Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my readers! I wish you a happy, healthy and wise New Year filled with love and good books!



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And, please, if you're out partying tonight, make sure you have a designated driver. Death or maiming is NOT a good way to start a New Year.

Christmas/Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipe 3

Another cookie for my exchange :-) This one isn't chocolate or caramel or nutty but it does have one of my other favorite flavors - lemon. I made this last year and adored it! (I went very light on the icing since I'm not a big icing fan and it was still very good!) Oh, the recipe came from the Taste of Home website.

Lemon Star Cookies

• 108 Servings
• Prep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch + cooling

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  FROSTING:
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• 3 drops yellow food coloring, optional
• 3 to 4 tablespoons 2% milk
• Yellow colored sugar, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Stir in sour cream and peel. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough into three balls; cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle.
• Remove one portion of dough from the refrigerator at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. star cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• For frosting, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, extract, food coloring if desired and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Frost cookies; sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Yield: 9 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 1 cookie equals 43 calories, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 4 mg cholesterol, 23 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipe 2

Mmm, caramel, walnuts and chocolate ...does this sound good or what? This recipe is from Crisco.

Caramel Oatmeal Bars

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening
• OR 3/4 stick Crisco® Butter Shortening Sticks
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats, uncooked
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour, plus 3 tbsps., divided
• 1/2 cup Pillsbury BEST® Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/3 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 (12.5 oz.) jar Smucker's® Caramel Spoonable Ice Cream Topping

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Coat a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.


2. BEAT shortening, oats, brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and cinnamon in large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup for topping. Press remaining crumbs into prepared pan.


3. BAKE 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over crust. Stir together caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour until well blended. Drizzle over chocolate chips and nuts. Top with reserved 1/2 cup crumbs.


4. BAKE an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, run a knife around the outside edge of pan. Cool completely on rack.

Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange

Every Christmas I'm on the look out for new Christmas cookie recipes. I always look for easy recipes that have chocolate or nuts or caramels or all three, lol. I'm sure you do too. So I thought I'd post a few recipes I found interesting and I invite you to do the same (if you can, please mention where you found the recipe).

Here's the first recipe:

Red Velvet Rich and Creamy Cookies

Betty Crocker Prize-Winning Recipe 2010! Create rich and dreamy cookies reminiscent of the classic red velvet cake.

1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/3	cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4	cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4	cup sour cream
1	tablespoon red food color
1	egg
3/4	to 1 cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy cream cheese frosting
1/4	cup chopped nuts

	Print these coupons...
	$0.40 off Betty Crocker® Cookie Mix Plus 51 more...
	About Concordance™

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, cocoa, butter, sour cream, food color and egg until soft dough forms.
2. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. Frost cooled cookies with frosting. Sprinkle with nuts. Store tightly covered at room temperature. 

Antiquing Again

With a bright but chilly morning sun beaming down on my, I set out to go across town to my friend, D's, house. We'd decided to do a little antiquing today in a small town northwest of her.

That's a fairly factual statement but the truth is that when we get together, it's a pure girl gab fest, lol. We talked about our families, our pets, our husbands, our homes. We talked about getting older and agree the alternative is not an option, lol. And that was just on the drive to the antique mall! Once we were inside, we continued talking as we browsed up and down the aisle. "I had a little chair just like that when I was a little girl." "My mom would buy me ukulele's and after a while, I'd cut the strings. No, no idea why, I just did." "Wookie would love that moose head. She'd nap on the antlers." "Okay, I'm weird but I like those odd looking ceramic peacocks, lol." "My mom had a black panther lamp like that -- I still have it." "Check out that bed frame!" (Simultaneously as we both saw a gorgeous black and gold metal head and foot board)

I've known D since we were freshmen in high school. You'd think, by this time, we'd know each other so well we wouldn't have anything to talk about. That's SO not true! We can talk about anything and everything and usually we do. We could solve the world's problems, I'm sure, if the people in power would get out of our way.

I came home with the exact same Christmas tree topper I've been using for the last twenty years (hubby wanted to know why I bought it. It's a spare. Just in case I need it.. Okay? LOL) and two vanilla hazelnut candles that smell wonderful. I spent $9.00

I also came home with a sore throat from talking with my friend. That's priceless :-)