2011/2012/2013 Poinsettias!

These were my poinsettias from Christmas 2011!  The remaining two from the Costco three-pack I bought November 2011.  I have never had much luck with keeping poinsettias alive through Christmas, much less until now.  I thought they were pretty much goners after that Christmas and just tossed them (pots in all) in the far right corner and side of my kitchen garden.  I was surprised to see tiny leaves reappear on the stalks in the spring and felt certain our drought would finish them off.  But no, they kept growing, roots now attached firmly to the garden dirt.  Our crazy temperature changes must have triggered the color change.

Irish Cream Cookies

Third time's the charm!  Tah-dah!  Our 2012 Christmas Cookie!
I found this recipe in the Penzey's Spices Christmas/Holidays catalog on page 23, "Irish Cream Delights"   I made a few, hopefully healthy, changes to the original recipe.

IRISH CREAM COOKIES

1/4 cup butter, softened (I used unsalted and lopped off a tablespoon)
1/4 cup shortening (I didn't fill it all the way)
1 cup sugar (again, not a full cup)
1 tablespoon Irish cream liqueur (OK, glug, glug!) +
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour

3 cups powdered sugar
Baileys Coffee Creamer, non alcoholic (and fat-free!)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, combine the butter and shortening and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add the sugar, the Baileys, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt and beat until combined, scraping often.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in the flour.
OK, here's where I went off the recipe instruction grid again - unless you chill the dough first, rolling into balls at this point is a bit messy and sticky.  I just plopped teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool.

Frosting:  2 tablespoons or glugs as needed, Irish cream liqueur, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons
Baileys Non-Alcoholic Coffee Creamer   Mix until combined and smooth.  Drizzle on cooled cookies
Sprinkle with sparkly sugar.

Merry Christmas!

Santa, Stitched

I embroidered this tea towel back in 1995!  (It took longer to outline than it did to cross-stitch.)

Bag it!

What a cool idea and design!  I loved this store!

Oh! Christmas Trees - Galveston Style!

Along the Seawall

A Vera Bradley Christmas!

After picking up my daughter from college yesterday, we stopped at the Vera Bradley Outlet Store in San Marcos - - - 

EVERYTHING is 50% off this weekend!    

The "Tea Garden" print is one of my favorites and when I entered the store, I saw this and thought, "What a cool box!"   

Imagine my surprise when I opened it and found three different ornaments!   

Suggested retail price was $32. . .I got these for $9.99!  They are so pretty, I may just leave them up all year hanging from my sewing studio valance.  

Love the Mother of Pearl Vera Bradley button, too!

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

Pistachio Shortbread Cookie all decked out!

From the last issue (December 2012) of Everyday Food, page 102.

The original recipe (Pistachio-Shortbread Sandwich Cookies) was a sandwich cookie with strawberry jam filling.  

For starters, I'm allergic to strawberries and secondly, it is much more fun and diet-friendly to eat these one at a time. and thirdly, the thinnest I could slice these were 3/8" instead of 1/4".  Yeah, diet-friendly indeed.  So I sprinkled some pretty sparkly sanding sugar on top and then baked.  (Did she say diet friendly?)  Oh well, I thought the pistachio green gave it all a Christmas holiday look -- and it made for a nice complement to all those other overly-sweet treats!   Bonus this makes a great shortbread cookie even by itself.  (and sugar sprinkles for any color, any holiday, any occasion)

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine salt*
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup coarsely chopped pistachios*
1/3 cup strawberry jam*

DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor, process butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt until smooth. Add flour and pulse until a dough forms. Stir in pistachios. Shape dough into two 8-inch long logs*, tightly wrap in plastic, and freeze until firm, 30 minutes (or up to 1 month).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Cut dough* into 1/4-inch slices and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are set and barely golden at edges, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

Spread 1/2 teaspoon jam on bottoms of half the cookies, then sandwich with remaining cookies.

Store in airtight containers, up to 1 week.
_________
*I used the already-shelled pistachios from Costco.  They were a little bit salty.  You may want to skip the 1/2 teaspoon of salt or reduce to 1/4 teaspoon.
*I omitted the strawberry jam.  Next time if I can get the cookies thinner I may try raspberry or another jam.
*I actually divided the dough into four 5" logs, to help them freeze faster and to bake/make smaller portions.
*Let the dough soften a little or nuke in the microwave for 8-10 seconds.  It can be a little difficult to try and slice when frozen completely, especially when you encounter a whole pistachio.  I pieced a few back together.

Wednesday Work In Progress

Nature abhors a vacuum, as does and goes my sewing room table!
As soon as one project is finished, it's wide open season for anything and everything to pile on.
New back up iron is now into play.  I checked the receipt from Costco and was surprised to see my other one lasted almost two years.  Whenever I find a good iron, I get another because sooner than later I will need a new one.  Even the best of them can only be used and dropped and knocked off the ironing table for so many times.

Christmas Cookie Exchange Party!

Are there some missing?!  A moment of panic when packing the cookies.  Next time count out before nibbling!

Tiger print goes with everything - even polka dots!

These were the cookies I made for this year's Cookie Exchange Party.

I actually made these for the first time last year (click here), but it was after last year's party.  When I saw the Hershey Candy Cane Kisses at Target this year and then the tiger poinsettias and polka dot take-out boxes at Michael's Thanksgiving Night sale . . I put two and two together and got seven dozen!  I thought the tiger stripes looked like the candy cane stripes!

I improved upon the recipe this year by upgrading the sugar - I used the sanding sugar from Central Market (India Tree brand in red) and Williams-Sonoma (green) and Wilton's snowflake and green/red jimmies mix.  Surprisingly I didn't use as much, as the sugar crystals are bigger.  You get more sparkle and jazz for about the same price.


CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT KISS COOKIES

1 ¼ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses

In medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In large (to be covered) bowl, combine sugar and butter. At high speed, beat 2 minutes until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla, beat 2 minutes. Beat in flour mixture. Chill one hour or until dough is firm.

Preheat oven to 350.

Roll dough in 1” balls and then roll in colored sugar, jimmies or confectioner's sugar.
Place 2” apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes, switching racks at 5 minutes. Cookies should start to have cracks. Gently push a Kiss in the center and bake for an additional 2 minutes – watch carefully before the tip starts to brown. Cool and enjoy!

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Friday Flowers - December edition

A Very Martha Christmas

Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery wrapping supplies from Staples in Austin, Texas.  And I finally found the red and white baker's string at The Container Store. A cone spool of 1,000 yards was $8.    Bonus find -- the roll of double row of rhinestone sparkle trim!

Some of my bounty from Michael's.  I'm thinking about putting some of the snowflakes on my car windows! Those sparkly glitter paints are Multi-Surface Peridot, and Mother of Pearl and Copper Glass Paint.  I am loving that shade of green - it is everywhere this year as a fresh take on a nice Christmas green.

New Obsession - Dunkin Donuts Peppermint Mocha

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I will get and enjoy the Starbucks Peppermint Mochas, sigh -albeit in the smallest size.

On a whim heading out of St. Augustine last week, we saw a Dunkin' Donuts and a display of their Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha Keurig K-Cups.  So I bought a box to try at home and figured if I didn't like it, off it would go to hubby's workplace.  Well, I did like love it!   (Even better than Starbucks)
And bonus I can control the carbs/sugar by just using a little bit of skim milk, or a splash of CoffeeMate Natural Bliss Sweet Cream.   Saving money and calories and being able to enjoy this at home and not flip out my nutritionist* over the holidays -- Win-win!
(*Though I did find those white chocolate peppermint coated snowflake shaped pretzels at Costco again this year...shh!)

However, there aren't a lot of Dunkin Donuts in Texas.  While in Austin over the weekend, I Googled Dunkin and there was one store.  I called and they said they had three boxes left and offered to set them aside for me.  Sorry, Austin!  Hopefully they will restock and you will be able to get more, too.  And I shall return to the ATX in a few weeks to pick up my daughter for Christmas break and cross fingers, a few more boxes of Peppermint Mocha, also!

Christmas Holiday Music 2012

In addition to adding to my "Oh Holy Night" iTunes/iPod playlist (How many versions am I up to now?!  At least 16.  It's my favorite Christmas carol), here are this year's additions to my Christmas holiday music collection, so far.   "A Very She & Him Christmas", Christina Perri "A Very Merry Perri Christmas", Yanni "Winter Light" and Colbie Caillat "Christmas in the Sand".    I heard Colbie Caillat's "Mistletoe" in the store last week (thank you, Shazam app!) and was delighted to find it and a CD from her.  What a talented and beautiful voice!
Please, no jokes about Yanni - I love to skate/fly around the rink to his "Song For Antartica"

She could not but rejoice in the joy of the small thing

And with a bagful of sparkle!

White Christmas

In a mug!  Yes, that is what Mod Coffeehouse calls this.  It's gingerbread white mocha and it is wonderful!

Christmas Inspiration Traditions Old and New

Kicking off the 2012 holiday crafting season with the acquisitions of the December Martha Stewart Living (I've kept all of her Christmas and holiday issues), and this year trying out HGTV's December issue, along a new book, Mollie Makes Christmas.   Stay tuned for the results!  

Cute as a Button...Ornament!

I found this at Cost Plus World Market in Austin.  $5.49 and I had a coupon!  I left the tag on it for the photo so you can find the section, "Alpine Workshop".  The "buttons" are inlaid shell/mother of pearl.  I will display it year-round in my sewing room, before and after Christmas.