Sugar Cookies.

I love these cookies. Normally I could care less about sugar cookies, as there are so many other delicious cookies out there, many of them with chocolate. (Mmm, chocolate...) When I do want sugar cookies I usually go for those horrible store bought ones with the neon frosting that's almost as thick as the cookie itself. There is value, however, in occasionally making the rolled sugar cookie. Making shapes, decorating in festive styles for whatever the holiday, and pulling out all those fun sprinkles in the back of your cupboard, all make it somewhat fun to make sugar cookies. Unfortunately, once it's all said and done, the cookies are usually rather disappointing in taste, what should be the MOST important factor of any cookie. Not the case with these cookies. They taste delicious, frosted or unfrosted, sprinkled or unsprinkled. I actually like them plain dipped in milk. They're not too sweet, with a good dose of vanilla flavor, (or whichever flavoring you choose). These definitely deserve a spot on the plate for Santa this year.

My only edit to the recipe is to increase the vanilla from 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. Enjoy!

Note: My son helped me make and decorate this batch for Thanksgiving. :)

Birthday Cake.

Happy 85th Birthday, Gramma Eva!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Gramma, my mom, (Gayle) and me at my wedding three years ago.

This is the cake I made in honor of my Gramma's birthday. (My mom made the real birthday cake for her birthday party.) Clearly I haven't mastered the skill of frosting a cake well quite yet. At least not with this frosting...

The cake did still turn out to be pretty good. Unfortunately, the layers cracked as I was transferring them out of their pans, so they got a bit dry. The frosting helped a bit, but we ended up eating most of the leftovers in a bowl with milk poured over top. (A good solution for a dry cake, but really just a good way to eat cake regardless. If you haven't tried it, do.)

The recipes for the frosting and the cake are as follows. I regularly use this frosting recipe, it's an old family favorite, from a cookbook published in my Gramma's hometown the year I was born. The cake was a new recipe, and I haven't decided yet if I'll try it again. It was good, but there are so many spectacular cake recipes out there to really justify wasting time on one that's just good. Still, it was very quick, simple, and with a whipped cream frosting, any dryness that may result would easily be covered up. (As opposed to this frosting, as much as I love it, it develops almost a candy shell, which with the right type of cake is fabulous, but with a dry cake only exacerbates the problem.) Either way, I highly reccomend using either recipe, but perhaps not together. :)

Gold Layer Cake, from The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, sifted

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 egg yolks, well beaten

1 t. vanilla extract (I used this)

-or-

1 t. grated lemon rind

2 c. cake flour, sifted before measuring

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. milk

Directions:

Sift sugar. Beat the butter until soft, then gradually add sugar. Blend until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks. Add vanilla or lemon rind.

Sift before measuring the cake flour. Resift with the baking powder and salt.

Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating in three parts with the milk. Beat the batter until smooth after each addition.

Bake in two greased 8 inch layer pans in a 375ºF oven for a half hour. Spread layers with a good frosting or dust top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

My Favorite Chocolate Frosting, from Sharing Our Best, Turton Centennial Cookbook

(Recipe by Sylvia Biffert and Judy K. Hansen)

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Directions:

Bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil and add chocolate chips, stirring until melted. Spread on cake.

Additional hints with this: If the frosting cools too much, it will harden before you can spread it well. Simply reheat and add a bit more milk, and you'll be fine. If it gets too thin, add a few more chocolate chips. You'll want to frost when it's just barely too thick to drizzle. Enjoy!

Blueberry Cobbler.

I have made this cobbler SO many times this past summer. When blueberries were on sale, $3 for 5 lbs? I made it three times. In a week. Yup, it's just that good. (Please note, I shared the cobbler with other people. Three cobblers to myself? I don't think even I could handle that sugar high.)

The original recipe is for blackberry cobbler, and, well, blackberries are nice and all, but my husband hates the seeds. Thus, blackberries are not often spotted in our home. You can make this with any sort of berry, or maybe even other fruit, sliced small, but fresh works better than frozen. I've done both, and the frozen berries tend to juice a bit too much and it gets soggy. That said, if you let them thaw, drain them, and dry them, it should be fine. Here's the recipe. 

One last thing. The Pioneer Woman. If you haven't been introduced yet, oh my, but you need to be. I've yet to have a recipe of hers come even close to failing, and most I make again and again. On top of all that, she's hilarious. :) 

Enjoy!

Happy National Strawberry Jello Day!

Strawberry jello with homemade whipped cream atop it.

Lemon Granita.

This dessert is SO refreshing on a hot summer day. I've been tempted to take mine out to our deck to eat it in the evening, except that the mosquitoes have been terrible here. (We live near a swampy wildlife preserve.) Nevertheless, this lovely dish is light and fresh, a nice change from the heavy cakes, cookies and other desserts of late. I chose to make ours non-alcoholic, but if you wish for alcohol here, pour a bit of grappa or vodka over the top just before serving.

Lemon Granita, from The Simpler the Better, by Leslie Resvin

Ingredients:

4-5 lemons, with seeds (or any citrus. next time I'm trying lime!)

1 c. sugar (or to taste)

3 c. water

strawberries to top (opt.)

grappa or vodka, (opt.)

Directions:

Chill 9x13 metal pan in freezer.

Juice lemons, reserving seeds with juice. You should have about 3/4 cup juice with the seeds in it. Put in blender with sugar and water. Blend until sugar is dissolved and seeds are split open.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Pour mixture into chilled metal pan and freeze for 3 hours, stirring every hour or so as the slush forms. When it is all slush, it's done! Top with strawberries, alcohol, or nothing, as you see fit. Store in pan or in covered container. Enjoy!