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Sunday, January 27, 2013

YES, I DID!


MMMHHMMM – I am certifiably crazy.

tray one - double deep - approximately 35 cookies each tray

(Either that or else have a serious case of cabin fever.)

tray two - even has 2 on the right that do not have chocolate (for someone special)

I baked – again.

Melting snowman cookies – again.

Mini Snowman - these are fun - but so not worth the trouble,
they are too fussy to handle. 

I did twice as many.
And 2 different sizes.

You might not notice these are about half as big - 7 or 8 small guys per plate

I just had to try out a tiny size that uses a whole mini marshmallow for a head. Yes, I did buy more sprinkles. I need only the tiny round ones for buttons. Do you want some colored sugar, or dinosaurs? I will never use either.

compare the cookies on the left  with the cookie on the right,
on the right the head and buttons, and cookie itself  are smaller

My kitchen needs serious help. I may need to call FEMA about that – did they change acronyms again? DAVID is good about that kind of thing too. LOL!!

When days are gray there is something that drives me to turn on the oven and throw sugar and butter around with a mixer.  Shortbread is the easiest thing ever – AND it tastes good. I like easy a lot. If that isn't enough sugar and fat be sure to add frosting, butter cream frosting, with real butter.

Fatso

I just pat these into ‘puddles’ and frost them while they are warm so that the icing ‘melts’ a little – cutting wait times - FAST! I like fast! In fact I love easy AND fast!

Not so ...

Especially if you can add in cute.

All kinds of personalities - is this one excited or ticked off?

These fellas develop their own personality as creativity arrives – or is that boredom – or both? And if the microwaved marshmallow (half only) gets ‘weird’ – just roll with it. Is that wrinkled bend eyebrows or a double chin? Have a look at this one below with a bubble that made a perfect hole for a snowman mouth!

Bubble as open mouth

Yes, I did make a few frown
I like smiles better though.


Yes, I did give them to all the people I VT.
And my companion.
And a couple of neighbors.

3 - 4 large snowmen per plate (and the plate is a bit larger too)

Temple workers that share the shifts we work on get to make sure I don’t eat any more of such baking. Yes, I did. I gave them all away in self defense. Want some? Hurry on over – I only have a few left that didn't fit in the boxes.


SHORTBREAD (for a press)
3 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups butter
drop of vanilla

Cream butter with mixer. Add all dry ingredients gradually, then add vanilla. Bake at 325 degrees F on an UNGREASED pan for about 15 minutes (only 7 minutes in my convection oven) or when light brown on bottom (can be seen on very edge when done). Be careful about how much flour you put in. I start out with 2 cups and add enough more to make sure the dough handles well - but not too stiff. The cookies can be very tender. Leave them on a flat surface while frosting to avoid too much breakage.

TIP: Buy only the best ingredients. If the flour, butter and sugar 'taste' good your cookies will taste good. Cheaper ingredients often do not have as nice a flavor as better quality ingredients. Particularly beware of generic  powdered sugar (especially be wary of WalMart brand). It often gives food a more starchy (cardboard) flavor.