Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

I am sure you have seen those cute iced sugar cookies in the grocery store. You may have even bought them a time or two. Maybe....Well now you will NEVER buy them again. Why you ask? Because you can make them at home! In my oh-so-humble opinion they are better! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek this Springlike Winter's day. Hate to curse it but....What is up with this weather?




Needed:

Cookies

4 1/2 cups ap flour
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 sticks butter-room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
5 t vanilla
1 vanilla bean-scrapped




In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk together to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing just until incorporated and evenly mixed. Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour. Once chilled, make a golf ball size ball and flatten slightly place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350' for 10 minutes. Don't bake until crisp, you want them soft. They will be slightly golden around the edges only. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes and then place on a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Frosting:

5 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter-melted
1 T vanilla
8 T milk-might need a little more and you might not. ;)
Food coloring
Sprinkles

Mix powdered sugar, melted butter,vanilla, and food coloring together. Stir in your Kitchen Aid slowly. Now add milk, a tablespoon at a time, until all has been added. Whip frosting until smooth. Now frost those cookies nice and thick. heehee Store the cookies in an air tight container and enjoy!!



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Date Cake

My love of dates has been as long as I can remember. They were my "candy" as a young diabetic, of course that was only 2 per serving, but I loved them sooo much! Now I eat dates all the time! I like to use them in my whole wheat bread as the sweetener. I enjoy them in my granola and I love this recipe for a delious breakfast type bread or cake if you will. To me this cake is moist like a fruitcake and would be great with dried cherries too. Give this a try and you will be glad you did! This is What's Cookin this 2012 morning on Beaty's Creek!

Needed:

4 large eggs-separated
1 pound dates-chopped
2 cups pecans-chopped
1 cup ap flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 T baking powder-I use a aluminum free
1 t sea salt
1 t vanilla

Position a rack in the lowest rack in your oven and preheat to 325'. Generously coat an angel food cake pan with butter. Line the bottom with a donut-shaped piece of parchment paper. This makes for the easiest removal of your cake. You will wonder why you have not done this before!

In one bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

In a separate, very large mixing bowl, stir together the dates, pecans, flour, sugar, and baking powder. Mix together egg yolks, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl and mix until thick. Fold into the date-flour mixture. Now fold in your egg whites and mix until no more white streaks show up as you mix. It will be VERY THICK. Now place into your prepared angel food pan

Bake for about 70 minutes, or until browned and a tester comes out clean. Cover with lose foil after 1 hour to keep cake from getting too dark. Cool completely in the pan. Once cool, loosen with knife and romove from pan.






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Quinoa Salad

I am trying new ways to use quinoa in my everyday life. It is such a great replacement for rice in meals like stir fry and beans, give it a try. I will tell you to make sure and rinse your quinoa very well before cooking. If you don't it will have a bitter taste. Everyone really liked this salad but my husband thought the dressing was a little too sweet. It is like a sweet oil and vinegar dressing, if you don't like sweet you can leave the honey out. Everyone else loved it so there you go. I am still trying to get used to using quinoa, I just can't get out of my rice dependency, hee hee I am trying though. This is What's Cookin on this very windy Winter's day on Beaty's Creek.


Needed:


1 cup quinoa-rinsed and drained
1 t sea salt
1 garlic clove-minced
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes-cut in half
1 cup cabbage-finely shredded and chopped
1 cucumber-peeled and diced
Pepper to taste

Dressing

1/2 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 T local honey
2 T Dijon mustard
1 t cayenne pepper

To make Salad: Bring quinoa, salt, and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Set aside, covered, 10 minutes.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in separate saucepan. Add corn and cook 1 minute. Drain and rinse under cold water, then drain again. Stir together corn, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumber, and quinoa in bowl.

Dressing: Mix all ingredients in a jar and shake until smooth. Stir into Salad.






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Dirty Rice

We are far from from Fat Tuesday but this recipe is total Cajun if I do say so myself. I love me some good ole' Cajun food. This recipe is so good with a bunch of Tabasco poured on top too. This is What's Cookin Beaty's Creek this cold winter's day!




Needed:

1 pound pork sausage
1 pound chicken livers-chopped
1 onion-chopped
1/2 cup celery-chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper-chopped
7 cups cooked rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the sausage, livers, onions, celery, and green pepper all together. Salt and pepper as you go. Once all is cooked thoroughly, add in your rice one cup at a time. Between each cup stir well. Serve hot with some Tabasco and crispy cornbread.





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Santa's Whiskers

I am sure all of you have heard of this recipe, not me. I usually have heard of ALL cookie recipes because I LOVE cookies!! I am a Cookie Monster for sure! A friend of mine mentioned these on Facebook and I could not wait to hear what they were. Were they white chocolate covered pretzels I thought? Never in a million years would I have guessed what they were. These are really good and a very pretty cookie too! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek in this New Year!

Needed:

1 cup butter-room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 T milk
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 cup chopped red candied cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut



Cream together butter and sugar (make sure butter is at room temperature). Mix in vanilla. Now stir in flour, cherries and nuts. Form in to one long roll and roll in coconut. Now wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge overnight. Remove from fridge and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bake at 325' for 12 minutes or until golden.





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