a simple yarn

Post Preface:
I’m feeling rather nostalgic of late.  Perhaps that has to do with some anticipated milestones coming my way.  Whatever the reason, it’s given me cause to look back at some favourite past-time posts.  For ‘Eat on Saturday,’ this choice might not be overly memorable for most, but I loved this post for the never-fail recipe and also the buttery flakiness of the cookie interior!

‘Holiday Baking Trilogy, Part 2: Old Favourite’
(originally published 20 Dec 2007)
Is the ’sugar cookie’ a victim of poor public relations?

It seems that in the quest for new and exciting Christmas cookies, I sometimes forget the faithful tried and true…

Contrary to its unfortunate name, a well-baked sugar cookie is never too sweet and a perfect companion to a cup of tea.

Light, fluffy, buttery….yum…..

Sugar Cookies
1-1/3 cups butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons PLUS 2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter, sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Heat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Roll portion of dough to about 1/4 – 1/8” thickness on floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Add sprinkles or coloured sugar. Bake 7-9 minutes. Do not overbake.
Variation: Add 2 teaspoons grated lemon or orange peel and 2 teaspoons lemon or orange extract.

Quite cunning…disguising oneself as another holiday.

It was the reduced-price packaging that threw me off the trail.

They looked so festive…and if I listened carefully, I thought I heard tiny voices singing Christmas carols.

But as I stared at the holly-berry-red and tannenbaum-ever-green nuggets, a pattern started to emerge.

‘Why, these aren’t Christmas chips!’ I exclaimed, ‘They’re St. Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day chips!’

Leave it to dearly departed saints to craft such shrewd subterfuge.

But they didn’t get the better of me—St. Valentine’s chips went into a chocolatey cookie dough recipe.

Now who has the last laugh…!

To those in northern climates, this will seem like child’s play…and it is.

Snow.  The Kiddies are jumping out of their skin.

While we all know (more in the intellectual sense, not necessarily the experiential sense) the horror of Siberians winters, my Russian-born offspring have never seen much snow.  I mean, really, Ireland isn’t known for its wintertime sports.  So, three to four inches of pure frozen atmospheric water vapor has sent them into ecstasies and they are frolicking and romping to their kiddie-hearts’ content.

Warning:  Sentimental Flashback Approaching
Quite odd the things you remember from childhood snow days.  When school was called on account of inclement weather in the hills of West Virginia, on days when no one in their right mind would venture outdoors, my family would automatically climb into the standard-issue SUV, drive approximately 1 mile down the gravel lane, 8 miles on the tarmac road, 15 miles on the country road to the nearest family restaurant and order plenty of bacon, eggs and biscuits…the scone-y ones, not the cookie ones, just to be clear.  Actually, those were the only times that I recall ever going out for breakfast and they are some of the best memories I have.  By the way, my legs are indeed the same length despite the mountainous upbringing, thank you very much.

Anyway, since we haven’t properly celebrated a snow-day-and-school’s-cancelled occasion in their little lives, I feel something warm and yummy needs to accompany their hot chocolate and rosy cheeks.

A little bit of white powder surrounding freshly made doughnuts.  Here’s hoping this becomes imprinted as a good wintertime childhood memory!

A bit of a leap, perhaps, but there ya go.

Of course you know the story…
Little blond girl tromping through the forest.  Comes to a house.  No one in.
She decides to make herself at home and avail herself of the contents therein.
(What we might call breaking and entering in today’s vernacular.)
Porridge.  Hot.  Cold.  Just right.
Chairs.  Big.  Bigger.  Just right.  But Goldi might need to forego those extra bowls of porridge because the chair breaks.
Beds.  Hard.  Soft.  Just right.
Zzzzzzz.
Bears return.  (Not sure how bears can afford real estate prices.) Eventually find Goldi asleep in bed.  She wakes.  She screams.  She runs away.  And I assume she will be in therapy for a good long while, but serves her right for B&E, eh?

And such were the visions dancing through my head as I practiced the Saturday morning cappuccino ritual.

For Papa-Who-Desperately-Needed-A-Double-Coffee-Drinker, the loan of my favourite voluminous cup.
For Mama-Moderation-In-Everything-Coffee-Drinker, a regular sized cup.
For Baby-Kate-Only-On-Weekends-Coffee-Drinker, her very own miniature sized cup, a wee spotty dotty gift from the recent Dublin trip.

And they all lived happily caffeinated ever after.

The End

Ah, the breakfast of champions.

…for a good European-style cappuccino.

Misha’s on Patrick Street.
Dodgy premises.
Great coffee.
The best I’ll ever have?
Dunno.
But a good option in Old Town.

‘Doughnuts!’ the children cried in unison, ‘We want doughnuts!’

I’ve always been a little resistant to making homemade doughnuts.
Not because of the lingering fry smell in the kitchen.
Rather, because I’ve never had a successful batch to give the Kiddies.
Sure, they eat whatever disaster I place before them, providing it has enough sugar in or on it.
But, now that my mixer is running at full speed again, I certainly ought to try, right?

Warning:  Another Bit of Motherly-In-Law Wisdom Ahead
MIL-Phyllis, a regular bread baker in her own right, always told me that whenever you find a bread recipe that you like, use it for everything.  Once the basic proportions are right, you can alter it a little for different outcomes.  So, my basic bread recipe also doubles for pizza crust and cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls…you get the point.

A few other lessons learned along the way…
In Ireland, perpetual damp and cool are a baker’s nemesis.
In perpetually warm and humid Virginia, it’s a baker’ dream.

I don’t have a doughnut cutter, but use a small scone cutter for treats that are a little larger than bite-sized doughnut holes but smaller than traditional doughnuts.

A deep fry thermometer is a must.
Frying at 360 degrees F is the key to doughnuts that aren’t oil soaked (oil too cool) or burnt with an underdone middle (oil too hot).

I decided that I’d double the 2 tablespoons of sugar to 4, sweetening the dough.  That ought to be enough, eh?  A quick consultation with another recipe shows 1 cup of sugar used.  Yikes!  Mine are going to taste positively bland, but at least our dentist will thank me.

Compensating for the lack of sugar in the dough, I rummage the cupboards for something besides icing (confectioner’s) sugar to coat them.  A bit of canned frosting warmed to a thin glaze and also chocolate chips melted with a little vegetable oil do the trick.  Ever-popular sprinkles will no doubt sweeten the deal.  Finally, can’t forget the tried-and-true-cinnamon-and-sugar combo.

A Saturday afternoon of baking is quickly rewarded by an empty plate and the cry now becomes, ‘More!  We want more!’

A behind the scenes look.

The Transformers have saved the day!
Ehm, sorry.
Were you looking for Sam?
Fearing the Decepticons?
Hoping for Optimus Prime?

Here’s my transforming hero…

When we left Dublin, I couldn’t bear to part with my faithful mixer.
Or my newly purchased sewing machine.
Sadly, they run at 240 volts.
The rest of America runs at 110 volts.
Sigh.
But a quick internet search brings news of a step-down AND step up power transformer…on megatron-sale!
And I am back in baking business.

…wherein we try ANOTHER recipe from the otherwise pristine cookbook.

Feeling heady from the lemonade success, we immediately dive into another new Tessa recipe.

Meringue with Strawberries and Chocolate

Yep, I fear a monster has been unleashed…

…and I buy cookbooks.

Warning,  Confession to Continue—
Not to cook from.
Just to look at.
I am lured by the pretty pictures.
I promise myself I will use the recipes.
But that means I will have to open the books…with food around.
And that might make them dirty.
And smudged.
And they wouldn’t be pretty anymore.
And I’d be sad.
Sigh.

Here’s a favourite…to look at, that is…and to give as gifts.  Trying to overcome my addiction, I’ve forced myself to open it up.

Tasty (looking) recipes geared nicely toward children with options to spice it up for adults.  I do find that Tessa’s grouping of recipes based upon colour intriguing and ingenious, but a bit difficult for finding a particular recipe.  Ah well, that’s what an index is for, right?

Starting simply, Daughter-Kate and I attempt to beat the summer heat with a bit of lemonade.

I love the idea of dissolving the caster (superfine) sugar in water and briefly boiling the lemon rind for a snazzy flavour and wonderfully coloured syrup.

Let cool and add chilled sparkling water.

And there you have a summer favourite.
Hang on, this tastes like Sprite or 7-Up!

Attention:  Foggy Memory Flashback Ahead—
Our first days in Dublin were a whirlwind of new experiences.  Even the simplest things were a challenge to do.  Like ordering drinks.  Our first pub outing with the Kiddies found us ordering lemonade, expecting a still-water-lemon drink as we were used to in the US.  What we got was Sprite.   What?  We quickly learned that European Translation No. 1, Lemonade = Sprite.

So, a great homemade treat for the Kiddies.  Next time, Orange Fizzy.

Postscript Confession—
Thanks to Cornflower, I now have another cookbook on my wish list!

Take one part organic chocolate, add a bit of Fairtrade, throw in a free recipe book… I’d say that’s a pretty sweet deal!

Many people love Green & Black’s chocolate.
I have not been one of them.
Tried their dark chocolate and hmm…too dark?  too bitter?  Don’t know.  Couldn’t put my finger on it, but never really jumped on the G&B bandwagon.  Funny how a bit of incentive can change perspective.

Walked into the local Centra (read ‘mini-mart’) for…um, can’t remember what I went in there for originally…but saw the display for a free recipe book.  What’s this?  Buy 3 bars of Green & Black’s chocolate and get a recipe book…FREE.  Not an inky, dinky pamphlet with a few half-hearted recipes.  Nope, a substantial, real-honest-to-goodness-192-page-suggested-retail-price-of-£14.99-book of chocolate recipes!  With categories claiming to be ‘mystical’ and ‘wicked’ I certainly couldn’t leave the shop without one… and surely no one would fault my temptation to buy merely 3 chocolate bars to get it, would they?

So I did.

Was willing to give the dark chocolate another go, but none to be had and contented myself with 2 milk and 1 white.  Must say that the milk chocolate has an unusual but smooth taste.  Perhaps that’s what ‘organic’ tastes like?  So, when occasion calls for milk chocolate, it’s a lovely choice.

Have to say I’m sufficiently chuffed over my impulse buy and am looking forward to creating some chocolate delicacies from what is claimed to be the ‘best chocolate book in the world.’  Wow, that’s sweet.

Right, so the official start to summertime (or what you would call Daylight Savings Time in North America) has thrown my clock off in more ways than one.

And as we moved our clocks ahead one hour over the weekend, I feel the need to post Saturday’s activities one day later, er…today.

Admittedly, it’s been a busy few days…
Thursday: Return from Cork with kiddies
Friday: Bake
Saturday Morning at Ungodly Hour: Collect Husband-Will from airport
Saturday: Bake
Saturday Evening: Host Will’s birthday party until wee small hours to help him overcome jetlag
Sunday Morning, 1:00am: Move clocks forward one hour

Since Husband-Will is not a cake-loving man, it becomes pie baking at our house. Apple pie, that is. A nice variety of apples, especially some Granny Smiths, to throw a bit of zing into the flavour.

A good fair bit of sugar, cinnamon, flour, and butter for appley-pie-goodness.

When I’m in a hurry, such as now, the ready-to-roll crusts work a treat.

And hopefully the outcome of baking will yield many happy returns!