A Twilight to Remember

On March 21st my friends and I had a Twilight party to celebrate the DVD release. We had a great time and stayed up way too late.

I made these sugar cookies. I was going to make them red to fit the theme but I didn't buy red food coloring paste because I could swear I had some. Oh well. They were a hit anyway because they are so delicious. The Edward ones were gone first of course because we are ALL Team Edward girls!

This was our lovely spread. Sunny Price hosted the party and did a fabulous job decorating with Twilight Michelle.

Aren't these cupcakes so fun?

Here we are with Edward. He was our guest of honor! He LOVED my cookies but he was slightly annoyed that I made some with Jacob's name on them.

We had a fabulous night and I CAN'T WAIT until our New Moon party!

This is for you Kristin! I'm sorry I didn't get this to you BEFORE Christmas but at least you'll have it for next year. You will love these-- almost everyone does!

Soft and Sweet Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt

Frosting:
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 cups powdered sugar
milk

Cream butter or margarine and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients and blend. Chill dough for 2 hours. On a surface lightly sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar, roll out a portion of the dough until about ¼ inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees. These will not brown unless you over bake them.

Frosting:

Melt butter or margarine. Add vanilla and about 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar. Mix with a whisk. Add about ¼ cup milk. Keep adding confectioner’s sugar and/or milk until you get the consistency that you want. It’s a little tricky because I don’t actually have a recipe for it. My mom just makes it without a recipe and so I just eyeball it like her. Feel free to call me if you have questions!

Makes 2-3 dozen depending on size. May be doubled.

Notes: I usually double these because the recipe is small. I roll them out on a jellyroll pan lined with parchment paper sprinkled lightly with confectioner's sugar. Then I cut the shapes, remove the excess dough and bake.

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever made a highly rated 5-star recipe from a site such as allrecipes (my personal favorite) just to find it so disgusting that you feel bad for wasting ingredients on it? I have.


Have you ever had a friend give you a recipe that she absolutely loves and "you just have to try it" only to find it not so tasty and you hope she doesn't ask you whether or not you liked it? I haven't but I know some people who have had this experience.


When you offer to bring a meal over to a new mother and her family, do you worry that they will not like it? I do.


Have you ever been the recipient of such a meal just to discover that your family found it inedible and your husband had to make dinner anyway? I have.

No wonder it is so difficult and sometimes stressful to decide what to make for dinner when you have company coming! You could love it while they hate it!


Want to try a good recipe? Try the Toasted Garlic Bread recipe from allrecipes. Watch them though because they brown very quickly. Oh, and if you don't like them... just keep it to yourself.

These Are For You Sarah!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
By Heidi Monteith

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. (I use a medium sized scoop.)
Bake for about 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until edges are nicely browned. Be careful not to overbake.

Yield: About 24 cookies.

Tips from Heidi:
I use Land O’ Lakes Margarine.
You can double this recipe.
You can drop the spoonfuls of dough onto a pan almost touching, put the pan into the freezer for a couple of hours, then move the dough balls into a freezer bag and store them in the freezer for the next time you want cookies. When you are ready to use the dough balls, take them out and put them on an ungreased pan. Then preheat the oven. When the oven is ready you can go ahead and bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Yum!

Snickerdoodles You Are Sure To Love!

When you try these Snickerdoodles, you will say goodbye to store-bought dough! There really is no comparison!

If you think making cookies from scratch just sounds like too much work, I get it. I was there about 4 years ago. Then one day I had a craving, made some cookies and realized that not only are cookies pretty easy to make, they taste way better than the ones I was buying at the store or making from store-bought dough! Now I love to bake cookies and often experiment with different recipes until I find the perfect combination and write a new recipe to call my own. Here is one of my favorites:

Snickerdoodles
by Heidi Monteith

½ cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Topping:
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients and mix well.
Put dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.
Take about 2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a ball. Roll this dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place it onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes. They will seem undercooked when you take them out of the oven.

Yield: 18-22 cookies

Tips from Heidi:
After experimenting, I have found that Land O’ Lakes Margarine gives me the best results. I now use it for all of my cookies.
I have successfully doubled this recipe but tripling is not a good idea.
I use the Medium Pampered Chef scoop to shape the dough.