Basic Shortbread

So Christmas is coming and now is the season for baking!

Thoughts Before Cooking:

This recipe comes from my a book I received for Christmas one year, Christmas Cookies. As I like to make anything Regency or tea related I thought it was no better time than now to include it as shortbread is perfect to pair with tea.

Background on the Cookie:

“Shortbread is made with a few basic ingredients, and the results are sensational. The key to success with this thick shortbread is baking it slowly so it doesn’t brown.”

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of Butter, Softened
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/4 Cups of Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/8 Teaspoon of Salt

Directions:

1. Beat the butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well.
2. Stir in vanilla.
3. Combine flour and salt, gradually add to the butter mixture beating on low speed until blended.
4. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.
5. Cut with a 2.5 inch round cutter or Christmas cookie cutter.
6. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake at 275 degrees F for 50 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown.
8. Cool 2 minutes on a baking sheet; remove to wire rack to cool.

Thoughts After Baking:

These were delicious and so buttery good.  A perfect compliment to tea, Christmas, or anytime/anything. 🙂

For more recipes, go to Baked Apple Slices

For more recipes from Christmas Cookies, go to Aunt Neal’s Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes

For more cookie post, go to Tea and Biscuits

A Baker’s Four Dozen

So today I spent the day baking, baking Christmas Cookies!

The first were called Sand Tarts, which I got from my sister blog Mysterious Eats. They’re posting the recipe next Friday, but gave me a sneak peak. They look good, and seem tasty. You see I could only eat a little bit of each cookie as I’m still recovering from having my wisdom teeth extracted.

I was making a dozen for one of my jobs, as this Sunday is their annual Christmas Children’s Program.

After I made those I moved on to bake the Regency Ginger Cookies, also from mysteriouseats.wordpress.com, for a Christmas Cookie Party that I am planning on going to. Not only did I want to do them because I’m all about Jane Austen, but figured no one else will do that type of cookie.

So this morning as I prepared to make four dozen cookies (one for the kids and three for the Christmas Cookie party) I decided, hey I should bake in my pajamas, so I can be comfy.

And then I thought I shouldn’t put on any makeup or do my hair either.

I mean after all I was going to get ingredients all over me, was probably going to make a huge mess I’d have to clean up anyway, etc. I mean why bother?

Majorly

But it seems like no one else got the memo. I had people stopping by all day.

No one ever visits me without calling first, except on the day that I am a super mess.

It was kind of funny as they looked at me with surprise and shock and how messy and grossly I was dressed.

What are you wearing?

But that’s how it goes. And now that I am done cooking, all I want to do is lay down.

I also sampled way too many cookies.

But hey, Christmas comes but once a year, so live it up!

For more Christmas traditions, go to O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

For more Jane Austen Quotes, go to You’ve Got to Accentuate the Positive

For more stories of my everyday life, go to A Real Life Saver

So I never believed in Santa Claus when I was a kid.

It’s not like I hate him or anything or want him gone forever. My parents told me that he lived years ago and died, so the Santa that exists today is more of a feeling than an actual person. But even though I wasn’t a Santa person, I still like a few Christmas Carols that involve him.

One of my favorites is Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane). I first sang it back when I was in Girl Scouts and we went into the nursing homes to carol.

It was written in the 1940s by Gene Autry, who got the idea after he was Santa Claus in a parade. Since then it has been covered by numerous artists; like Elvis Presley, Doris Day, and Bing Crosby to name a few.

My favorite version? The one from The Year Without a Santa Claus

For more Christmas Carols, go to Hark the Herald Angels Sing

For more on The Year Without a Santa Claus, go to 25 More Films of Christmas

It’s a Jolly Holiday

14) Your Favorite Holiday

Your favorite holiday? Oooh that is a hard one to answer. Choose one?

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a big holiday person. I love all holidays, even those that aren’t “real” (November 5th or May 4th?). What can I say?

So if I had to pick my three favorite holidays? Here we go!

3) Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving as I love everything it stands for. I know a lot of people want to say how “the first Thanksgiving shouldn’t count” as “it opened a door to genocide” or whatever, but that’s not true. Not all relationships between the Native Americans and pilgrims (pilgrims not Puritans. Huge difference) was bad. In this case, the Native Americans helped those early settlers. If it weren’t for that goodwill, I wouldn’t be born as my family most likely never would have immigrated and met.

I also love how Abraham Lincoln recognized that in all the stress, bumble, and grind of everyday life; time should be given so that all can stop and be thankful for all they have.

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

I also love gathering with family and enjoying each other’s company. And of course, I love to eat until I explode.

For more on Thanksgiving, go to I Before E, Especially After P

2) Halloween

I know you had to see this coming. What with my Horrorfest I do every year (going on my fourth year and it is going to be good. I promise!), you had to know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.

What can I say about this holiday? I love that it is fall and there are dry leaves and pumpkins everywhere. I love the chill in the air and that it is usually the start of rain. I love the candy. I love dressing up in a costume, I only wish I could do that more. And most of all I love the horror films that are showing everywhere and on sale to buy. I just love Halloween.

For more on Halloween, go to Beast or Man: The Wolfman (2010)

1) Christmas

I LOVE Christmas! Words cannot describe how much I enjoy when it comes around. I love how almost everyone is trying to be nice and kind, goodwill abounding; people actually going out of their way for others.

Plus I love picking out the perfect gift and wrapping it up and placing it under the tree, just waiting to see their face when they open it!

Going to church, cookie baking, carols, Christmas movies! And the tree, we go every year to chop one down and then decorate with the same decorations we’ve had every year. Pulling out our nativity and retelling the Christmas story again!

I love it, and can’t wait for it to come around!

For more on Christmas, go to 25 More Films of Christmas

To start the 30 Day Challenge from the beginning, go to Musical Madness

For the previous post, go to Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

For more holidays, go to Every Heart Beats True for the Red, White, & Blue

Make My Day

Day 3) Bullet Your Whole Day

So I didn’t do too many interesting things today, but here we go:

• I woke up at five in the morning and let the cat outside.

• After that I went back to sleep as I was tired and it was too early to get up.

3) I ate Apple Jacks for breakfast.

• 4) I finished reading The Disappearance of Edwin Drood, by Peter Rowland, a retelling of Charles Dickens’s novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Dicken’s last novel and declared unsolvable as it is unfinished. In this version, Sherlock Holmes is on the case in order to find out what happened to Edwin Drood.

• 5) I took a shower, did my makeup, and straightened my hair: while watching Bones. 

• 6) After I was ready for the day I got a book ready for mailing, And then I wrote a letter to Kirk Douglas. I had previously printed a picture and was going to send it to be autographed. 🙂 Love him!

KIRK DOUGLAS — Pictured: Actor Kirk Douglas — Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank

• 7) Afterwards I went to the post office in which I had to wait in a super long line to mail my packages. They had a million people, but only two workers. Horrible!

• 8) After the post office I went to Staples to buy school supplies. The supplies aren’t for me, but for a backpack I was donating to children who are in need. Let me tell you, Staples advertises that they have cheap supplies, but they hide them so deeply in the store so that you have to sift through the more expensive things to find them.

• 9) From there I went to a thrift store to buy a cheap dress. I am doing a secret project that I cannot talk about as I am on strict orders. Sorry! But I needed something I didn’t care about to mess with.

• 10) After the thrift store I went to the Dollar Tree to pick up some more school supplies and some fake flowers.

• 11) After that I headed home to have dinner.

• 12) After dinner I went to work. We did an art project with the kids today, painting shirts.

• 13) After the kids finished that we worked on a mural together all on kindness and happiness.

• 14) I returned home in which I spent time on twitter and facebook

• 15) After hanging out on the internet I then attempted to make dinosaur marshmallow filled cookies. (Which were AWESOME!)

• 16) I watched An Amish Murder, a Lifetime movie, but it wasn’t that good. It didn’t focus on the mystery as much as Neve Campbell’s character having left the faith and her strained relations. It was nice seeing her still as tough as she was in Scream.

• 17) After cookies + film, I then moved on to WordPress, in order to finish this post for you all.

To start the 30 Day Challenge from the beginning, go to Musical Madness

For the previous post, go to Going on a Treasure Hunt