Tag: Cooking and Baking

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Brownies

They may not be fancy, but they are good. These are the made-from-scratch kind of brownies. I got the recipe right off the box of my Baker’s unsweetened baking chocolate squares, Baker’s One Bowl Brownies. I never have pecans around, and so I always go for the chopped walnuts instead. Quick and easy.

I had my first sculpting lesson from Max today. I was told that I behaved myself and didn’t yell, although I did get a little frustrated at points. All in all, we both thought I did pretty well, better than I expected. Hence the need for a brownie reward. I was going to take a picture of my first kitten, but I was afraid to touch him/her because he/she wasn’t dry enough. At some point I will have to decide on a gender. It is always hard to tell with kittens, isn’t it 😉 So far my kitten makes me think of what a Maurice Sendak version of a kitten might look like, which is good, I think. Quirky, cute, a little odd.

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Sugar Cookies

Just checking in…These are really easy sugar cookies. I made them from the “Basic Drop Cookies” recipe in our ancient, stained, and falling-apart edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. It is so tattered the page with the date and edition have fallen out. I have a newer version, the 12th edition, and the “Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe in that is close enough. In fact, any basic drop cookie or chocolate chip cookie recipe will do just fine. Instead of nuts or chocolate chips, add a cup of golden raisins and you have it. I sprinkled sugar on top in the last two minutes of baking them.

I’m adapting a doll pattern so I can take some sculpting lessons from Max Bailey, and I’m working on getting a hand piecing tutorial installment of my Stitch-along together. That will take me a little time since the hand sewing part is a bit slow. Right now, I’m thinking a quilted pillow cover would be the best project to demonstrate with the bluebird block, since it is can be done more quickly, without a long wait or a chance of my getting distracted by other things 😉 I’ll try make the design quilt-friendly so more blocks can be added to the layout design if desired.

I’m also debating over whether or not I should be taking the two quilting classes I signed up for this year, as I have a backlog of projects from previous classes I would like to finish and not enough time for both. I really like going to class, as it affords me some out-of-the-house time and I like the social aspect of it. But the pile of unfinished projects causes me some stress, especially when I have work-related crafts projects to do as well. I haven’t made up my mind yet. I guess it will be made up for me if I don’t get to my homework!

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“Did you photograph them yet?”

Yes. Yes, I did. LOL. I know it is kind of strange to make your family wait to eat their cookies while you photograph them, isn’t it? Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t take nearly as long as it seems to take.

These are sand tarts, from my mom’s relatively old edition of Joy of Cooking. The latest copyright in it is 1964. I have the newer All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking version, but I wanted to make the same cookies we had when I was little. It could have been a little easier…Those old recipes have you sifting and resifting and sifting this with that. I guess that’s why I couldn’t find the recipe in my new version. I also couldn’t find our “Little Drummer Boy” or snowman cookie cutters. So, the Christmas bunny and the Christmas elephant had to stand in for them. Never heard of them? Well, never mind 😉

I iced them with confectioner’s sugar mixed with milk and a couple drops of vanilla, then sprinkled them with colored sugar. Now, they are ready to be eaten 🙂