Friday, December 08, 2006

 Posted by Picasa

posted by Sonja @ 11:31 AM 0 Comments

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 1

Black and White Tie
From Food Network Kitchens
(pictured above)

A New York classic gets dressed up for the holidays.
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 32 cookies

Ingredients
Oil, for brushing
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces), softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks

Chocolate Icing:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

White Icing:
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons warm water

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush 2 baking sheets very lightly with oil.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
Whisk the buttermilk and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside. Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat at high speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the wet in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the dry to make a smooth batter.
Evenly mound 2 tablespoons batter per cookie onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (A small cookie scoop or ice cream scoop is ideal for this.)
Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
For the chocolate icing:
Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan; pour over the chocolate. Shake the bowl gently so cream settles around the chocolate; set aside until the chocolate melts, about 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth, taking care not to incorporate too many air bubbles. Fill a piping bag fitted with a small tip with about half of the chocolate icing.
For the white icing:
Whisk the confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice and warm water together to make a smooth icing. Fill a piping bag fitted with a small tip with about a quarter of the icing.To Decorate:
For tuxedo cookies: Set the cookies on a rack over a rimmed cookie sheet. Pour the white glaze over the whole cookie to cover; set aside to dry. Pipe a bowtie and tuxedo lapel with the chocolate icing.
For a little black dress and pearls: Pipe an outline of a woman's dress with the dark chocolate and fill in with more icing. Pipe white icing pearls around the top of the cookie. Add silver dragees or candy pearls to dress up if desired.
Let cookies dry completely, about 20 minutes.
Serve.
Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 days.

posted by Sonja @ 10:56 AM 0 Comments

Barney's Holiday Extravaganza

Check out the new Barney cam video! It's Barney, the President's dog, taking you on a tour of the White House! Click here.

posted by Sonja @ 10:51 AM 0 Comments

quotable ...

"nah, he's crazy - we're just bad-tempered." ~ Hannibal from the "A-Team"

posted by Sonja @ 10:49 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

forgot -

please check out the links on the sidebar to the right. My sister has a blog, and there are neat news sites and our pastor has a blog! :)

posted by Sonja @ 9:56 AM 0 Comments

Busy busy busy

Wow! November flew by and now December is chugging along -- leaving me in the dust!! We were really busy last month, just with church stuff, kids and Jef's work. This month, we are even busier, or so it seems. I sure hope January is slow.
Things that are going on ... well, Jef's clients have renegotiated his contracts. We were able to add two hours on to one of them, praise the Lord!! So that is some extra money each month. Then the other one will probably raise the price a bit, so that will be extra, too! I need to learn how to praise God in the lean times. He always provides.
I was asked if I wanted to start cleaning again, so I have a job now, too! Two days a week I will clean an office. :)
God is faithful - the new contracts and my job add up to what we need to cover the bills. Hurray!
The boys are doing great. They like the new cirriculum.
We are involved in the Christmas play at church. I will post a video of it. The play is on Sunday, the 17th.
Think that is it. Will write more later.

posted by Sonja @ 9:49 AM 0 Comments