Saturday, May 7, 2011

I love my momma after all she is my momma, Sugar cookies probably says it loudest.

My little girls are gone to their grandparents, to spend time with them Only and Matt. I am glad they get to spend time with them that wasn't always easy for me or easy for me to say. It is funny after all the trauma and pain of the past relationship that my two girls get to spend the most time with them of any of their grand kids, as at one time they thought they would lose them. I am glad that we worked so hard to not break the relationship and they have their grandparent, and a relationship with Only, Matt and Kathy.

I set here drinking coffee with my sweetie and think of my mother on this mothers day weekend. I think that when I think of my mothers love, it is always about food, in the end my mother loves you with food. Some people love with money, some with food and some with hugs, kisses and their time. I am sure that there are many other ways that people show love but those are the ones I am most familiar with. I hope that I am the last, sometime maybe I love with food, and sometime I love by giving but I hope I am not the first, I think loving with money is the saddest way to love.

I believe that my mother came into her own as a cook when we lived in Grangeville, she always said she could only cook spaghetti and salad when she married. I am not sure that is exactly true but it may be quite accurate. I don't have many recipes from my grandma Thelma, she was a working mother so she wasn't at home alot when she would have naturally cooked with my mom so I don't really know what kind of a cook she was. My mom loves cookbooks with pictures, and if it has a picture she will try to make the recipes that catch her eye. Me, I just love cookbooks, pictures not a big thing for me, its the recipe itself that draws me in.

My mother made Christmas cookies for the first time, that I can remember, when I was in first grade. I got to take them as treats. My mom likes to share her cooking talents, loves with food, but the joy of the praise she gets from others for her wonderful creations is in their too.  She may have found the recipe about this time, again I can't remember them before this but they have been in our lives ever since and our childhoods would not be the same or as magical without them.

They are actually a very simple treat, the best sugar cookies, ever, cooked in an exact manner with icing and m and m's on them. They are always green iced at Christmas, pink on valentines, and we almost never got them any other times of the year.

Sugar Cookies                                             350 degrees oven, cook exactly 8 minutes in hot oven

2 cups of butter (room temperature is best)
1/3 cup of shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. freshly grated orange peel
4 cups of flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBsp. milk

Cream the butter, shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, add eggs, orange peel, cream a little longer. Mix is a separate bowl, the flour, baking powder, salt. Starting with the flour mixture add about 1/3 to the creamed mix, alternate the milk and flour by thirds ending with the flour. The dough will be a soft dough. Chill at least one hour before you try to roll. You can roll it up in plastic wrap and freeze for slicing cookies for up to 3 months. Once the dough is chilled roll out on a floured surface, don't over flour them as the more flour you use on this step the tougher they will get, and cut with cookie cutters, the most fun is when you do it with your kids. Dip the cut cookie in sugar and put them on a cookie baking sheet, they raise a bit so leave about 2 inches between them. Bake in a 350 degree oven, cookie exactly 8 minute, if the edge is light brown when you take them out of the oven they are burnt and will be hard and not soft and yummy.

Simple Butter Cream icing

I cup of butter (room temperature is better)   
1/4 cup milk
1 lb of powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla
food color, you choice, several drops

Cream butter, alternate milk and powder sugar to a nice consistency should take all of the powder sugar but may not, add food color and vanilla

Cool the cookies on a cookie wrack completely, ice with simple butter cream icing, or the stuff from the store, both are fine, sprinkle with cookie sprinkles, and place 5 m and m's on each one (little ones will put one on ever spot on the cookie and the fun is to let them, 30 m and m's on any cookie is a good thing, isn't it). You will be the mom or dad of the year with your child as there is truly no more special cookie, maybe it is the memories you make that are really the special part, but your mommie will have been the best for all times when she makes these with you.....  tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. These look delish!!! I am going to make them. Thanks for the recipe! :)

    ReplyDelete

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