's carrot cake and birthday cards from Mom and the sisters. While, I'm still waiting on a card from Monika (that's right, Monika, still waiting), I did get my cards and cake from Mom and Catherine. 

From Mom

From Catherine

If you're curious about the jelly card, it's by:

And the CAKE!

I even have one piece of carrot cake left in the fridge.
That's right, I brought some home with me. And the birthday marches on!

sweet tooth

Why yes, I do still have molasses cookies in the freezer, but I was craving something a little different on Sunday afternoon. Different like this:

Sugar and Spice Pecans 


1 egg white
1 TB water
2.5 cups pecans
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt


Beat the egg white and water until frothy. Add pecans and stir until coated. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the pecans and stir again. (I did it in three batches.) Heat your oven to 250 degrees and line a baking sheet in tin foil (there is the definite possibility of a cooked-on sugar mess with this recipe). Spread the coated pecans on the baking sheet. You'll need to stir them every 10 minutes so they roast evenly and don't stick to the tin foil forever. Bake 50 minutes total. Remove from oven, let cool, and eat them like there's no tomorrow.

Admiring my teacup and saucer?

I found them at a Tacoma estate sale for 50 cents. They're from Germany. Bonn, to be exact. And I certainly don't use them for tea. No, sir. I don't drink hot liquids of any kind. (That's the devil's temperature.)
I use this teacup to store my ghost toys.

And there they are, just waiting for some ghost children.

c is for cookie

I needed cookies this weekend. Big time. So, I called Mom and forced her to read me Grandma Schaffer's recipe for molasses cookies over the phone. Good idea or great idea? Either way, what bliss. (You're right. That is a quote from The Addams Family.)

Grandma Schaffer's Molasses Cookies
by Helen Schaffer


3/4 cup butter (actually, the recipe calls for oleo, but you don't need to get into that {if you even know what it is}. Butter will do nicely.)
1 cup sugar, plus a 1/4 cup for dusting
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves (didn't have that, so I subbed nutmeg)
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Let cool. You could beat that egg while you're waiting. In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, molasses and the beaten egg. Congrats! You've just taken "care of the slippery stuff", as Mom said while reading the recipe.


Now, sift together flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. (Or you could not sift. I don't own a sifter, so I never sift.) Add the dry ingredients to wet and mix. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for ten minutes or so. Use that time to heat up your oven. Grandma wrote 375 degrees on the recipe card, but she added a note that 350 degrees would probably be OK too. I baked at 350 and all was well.


Remove the dough from the fridge and form into 1 inch balls. Roll the balls in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Presto! Scrumptious cookies!


Still hungry? Here are a couple blog recommendations:


Nick Eats Food Follow Nick as he embarks on the food adventure of a lifetime! (P.S. Nick is Catherine's boyfriend. Just thought you should know.)


Gluten Free Indy Rachel dishes (yes, that is deliberate) on the ever-expanding world of gluten free food. I have tasted of this world and found it delicious. (Rachel is my friend--she's also a stellar cook. I can vouch big time.)

baking and more baking

I've spent a good part of the last 4 days baking all manner of sweet things. Vanilla-orange cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut for dinner with Maya.

Chocolate teacakes and peanut butter and jelly heart cookies for the Campbell House volunteers at the MAC.

And then there was the slightly unfortunate incident of the lemon-glazed lemon cookies.

I used organic whole-wheat flour and the cookies were just not feeling it. They were supposed to go along with the PB&J and chocolate teacakes, but I just can't give them to volunteers because they aren't quite perfect. I mean, the lemon cookies are very good (and don't they look pretty in their jars?), but the whole wheat flour has a texture that regular unbleached all-purpose flour does not. So, the lemon cookies are staying with me...or maybe I'll send some to the sisters. We'll see how the week shapes up.

Oh, and more almonds. Always more almonds.

Seriously. Yum.

Merry Christmas Cookie!

I love food coloring bottles. They're just so festive.
Plus, their little caps look like gnome hats!

Before I eat my Christmas pizza, which is regular pizza with the word Christmas attached, here's a last minute Christmas cookie recipe...like really last minute because it's 8:45 on Christmas Eve. What are you doing reading this? Maybe a better question would be: What am I doing writing this? True story: I came home from work and played with Matilda and then fell asleep on the floor for 45 minutes, so I'm just getting around to this now. It's fine.

Cornflake Wreaths
1/2 cup butter
50 large marshmallows
5 cups cornflakes
1 tsp vanilla
green food coloring
red hots

Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the marshmallows and cook on medium heat until melted. Keep an eye on them because once they start melting they can burn pretty quick. Stirring is a good idea. Add the vanilla and food coloring. How much food coloring? That, my friend, is up to you. But I add food coloring until everything starts looking vaguely Ninja Turtle-ish. Remove from heat and add the cornflakes. Stir, stir, stir, until everything is nice and coated. Let the mixture cool for a bit or you'll burn the crap out of your hand skin during the next step.

A piece of wax or parchment paper will be your work surface. Use a little butter or Crisco on the paper and on your hands. Gross? Maybe you think so now, but if you choose not to go that route, you'll regret it. Believe me. After the mixture has cooled a few minutes, grab a clump and shape it into a wreath. Keep doing this until your pot is empty. Now you'll add the red hots. I like 3 per wreath. That's it! Give them time to cool completely and you're ready to go.

Well, that was loads of fun. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

sigh

My week's all out of whack. I don't know where it went off the rails exactly, but it did and there's no getting it back. I had big plans for today. It was going to be a baking day and a project day (time to get started on Christmas--I'm vastly behind schedule already) and a take-advantage-of-the-sunlight-coming-through-the-window-to-get-some-pictures-of-my-succulents day (so I could finally do that post). But you know what happened? I ended up watching all 3 episodes of Conan this morning. So far not too bad. And then I was going to make soup and some kind of cheddar biscuits and a batch of granola (with honey this time), but I was missing some crucial ingredients. The granola and soup were both nixed. The cheddar biscuits were put on hold while the butter softened. I had to eat up some time...so my plans were altered to include The West Wing. I mean, who didn't see that coming? The apartment was sort of cold, and I felt like I wanted to be under a blanket--blanketing. All right, shut up.


Well, I've got a cheddar biscuit recipe for you at least. Oh, and the knowledge that I'm working on crafty projects and won't be able to reveal details until after Christmas. Actually, until after Second Christmas, which will take place the second week in January, when the sisters and mother and I can all be together. I hope the results will live up to the anticipation. If, that is, the anticipation exists for any of you. Does it?

It wouldn't have killed me to dress this up a little.
A sprig of something green at least.

Cheddary Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 cups butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
(I used vanilla soy because that's what I had. Totally fine.)
1 cup shredded cheddar
(I image garlic, sage, pepper, onions would all be good additions.)


Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and butter together. You want the butter to be mostly cold (not melted!), and the mixture to get kind of pebbly. Beat the egg and milk together and add that to the flour/butter mixture. Add the cheddar, but don't over-mix! Just a couple times around the bowl. Get a little extra flour and knead the whole mess a few times for good measure. You can either make little biscuit blobs, or get out a rolling pin and roll the dough out and cut the biscuits in whatever shape suits your fancy. I went for a scone sort of shape. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them if your oven is at all sketchy (like mine). You never know when things will take a turn for the worse.


Also, it has not escaped me that today is Veteran's Day. While writing all the stuff I just wrote, I felt like I was being hostile, but when I read over it...I don't know. I guess not?


Well.


I read President Obama's Veteran's Day Proclamation. It's nice.