Sweet Angel Cookies!

My mom used to bake these cookies for us when we were kids. I have no idea where she got this recipe, it probably came from one of her friends or a family member but I have never seen this particular recipe anywhere else in my long life.  

I have been baking these cookies myself since I was about 8 years old. 

I would get up in the middle of the night and bake cookies and then go back to bed, get up and go to school.

I still love baking by myself when the house is quiet, real quiet and dark outside. The outside world comes to a stop and I am able to concentrate and enjoy myself. Nothing interrupts me, no phone calls, no television, no people. Just me, my hot cookies, and a tall glass of cold milk.

Angel Sugar Cookies

½ cup Crisco

½ cup Real Butter (1 stick) at room temperature

½ cup white sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

Cream together with mixer in bowl about one minute on medium speed.

Add:

1 egg

Mix together for about one minute on low, just enough to get it mixed in good.

Sift together then add to wet mixture:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix together on low for about another minute. Then add:

1 tsp of vanilla

Chill dough for about a half hour.

Then roll into teaspoon size balls. I then dip the bottom of a small glass (shot glass worked for me) into a small bowl of water then into a small bowl of sugar. 

And press the wet/sugar coated glass bottom onto the dough ball and flatten them a little.

This will leave a wet sugary coating on top of each cookie.

Bake on parchment paper in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

click here for printable recipe

Thanks for stopping by!

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I am linking up with:

VMG206

DIY Sunday Showcase

Dwellings - The Heart of  Your Home
Amaze Me Monday 74

I want cheesecake!

Diets, like clothes, should be tailored to you.

Joan Rivers

I gained about 15 extra pounds this past winter.  Cold weather is perfect for baking cookies, cakes, pies, fudge, and hot rolls.  And I did a lot of baking this past winter.  In the past, the weight has just fallen off when the spring chores begin.  With flower beds to clean and plant, a garden to grow, long walks near the lake, and swimming those extra pounds just disappeared. But not this year.

Those extra 15 pounds have stayed, they have lingered long past their season. I have tried to cut back on calories when and where I can. I have turned down extra helpings of mashed potatoes, refused dessert, and tried to walk more. Five of those pounds are gone now but those last ten may be here to stay.  

So... I am using less butter in my cooking, more fresh vegetables, grilling more, and frying less.  But we love cheese cake around here.  I started making this cheesecake about 35 years ago and is still one of our favorites.  It isn't heavy, it is light and fluffy but has that cheesecake flavor that we love.  I made it recently for a family gathering and topped it with fresh strawberries and it was so good.  I thought I would share it with you.

Jello Cheesecake

2 graham cracker pie crusts

1 large package of jello, any flavor

1 cup boiling water

8 oz. Cream cheese at room temperature (low fat is ok)

½ cup white sugar (or splenda)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 can Milnot evaporated milk (Milnot whips better than other brands)

Add jello to a cup of boiling water, stir till dissolved, then chill about 20 minutes (just till it cools slightly)

While the jello is cooling - Mix together room temperature cream cheese and sugar till well blended and sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla, stir till mixed well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, Whip one can of Milnot Evaporated Milk until stiff peaks form.

Add cooled jello mixture to cream cheese mixture and stir till mixed well, scraping sides of bowl. Then fold in the whipped Milnot till blended well.

Pour into graham cracker crusts, chill for three hours.

Top with fresh fruit before serving.

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Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Simple and Delicious!

Caramel Drizzle and

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

from

Lady Behind the Curtain.

I came across this photo of this

absolutely delicious cake she had posted.

Doesn't this photo make you want one?

It reminded me of when I was a small girl

and I would ask my Mother for a brown sugar sandwich.

Just two slices of bread, buttered, with brown sugar

delicately sprinkled in the middle.

Oh, it was so delicious.

This cake is made with everyday ingredients

we all keep on hand in our pantry,

and went together easy as I followed

her instructions and (yummy) photos.

My photo taken the next morning: I left out the pecans

because my Big Brother doesn't like them.

Here is my review:

I would make this cake again.

It was delicious.

However, I would prefer to serve it warm

with the caramel drizzle icing

poured warm over the cake as you serve it.

We ate our first piece warm and

it was absolutely the greatest cake

I had ever eaten. The next day

the caramel drizzle had set up and gotten hard.

It was still delicious but the frosting's texture

was hard and sugary.

I will be making this cake again

but I will be serving it warm with

large glasses of milk.

If you have a favorite icing recipe that you
think would be delicious
on this cake, please share?

Here are the links for the recipes.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Easy Caramel Drizzle Sauce

Thank you to the

Lady Behind the Curtain!

Another Monday!

Sleep finally came last night. I turned off the cable news channel early in the morning, then before bed I drank a cold glass of milk and read some inspiration blogs. No dreams for me last night... woke up refreshed... at 6am to find a beautiful sunrise coming up in the east.

The last three days have been hard on my mind and body. Waking up more tired than before bed changed how my day went, how my mind functioned and made me completely out of balance.

So today I celebrated. I spent the entire day in my kitchen trying a couple of new recipes from my stack of “try someday” recipes. I made the Ding Dong Cake that a friend posted on facebook, it looked so good. Then I iced it with a fudge frosting that I found on Sweet Tea – Do you whimsey? Blog. I came across her recipe the other day and the name alone made me print it and add it to my “try someday” recipe stack. I love finding recipes tried and recommended by others. They go right on the top of the stack since they are tried and tested. 

 Here is the link to her blog and the recipe. Her blog is fun to read so hop on over and check it out.  

http://lagirlsweetea.blogspot.com/2013/09/ketchup.html

Kdaughter and her boyfriend are coming over tonight for a Luck of the Irish meal of corn beef and cabbage, twice baked potatoes, glazed baked carrots, homemade hot rolls and of course Ding Dong cake. Thehubs isn't fond of sweets, so I made him a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, just for him! I wanted to thank him for picking up my slack the last couple of days while I was in my “lack of sleep fog”.

It feels so good to feel good. 

 Thank you to the Lord above for blessing me

with a wonderful night of restful sleep! Hallejeuah!

Just FYI: I have been experimenting with some new layouts for my blog, so things may seem a bit unusual for a while as I learn as I go! I am still learning Blogspot and Picmonkey and having a great time experimenting with new layouts and photo projects.

Thanks for taking a peek!

My Not so Secret Ingredient!

Cornbread...

Our house is filled with many different opinions, tastes and attitudes. And our cornbread represents all three. Most of my dishes are satisfying to the majority, give or take a few added ingredients. But cornbread is the one that I cannot adjust, alter or fake to please the masses.

He likes it dry. He likes it to crumble.

I like it moist, and heavy.

It doesn't matter if you are having it with fried potatoes and brown beans, catfish, salmon, or chicken, we will never agree on our cornbread. I will not eat His, and he will not eat Mine.

I love MY cornbread recipe. So I have had to surrender to making a half batch, just enough for me with dinner, as a snack and for breakfast the next day. 

 I may even convince someone new to try it, 

or to take a bite if you have never tried it.

But I will never tell them what is in it until they fall in love with it.

Here is the recipe.

I got it from a friend,

who got it from a friend,

who got it from a friend!

Set your oven to 350 degrees, 

and grease 8x8 pan for deep cornbread 

or an 9x14 cake pan for shallow cornbread.

Mix one box of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin mix with:

4 eggs

1 stick butter

1 tlbsp sugar

mix well, batter will be lumpy.

Then add the secret ingredient – 6 oz. Cottage cheese.

Stir just enough to mix, do not over stir.

Then pour into pans and bake approximately 20 minutes for large pan, 30 minutes for smaller pan or just until it gets that touch of brown on top.

This is the kind of recipe that can be adjusted and other ingredients can be added. I have added chopped broccoli or chopped peppers.

My family would eat MY CORNBREAD from time to time, 

even though it was not their favorite until... 

I told them about the Cottage Cheese... 

so keep it a secret!

A favorite place...

Just east of Carthage, Missouri on

Old Route 66, 

you will find the

Circle E

Country Store.

It is worth the drive east from our house in the country just to smell their freshly baked bread, get freshly sliced cheese and German deli meats.

I can't tell you much about the store as it only opened a couple of years ago and I discovered it completely by accident. They don't advertise.

 The store is owned and operated by the Mennonites. As you walk into the front door you can see Mr. behind the cash register, the younger generation behind the meat and cheese counters, and the younger women in the back baking those wonderful fresh loaves of baked bread, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, pies, cakes, cookies, candies and more.

They have a truly unique selection of goods that you will not find anywhere else in our area including outdoor furniture, and pickled vegetables from Pennsylvania. They also carry

NO preservatives added baking goods, candy, and cooking supplies. 

And my favorite, their spices. They have several aisles of dehydrated spices with no preservatives added. They have a large assortment of dehydrated foods as well. I just can't make the drive and leave without my favorite, the pineapple chunks.

I can always find fresh garden produce on the table in the front of the store, usually 9 months of the year, for the midwest, that is unusual. They are picked fresh daily from their garden and I must say that their thumbs are much greener than mine. They do quite a business, so everything in the store is fresh and rotated often.

Just another of my favorite places...

The best chocolate recipe in my book!

Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond is a genius in my recipe book. Most of her recipes are made with ingredients I have right in my pantry. They don't require a special trip to the store, or a trip to the bank for more money to buy an expensive ingredient that I have never heard of before and will never use again. She illustrates the recipe with photos, step by step, on her website www.Thepioneerwoman.com. If you haven't visited her site, please do. If you know of her and her cookbooks, and her Food Network Show, then you know what I am referring to. Yes, I think she is a food genius sent to me via the internet, to boost and re energize my cooking/baking desires.

Her “Best Chocolate Sheetcake Ever” is just what the name says, the best chocolate sheetcake ever. It is easy to make, feeds many hungry chocolate lovers, and satisfies my craving for a rich and sweet piece of chocolate. It stays moist for several days if wrapped tightly and it goes well with home-made ice cream.

Here is the link to her Tasty Kitchen Recipe:

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/the-best-chocolate-sheet-cake-ever/

My life changed its routine recently, and I have been creating new goals for myself. I have always wanted to try new recipes, and I have a big stack of great recipes that I have saved for many years. They are stuffed into an old cookbook alongside some of my most reliable recipes. I will be trying them and sharing them, both the good and the bad, the tasty and the not so tasty.

This morning, after looking into my pantry and doing a quick look at my inventory, I decided to try Trisha Yearwood's Recipe for "Sweet and Saltines". It seemed very simple to make, with ingredients I already had.  I laid out my ingredients, prepared the pan, then the phone rang.  I was distracted for just a few moments, taking my eye off the butter and sugar boiling on the stove. Suspecting that I had boiled it at too high a temperature, I went ahead and completed the recipe not sure if it would have a slight burnt sugar taste. Well it sure did, and it was not good. 

But here is the link, and I can only say I will try it again.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sweet-and-saltines-recipe/index.html

Only next time I will let the phone ring...