We Three Roses of Idaho Are......
Baking Cookies With Spices From Afar.......
December 14th marked the First Annual Vedder Sisters Christmas Cookie and Candy Extravaganza! Since this was clearly a collaborative effort, we shall all contribute to this blog. (This also discourages lies, exaggerations, and highly suspicious hyperbole...)Michelle here...being the most angelic one of the bunch, I must clarify that I have NEVER been accused of lying, exaggerating or using highly suspicious hyperbole...
Tracy here - Mishka lies when she says she's never been accused of above - why here am I now, accusing her of just that! And that angel thing? Totally not true. And, as the final copy and photo editor - I pretty much get to say whatever I want. Bwahahahaha.
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| (Sister Cammi needed help deciphering spoon measurements?) |
I have to get credit for something since my baking left a LOT to be desired - more later.
Michelle, the detail oriented part of the trio, made her sugar cookie doughs the two days ahead, and with her hour commute from Mtn Home, extended her day to eleven hours!! Yes, all that DID make Mishka a bit crazier than normal.
I pledged to NOT do my usual kitchen stint of using every available pot, spoon, cup and cooking surface and leaving it all to George to clean up behind me! And I was a good girl, and we always had space and clean implements. Who knew?? (Suck-up)
Having been in the presence of my first born sister when she is in the kitchen, this was truly a shock to see how well she cleaned up after herself. (Double suck-up) Well, she had help once after she spilled cocoa powder all down her front and on the floor. Much to Sammy's chagrin, she discovered that cocoa powder on her doggy tongue was not the grand culinary delight she had anticipated. So the floor was still rife with cocoa powder minus the two tongue tracks.
I only made two things, but since they were such time consumers, they took me all day.
Three batches of peanut brittle....dubbed the best he ever had by brother in law, Dane! And three batches of Chocolate Walnut Biscotti.....I’ll let the other Roses tell you what they made..it all was so good!
So my contribution to the Christmas baking extravaganza was fudge, raspberry pinwheel cookies and sugar cookies. All three were first time recipes....of course. The pinwheel cookies turned out great (even though some looked more like tipsy starfish rather than pinwheels).
Sugar cookie recipe I tweaked with the addition of lemon and orange extract. Yum! The fudge...well, let me say that you really DO need to read the directions carefully and not just assume that the can of evaporated milk you purchased was the required 5 ounces and not 12 ounces. Yes. It was a little liquidy (not a word - really) while mixing and did some other weird things, but final result was a success!!! Now that's true - they were all awesome!
My grand contribution was going to be Chocolate Krinkles with mint chips, Molasses cookies, and Chocolate Chips with toffee in addition to the chocolate bits. I should have paid attention to Michelle about the reading directions carefully part... an issue we apparently share.
It wasn't until the chocolate krinkle dough was mixed that I noticed the recipe calls for it to be refrigerated overnight before baking. Huh. So it went into a container for the fridge. And I had already done a flash freeze of my molasses cookies in the pre-baked ball form as I planned to bake them fresh just before Christmas. Double huh.
So all I had to show for the day were frozen balls and a container of brown goo. I was down to my last option for saving my baking reputation.
It was all riding on the chocolate & toffee chip cookies. No problem, this was a recipe (minus the toffee) I'd made billions and billions of times. Then I forgot to add the brown sugar. Whoops! I remembered just before adding the flour but still, I had already screwed up the finely calculated chemical reaction.
Something did not look right. Sigh. Flattened alien-looking disks with chocolate and toffee bits poking out the top. Some crashed and burned upon landing.
The Dane however said they tasted great. Lord I love that man! Also - I'm taking a break from baking.
So my contribution to the Christmas baking extravaganza was fudge, raspberry pinwheel cookies and sugar cookies. All three were first time recipes....of course. The pinwheel cookies turned out great (even though some looked more like tipsy starfish rather than pinwheels).
Sugar cookie recipe I tweaked with the addition of lemon and orange extract. Yum! The fudge...well, let me say that you really DO need to read the directions carefully and not just assume that the can of evaporated milk you purchased was the required 5 ounces and not 12 ounces. Yes. It was a little liquidy (not a word - really) while mixing and did some other weird things, but final result was a success!!! Now that's true - they were all awesome!
My grand contribution was going to be Chocolate Krinkles with mint chips, Molasses cookies, and Chocolate Chips with toffee in addition to the chocolate bits. I should have paid attention to Michelle about the reading directions carefully part... an issue we apparently share.It wasn't until the chocolate krinkle dough was mixed that I noticed the recipe calls for it to be refrigerated overnight before baking. Huh. So it went into a container for the fridge. And I had already done a flash freeze of my molasses cookies in the pre-baked ball form as I planned to bake them fresh just before Christmas. Double huh.
So all I had to show for the day were frozen balls and a container of brown goo. I was down to my last option for saving my baking reputation.
It was all riding on the chocolate & toffee chip cookies. No problem, this was a recipe (minus the toffee) I'd made billions and billions of times. Then I forgot to add the brown sugar. Whoops! I remembered just before adding the flour but still, I had already screwed up the finely calculated chemical reaction.
Something did not look right. Sigh. Flattened alien-looking disks with chocolate and toffee bits poking out the top. Some crashed and burned upon landing.
The Dane however said they tasted great. Lord I love that man! Also - I'm taking a break from baking.
The best part of this long day, was spending time with my sisters, whom I love dearly. (Yes, the best part was truly being with my sisters. They are one of a kind. Even when one of the sisters has a propensity to flip off the other sisters. You'd think she'd be a better example to her other sisters!!) A special thanks goes to our long suffering husbands, who gave up their day, so we could have ours. (It takes a special person to be married to a Vedder woman. We have very special hubbies who understand and support our need to enjoy these crazy sister days.)
Christmas is all about family, whether blood relatives, or close friends. We wish all of you much laughter, much love, and many blessings during this Holy Season! (And we hope that you are able to make special memories of your own with your loved ones! Merriest of Christmases and Happiest of the New Year to you and yours!) There's no way to improve on my sisters' words - love to them and to you all. Hold your dear ones close as they are precious, precious gifts.
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