Sunday, December 12, 2010

It's the most WONDERFUL (and YUMMIEST!) time...

...of the year!

I LOVE Christmas...I love EVERYTHING about it-the music in church that sounds like angels are literally singing right in front of us to celebrate Jesus's birth always gives me chills-the excitement in a child's face when they open "that" gift, the family gatherings, the MUSIC, and yes...the BAKING (notice how I didn't say SHOPPING?  LOL!  I love to shop-but NOT this time of year-I prefer to go out when people are smiling and not frowning and refuse to let it stress me out!) ...so yes..the BAKING...

It was a simple "OF COURSE!" when my sweet friend AJ Otto asked me if I'd like to join her in a "VIRTUAL COOKIE SWAP" here on our blogs-what a GREAT idea!

I have a recipe and some photos to share of my Grandma's "GOOD OL' FASHIONED "SPRITZ" (or cookie press) COOKIES:


Now, these cookies are well, a little BLUE.  Ava REALLY wanted blue snowflakes and Jacky wanted the traditional green Christmas trees.  I couldn't make them TOO blue b/c all the food coloring kind of freaked me out, LOL!   So, we did a very LIGHT blue and then I added a few drops of YELLOW after Ava's were done to do Jacky's trees.  You can use WHATEVER COLOR YOU WANT...or none at all ;)

Here's the RECIPE(you will need a cookie press for these fun and kid-friendly cookies):

1 Cup Butter (2 sticks)                    2 1/4 Cups Sifted, All-Purp.  Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar                                 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg                                               1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tsp. Almond Extract                    Food Coloring (optional-few drops)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugar together, then add egg and almond extract.   Slowly mix in dry ingredients and mix well, adding a few drops of food coloring toward end if desired.

Fill Press, form cookies on ungreased cookie sheets.  bake 10-12 minutes and remove at once onto cooling racks.
*******************************************
Two of my dollies were off playing at Grandma's last night- we had birthday parties, first communion class stuff-ALL kinds of goings on yesterday , so when we finally got back home into our toasty warm sweats, Jack, Ava and I had a BLAST decorating and mixing the dough together (and yes, those are pigs in a blanket you see, LOL-our little "appetizer" while waiting for the cookies, haha):

I used this cute BAKERY BAG from Taylored Expressions along with the November KEY INGREDIENTS Kit featuring October Afternoon's "Modern Homemaker" paper which is PERFECT for this project ;)

After filling the bag with cookies, I punched a strip of cardstock and added some Modern Homemaker DP.  I then stamped the frame and "From my Kitchen" sentiment from the "From my Heart" stamp set onto Choice Buttercream cardstock and added the heart in the center :)

It was actually Jacky's idea to spell out the word "cookies" in stickers (shown above) and I said, hey, why not!?  I took a cute Rollin Pin chipboard embellishment (also comes w/ the Key Ing. kit!) colored the ends with a Copic Marker (E18) and then used a craft knife to shave off excess paper.  I adhered it to the bag to give it a little 3D look :)   For the finishing touches, I tied some twill from the November Key Ingredients kit (you get SO much ribbon with this kit!) and tied a button with some Carribean Twine from the Twinery!

We had SO MUCH FUN creating this project and baking up a STORM...even more fun eating them, hee hee.   Ignore my frizzy, funky side ponytail and lack of makeup, please-like I said-sweats and jammies, people!   Anyway-now...

 Won't you join us now for our "Swap?"  Here's the list of participants-who are SO MUCH MORE than that to me-these girls are my friends and they make life SWEETER even w/out the cookies :)   I am SO BLESSED to have friends like this to do fun stuff with-love your girls!  HAVE FUN!



AJ Otto


Eva Dobilas:



Kimberly Crawford

Jimmi Mayo

Jenn Balcer

Tina Fussell

Tiffany Johnson

& me!


Photobucket

14 comments:

Andrea Murdock said...

mmm..i have a brand new cookie press and now a recipe. i think i will try these yummers tomorrow! xo

Eva said...

Yummmm....I bet these cookies taste special good with all those sweet helping hands making it with you! Hugs...

Jen Tapler said...

LOVED this post girl! Especially seeing your beautiful face AND the kiddos! :) Fab bag too! Phone date soon? Miss you!

♥ Kristy Woods ♥ said...

YUMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY and how sweet do the cookies look in the bag!! WOw there should have been a warning with this post I have a tooth ache from all the sweetness!
LOL
Kristy xo

StampinCathy said...

What a fun and yummy post. Love the pic of your little helpers and those cookies looks so good. What a fun bag and just perfect for the cookies. Can't wait to all the other cookies on this hop.

♥Rach♥ said...

Super cute family pics and I just love the cookies, they look SUPER yummy!

Tiff said...

awwww, I love the pictures! My boys totally squealed when I opened your blog! LOL! They totally dig the blue, so tell Ava it was a good choice!

Jessie/knightrone said...

I love these cookies, too....I hope I remembered to get my cookie press from the house when I "left"..grrr. Looks like you had fun, love the bag!

AJ said...

EEEKS thanks so much for sharing your amazing little recipe and adorable photos!! I know my kids LOVE to bake!! cute bag also chica!!!! mwah!

Danni said...

Yummy post!! Love the photos!

Cindy Haffner said...

Those are YUMMY, looks like you guys had FUN!!

Kimberly Crawford said...

I am going to need to break out the cookie press! They sound SO yummy!!!!!
((((((HUGS))))))))))

Jennifer Aviles said...

One of my absolute favorite cookies ever. LOVE these and your pics. So worth the trip to the store. :)

Jen Shults said...

Oh my! I love those cookies! I just bought cookie press. I need to bust out the recipe and make some with the kids. Give your kiddos a squeeze... I miss them!!! HUGS!