Make Your Own Special Sugar Cookies for Granddaughter, Alana's, Summer Friend Sleepover

Alana is having a little summer sleepover party with some of her friends tonight, so I volunteered to load them up with more sugar (so Kim could enjoy the extra added hyperness tonight) and made giant sugar cookies, colored frosting and toppings for them to assemble their own creations. As soon as they completely cool I'll bring them up..by then some of the pizza they devoured should be settled in a little and more room for sugar..the cookies look way smaller on this picture than they do in life, let me tell you! The sugar cookie recipe has been posted previously.. I only made half a batch because I didn't want temptation leftovers at my house!  Kim sent me a picture of the finished product last night so I am adding that..I love their cookies, can't decide on which one I like the best!

 

 

Little Apple Bites

I haven't been baking much in this summer heat, but saw a post on Facebook for some little apple bites that looked easy and like something that would be fun to make with grandkids, or for a quick dessert sometime, so printed it and some comments on the site about changes, got the ingredients today that I needed and baked some using some of the suggestions from people.  They were super easy and tasted good.  My son, Joe, ate 2 before dinner and 1 after.  I had 1 with a scoop of ice cream which is definitely my perfected method for anything that vaguely resembles pie.  Next time those grandkids come over we will be making another batch.  It makes 8, so they won't be around long!

My adapted version of Little Apple bite:

1 can of crescent roll dough-make sure it's for the rolls..I accidently bought a crescent SHEET and had to cut it so they don't look as nice.
1 Granny Smith apple
3 Tablespoons of melted butter
Cinnamon/sugar/nutmeg mix (recipe to follow)

Heat oven to 375

in a small bowl mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  set aside.

unroll crescent rolls and separate them into their 8 triangles.  brush melted butter on each section.  sprinkle above sugar mixture on each one generously, reserving some for later step. 

peel and core apple.  slice 1/2 inch slices reserving 8 for the bites..the rest can go into your mouth.  you don't want them too thick so they can properly cook.  lay one slice on the fatter end of the crescent and roll up like you would if you were making crescents.  set on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  after all of them are rolled up, brush with remaining butter and sprinkle on the rest of the sugar mixture.  Bake for 15-16 minutes until apples are soft.  cool until warm and eat.

Working on Projects for the 2015 Isanti County Fair-Kyle and Sam's 4H Baking projects

The kids have to get their fair entries in on Monday, and I always have helped them with their baking projects.  They will do 2 each I think.  Sam is making Raspberry Almond Dream Cookies, after much debate, this year.  I didn't have the raspberry jam, so we used my homemade strawberry rhubarb jam instead.  They tasted good with the change!  It's one of our favorites around here..

Here is the recipe:

RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD DREAMS:

1 cup soft butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

GLAZE:
1 cup powdered (confectioner's sugar)
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 tsps. water , or enough so you can drizzle it over the cookies

1.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in extract. Add flour gradually until a stiff dough forms. (I used my (clean) hands to get it mixed in thoroughly).  Cover and refrigerate for one hour (I never do this and they are fine).

2.  Roll into 1 inch balls (I use my little cookie scoop), place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Using the end of a wooden spoon make an indentation in the center, making sure not to go all the way through to the pan.  fill with jam. 

3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.  remove to wire racks to cool.  spoon additional jam into cookies if desired.  make the glaze and drizzle a little over the cookies.  cook completely so glaze sets.

Craving Wild Rice Bread after being up North

When we went out for Shellie's belated birthday dinner up north, the restaurant at Chase on the Lake served an appetizer of Wild Rice Bread with melted white cheese fondue..we all dived into that immediately and the kids asked me to try to make it at home.  I am making their favorite wild rice soup tonight for supper with steamed crab legs, so thought the soup would be good with fresh bread for dipping.  I found a bread machine recipe online and crossed my fingers.  Since I had to precook some wild rice for the soup, I just made extra for the bread early this morning.  I didn't have any dried cranberries, but did have dried cherries, so used those, but chopped them in little pieces and added some sunflower seeds instead of the pine nuts since I had those..It seems to have turned out great!  we'll see tonight what the kids think of it.  I used my dough setting only because I have a super old bread cylinder machine and don't like the bread baked in it.   After it was done with the cycle I put it in my stoneware bowl that I had sprayed with Pam, but I am sure a bread pan would work just fine, or bake it in your machine.  I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes. Here is the recipe for a 1-1/2 lb loaf. The recipe is from 3boysandadog.com and they have the 2 lb size on their site also.

WILD RICE AND CRANBERRY BREAD LOAF RECIPE:
1-1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup powdered milk
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2 Tbsps honey
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cooked wild rice and cooled
1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pine nuts (I use sunflower, but you don't have to add any)
3/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 tsp black ground pepper
1 tsp bread machine or instant yeast (I use bread machine yeast)
2/3 cup dried cranberries

put in bread machine in order given above.  Because I have a super old bread machine, I put it on the dough setting and then when ready I transfer it to a regular Pam sprayed loaf pan, spray the top of the loaf with Pam, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until about 1 inch above the top of the pan, then bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.   baste top with a little butter and remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.  The picture below was baked in a stoneware bowl..

 

They liked it..it was gone by lunch the next day!

 

2015 Trip with all the Grandkids to Leech Lake=Fun!

Just made it back from a short 3 day trip with the grandkids and daughter, Shellie-Michelle Kleven at Chase on the Lake, Walker, Minnesta. We lucked out and no big storms and pretty good weather, so Shellie got to get out fishing with her guide friend, Bob, on Wednesday, and the kids and I did the pool, beach and shopping/eating. We had a gorgeous room, balcony and had a ton of fun. On the way back we hit 3 quilt shops and the new state park up by Crosby. Now that is a beautiful park.....they have tons of mountain bike trails at all levels..some looked way scary to us. We had a picnic by one of the lakes (the lakes are formed from the old mining operations up there and are super deep, but have fish in them and a lot of people deep sea dive there) and drove up to a lookout point..beautiful.  They do have a campground, but it's not much yet..has an old showerhouse though and hookups for those interested. Now the kids are with me until Sunday morning..stuffed them with pizza so they'd sleep long and hard tonight! Granny needs it..LOL..

Roasted Onion dip by Nancy Fuller

I was watching Farm House Rules on Food Network yesterday and Nancy Fuller was making this yummy looking roasted onion dip to use on cut up veggies. I added the ingredients to my grocery list and made it this morning. It is definitely yummy like it looked. it's easy to put together..you just have to watch the onions when they are roasting. I tossed mine after 15 minutes of baking and they turned out great, all caramelized and not burnt at all.  It would be great with crackers or chips or on baked potatoes too.  I am sure I'll be trying it on all of the above!  Here is the link to the recipe. 
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nancy-fuller/roasted-onion-dip.html

A CHRISTMAS QUILT THAT ALMOST DIDN'T HAPPEN

I just picked up this quilt yesterday from my wonderful creative machine quilter, Tracey Fearon.  If you ever need something like this done, she is the lady to go to.  There is a story behind this quilt..it was one I made during a day sewing with my friend, Leslie, when we didn't know what to make so decided to use our stash of Christmas fabrics, cut a lot of the smaller pieces into 2-1/2 inch strips and make a Christmas quilt with a free pattern she had brought over as an option to do that day.  Anyway, neither of us were that thrilled with the end result and hence my top sat up in a closet for probably at least 3 years until I cleaned the closet a few months ago and re-found it and decided to finally just get it quilted and donate it, or something..anyway, Tracey saved it!  she used two different techniques and put holly and berries on the border and words and pictures all over the rest of it that say things, like stars, elves, Santa, etc with the pictures of each.  It is adorable in life!  I am showing the back so you can see the pictures better, but the words are mirror image of course..I love it..think it will go to a little grandson for his bed at Christmas time now, after I sew down the binding..