Turkey Cut Out Cookies

Just going to jump in and start blogging again, so here we go ...

It's been a while since I've made decorated cookies, and it's kind of obvious that I need to practice my rusty icing skills but I thought the idea for these was a good one so am sharing how I put these together.

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Sweets, Shopping & Bread

An odd post today, a mix of what I’m doing and what’s on my mind. 

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This week I discovered Biscoff spread.  Have you ever heard of it?  When I first saw it in the supermarket, I thought it would be like peanut butter – a protein.  It’s not.  I don’t even know what to call it – dessert?  And I don’t think I’ve ever talked about a packaged food here before, but this is really freaking awesome.  Like cookie flavor in a frosting consistency.  It’s dangerous.  So, of course I have to share it.

Lots of cleaning and reorganizing at my house lately because from here on - Mr. Tamdoll will be working from home.  I’ve been emptying storage bins and cabinets and trying to make room for his office supplies and it’s been quite the discovery.  Which has led to much purging…. and a week-long listing on Ebay of the oddest collection of paper memorabilia, advertising and educational materials from the 1960’s and 70’s.

 

Collectors may cringe, but I’m thinking that if someone doesn’t value these for their historic factor, they’d make awesome materials for paper crafting, collages, mixed-media and altered art.

There is: pottery, magazines, NASA, General Electric, IBM, "Sardineland”, Peanuts characters, space and electric car promos, and some of my favorite text is about the emerging computers “Mighty New Servant To The Mind of Man”.

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And last but not least, I’ve tried a new bread recipe & it was GREAT!  I heard about Schrafft’s Cheese Bread from my MIL, and found the recipe online at Four Pounds Flour.  Made the recipe as described, but in place of boxed mac&cheese powder, I used King Arthur Flour’s Vermont Cheese Powder.


Next time I will add a strip of parchment paper to the bottom of the pan to prevent the bread from sticking when the cheese melted to the bottom.  Oh yes, there will be a next time.

3 comments baking, food

Sheep Shaped Cookies

Baked some delicious “sheep” cookies last week – recipe for "Royal Icing (sort of)" & Sugar Cookie can be found at {the decorated cookie}.  If you like your shaped cookies to stay the shape you cut them in, this is the Sugar Cookie recipe to use!

Much better looking than my attempt at “yarn” cookies a month ago.  Those can be seen at the CraftFail website, one of the funniest sites I’ve been privileged to contribute to.  The only one that makes me laugh harder is Cake Wrecks.   Do you have any favorite websites that make you laugh?

Update 8/2016: For the faces, I melted some chocolate and piped it through a pastry bag onto waxed paper, creating the heads/ears. After they cooled & hardened, I was able to peel them off and stick them to the cookies with a dab of Royal Icing, then added the eyeballs with a drop of Royal Icing. When that was all set, I used an edible marker to make the pupils. 

14 comments baking, food

A Cookie Recipe

I’ve been keeping busy helping out at the yarn shop and knitting.  Will have to get pictures and update everything at least at Ravelry (I’m ‘tamdoll’ there).

Had an adventure trying to create some themed cookies for opening day – you’ll find that post with pictures at CraftFail.  They might not have looked great, but they were delicious and here’s the recipe:

For the white icing, I used the King Arthur Flour Royal Icing recipe but instead of meringue powder, I used egg white powder.  For the colored cookies that I later made, I used canned frosting and dye.

Thanks to freeprintablesonline for the cute recipe card I always use.  It reminds me of when I was younger and had a typewriter.  Pretty sure there are some of those typed index cards in my recipe collection somewhere.

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Flower or Alien?

 

I saw this unopened Columbine flower in my garden and immediately thought it looked like the monster from Alien.  What do you think?

More crafty and bread pictures and updates on my Facebook page and at Flickr:

3 comments bags, baking, gardening, photography

Baking Bread, The Movie

Title sounds dramatic maybe?  It’s just a montage of photos and a short video of me from last week, kneading some bread.  And since Passover starts this evening, it’ll be at least 8 days before I’m doing this again, so I hope you enjoy the little film:

7 comments baking, food

Good Bread, Bad Bread

There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (American poet, 1807-1882)

….. continued at bottom….

When things go wrong in a kitchen, baking may not taste as good as it looks.

I set my dough to rise one morning and went out for what I thought would only be a one hour trip.  One hour turned into two and when I came back, my dough had tripled in size.   I quickly punched it down, put it into a loaf pan, slashed the top, and within 30 minutes it had already crested the rim and looked like this:

Baked it and this is how it turned out:

It was huge.  Dramatic even.  One slice could be cut in half to serve for a whole sandwich.  It was light and fluffy… and horrid.  No flavor at all.  <sigh>  (Just as a note – too much rising and that’s what happens.  It’s much better to let the bread rise slowly in a warmish area and only to doubled.)

The next day, piqued by CraftyRichela’s suggestion to make Club Med White Chocolate Bread, I got to work (used the recipe in the comment by ‘winterberryfarmer’).  This one didn’t even have a chance once it came out of the oven:

I almost NEVER cut bread while it’s really hot.  I hate how it gets all squished up, even with a sharp knife.  Actually, I rarely even eat the bread that I make for the kid’s lunches, but this one was irresistible.  Seriously.  I am already thinking of when I can make it again, but I must have company in the house when I do it, or I will devour it all.

I didn’t have the “gluten” called for in the recipe & I didn’t use any fancy white chips… probably could have shaped these better and covered the top a bit sooner to prevent burning – doesn’t matter.  It was very, very good.  Did I say that already?  If you make this one – eat it hot!   When it got cold, the chocolate lost it’s meltiness* and didn’t taste as great.  Nothing a little toasting or 5 seconds in a microwave didn’t fix.

So, the poem.  I remember reading it to my girls, from a children’s poetry book, and the cute illustration of a girl with a curl on her forehead.  The part of the poem appearing at the top of this post.  They had it memorized and would read along with me.  Never knew there was more to it until I looked it up online:

…. poem continued:

She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

 

What a different children’s book that would have been had the rest of the poem been included!  Are you ever baffled by children’s stories?  Who thought to include that little rhyme in a kid’s book? 

 

*meltiness – a made-up word.

9 comments baking

Monday Morning Crafting and Baking

I’ve been brainstorming for the crown challenge – you’d think since I initiated this that I’d have some ideas ahead of time, right?  Well, at first I wanted to make a costume fabric crown.  Then I started thinking of making a crown pin/brooch.  But since I really like to make cuff bracelets, I thought I’d do a crown shape of that.  I haven’t really gotten very far with anything:

I gave up embroidering the crown onto felt when I couldn’t get my transfer pen to work on it, and stitched it on my sewing machine.  I’m not thrilled.  Then the cuff bracelet, cut out of paper, was too pointy and long, wouldn’t be very comfortable.  Maybe I’ll let this simmer another day and try again.

There’s already been a few entries here, including an embroidery pattern.  At the end of the month, I’ll be sure to show all the pictures of what people have submitted.  Join us!

Of course I’ve also been baking.  Last week I had a request for focaccia bread -

But I don’t think Ms. Peanut Butter & Fluff had thought too much about this one – the salt and garlic just didn’t go well with her usual lunch combo.  It was great with some homemade veggie burgers, though.

Next, there were a couple of loaves of sourdough bread that went fast, I’ll have to make more tonight:

And in the oven right now are some banana bread muffins from a recipe on CraftyRichela’s blog.  I usually don’t bake just for myself, it’s always something for the kids – but they aren’t crazy about bananas.  Actually, that’s an understatement.  My oldest actually has a severe aversion to them which I find very odd.  When she was little she ate them, but as she’s gotten older, can’t stand the smell of them at all.  She also developed a latex allergy and bananas are related somehow, so maybe it’s her body’s natural way of avoiding things that will make her itch.  Interesting, but I’m going way off on a tangent. 

A week or so ago I mentioned a hand-sewing project.. that was a big craft fail.  They were sock-bunnies and were really scary looking (picture will be online soon at craftfail.com).  So, next time I try that idea, they will be sock-monsters.

I’m hoping muffins and coffee help me focus on what I’ll do the rest of the day and that posts this week show some more productivity than today’s did.  What are you up to?

12 comments baking, challenge, creativity, food

A Week of Knit, Crochet and Bread Baking

Not really a whole week’s worth, just what was photo-worthy:

Knit moustache for a quick costume:

Improvised, stash-busting cowl:   

Later seen as:

Handles and finishing touches going onto two crochet bags:

Pretzel rolls this week, recipe here.  Super easy recipe, done in under 2 hours.  Really good as “nugget” size snacks, too:

 

I don’t know where last week went,it just flew by!  These are just some of the projects I’ve been working on, I wonder what my readers have been up to – find any inspiration?  Thinking about the Crown Challenge?  I hope so!

5 comments baking, crochet, knitting

Indoor Gardening

Once, I read that pepper plants live year-round in warm climates, so at the end of last summer I potted a few plants from the garden and brought them into my kitchen.  The hot pepper plant is doing well, the regular pepper plant isn’t doing so great (my kitchen cannot be called a ‘warm climate’ in any way).  Below is a fruit growing right in my kitchen!  I knew when I saw flowers blooming that I’d have to pollinate them, so I just brushed a fingertip inside each of the flowers and it worked!  You can see another flower blooming on the left side of the picture if you look carefully.

Usually by this time of year I have trays of seedlings sprouting in my kitchen & I’m eagerly looking forward to planting a garden in the summertime.  Not this year.  I have a lot of plans this summer, but many of them won’t be around my house, so I’m going to give the garden a rest this year.  (Even in the Bible there are instructions to let the land rest in the 7th year, giving it a Sabbath.  So, I’ll say I have holy inspiration for giving it a break.)

We’ll see if the indoor plants survive till then, inside or out in the yard.

Yesterday’s bread:

Hot out of the oven, with some butter spread on top (that’s why it’s shiny). The peaks across the loaves are from slashing them with a sharp knife before their 2nd rising, then they get these nice patterns when they finally bake.

Going to work on my hand-sewing project and get that posted as soon as possible!

Don’t forget to brainstorm and work on a crown project and join me in the challenge:

7 comments baking, gardening

Crochet Bag

One bag sans handles + stack of squares working towards a second bag:

 

I have a billion projects going on lately.  This crochet project is actually keeping me calm.  I’ve memorized the square pattern so it doesn’t take long to whip one up, taking a ball of yarn and crochet hook with me everywhere - even at a hockey game yesterday where I didn’t have my girls with me – I was watching the game while making these and it kept me distracted enough to not worry about what the kids were doing.  My mind is always racing, having this bit of focus to occupy some part of my brain works to relax me.

Around New Year’s is when I bought a random bag of cotton yarn remnants to make this pattern and I think there is enough to make two bags.  Left off the handles of the first – if I run out of yarn while making the 2nd, I’m pretty sure I have white in my stash to finish these up.

Don’t know what I’ll do when this is finished.  I have other crochet photos, some indoor gardening and a hand-sewing project I’ll blog about this week – making goals and “to-do” lists so I will get things done!

Sourdough bread from the weekend – misshapen loaves, doesn’t alter the taste!  I really don’t care for the sour flavor, but the family loves it.

1 comment bags, baking, crochet

Winter Baking

Earlier in the week I was putting together a blog post and had some pictures of snow: 

(Tried to capture the flakes as they fell.)

A picture of bread baked during the snowfall (naturally, half eaten before I got my camera out):

Didn’t get to post it.  Was home yesterday and took more pictures of snow:

Took pictures of more bread that I baked while 10 more inches of snow fell:

Do you see a pattern?

My family loves sourdough bread, so with all the baking I’ve been doing for them lately, I decided to get a sourdough starter from KAF.  It’s much healthier and more economical to supply the kids with bread this way (vs. buying commercial organic bread) – they eat quite a bit of it each week.  The second loaf pictured was a multi-grain bread.  I added whole wheat, flax, oats, wheat germ, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds.  Maybe multi-grain isn’t the right word for it – but I added a bunch of stuff.

Sometimes I’m not sure how much of these photos, or baking pictures I should include here.  It’s a “crafty” blog for me; trying to capture snowflakes on film, and baking bread are creative, so I think they fit. 

Next time I’m stuck indoors I have to finish knitting the new scarf I’m working on.  What do you like to do when you’re stuck inside?

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Baking in the Midnight Kitchen

I had a request for potato rolls, so baked up a batch late at night.  Couldn’t resist ripping into one … just to check to make sure they came out right…

Recipe from Yankee magazine, here.

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A Mystery – Was it YOU?

I received a package in the mail with no return address or city/state markings:

I can’t wait to find my View-Master (I know it’s around here somewhere) and check it out, reading the story along with the pictures… but it’s a little creepy.  Not because it’s vampires, but because I don’t know who it’s from!  Please leave me a comment or send an email if it’s you (tamdoll – at – comcast – dot – net).  (Please don’t think I’m ungrateful if this was a purely crafty sharing package, but I’ve had stalker-ish things happen in the past and it freaks me out a little to not know where this is from.)

And because last week I had terrible pictures of the completely flat bread I baked, here’s a shot of this week’s bread for you – much better this time:

 

No Artful Thursday this week for me.  I’m working on a half-dozen projects (as usual) and will take pictures and post more as soon as I can!  Thanks for all your comments over the past week, I love reading your messages and visiting those of you who have blogs, too. 

Looking forward to squeezing in some crafty time this weekend.

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Artful Thursday – Adventures in Baking Bread

Update! 9/24/10:

The bread came out flat as a biscotti, but airy, light and really tasty!

Instead of cutting the bread in slices, all I had to do for lunches was cut a chunk of bread and slice it horizontal – perfect!

Thursday 9/23 post:  Today’s post is going to be updated tomorrow.  Because I’m baking bread.  This one is going to take a while since I finally (at 7:30 pm) read my recipe &  the next step will take another 2 hours to rise. Wasn’t planning on late-night baking, so I’m not real thrilled about this.

What’s so special about this bread recipe?  It’s an experiment.  Lots of my cooking is.  Thank goodness my family has endless patience and a good sense of humor.  Last week I tried to put frozen ravioli in a Panini press.  (I don’t suggest it.) 

Yesterday I made oatmeal for breakfast, added craisins, a dash of cinnamon… and there were leftovers.  So, I threw a pinch of yeast in the pot and then put it in the fridge (with a big: “Do Not Eat” note – just in case someone got hungry).  Took it out this afternoon and estimated that there was about a cup & a half of slightly bubbly oats in the pot and followed the recipe for King Arthur Flour’s Rustic Country Bread recipe.  Well, mostly.  It didn’t call for oats in the starter, or in the extra flour that’s added, but I threw some in anyway. 

Picture looks kind of yucky.  But there it is.  The beginnings of some [hopefully] yummy bread.  The recipe isn’t on their website, it was from a pamphlet I got at one of their classes once – they have a rustic bread recipe that’s similar there.

Right now they’re slightly sticky, in oblong baguette shapes, rising on my kitchen counter for the next few hours.  I’m hoping these come out good so I have something tasty to take to work tomorrow.  I’ll update with a picture here when I can.

Have a happy Thursday!  Stop by and visit all the other crafty folks participating in the Artful Thursday project, too:

1 comment Artful Thursday, baking, food

Raspberry – Rhubarb Bread

Mr. Tamdoll said this was the best bread I’ve made in years.  Too bad I: didn’t follow the recipe; eyeball-measured everything; didn’t use a bread machine as directed and forgot to time how long I kneaded it or let it rise… so duplicating this one will be fun….

Original recipe from one of my favorite sources – the King Arthur Flour website.

Do you ever make something, want to duplicate it and not always remember how you did it in the first place?

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Being Thankful

These are pies from my library’s Once Upon a Pie Competition held last weekend.  I’m so thankful for the library!  Without it I’d be broke, because I love to read, and my kids do, too.

I’m also thankful for my family & friends who have endless patience with me.  I’m so grateful for that.

I’m thankful for for my internet friends (that’s you!), because I have a place to share and connect with and about the things that I love – crafting and art!

And one more picture of something yummy.  I made this Praline Pumpkin cake after getting an email from Betty Crocker.  I usually wouldn’t bake from a cake mix, but this looked so delicious, I just had to make it.  Bringing it to a friend’s house later today. 

Happy Thanksgiving and Enjoy your weekend, whether you’re celebrating or not.  I believe there’s always something to be thankful for and to appreciate.

4 comments baking, holiday

Baking Cookies

Baked some cookies this weekend. Haven’t done this in a while, made a small batch – only about 100! (That’s 200 cookies sandwiched together with jelly.) There was a 40th birthday … I just had to.

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In My Night Kitchen*

Sometimes I stay up late just so I can get some baking done without anyone bothering me in the kitchen.  I made 2 of the 3 loaves of No-Knead Challah during the weekend and this last batch, decided to make it easier on myself and instead of braiding, just added it to the pan as balls and brushed the top with water to give it a crustier texture.

Middle of the night photo:

By the next night, nothing left.  

I’m not sure I’ll use that recipe again, it was heavier and sweeter than my usual sweet yeast-dough recipe but it was soooo simple and quick.  

Do you like baking? cooking?  What’s your favorite thing to make?

*In the Night Kitchen

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Monkey, Bread

In case you’ve found this post looking for a recipe, see this book (affiliate link).

The bread came out delicious.  I really wasn’t expecting it to be so good.  This is all that’s left… will have to make more very soon.

Drumroll please….  Welcome Alpha, with her new red beret:

Original post is here.

Cute retro picture courtesy of Poladroid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.

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