Christmas Cookies

These are a favorite cookie that I blogged about a year ago and are shown above from Valentine's Day.

Nonie Cookies Revisited

I thought I'd share with you my family's favorite cookie recipe. This was my great-grandmother Eleanor's recipe for sugar cookies. They've since come to be called "Nonie Cookies" since she was "Grandma Nonie." It is a classic cookie recipe, enjoyed all year long. I like them a little thick, while my Mom likes them thin and crispy. See what you think.


NONIE COOKIES

Mix together 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar and a dash of freshly ground nutmeg. Make a well in the center and add 1 cup shortening, 1 egg, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well.

Roll half the dough on a floured cloth or board. Sprinkle with sugar and roll it in gently. Cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Bake at 350° until lightly brown. Roll and cut remaining dough. You can use colored sugars if desired.

Cocoa Drops with Browned Butter Icing

My nut roll turned out very nice. I probably should have baked two at a time instead of crowding them all onto one sheet, but it is delicious! I made the gingerbread, but haven't decorated it yet. It is quite tasty, especially with the fresh lemon and orange juice and zests!
I also made Cocoa Drops, which are a family favorite. They are frosted with Browned Butter Icing and it really makes it a stand-out, or outstanding cookie! This is a big batch. Feel free to make a 1/2 batch.

COCOA DROPS

Mix together 2 cups Crisco shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat well. Add 4 eggs and mix well and add 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well. I use a small cookie scoop, but you can drop by tablespoonful onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 12 - 15 minutes. Frost when cool.
BROWNED BUTTER ICING
Brown 1/4 cup butter, add 2 cups powdered sugar and enough milk to make the right consistency. (Make sure to really brown the butter. You want that toasted flavor, but not burned.)

Oh Nuts!

The Nut Roll dough is rising and the filling is made. I followed this gingerbread recipe and the wet ingredients are cooling. Oh my it smells so good with lemon, orange and spices! Watch this short video to see how fantastic this gingerbread looks.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/104296/food-network-originals-gingerbread-cookies
Now that I'm waiting, I think I'll bake some mini loaves of Aunt John's Nut Bread. Yes, her name was Lucille, but everyone called her John. I miss my Grandma. She used to whip up a loaf of nut bread in no time. I think I was about 11 or 12 when I wrote this card.
Note...there's no butter or shortening in this recipe. I have called my Mom several times to make sure I wrote it down correctly. It is simple and tasty.
More no-nuts recipes in the coming days!

Rugelach and Nut Roll Cookies

These are Ina's Rugelach from Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies newsletter. Rugelach have cream cheese in the dough, and a fruity filling.
My father-in-law gave me this recipe for Nut Rolls. It's a yeast-based dough that you roll out small balls, fill and roll individual cookies in sugar. (Make the dough the night before!)

NUT ROLLS

1/2 # melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 can evaporated milk
1 package dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 - 5 cups flour

Mix dough and put it in a greased, covered bowl. Refrigerate for 12 hours.

Filling: 1 cup ground nuts, 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, 1/8 cup water, 1/6 cup dark Karo syrup, 1/2 cup hot milk. Stir and cook filling to boiling point. Add one beaten egg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature.

Take a small ball of dough the size of a walnut. Roll thin in granulated sugar. Fill, roll and shape into a crescent. Bake at 350° 20 minutes...more or less.

I'll Never Buy A Nut Roll Again

I made a terrible mistake the other day and actually bought a nut roll at the grocery store! It was so tempting since I've been way too busy and nut roll is one of my favorite things at the holidays.
I am digging out my nut roll recipe to share with you since I vow to NEVER buy one again. The hollow, dry, flavorless dough is not worth the price. Yes, it takes awhile to make these, but you'll have extra for yourself, or to give as a gift. They freeze well...if you don't eat it all!

I haven't researched the history of the nut roll. I do know that it's an Eastern European recipe that is sometimes filled with a fruit spread or poppy seed instead of a nut filling. It's sometimes called Kolachi or Potica and comes from Poland, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovak recipes.
Take time to make these yourself. You won't regret it!

NUT ROLL
Makes 4 loaves

2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
2 cups warm milk
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 egg yolks
8 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm (not hot) water. In a large bowl mix the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar. Add the milk, egg yolks and dissolved yeast. Mix well and knead about 5 minutes, until it's smooth and elastic and doesn't stick (adding more flour if necessary). Place in a greased bowl and cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 2 - 3 hours).
Make the filling...
2# ground walnuts
2 cups sugar
12 oz. evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter
4 beaten egg whites to stretch the filling, if desired

I like to bake these on parchment paper, but I still spray a little bit of cooking spray on the paper. After the dough has risen, divide it into 4 pieces. Roll each piece to 1/8 to 1/4" thick. Spread with cooled filling. (Some recipes spread melted butter first, then the filling. Others spread the filling and drizzle with honey and/or cinnamon.) Roll it up like a jelly roll and place seam-side down on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with a light towel and let them rise for 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about 30 - 40 minutes, depending on your oven. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

*** "Hungarian Nut Rolls" are a little different. They're more of a roll and fill cookie and I'll share that recipe with you next.***

The Illustrious Yule Log

The holiday baking season, along with the release of "Julie and Julia", reminds me of watching Julia Child and wishing I could make the illustrious Buche de Noel or Yule Log. I can still hear Julia saying "Buche de Noel!" My childhood love of HoHo's had me longing for this rolled chocolate spongecake with chocolate ganache. Yum!
Last year I finally decided to try it. I don't have any Julia Child cookbooks, but I did have a hand-written recipe card in my recipe box for many years. When I was in my teens, I wrote down a lot of recipes from my Mom's recipe box, but I never knew her to make Buche de Noel. So, who knows where this recipe came from.Well, it ended up being a total flop! I was interrupted too many times with people and dogs and who knows what. The cake was over-mixed and was a rubbery mess, despite the long time it took to make the filling and frosting and assemble it.
I won't be trusting that old recipe card, if I even kept it! There are several online sources for Buche de Noel (or Yule Log) recipes. Some trustworthy, tested sites are the JoyofBaking, Food Network, Epicurious, and, of course Martha Stewart. I'm not sure yet which I'll try, but will take a look at the different styles, techniques, and ingredients to see what suits my tastes.
I am not a gourmet chef, but I do love to bake. Some tips for a sponge cake like this are, get yourself a jelly roll pan, don't use it for anything other than sponge cakes, and don't use waxed paper. Some recipes call for using waxed paper on the pan and I just can't get that smell of melted wax out of my head. While I use parchment paper for most other baking, I opt for aluminum foil for a sponge cake. It forms to the pan. You can grease and flour it easily and the cake comes off clean.
I hope this inspires you to make a Yule Log or Buche de Noel this year. Heck, I may even try the little marzipan mushrooms! Just keep in mind that looks don't matter as must as taste.

DATE NUT CAKE

There's no time to bake this week, but I wanted to share some recipes to start off the holiday season. I'd also love to hear from you. If you have a family favorite, a traditional seasonal dish or story to tell, feel free to share!
We baked a lot of goodies at Thanksgiving. Sarah and her cousin, Emily, baked two pumpkin pies from one big can of pumpkin. I opened a small can to make a quick pumpkin roll that morning and, not wanting to waste what pumpkin was left, we made a batch of cookies with frosting. Lots of pumpkin, but it was delicious! One tradition that was missing was the date nut cake. My grandmother's German background influenced many family food traditions, this one included. The Amish have a date nut cake recipe that's more pudding-like. This one is a moist cake with a warm sauce. I didn't make date nut cake this Thanksgiving, but it was traditionally served at both Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember.

DATE NUT CAKE

Put 1 cup of chopped dates in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and add 1 cup of hot water. Let stand.
Cream together 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 egg. Mix together 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. Alternate adding the flour and date mixtures to the creamed butter and mix well. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup chopped walnuts.
Bake at 350° in a greased and floured tube or bundt pan until it's done (time will vary depending on the pan size).
Cool completely.

SAUCE FOR DATE NUT CAKE

In a small saucepan, bring to a boil 1 cup hot water and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Mix a cornstarch paste with a little cornstarch and water. Add to boiling pan and stir until thickened. (Don't make it too thick.) Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Serve warm over date nut cake.


Stay tuned for more holiday recipes and food traditions and be sure to send me yours!

Warm Woolen Mittens

I just LOVE the way that Cascade Eco Wool felts. My husband has had a pair of Dachstein mitts for 30 years. They were popular among mountain-climbing outdoor adventurists, but they don't make them anymore. (I couldn't find them anyway.)
I had some wool leftover from making the hooded capelet below and thought I'd try to felt a pair of mittens. Felting (or fulling) can be quite challenging. You don't want to waste precious wool if you misjudge how much your project will shrink during felting. So, I took my time, felted a swatch and then one mitten. It turned out perfectly, if I do say so myself! Today, I felted the second mitten, along with a hat and matching pair of mittens in a mauve color. The trick to mittens is to check them often and to keep the thumb open. If you just let it go until it looks the right size, the thumb will felt together.
Mittens make a great gift. I especially like to wear mittens when skiing. So, when it's really cold, skip the gloves and wear your wool mittens!

Check out the Fiber Arts Friday post at http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/

...and Everything Nice

Repost from July, but I wanted to share this recipe with you again.
These are my favorite cookies from my Grandmother's recipe box!

SUGAR AND SPICE COOKIES

Cream together 3/4 cup Crisco shortening and 1 cup sugar. Add 1 egg and mix well. Add 1/4 cup molasses. Mix together then add to egg mixture: 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Mix well and chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into balls and place on baking sheet. Dip the bottom of a flat glass in sugar then gently press the cookie to flatten slightly. (Double dip for a little extra sugar.) Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until brown on the edges.

Having a cookie exchange this season? Visit my friend's blog and see these sweet invites!
http://www.boulieblog.com/2009/10/c-is-for.html

I've decided to post lots of cookie recipes this holiday! I plan to include some other family favorite feasts as well. Stay tuned! Looking for a recipe? I'm a recipe hound. Have a favorite you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about it.

Spooky

The Spirit Continues...

I mentioned my brother's art work in my previous post. He sent me some pictures from the many pieces that adorn his walls. Mixed with the monster collection, horror movie posters, Pabst Blue Ribbon and rock 'n roll ephemera are hundreds of guitars, line drawings, paintings and ceramic pieces like these. I picked my favorites to show you here. Chris is also designing and building handmade guitars in his spare time.

In the Spirit of Things

I've been so busy making things for the many shows that I have planned that I haven't taken time to decorate for Fall or for Halloween. Today, I am setting aside some time to clean and put up a few fun things to spook the kids and kick off the spirit of Halloween.
My favorite Halloween decorations are the black lights that I hang in the window and the vintage jack-O-lantern that is missing the clip-on light, but I put it over a basic candle lamp. There's something about things that glow that make this time of year special. For me, it's kind of a transition as the evenings get darker and calls for candles at Thanksgiving and twinkle lights at Christmas.I also love these two handmade pieces from my brother, Chris. I'm always encouraging him to create more. His love of guitars has taken over the creative side of his brain lately though. He has always been a big fan of Halloween and has a huge monster collection. He painted this fun sign on a piece of slab wood. This skeleton is a sample of the many skulls and Frankenstein masks that he's created over the years. There are so many gorgeous pieces on his walls and I really think that he should open a museum! (Perhaps we should collaborate and create a book of monster art or something.)I am also mesmerized by the art of Jack & Cat Curio. Something about Frankenstein in art always grabs my attention, but when I saw the beeeswax dripping from this Halloween collage, I had to ask them about it.
I asked Jack & Cat Curio to tell me a bit about themselves...
"We are a couple that love to stay up late creating mixed media pieces. We specialize in encaustic/beeswax collage. We compile different imagery and ephemera and then put it all under several layers of beeswax. Sometimes we use colored wax to achieve a certain look, other times a heat dye. Sometimes we stamp, imprint, and graph the wax.
We also specialize in digital imagery,trinkets and do-dads. Lesley also creates confectionery goods when not crafting with beeswax. We also travel and teach several workshops and classes on these topics."
I did look up "encaustic" and read that it was a technique using hot wax with pigments and that it was first used in Greek ship building to seal cracks in the ships and evolved into an art form from there.
You can visit JackandCatCurio.Etsy.com to see more of their beeswax collages, altered art, mixed media, and prints. I encourage you to visit their blog as well at http://JackandCatCurio.Blogspot.com. I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to their "Art Makin' Blues" playlist while writing this. I may just keep it playing and dance around as I decorate this morning! And, if you're in the Phoenix area, check out the class schedule as posted on their blog.
(Special thanks to Mike and Lesley from JackandCatCurios.Etsy.com!)

Bake 'N Fill Birthday!

Sarah wanted to bake her own birthday cake this year. She has her very own Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill set of pans that she got for Christmas one year. When she was little, she would see the commercial for them on tv and kept telling us that she wants those pans! We use them once in awhile. This time, she opted for chocolate cake with Oreo Cookies and Cream ice cream filling, cream cheese frosting which she tinted green, topped with Everlasting Gobstoppers.

It requires two cake mixes, but only uses 1 1/2, so you end up with 12 extra cupcakes. There is an insert pan that sits on top when it bakes, forming the center space. I would sometimes rather fill it with pudding since the ice cream cakes have to remain frozen. Even though we let this one sit out for awhile, it was still frozen cake. And, allowing it to freeze and thaw caused the icing and the Gobstoppers to sweat. All in all it was delicious and Sarah had a blast!

Sugar and Spice....and everything nice!

These are my favorite cookies from my Grandmother's recipe box!

SUGAR AND SPICE COOKIES

Cream together 3/4 cup Crisco shortening and 1 cup sugar. Add 1 egg and mix well. Add 1/4 cup molasses. Mix together then add to egg mixture: 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Mix well and chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into balls and place on baking sheet. Dip the bottom of a flat glass in sugar then gently press the cookie to flatten slightly. (Double dip for a little extra sugar.) Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until brown on the edges.

Buttons and Inspiration

Big thanks to Jenn of the Fulmer House for the fabulous assortment of vintage buttons! I love the big ones especially. There are some fun shapes and sets as well.

I went through a button-buying phase that left me with lots of fun and pretty buttons. I have them spread out with some other pendants and doo-dads, just waiting for the right project and fiber to come along to compliment them.

Check out these fun wooden buttons from TheHickoryTree.Etsy.com!

MMmmm Brownies!

I thought I'd share a Brownie recipe that's quick and easy. You don't need to grab a box of mix to enjoy a quick dessert. (Just don't forget the ice cream!)

Easy Brownies from Scratch

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9" square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt.
In a saucepan, melt 1 stick of unsalted butter over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of sugar, mix well. Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla, mix well. Add dry ingredients. Mix in 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts, if desired.
Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake for 25 or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center. Allow to cool in the pan and cut as desired. Serve with ice cream and whipped cream.