Finishing Touches on the Cookies

With the snow last night, church and Erica's Horse lessons were canceled today.
This gave me some extra time to finish up the cookies.

Pinwheels and unfinished ribbon cookies:



Just the ribbon Cookies


I melt chocolate chips (I use Nestle Toll House Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips - I used a "store brand" once, and they did.not.melt into a smooth sea of chocolate), then dip one end of the ribbon cookie into the chocolate and then into chopped pecans. Here is the result:


I take the spritz shapes and create sandwich cookies - on one side I spread melted chocolate and on the other side I dollop some warmed Raspberry preserves. Put the two pieces together and a decadent sandwich cookie:


Time to package them up (and to eat some, too!).

Cookie Time!

I haven't made cookies in 3 or 4 years. This year, I will be sending then out to Auntie T and giving some to the neighbors. Last night I made Molasses cookies (like gingerbread) and formed Pinwheels - they were baked this morning.

Today, made ribbon cookies and I still need to make spritz shapes.

Basic recipe follows:
Butter Rich cookies, great in a cookie press.

1 C Butter (2 sticks) - I use unsalted Land o Lakes
1 C Confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp flavoring (vanilla, etc. I also use almond extract.)
2 C flour

Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the flavoring and mix some more
Add the Flour

Use in cookie press. I use the ribbon die and press out strips of dough.
Back at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
I dip one end of the finished cookie in melted chocolate and then into chopped pecans. YUM!

Variation - Substitute 1/4 C Cocoa powder for 1/4 C flour for chocolate cookies.

Pinwheels
Make a batch of vanilla. Form dough into a rectangular block, wrap and chill for 30 minutes or so.
Make a batch of chocolate. Form dough into a rectangular block, wrap and chill for 30 minutes or so.
Take vanilla dough and roll out into a large rectangle, 1/4" thick. (Roll out on wax paper)
Do the same with the chocolate.
Place the Chocolate on top of the vanilla and roll it up, jelly roll style, into a long log. Chill again until firm. Slice into 1/4" pieces, then bake.
Yum!

October - Stateside Reception

Early in October, I flew to Boston where Michele and Andrew's "Stateside Reception" was held. Due to cost constraints, Scott and the kids stayed at home.

Since many of the Chang side family members couldn't attend the official wedding in Scotland, this was an opportunity for them, along with Mom and Dad's friends to celebrate the occasion with a traditional Chinese Wedding Banquet.

We stayed in the "Plymouth Estate", which meant plenty of food and a feast the night before the banquet - several of us pitched to make dumplings, a traditional activity for our family.



Mom also made her famous Shrimp in Tomato sauce.


The Chinese banquet was held at Ocean City Restaurant in the heart of Chinatown and of course the main emphasis was FOOD.
One of my favorite things - shrimp chips!



The Double Lucky cake:


Family picture:

Catching Up - September

Yes, I know this hasn't been updated for over two months, so I will play catch up.

September was very busy. In addition to getting acclimated with Hannah, Brian celebrated his 8th birthday - a sleepover party with six of his friends, here giving me their best Silly Pose (really, not too different from their Non-silly pose).



In order to wear them out, I took them rollerskating at Skateland for several hours. Not sure how effective it was, but they all did fall asleep around 11pm. I have now survived 3 sleepover parties - and the main difference between girls and boys is that when boy cry, they cry for a couple of minutes and then are OK. Not so much with girls. And at Brian's party, each boy had some sort of incident (mainly some physical altercation) that caused them to cry.

Scott and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a weekend trip to Chicago, where we attended the musical, Wicked. We stayed in the Hampton Inn, about 4 blocks from the Oriental Theatre.



We also walked around Millennium Park where the "Bean" sculpture resides. It is a fascinating piece of art. This is our reflection from belly of the Bean:



And I couldn't resist a self portrait from behind the lens of my camera:




More updates are coming shortly (I promise!!)