Wilton is hosting Cookie Exchange 2009 from Dec 7th -13th and they already have a great site full of ideas for cookie crafting, decorating cookies, treats and cakes, ideas on storing, transporting, showcasing and more. A perfect visit to get ideas on hosting your own real life cookie exchange recipes for baking new holiday favorites, and for packaging those pretty gift bags and trays to give away some holiday smiles to others. They offer a lot over there...do stop and visit!
My recipe goodie today is Gingerbread....either in rounds or cut-outs :o)
Wilton shares Grandma's Gingerbread CookiesAnd if you are a fan of gingerbread, they also share recipes for Gingerbread Truffles and Gingerbread Spritz cookies.
- 5 1/2 - 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups molasses
- 2 eggs beaten
Makes: 40 medium-sized cookies. Each cookie serves 1.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Thoroughly mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Melt shortening in large saucepan. Cool slightly. Add sugar, molasses and eggs to saucepan; mix well. Add 4 cups dry ingredients and mix well.
Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface. Knead in remaining dry ingredients by hand. Add a little more flour, if necessary, to make firm dough.
On floured surface, roll out 1/8 to 1/4 in. thick for cut-out cookies. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet, small and medium-sized cookies for 6-10 minutes, large cookies for 10-15 minutes.
Note: If you’re not going to use your gingerbread dough right away, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Refrigerated dough will keep for a week.
Substitute 1 1/4 cups light corn syrup for molasses to make Blonde Gingerbread.
Hey, just go visit and check out ALL the Christmas cookie recipes :o) Then go visit and register at FaveCrafts.com and find some fun crafts for the holidays (or any season) to work yourself or share with the children. There's an idea...Mom's get together for a Cookie Exchange and the kiddo's work on holiday crafts to share while waiting to taste some cookies :o)
Ok...the homestead news...
I'm happy to have the addition here, truly I am. But yesterday and still today, I cannot MOVE in this house and it's driving me nuts beyond belief. Type A nothing....I'm way off into Type AAA+++ or somewhere at this point!
Here I am sitting for a moment this morning while we break for other chores now that the daylight has caught up with us and I'm surrounded, literally and then some, by my clutter. Well...actually, it is clutter, but it's necessary stuff for the most part. We had to move the large wall unit desk/shelving yesterday to finish demolishing the rest of the front wall. Not such a bad thing...then again, with 12 ft. already opened, what's another 2 ft really worth???
Are you sitting down? Put that coffee away...you'll spit it across the computer when you see what I'm trying to function in today...seriously...ready now?
Ok, where to begin...Here is my living room. Mind you, I'm living in a double-wide mobile home so this main 'great room' is our living room and dining room. It is the HOW and WHERE of daily function in this house. Looks as though we will do plenty of functioning around here today, heh?
Here is my attempt at panning along the mess for you, from back area (living room space) to front area (dining room space) and into the new addition...
Hey, look! There's where the front exterior wall used to be! 
And there it is, folks. What will be the new dining area and entrance here. Those vertical boards will be gone as we basically finished the new header last night (hence the dark pictures...it was about 10 pm...). Today Jennifer, Matthew and I will rip another 3 pieces of plywood to give a sort of 'cover' to the new header and get it up, then those vertical boards come out and we're on a big time clean-out binge removing all these materials and such. Finally. Not that I'm complaining...I have an addition here that, while it might not seem huge to everyone else at 16x10 give or take a foot here or there, will open this place up and spread things out far more than you can imagine! LOL...I'll have room to collect more stuff now! shhh....don't tell Dewey! :0)
Ok, I know...you want to know what all that JUNK lying there is heaping mounds is, right? Well, the short answer is all my school materials. All of it. And honest...it all, every piece of paper, every book, everything...came off the large wall unit desk and shelves we have.
The living room floor...the dining table (it's not small either...it's just over 9 ft!), the floor space in the dining room...that's all from those shelves. The full wall unit has 3 floor to ceiling bookcases with a desk along the length of the middle. It is not 3 free-standing units...which is truly a pain (trust me, keep that fact in mind when and if you choose to purchase something that large...). The units are bolted together, however, you can't move it as one unit without twisting and otherwise warping the blasted thing. Not to mention it's a BEAST and weighs a ton, literally.
So, we had to empty it. Top to bottom. Everything. I have a lot of school stuff. I have full curriculum for 8 grade levels, plus references we use most often, folders for our notebooking, reading books, and just lots of related stuff. The dining room table is beyond full. My children are literally sitting on the kitchen floor (and that's where the middle bookcase unit is right now...) eating breakfast in their laps. Good thing I have the ability to make adjustments to the house rules here when needed :o)
The last photo is where the front all used to be. The addition is insulated and decking down ready for the hardwood flooring...that is sitting under the dining room table in it's crates, patiently waiting. The front door is in and I love the amount of light it gives with the half-window. Yes, I said we were getting the 3/4 window...the one Lowe's didn't have one in stock and Home Depot did, except they wanted nearly $400 for it (double the price at Lowe's even with ordering it). Maybe someone wants to pay that for a door, but not me. It's just a door. I'd rather spend that money on the hardwood I want for the ceiling and flooring and not on a door. As long as the rains don't leak in, I'd have settled for a piece of painted plywood :o) Dewey said no...gotta have a real door like everyone else. Fine. Like I said, I love finally having some natural lighting in here.
Thanksgiving. No, the mess won't be here for Thanksgiving. Trust me. There's no give on that score. Now, I won't say it will be rocked by Thanksgiving, and certainly no hardwood down by then, but there's a sort of rustic appeal to kraft paper lined walls, don't you think?
2 comments:
oh yeah, boy, do I feel your pain. We have been through that mess more than once, I tell ya, and it is no fun. All I can tell you is think positively. It will all be back to the way it should be in due time. And you'll have more space, right? Praying for your patience as you go through this stressful time, and hoping they'll be done by Thanksgiving.
Growing up in a house that was continually under construction, I can relate. But it is going to be SO beautiful, and as you said, the extra room will be such a blessing!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
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