Christmas Cookie Week: Easy Sugar Cookies

Welcome to Christmas Cookie Week 2011!

This week my friend Grace at Sense & Simplicity and I hope to inspire you to get some Christmas baking done before the busy-ness of December starts.
I am going to showcase easy cookies that can be made in 1 hour...and recipes that anyone can tackle.
And remember it's just me and my little blue mixer in my little kitchen!

***

The first cookie I want to share with you is one of my favourites...the humble

*SUGAR COOKIE*

This cookie is so perfect... it can be mixed up in 10 minutes and because it is a drop cookie recipe, it doesn't need to be rolled out with a rolling pin.

This cookie is tender and buttery and oh-so-good fresh from the oven.

This recipe comes from my Grandmother Ada.

She made these cookies year round and kept them in a glass cookie jar on her kitchen counter.

{You can see the recipe below...published in 1979 in a little country community cookbook}

 I double the recipe as my Grandmother suggests.

And when you make cookies....always use real butter and real vanilla...the taste is so worth it!
*SUGAR COOKIES*
{makes 3 1/2 dozen}

In mixing bowl combine:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tbsp milk

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat until light and fluffy.

In another bowl, stir together:

3 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Add flour mixture to butter mixture gradually. Beat until mixed to form soft dough.

Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls.

Flatten with a fork.

Add Christmas sprinkles as desired.

Bake in 325 oven for 8-10 minutes.

Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes.

Then transfer to cooling rack.

  Here are the sugar cookies on my Christmas cookie platter last year.

I think every cookie platter could use a tasty sugar cookie!

Please make sure you hop on over to Sense & Simplicity to see what Grace cookie is sharing today!

And check back later this afternoon to see fun packaging inspiration for our little cookie!

Project Homemade Christmas:Strawberry Butter

This is one of my all-time favorite strawberry treats!

It is my mother's recipe and she has been making it for years.

Strawberry Butter. 
It tastes absolutely divine on fresh biscuits....nothing compares!

This year I have decided to share this wonderful butter with my friends for Christmas.

You will be happy to know that this is another very do-able project...you can make it and package it in under an hour!

It takes 3 simple ingredients:

1 cup of butter.

1 cup of strawberry jam.

{I used homemade freezer strawberry jam that I made in Nova Scotia this summer. Yes. I dragged home frozen jam in my suitcase from Nova Scotia to Alberta. Don't judge.}

{And yes, I do think that blackberry jam or raspberry jam would work just as well!}

2-3 cups of icing sugar.

Mix well until you have the consistency of a whipped butter.

Thick but not runny.

Then spoon butter into small, clean jars and embellish how ever you like.

I used red polka dot ribbon...and I made the labels with Avery oval labels and my computer.

You can read more about making Avery labels here.

Store the Strawberry Butter in the fridge until gift-giving time.

Serve Strawberry Butter at room temperature with biscuits, muffins or toast.

You could also tuck a Christmas-themed spreader into the ribbon and give the butter with a batch of biscuits or muffins.

I picked up these little spice jars from Superstore, and the spreaders were 2 for a $1 at Dollarama.

And yes.

As soon as I put my camera down, I ate that strawberry-butter-topped biscuit!

Happy Weekend!

This post has been linked to these terrific parties:































Design Dazzle

Apple Treats Week: Decandent Caramel Apple Dip...

Welcome to the 4th edition of Apple Treats Week!

I am super excited to share this recipe with you...because if you have never tried this before...you are in for a wonderful treat!
It's so good it's ridiculous!

I first had this delicious dip about 8 years ago when my SIL brought it to a scrapbook day that our scrapbook group was having.
It was a huge hit and I know we had her running to the kitchen to cut up more apples!
I have since taken this dip to book club, meetings and other gatherings and it is always a hit with people asking for the recipe.

There is something about caramel and apples that go hand and hand...they are like best friends on a playground!

It's also an easy, no-bake recipe...it actually takes longer to cut up the apples than it does to make the dip.

This dip also has only 5 ingredients:

Cream Cheese

 To the cream cheese you add: 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Mix until creamy and fluffy.

Then spread this mixture on a pretty plate with a spatula.

Then 2 other ingredients are needed:

Caramel Sauce.

Skor Toffee Bits.
Now spread the caramel sauce on top of the cream cheese mixture.

And sprinkle generously with skor toffee bits.

and now surround the dip with slices of Granny Smith apples.

And now you have created the most dreamy dip ever!
Look at this:

It is the perfect bite!
The tartness of the apple, the richness of the cream cheese, the sweetness of the caramel sauce and the crunch of the skor toffee bits....it is the most delicious bite!

The ingredients I showed you can make one large dip on a large platter, or 2 smaller dips on dinner size plates.
On this day, I made 2 dinner plate size dips...one for my teenage daughter and her friends,  and one for the rest of the house.

So, have I tempted you? Will you be making this dip?

If you would like to see what else was shared for Apple Treats Week, check out these recipes:

Salted Caramel Apple Cookies, go here.

Apple Brownies, go here.

Apples+Pastry=Family Fun, go here.

Thank you so much for joining me at Apple Treats Week!
Come back tomorrow for the last treat of the week.

This post is linked to these terrific parties:

















Weekend Wrapup Party @ Tatertots & Jello