OK, so this really has nothing to do with my kids but I wanted to write about this for a while. Well, I guess it sort of does have to do with them in a round about way, everything does to some extent, but that's how I like it.
One of my hobbies or something I enjoy doing is baking. My Kitchen Aide mixer is probably one of my top ten favorite things in this house. And I love saving and trying new recipes. A few Christmas's ago I was looking for the 'perfect' sugar cookie recipe and tried different ones with refrigerating the dough for hours, rolling it out etc.
And one of my close friends used to be a chef before she became a stay at home mom. It's fun having her as a friend for many reasons but I tend to call her up and say 'how long can I keep this cooked chicken for?' 'I need a good dessert idea' etc. Just last week I asked her about Dutch processed cocoa powder. I have had a few recipes I want to try and I can't find it in the store but yet don't want to pay like 5 dollars in a magazine and then 8 dollars to ship it. She was like, 'oh, that's Martha Stewart right? You don't need that, any cocoa powder will do.' So I may try something yummy this week. I try to have something homemade every week and I just threw out the Easter desserts, so we are ready for something new.
OK, so with that said I have found with my sugar cookie recipes, the best one.... is this Betty crocker mix. I swear I will never make then from scratch again. They are so good, they keep their form when you use cookie cutters, and they take like 20 minutes as opposed to the entire afternoon waiting for the dough to harden in the fridge.
The other thing I am guilty of is those shamrocks (or calf testicles if you ask my husband.) I got that recipe by email from Pillsbury using a tube of cookie dough, ALREADY MADE. We rolled, sugared, baked and were done. It was fun, fast and yummy. And you see those heat and served things now like the brownies and whatnot? Crazy. I'm not there yet but may be some day.
This is what I was thinking though. Can you see like our great great great grandmothers meeting together and saying 'Hey... Do you know that Mari-bell down the lane went to the market and BOUGHT HER FLOUR? And she calls herself a baker!!! I only use what my husband can grind up for me. That's REAL baking.' I can just see it.
So I may try to be Martha Stewart every once in a while. I am not above grabbing a tube of sugar cookie dough to do a fun project with my kids.
2 comments:
I am laughing b/c I found the sam ething with her peanut butter cookie mix. I used to make Peanut Buuter Kiss cookies from scratch every Christmas and tried the mix once when I was in a hurry and they were awesome!!! Now I just use the mix and nobody has said a word!! My secret is out, but hey I know I am not the only one.
You know, the peanut butter cookie mix IS awesome. Josh bought it for me when Ben was first born because I thought for some reason that I ought to avoid chocolate, and stopped making chocolate chip cookies. They were the BEST peanut butter cookies EVER, and I thought I had a pretty good recipe!
My new favorite cookie, though, is a Pampered Chef recipe. The base for it is a tube of sugar cookie dough, and then you add oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. I feel like it's sort of "real" baking because I add to it, but it so is not. Ha ha.
I laughed at the mental picture of our grandmothers calling each other out... "Sylvia, this is SO store-bought sugar; you are getting lazy!" Ha ha ha.
Another thing is, if the activity you do with your kids involves quick prep, you are more likely to do it often and enjoy it... so I am all for the calf testicle shamrocks!
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