It's Shortbread Season!

Well, it's that time of year again......Shortbread time. There is just something so wonderfully nostalgic about Christmas and shortbread!

The icing dripping off the sides of the cookies, seasonal shapes, decorations, and the smell of fresh baked sugary cookies! There are so many options when it comes to making shortbread cookies; balls, cut-outs, crescents, rounds, thumbprint, pressed........aaahhh....the list goes on...

This year I started with a cut out from this recipe I've been waiting to try. I could barely keep my cool as I neared the cut-out stage. Mom and little girl in the kitchen, aprons on, hair back, pressing shapes into soft, pillow-y dough....makes me melt, and reminds me of times I would spend with my mom in the kitchen. I feel so blessed to have a daughter to do these types of things with.....Anyhoo, I guess I should get on with it.

This is a wonderful recipe....the texture of the dough is fantastic, and it can be worked and rolled without loosing it's soft flexibility.

In your mixer, start with:

1 cup butter

2 cups of white sugar 

Beat until fluffy and add

2 eggs

3 tsp. vanilla 

( and to make more festive, substitute 1 tsp. of vanilla extract for 1 tsp. of almond extract or 1 tsp. of peppermint extract) 

 

1 cup sour cream

Mix well, then add:

1/8 tsp salt

2 tsp. baking soda

5 1/2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 375. 

Roll out cookies on a floured board to 1/4" thick.
 

( I literally used a ruler, nothing wrong with a little OCD)..... 

 and place on pans lined with parchment, and bake for 7 minutes until the cookie puffs up......

Good advice on this is " get past the urge to wait a little longer until the cookie is golden at the edges" .....take these out at 7 minutes and puffy!

Leave on the tray for a minute, then lift to a cooling rack and leave until completely cooled. Don't worry, they're cooked, and they will be soft and yummy!

 In an effort to have my baking done efficiently this year, I portioned my cookies into a freezer bag until I'm ready to decorate them closer to Christmas.

I hope you enjoy making these with your
own extra set of little hands.

My Version of Baked Ratatouille

 

This is a vegetable casserole with traditional Ratatouille ingredients. This has a very fresh and mild flavour that we adults seem to like, but if your kids are like mine, will only want to pick out the red stuff and leave the rest behind. I remember watching Disney Pixars "Ratatouille" movie, and the kids being super eager to try some of what the rat made......Well, that was then, and now they can say that they've been there, done that...several times.

Here is how I did it:

 I started off by pan frying 2 small to medium sized sliced red onion, and several minced cloves of garlic in some olive oil until they were tender.....

I spread them out on the bottom of a 9x13 then sliced and layered over the onion mixture rows of egg plant, zucchini, red pepper......then....egg plant, zucchini, tomato, alternately until the dish was full. I know it may look like a lot of work, but I sliced my vegies with a paring knife in row like in the photos that follow:

 

That way when you go to put them in the pan, you can just grab a handful and spread them out with the least amount of effort.

When I was finish my dish looked like this:

and I just put some salt and pepper over top, covered in tinfoil and baked at 350 for 45 minutes, or until all the vegies are tender. Of course, it doesn't look much different when it's finished baking. This dish will make you house smell awesome, and served with rice is certainly comfort food on a cold pre-winter day.

 

Shoe Box Time......

Yes! It's that time of year again....you know what time I'm talking about....

Operation Christmas Child

 

If you are not on board with this, you should be. We look forward to the shopping and the caring involved in assembling shoe boxes with our kids each year. It's a great way to get your kids involved in showing God's love on a global level. We keep a change jar out throughout the year....one of those ones with the digital counter on the lid, and our loose change and some intentional savings go into this jar...it's purpose: buying gifts for Christmas for kids in our community, and outfitting shoe boxes.

There is a pamphlet provided with the box so that you have some basic instructions on how to use the box, and some guidelines as to what you can include. Locally, we are able to pick boxes up at our church or local Christian Radio Station.....you can go online to www.samaritanspurse.ca/operation-christmas-child

Well, here is a peek at our process.....

We lay it all out there to be sorted through and organized (my messy table).....each box gets a personalized note including a picture of the kids that we tape to the lid of the inside of the box. We send out boxes for girls and boys so that our kids get a chance to shop for their favourite things to send out to other little ones so they can relate to them. As a result, we usually shop for kids that are in the same age group as our own children, as I'm sure most families do.

Don't forget the label, and the elastic (very important so you can really stuff these little boxes full)....and then of course the donation to help with delivery costs. We send our boxes off with a little prayer, and a lot of excitement for the child who will open these little boxes full of blessings.