The movement is spreading

I was visiting my old school that I worked at up until last school year (we brought batch #335 along with us to share).  A former co-worker was there with his daughters; he shared how they bought a cookie cookbook and are trying to do what I'm doing.  Their cookbook has around 60 cookie recipes he thought and his girls and him are working their way through it.

Not exactly paying it forward, but certainly spreading the joy.  Yay!

#334 Crispy Butter Cookies
I've baked a lot this month; not sure what has gotten into me.  I've been craving sugar type cookies.  For a few days there I thought there might be a chance I was pregnant; I was having mixed feelings about that.  On one hand, my baby is almost 1 and she is so sweet and so chill; that I'm starting to have baby fever.  On the other hand; life is getting easier finally and I'm looking forward to doing vacations with the kids and for life to move out of this stage.

Anyway, this cookie looked like those yummy peanut butter cookies - the one you roll into a ball and then make the criss-cross pattern with a fork.  These cookies are not.  They have very little taste to them.  It did get me out of the sugar cookie craving.

#335 Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels
I've decided that having the kids friends over is great.  Before I thought it'd just be more work and I would end up getting nothing done.  My son got to have his first friend over; without the moms having a playdate of our own ; ). It was fantastic - the kids all entertained themselves and I got cleaning done and this batch of cookies.

I really am no good at pinwheel cookies.  I don't know how to get them rolled up tight enough; so then when I need to cut the roll, they get rather crumbly.  But still tastes yummy.

#336 Almond Kiss Cookies
Not to be confused with the peanut butter cookie with a kiss on top - these look rather similar.  My husband asked me why I was making these again.  The big difference: almond extract (no peanut butter), the kiss has an almond inside of it and there is raspberry glaze on top.

It's also not as good as the peanut butter cookies with kisses in it, unless you really like almonds I guess.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

I don't have a lick of Irish in me.  My husband did the ancestry DNA thing and he actually does have a lick of Irish in him, a very tiny lick, so that means my kids do too.  Doesn't matter, today is a day everyone can be Irish, right?  Since having kids I find myself caring a lot about things that I overlooked before.  It's amazing how the kids' excitement can rub off.  I love Mickey Mouse now (before I thought it was kind of dorky), I regularly wear Superhero attire, our routines and traditions have taken on extra importance, and even those darn Paw Patrol characters are kind of cute.  So today, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with Shamrock Shakes at dinner and with this batch of cookies.

#333 Shamrock Cookies

You'll see some Mickey's and Minnesota's mixed in with this batch.  I actually only made 7 shamrocks.  Believe it or not, I don't own a shamrock cookie cutter.  I half heatedly looked for one at Cub, but I was unwilling to go anywhere else to hunt down a shamrock for this cookie that I wasn't actually planning on making today; but my 5 year old insisted we needed to have.  So I printed off a shamrock from google images and hand cut out the 7 shamrocks in the dough.  That's why the rest are shapes of cookie cutters we already owned.    

Overall, a decent peppermint sugar cookie.

He insisted on using the candy cane cookie cutter so he
could have a J for his name

Recipe:
1 cup shortening
1 cup powder sugar
1 egg
1 tsp peppermint extract
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Green food coloring and sugar

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and extract.  Add flour and salt; mix well.  Tint with food coloring; mix well.  Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 in. thickness.  Cut however you want to cut it - cookie cutter, by hand, whatever.

Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks. 

For a simple cookie, kind of complicated

I think my oldest picked out this batch specifically for the sprinkles.

 It is a slice and bake cookie, and in the directions it talks about how you can throw it in the freezer for up to 3 months.  It gives directions then on how to unfreeze them and bake them.  However, it does not give directions on if you wanted to bake them today.  Per most slice and bake cookies, I stuck the rolls in the refrigerator for four hours - that seemed to work; they sliced just fine. 

But who decides, I'm gonna start a batch of cookies today and throw them in the freezer for a couple of months, because I don't want to actually eat them today.  Why start a batch then? 

I also decided to compare side by side the air bake cookie sheet and a regular cookie sheet.  The cookies on the air bake sheet were puffier and lighter colored than the regular sheet.  But they also never looked like they were done.  However, half of one batch on the regular sheet had to be thrown away because they spread too much and burned.  So in this batch - the air bake method won over.  I think I'm going to keep doing this side by side comparison.

This batch, #332 (named "versatile slice 'n' bake cookies) was also the first cookie I let my almost 11 month old have.  She was all smiles.

Obviously the kids liked decorating the cookies.  This batch was fun because you could do just sprinkles (put those on before you bake) or bake the cookie and then spread melted chocolate chips for a frosting and we decided to add sprinkles on the chocolate (nuts are an option too).

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 -3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Optional toppings:

chopped mixed candied fruit

sprinkles - of all kinds

melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and gradually add.

Divide into 3 portions.  If desired, add candied fruit to one portion.  Shape each into a 5-in roll.  If you want place in freezer bag for up to 3 months. If you want now, wrap in saran wrap and chill in fridge for four hours.

If frozen, remove from freezer 1 hour before baking.

Cut into 1/4 in slices. Bake on cookie sheet with cooking spray.  If you want sprinkles (no chocolate) put on now.  Otherwise bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Frost with melted chocolate chips afterwards.