I remember as a kid my grandparents had this long white, deep chest freezer that was in their basement with a single naked light bulb hanging above it. I imagined it would have been a good place to hide anything you never wanted someone to find. Inside the freezer were bags, and bags of tin foiled covered food that was older than I was. Layers and layers of freezer burned meats that had been on sale and vegetables from seasons ago. My grandparents grew up during the depression, so saving every last scrap of food was imperative to their survival even though they now were going grocery shopping every week. There was a an old metal coffee can next to the stove top for them to scrape their bacon fat into. And when it was full, it was placed carefully into that chest freezer in case the end of the world was tomorrow.
In their 'root cellar' were countless Bell jars full of preserves. I'm talking countless. Many shelves high and stacked to the back wall like a grocery aisle. I can vividly remember my grandparents working together like a machine to seal up jars and jars of pickles, beans, tomatoes, corn, everything from their huge garden every summer at their Winnipesaukee lake house. I don't know when they were planning on eating all that food, but it was there "just in case." It must of been done out of habit. I remember thinking that I was never going to waste my time preserving food, or freezing it. It seemed to silly when I could just go to the store and get a fresh rotisserie chicken, and a bag of pre-made salad.
I grew up on a dairy farm but was very uninterested in the business and concepts as a teenager. My mom spent hours in her gardens. She has the greenest thumb. She knows how to sew anything, cook everything and has a mean creative edge. I was never interested in what she was doing but certainly retained most of the information through what must of been osmosis.
I've come drastically far since I used to think those silly thoughts and now am more interested in all the things I didn't like as a younger woman. I don't know if it's part of my dna, or if all that work my family did in their gardens and craft rooms was imprinted onto me.
Because, I am in love with the idea of freezing food for later, canning for gifts, sewing, glue gunning, and stretching myself creatively.

I created this blog for my future and because of my past.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Too many cookies in the kicthen!

 I chose to bake way too many cookies this season as gifts.  I decided to make sugar cookies with eggnog frosting, and chocolate chip cookies.  The eggnog frosting was super easy, and the recipe is below.  I won't be sharing my cookies recipes because I've finally perfected them and want to keep it for myself!
I made five double batches of sugar cookies, and four double batches of chocolate chip!  Wow.  They aren't all baked yet, but all the dough is made and in the freezer till next week.  The beauty of these two choices of cookies are that the dough comes together fast, freezes well, and keeps for a long time in the freezer.  The frosting also freezes well so I didn't have to worry about ruining the sprinkles!
I would suggest decorating frozen sugar cookies, then chilling them with the frosting (I did this by flipping cookie sheet upside down, and leaving them on our porch over night), and then you can place them in containers to freeze or layer then with wax paper in a bag to freeze.
I bought really cheap tissue paper to line the tins, they work just as nicely as those expensive liners!


Mass ingredients for mass production

Ha!  No, you're stirring in the chocolate chips


Stirring 24 ounces of chips into dough takes muscle

My frosted sugar cookies happily in their tins

50 minutes later....

Super cute tins from Michael's 

For those of you not in the know, baking "from scratch" cookies make excellent gifts!  Happy cookie baking!


Eggnog frosting:
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch ground cinnamon
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup eggnog  ( I just used the pre-made stuff)
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream the butter on medium speed until fluffy and light in color.
  2. Add the powdered sugar and continue to mix until it is well incorporated.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until frosting is very airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Use immediately to frost cookies or cupcakes (or waffles, or pumpkin bread, or put on a spoon into your mouth)  or store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.
If your refrigerating the frosting until use, allow to come to room temperature before spreading.
This batch will probably do about 36 cookies, more or less, depending on your love of frosting....
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