I took my own advise this weekend, and made two large batches of cookie dough and froze them in gallon Ziploc bags. We are traveling this year in and about the holidays and I will be cooking, so I’ve got a good start on things at home, and for a couple of gifts of homemade goodies.
I’m also going to brag because the tree is up, it looks delightful, and will bring us a great amount of joy over the next few weeks. Next weekend we have family events both days of the weekend, so things have to get done in a timely fashion. Then there’s the subdivision wreaths that I need to complete tomorrow night along with cooked meat and onions for a dinner of spaghetti and a traveling tater tot casserole, Ervin will be making for work.
There’s a guest room to get cleaned and a few gifts to work into baskets for next weekend, and I’ll be about done. One thing I thought I might stir up are my mock chicken fried steaks because they will bake in the oven. It keeps us from saying: ‘Oh let’s just go get a burger someplace.’ I’m also on the trail to make the shrimp creole base that I didn’t get made about 3 weeks ago.
Phillip’s partner, Paige and I were having a cookie discussion this weekend. One of the dough’s I made this weekend was snickerdoodles. We both concurred that it’s hard to find good ones at bakeries, and such. Why? They tend to cook them until they are hard. The best ones are still soft when you enjoy their yumminess. We can thank the Pennsylvania Dutch for this simple, yet delicious cookie. How do you keep them from getting hard? This is an easy one for me. With any cookie that ends with the crinkled look, I watch the oven and they will puff first and then drop. Pull them the second they drop to keep from having a hard snickerdoodle. I use this tip whenever I make cake batter cookies. That’s where you add like an egg and 1/3 cup of oil to the cake mix, roll them in sugar and bake.
Don’t forget the greatness of using parchment paper as you bake all your cookies. It protects the bake ware, but it also keeps the cookies from getting too dark. If you are baking on an old cookie sheet that is extremely brown, the cookies won’t bake too well, unless you cover the sheet first.
I have to brag a bit on my morning today. I suggested to Ervin that we have breakfast at the ‘Floating Cafe’, located at Indian Point Marina. I love the simple ambiance and the owners are wonderful people. We ordered our late breakfast and after a bit of coffee the owner came over to tell us how wonderful our son, Phillip is, and what a good job we did raising him. (I think both of us were holding in the joy and pleasure from that wonderful compliment.) So breakfast continued with lots of good energies bouncing around. As we were about to leave we were headed down the gangway when one of the girls came out asking if I wanted to feed the geese for them? You never have to ask me that question. It was fun! They ate right out of my hand and at the edge of the lake. Talk about a wonderful morning of blessings.
I wanted to ‘chuck’ making the cookie dough’s and grab a good book heading to bed early, but I’m glad I didn’t. Now the dough’s are made and I can get on with other projects for the week. Take time for a Hallmark movie and a bowl of popcorn. Things don’t have to be perfect all the time. Enjoy the blessings of this wonderful season. Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.
Snickerdoodles
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare bakeware, and set to the side as you pull ingredients together.
(2-3 dozen yield)
1 cup softened shortening (I use butter)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 ¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon and sugar for rolling dough balls-
Cream together the sugar and shortening, followed by the 2 eggs; blend well. In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients together and blend with a whisk or fork. Incorporate the dry into the wet gradually. Form into balls the size of a walnut and roll in a bowl of sugar and cinnamon. Place on cookie sheet and monitor at 9 minutes. The cookie size will determine if it takes 10-13 minutes total to bake.
