Frosted Molasses Cookies

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law years ago. I've been making them ever since. I've tried making gingerbread cookies, but they just don't hold a candle to this recipe. These molasses cookies taste like fall--dark, spicy, and just the right amount of sweetness with the frosting. The frosting is really an icing, and it's THE BEST icing I've ever used (yes, the recipe is from my mother-in-law too--thanks Mom!). It is a breeze to make, and I just love the spreading consistency.

A couple of notes...don't be deterred by the spices in this cookie. You'd think 4 different spices would compete with each other, but they really all meld together. My kids have always loved these, especially when I use acorn and leaf cookie cutters. The icing may get a bit stiff after it sits out for a while. If it does, just add a couple of drops (yes...drops...seriously, it only takes a tiny bit!) of water, and it will thin it out nicely and become spreadable again.

Frosted Molasses Cookies

COOKIES:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger (I usually cut this back to 1 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg yolk (save the white for the frosting!)

1/2 cup light unsulphured molasses

FROSTING:

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon cream of tarter

1 egg white

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Colored sugar (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, set aside.

In the mixer, combine the shortening, sugar, and molasses until creamy and well blended.

Add the egg yolk and mix well. Blend in the flour in about 4 increments so you don't have flour flying all over the place.

The dough will be very stiff and thick. Turn out into a clean bowl, cover, and refrigerate for about 2 hours. This will make the dough much easier to roll out later.

When the dough is ready, take it out of the fridge, divide it into about 4 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, and keep the rest chilled until needed. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch.

Dip your cookie cutters into some flour, and stamp out your cookies. I used these particular cutters that I found at Walmart about 3 years ago.

Place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

I use this pastry scraper to lift the cookies onto the cookie sheets.

I don't even know where David got it--I found it in my stocking about 5 Christmases ago. But I can't live without it now. You have to get one if you make cutout cookies. It holds the cookie together while you pull away the excess dough and makes transferring a piece of cake.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until barely brown around the edges. In my oven, 9 minutes is just right (your will differ from mine, so just keep an eye on the first batch).

Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Try not to use too much flour while you're rolling out the cookies--too much flour makes cookies tough.

Now, for the frosting. In the mixer, combine the powdered sugar and cream of tarter. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until all the sugar is incorporated (you will need to scrape the bowl down once or twice to expedite the process).

Turn it up to high speed and beat until the frosting is so stiff, a knife drawn through the mixture cuts a clean cut path. I hope you can see that in the following picture.

My original recipe says this is similar to a Royal icing, but it doesn't set up as quickly. You will still want to frost the cookies right away before the frosting gets stiff. If it does, stir in a couple of drops of water until it's a nice spreading consistency again.

Since I used acorn and leaf cutouts, I colored my frosting with brown, yellow, and orange gel colors.

I really like using the gel colors by Wilton, they don't dilute your frosting/icing like the liquid colors do.

Here's a website from Wilton's website about coloring your icing.

http://www.wilton.com/decorating/icing/coloring-icing.cfm

Another must have kitchen tool when frosting cookies, cakes, etc, is an offset spatula. I have one (and really want another, bigger one). If you don't have one, maybe Santa will put one in your stocking this year (aka, ask the hubby for one!).

Anyway, frost your cookies, and sprinkle with colored sugar while the icing is still wet (this is optional). I found a fall sugar mix containing yellow, red, and orange sugar, so that's what I used. I could have used turbinado sugar for the acorns (since it's a brown color), but I forgot to buy some, so I left them as they were with just brown frosting.

Wait until the frosting is completely dry and rock hard before putting the cookies into an airtight container (or cute little bags like I did for our bake sale).

Enjoy a taste of fall! God bless your table tonight!

Rebecca's Favorite Breakfast Sandwich

The kids were off from school today, so I though we'd have a nice, leisurely morning. Rebecca wanted me to make her a breakfast sandwich, and I said,

"Sure, why not? We have plenty of time."

NOT!

Christina still had preschool today, and I found myself hurriedly getting Gabriel dressed at 8:45. School starts at 9AM. Oops...

But making this sandwich for Rebecca was worth the scramble to get out the door. She has the best palate of all the kids, and she always wants a bite of whatever we're eating. So here's a breakfast you can make for your kiddos if you have time, or on a lazy weekend morning. You might not have any of those either; you could make them for dinner too. We have breakfast food for dinner all the time.

If I'd though about it last night, I would have taken some bacon out of the freezer for this morning. (I am actually kinda bummed about it). But we needed to get going here...so next time, bacon for sure. Mmm...bacon. Do I really have to say more?

Rebecca's Favorite Breakfast Sandwich

Makes one sandwich

1 english muffin, split and toasted

1 pat of butter

1 egg

2 tablespoons of milk

A pinch each of salt and pepper

2 slices ham or turkey (or one slice of bacon, cooked)

1 slice american cheese

In a small nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium low heat. Eggs are rather sensitive as to how they're cooked. You'll see those chefs at a fancy brunch cook your omelet over high heat so it's ready for you quickly. Well...I just don't like that. I prefer my eggs to be babied. If you want to crank up the heat, feel free. In a small bowl, crack in the egg...

Add the salt, pepper, and milk.

Milk makes the egg cook up light and fluffy. Scramble the mixture together with a fork. When the butter had melted, swirl it all around the pan, and then add the egg. As the egg cooks, gently lift up the edges with a rubber spatula, allowing any uncooked egg to run underneath.

Once the egg isn't runny anymore, and it's set, use the spatula to fold the egg in half, and then into quarters. If the though of flipping the egg sends you running for the hills, relax. You can also just turn the egg out onto a plate, and fold it twice with a couple of forks. See...that wasn't so hard was it?

Now, if you want to make this really fast, you can cook the egg into a ramekin, or very small microwave safe bowl for 1 minute on high. David likes to do this with the egg beaters (eggs in a box). Then place the egg, cheese, and ham on a muffin half and nuke for about 20 seconds more or until the cheese melts. I've made it this way too; although the egg comes out with a different texture--I like it better cooked in a pan.

If you kept your folded egg in the pan, place the slice of cheese on top, and let that cook for a minute or two so the cheese melts. When it's done, take it out of the pan and add your ham. You don't have to cook the ham, just warm it through. (Or you can melt the cheese on top of the egg in the microwave or toaster oven).

To plate, layer one muffin half, the ham, the egg and cheese, and then the other muffin half.

Open wide Rebecca! Believe it or not, she requested a cinnamon raisin muffin for her sandwich. So of course, I obliged...what the heck, right? And yes, she polished off the entire thing.

Here's another pic of my sandwich. I decided to spare you all a pic of Rebecca's (you might not appreciate the cinnamon raisin muffin as much as she did). And yes, the mail is stacking up again, just ignore it please!

Hope you find some time one morning to make these for your crew! God bless your table tonight!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips

I think it's finally cool enough here to make some soup for dinner! I know it's not "cold" yet, but it's not so humid outside, and I won't sweat over the stove stirring a pot. There were some corn tortillas left over from making the awesome enchiladas last week, so I decided to make this soup so they wouldn't go to waste. If you haven't made The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Enchiladas, drop everything. Make a trip to to the store, buy the ingredients, and just do it. Seriously, you are depriving yourself of real joy if you don't. Okay...back to the soup!

I love making this soup...I love all types of soup really. To me, a hot bowl of soup is the ultimate comfort food. I got this recipe years ago, and I make it at least once a month during the winter. The kids like it because they get to put chips and cheese in their bowls. When David came home tonight, he was pleased to see I had used the cilantro again from the garden.

I used the corn tortillas to make homemade chips, and baked them instead of frying them, so they're not bad for you at all unless you're on a low carb diet. If you are, run away from my blog now. My diet is probably 90% carbs so I can keep up with 4 chittlins...sorry!

And one more thing. I used chicken thighs because they are more flavorful than chicken breasts. I think using breast meat in soup is fine, but it always comes out tasting dry. You won't have that issue if you use dark meat chicken. Yes it's fattier, but fat= flavor. I'm going to show you how to make baked chips already. And there's tomatoes and heart healty avocado in this soup. So I'm trying...really I am. I know there's cheese involved, but just forgive me and make this soup already! I can't help you any more than that! :-)

Get your dutch oven or soup pot out, your favorite set of bowls, and get ready to slurp.

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips

2 32 ounce boxes of low-sodium chicken broth

4-5 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in

1 cup sun dried tomatoes (not the kind in jars; buy the ones sold in little bags), snipped into thin strips

1 1/2 cups mild salsa

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro (I use just the leaves)

2-4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 1/2 cups frozen/canned corn kernels

1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced (see pics below)

1 cup shredded montery jack cheese (I used a mexican cheese blend)

16-20 corn tortillas

kosher salt (it's better than table salt...give it a try!)

In a large pot or dutch oven, pour in the chicken stock and bring to a rolling boil. While you're waiting for the stock to boil, remove the skin from the chicken and any excess fat.

When the stock is ready, add the chicken thighs, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 12-15 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and let cool.

Using bone-in chicken gives a richer flavor to the boxed chicken stock--trust me! I bought the chicken on sale for 99 cents a pound, so I don't mind the extra step of removing the skin to save money.

To the pot, add the salsa, cumin, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Use your kitchen shears to cut the tomato slices into thin strips--it's tough to do with a knife.

If you don't have kitchen shears, please go get some! I use them for everything, snipping fresh herbs, cutting packaging open, getting Gabriel's food into bits for him. Oh, sorry...I got off topic! Bring the enriched stock to a simmer and let it go for about 10-15 minutes to meld the flavors.

While the pot is boiling, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Don't use a knife, this soup doesn't cry for mechanized cubes of meat. It really looks so much better shredded by hand.

After 10-15 minutes, add the chicken to the pot, along with the corn and lime juice. Then add 2 tablespoons of the cilantro. I use just the leaves because I don't like biting into a stem of cilantro.

Let that all hang out for a few minutes while you make the tortilla chips. Stack the corn tortillas, and cut them into 8 wedges.

Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray and lay out the tortilla wedges in a single layer. Spray again lightly with the cooking spray and sprinkle with the kosher salt.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Watch them carefully, you don't want them too dark. Take them out and let them cool on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the tortilla pieces. You can do this earlier in the day like I did, and store the finished chips in an airtight container until you're ready to use them.

The last thing to do is to prep the avocado. Use a sharp knife to cut it in half, and twist gently to separate the halves. Hit the pit with the blade of the knife (sorry, there was no way I could get a picture of this step), and lift it out. Now cut the flesh into cubes like this:

take a spoon, and scoop out all the pieces. If for some reason you don't get it into your bowl right away, toss the avocado with a little lime juice so it doesn't oxidize and turn brown on you.

To serve the soup, place a portion of the tortilla chips (crushed) into the bottom of the bowl, and some of the avocado. Ladle the soup over, and garnish with some more chopped cilantro and shredded cheese. If you are really trying to cut the calories, you can leave out the avocado or cheese (or both), but personally, I wouldn't. Cheese and avocados are good for you in moderation.

Have fun making this! God bless your table tonight!

Green Beans with Orange Ginger Butter

Our green bean plants survived Hurricane Ike, but it did take a couple of weeks for them to recover. We started getting beans last week, and there's now enough to make some for everyone. Most of the time I just steam them and add some butter spray, salt, and pepper, but if I have a few extra minutes, I whip up this recipe. This is adapted from my Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book. The original recipe calls for snap peas (which we're also growing, however they're not ready to pick yet); I've found this works equally well with green beans. I've even used apricot preserves instead of orange marmalade, and it tastes just fine. I do like the little cirtus kick better though...you can decide on your own preference. Frozen green beans also take the sauce well; we all like fresh beans better-- I guess we're spoiled because we have a garden. I buy fresh beans regardless of the season--the kids have told me the frozen beans are "chewy," instead of "crunchy."

You can make the sauce on the stove top, but I just put everything in a microwave safe bowl and nuke it in the microwave. Then I can toss the bowl into the dishwasher instead of cleaning a pot!

My kids can't get enough of these veggies (except Christina of course, who won't touch anything green.) I cook a few beans a little longer for Gabriel so they're soft instead of crisp-tender, and he loves them too.

Green Beans with Orange-Ginger Butter

1 pound fresh green beans, washed and trimmed

2 tablespoons orange marmalade

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Steam the green beans for 8-10 minutes in a vegetable steamer or in a pot over 2 inches of boiling water.

We like our beans with a lot of crunch, so if you like yours a little softer, cook them for a few extra minutes. When they're done, shake off the excess water and dump them into a serving bowl.

In a small pot or microwave safe bowl, combine the orange marmalade, vinegar, ginger, butter/margarine, salt, and pepper.

Microwave on "high" for 1 minute or until the butter and marmalade have melted.

Immediately pour the sauce over the green beans, toss to coat and serve. I made these a couple of nights ago, and there were no leftovers!

God bless your table tonight!