OK, So There was ONE Christmas Project

So I thought I needed to do at least one new Christmasy, crafty thing this past Christmas season. The ONE project I did do this year was to make these cookies.  I love OUR BEST BITES.  I have used many of their recipes.  I was asked to make fancy cookies for a ward party.  While these may not be "fancy", they were time-consuming and turned out kinda pretty.   I used my own sugar cookie recipe. I used this recipe and tutorial.

I gotta say I didn't love the way the glaze tasted at all, but the affect was lovely. 

The Colors!

The practice ones.  I really wanted to make snowflakes, but I could not get it to work right.

The final looks - what I took to the party.  Eh - they're ok.... :-)

Sweet and Crunchy!

Are you needing something crunchy and sweet? LOVE this recipe - anytime I have given this to anyone they want MORE. 'Tis addicting. "Tis the season. LOVE it.


Crunchy Cereal Snack Mix

1 Bag Stick Pretzels
1 Bag Bugles (in the chips aisle - it's now in a bag instead of a box)
12 oz. box of Crispix Cereal (generic works just fine)
1 can mixed nuts (we use just cashews and peanuts because we are "nut" wimps).

Mix all of the above in a large pan or two- see below.

Then, melt together in a medium sauce pan:

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup Karo Syrup

Boil for 2 minutes
Pour liquid mixture over cruncy ingredients and stir well. Bake @ 250 for 45 minutes.

Stir every 15 minutes with a spatula from the bottom of the pan-up. This is the most important step--otherwise ingredients will stick together and it will be impossible to remove from pan.

Helpful hint - I have purchased to large foil roaster pans for making this and for caramel popcorn. I keep them in the basement (aka my pantry) and they are the BEST for mixing and for cooking. I tried it the hard way using 4-5 different cookie tins or cake pans. That is a pain. Ponder that.

It's Birthday Time!

Today is my dear hubby’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY dearest! Wish The Mormon Third Eye a little birthday wish on his blog if you get a sec. He is out of town right now, sadly, so we celebrated last week. There is no other man on earth that I know of who loves chocolate more than I do. So, for his birthday cake, I tried something new! I made a LAVA CAKE!! You know, like the ones at Chili’s? We love those. I found a recipe that was sooo easy and DEElish. They turned out great!! I am not a big fan of bittersweet chocolate, but Richie is so I made them that way. I may experiment next time, though, and try a different type of Ghirardelli chocolate and maybe make a big one instead of 6 individual ones. Try them, you’ll like them!!

Bonding Through Pie Tradition

For my daughter, Les, and for my dear nieces Linsey, Genevie, Evani and Bailee, Kristy, nieces-in-law Colleen and Stacy, and great-nieces Tyler, Hayden, McKenzy, Jayden and Navi (forgive any mis-spellings). And, for any of my Tait nieces or nieces-in-law who make care, too!

When I was 16, I had a momentary desire to learn domestic skills from my Mom (“Mayma” to all you grandkids…). It was the 4^th of July, and our Mesa 25^th Ward was having an old fashioned picnic at a park. I wanted to take something and enter it into one of the contests. My grandmother, whom we called Dee Dee, and Mom were well known for their amazing apple pies. I wanted to follow the tradition and learn how to make their “famous” recipes. Mom took the time that morning to teach me how.

A couple of things happened as a result. One, I won 1^st place in the pie baking contest – I beat all of the older ladies in the ward. I was quite proud of that, especially since it was my first try. Second, a family tradition was continued on and mothers and daughters bonded. Mom made me feel so good about my achievement, and from then on said that my pies were way better than hers, and much prettier. That was not true, but it certainly boosted my confidence a bit.

At least once a year or so, during most years, I have made at least one apple pie. I always make a BIG mess, and the bottom crust almost always tears, and I then begin praying that the top crust does not. Regardless, I always enjoy the experience and it always takes me back to the days of making them with Mom. I made one yesterday morning for our July 4^th Barbeque. I missed my mom, and grandmother who have been “on the other side” for many years now. But I also began thinking about my sweet daughter, wonderful nieces and great-nieces. I missed them all so much. I realized that this tradition needed to be passed on. Since I live across the country from them, I thought I would blog about it and share some of those wonderful pie-making secrets given to me that day by Mayma.

I am not going to give every step to making a pie – you will have to learn some of that on your own (OR, ask me to teach you sometime when we are together because I would be more than happy to do so. That offer stands for any friends as well). I will share the important parts that these women, raised with Pioneer roots, had learned from their mothers. And, I will include the recipes as well.

The only shortcut that Mayma took was to buy her apples canned – Comstock pie apples. NO, NEVER canned pie filling, but just canned apples. However, the last few years out here on the East Coast they are nowhere to be found. So, I bought about 5 Granny Smith apples and cut up 6 cups of thinly sliced pieces and added that to the rest of the pie mixture.

The recipe for the Apple Pie Filling is:

1 can pie apples (OR enough thinly sliced pie baking apples, like Granny Smith, to make 6 cups)

¾ c. white sugar

½ c. brown sugar

2 TBSP flour

½ - 1 tsp cinnamon

dash nutmeg

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP butter (to dab around the top of the mixture right before putting on the top crust)

Let the mixture sit on the counter while you make the crust – the juices start to work and it gets juicier and yummier by the minute.

Now the pie crust:

1 ½ c. flour

½ tsp. salt

Cut in ½ cup rounded, of shortening with knives!

Add ½ c. icy cold water

When shortening is “cut” into the flour and salt mixture, we don’t use a pastry cutter – oh no no no. We use TWO knives and literally “cut” up the shortening until it is in tiny pea sized shapes, or smaller. No, they really do not have to be round like a pea!

You will be adding ICE-cold water – not lukewarm, not cold, but ICE cold. Yes, it matters.

It is important to remember that when mixing the dough, you must mix it together as little as possible, because the less you handle it, the more flaky your crust will be. It is a challenge to get the exact right amount of flour and shortening, because if one of them is off, this happens:

Yes, my bottom layer did tear – I still have a bit of trouble!

Another trick is in the “fluting” of the edges – here is how Mayma very carefully taught me how:

Doesn’t it look pretty?

To help the pie to brown and to be slightly crunchy on top, you must put a little milk in a dish, and then gently brush it on the top with your pastry brush. Then, sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar. YUM!!

I baked mine a tad too long and it got a little too brown, but hey, that won’t affect the taste! Looks like the top layer did end up tearing a bit, but that’s ok. It gives it “character”, right? (that's even Mom's old pie cooling rack....)

Well, I am sure that yours will be much more beautiful and tastier than mine – just like Mom told me.