Here they are:
Now it's time to hit the shower and into bed early tonight. (It's inventory week at work and I have to be there by 5:30 am every day!) Can't wait for it to be over.
Goodnight!
I just finished making the last of my holiday treats. These meringue cookies are super simple and taste delicious. There are three important things to remember - 1) you must line your cookie sheets with aluminum foil or cover with a silicone baking sheet, otherwise they will stick; 2) crush the candy canes up really good because a fine dust is much easier to sprinkle over the tops and looks a lot better; 3) do not over bake, because you will ruin them. Here's the recipe:
Today was another day of holiday baking. For the very first time, I attempted to make Grandma Pete's Date Pinwheels. I got the recipe last year, but ran out of time before I could make them. You have to cook the filling, make the dough and then roll it out, spread the filling on and roll it up like a jelly roll. After chilling the rolls for a couple of hours you just slice and bake them. It's a bit of a project. My cookies taste like Grandma's, but they do not look as perfect as hers did. I guess that was either from years of practice or the fact that she had Papa to slice the cookies with his electric knife. Here's the recipe:
My nephew Jacob is an amazing kid. At thirteen, one minute he's a silly little boy and the next minute he's a maturing young man. He's smart, funny and incredibly talented. He plays the cello in the school orchestra and sings in the church choir, two choirs at school and was just cast as 'Rum Tum Tugger' in 'CATS', the school's spring musical, a character usually portrayed as the feline equivalent of Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger. Here's a video clip of one of Tugger's songs from the Broadway production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4G8WMbmCJY&feature=related
Today started with laundry, some quick housecleaning and a couple of errands to get out of the way so I could move on to the big project for the day - making Grandma Pete's version of Pfeffernuesse - small, hard, round cookies that have been a family favorite since before I was born. (The name translates into pepper nuts in German, Danish and Dutch, describing their spicy blend of cinnamon, cloves and anise.) The process involves bringing the wet ingredients to a boil, then cooling it off before adding the spices and flour. The, you have to chill the dough for a couple more hours before rolling it out into ropes, cutting and baking them.
Tonight was (my niece) Shelby's Winter Band Concert. I am so proud of this girl! She plays the bass guitar in the Jazz Band, the flute in the Concert Band and she's learning keyboard in her spare time! (In addition to that, she sings in the church choir, two choirs at school and was just cast in one of the leading roles in 'CATS', the school's spring musical.)
Anyway, they apparently did the same concert four times yesterday - once in rehearsal, twice during the day at school assemblies and again last night for friends and family. By the time the night was over, my little guitar hero had blisters on the middle three fingers of her right hand from playing the bass all day! She toughed it out though. What a little trooper!
