Holiday Sugar Cookies

So I am finally updating my blog after a long hiatus. Between moving from Okinawa and establishing our lives here in Northern VA, it has been busy. I made my first ever batch of Christmas cookies and while it was a long day, it was awesome to make my favorite thing in the world, cookies! They all went into a goodie box for our Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. One of the recipes I made was for sugar cookies which was a first for me. I even made the frosting from scratch. The end result was quite tasty too.

Classic Sugar Cookies

1. 1 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
2. OR 1 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
3. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4. 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5. 2 tablespoons milk
6. 3 large eggs lightly beaten
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8. 4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
9. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
10. 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
11. 1 teaspoon salt
12. Colored sugar and decors
13. BUTTERY CREAM FROSTING
14. 4 cups powdered sugar
15. 1/3 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
16. OR 1/3 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
17. 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
18. 6 to 7 tablespoons milk
19. Food coloring

1. 1. Combine shortening, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended. Add milk. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
2. 2. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in separate large bowl. Mix into shortening mixture until well blended. Chill 1 hour.
3. 3. Heat oven to 350°F.
4. 4. Roll out 1⁄3 of dough at a time to about 1⁄4-inch thickness on floured surface. Cut out with cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugars and decors or leave plain and frost when cooled.
5. 5. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges of cookies are slightly golden. Remove immediately to cooling rack.
6. BUTTERY CREAM FROSTING
7. 1. Combine powdered sugar, shortening and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer; slowly blend in milk to reach desired consistency.
8. 2. Beat on high speed for 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Tint frosting with food coloring, if desired.
9. Spread a thin layer of frosting on cookies and decorate with sparkling sugars or sprinkles while frosting is still wet to ensure the decorations stay in place. If you're planning to pipe on frosting decorations, make sure to allow the base coat of frosting, and then each addition layer, to dry completely before adding another.

Snickerdoodles

If Cookie Monster were reincarnated into human form, he would look just like me. I love cookies! So I have discovered yet another delicious recipe.

Snickerdoodle

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C shortening

1 1/2 C white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 C all purpose flour

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 T white sugar

2 tsp cinammon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, lemon juice, baking soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

3. Mix the 2 T sugar and the cinammon. Roll balls of dough in the mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cooking sheet.

4. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Taco Rice

So one night, I was trying to figure out what to make. I had all the ingredients for tacos except for tortillas. In the same instant, TJ and I both thought taco rice. For those of you that are wondering what taco rice is, it is pretty much how is sounds. It is all the ingredients of a taco on top of steamed rice instead of in a taco shell. It is a very popular dish out here in Okinawa. And wa-la! We had taco rice. We even made a mini taco rice for Nolan which was great until he gagged on a piece of lettuce. Then he was done.

The Blue Book

Here is the cookbook that the best of the best recipes make it into.

My inspiration

Just to share with everyone, the view from my kitchen.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Pie

This recipe I got off a Keebler ready crust stand in the grocery store as sad as it is to admit that. Once again, this is the first time in my life that I have made a cheesecake before. And on the first try, it turned out perfect. It is a very easy recipe and looks real professional with the swirls.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Pie

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 C lemon juice
1 egg
1 Keebler Graham Pie Crust
1/2 C seedless red rasberry preserves


1. In small mixing bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk and 3 T of lemon juice. Add egg, beating until just combined.

2. Pour half of cream cheese mixture into pie crust. In small bowl combine preserves and remaining lemon juice. Spoon half of preserves mixture over cream cheese mixture in crust.

3. Top with remaining cream cheese mixture and remaing preserves mixture. Use knife or narrow spatula to swirl preserves into cream cheese mixture.

4. Bake at 300 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Refigerate for at least 3 hours.


Now a friend stopped by for lunch with T and I asked if he likes cheesecake. He responded that he did so I offered him the last slice of cheesecake that was left. I wanted to get rid of it considering I was mostly responsible for the rest of the missing pie. Not good. So he ate it all up and that was it. I was rather surprised to not hear a response from him on whether he liked it or not. I know that I am not so desperate for Cheesecake Factory cheesecake that I fooled myself into thinking this was as close as I was going to get to that deliciousness and therefore what I made was good. Then it occured to me that he thought it was store bought and there was no need for feedback. I asked him if he like the cheesecake because it was the first one I had ever made. He then responded with utter shock with "You made it?!" He then told me that it was really good. This is where I give myself a little pat on the back.

Meatball Nirvana

After being inspired to make some meatballs for the first time in my life, I found a decent recipe that I decided to try. And it was amazing. As T said, it's a stand alone. Which means you can eat just the meatballs alone and it would still be great.

Meatball Nirvana

1 lb ground beef

1/2 t sea salt

1 small onion, diced

1/2 t garlic salt

1 1/2 t Italian seasoning

3/4 t dried oregano

3/4 t crushed red pepper

1 dash of hot sauce

1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce

1/3 C milk

1/4 C Parmesan cheese

1/2 C bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place beef into a mixing bowl and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Mix until evenly blended, then form into meatballs and place onto baking sheet.

3. Bake in preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 20 to 25 minutes.