The most fervent prayers of 2009 have been answered. Because there's no way all this snow will melt by Friday, we'll have a white Christmas (and they're talking about more on Christmas day). And because of the way snowplows work, and bus stops are buried in 4 feet of snow, school has been cancelled for this week. That's two blessings at once!
At the same time, if one drives carefully, the major roads are clear and we can get out to pick up things we need...like more baking chocolate.
Last week I made some absolutely BEAUTIFUL Christmas truffles. I'd never tried this recipe before and it worked perfectly. The physics of how the chocolate draped and ran over the filling, the sprinkling of red and green on top. Stunning. That evening I proudly presented them to my family and .... BLECH! We couldn't figure out why they were so terrible. Then a thought occurred to me. I asked my husband to reach into the bag of recycling and pull out the orange packaging.
Yep. It says UNSWEETENED chocolate. So today we'll pick up semi-sweetened and try again. You'd think someone who loves to read as much as I do and bake as much as I do would have thought about it before melting the chocolate. Sigh.
In the meantime, we still have mint chocolate brownies, and I made some cream cheese cut-outs today that we'll decorate this afternoon. Stop by if you're feeling festive!
CREAM CHEESE CUTOUTS
½ cup margarine or butter, softened
1 3 oz package cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. vanilla Oven: 375°
In a mixing bowl beat margarine and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the sugar, egg, baking powder, and vanilla. Beat till thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Cover: Chill 1 hour or till easy to handle.
Divide the chilled dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll half of the dough at a time ⅛ inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a 2½ inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Baked in a 375° oven about 8 minutes or till edges are lightly browned. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 60.
POWDERED SUGAR ICING
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
¼ tsp. vanilla
Milk
food coloring
Mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp. milk. Stir in milk 1 tsp. at a time, till of spreading consistency. Divide into bowls, add color.
3 comments:
ROIFLMAO - Belch too funny. Tsk Tsk Tsk...you sound like my Santa in my Micro story today LOL. :)
You know, most moms don't pray that their kids get to stay home even longer. What a tribute to your family that you do!
And these cookies sound wonderful! I might have to make them after we move.
Oh boy. The cream cheese cutouts sound so good--and so easy! Thanks for passing that one along.
But oh no, the poor truffles! I've had a few disasters this week too, with cake batter that was too thick, another that burnt, etc. etc. Holiday stress!
Congratulations meanwhile on a perfect snow: one that closes school, looks pretty, but doesn't rob you of mobility and electricity. Excellent!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
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