Snail Cookies

The snails are coming. The snails are coming. Alright, these snails aren't very fast. They are pretty tasty. The kids had no problems eating these snails. The snails are made up of two types of cookies and chocolate.

Snail Cookies aka Sugar Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
a couple of drops of food coloring, optional
1 box of Pirouline cookies
10 chocolate candies wrapped in eyeball wrappers.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.
4. Add one egg at a time. Mix until incorporated.
5. Add the vanilla extract and the food coloring. Mix until incorporated.
6. Bake about 10 minutes and the cookies until the edges are golden. 
7. After a minute, transfer the cookies to a wire rack.
8. Stick one Pirouline cookie in the center of the sugar cookie and allow to cool completely. 
9. Place 1 chocolate on top of each Pirouline cookie to make a snails eye.

 Sugar Cookie adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. 

One year ago.................................I made Pretzel Dogs.
Two years ago...............................I made Chicken Enchiladas.

Did you already know....................
-Most snails have four tentacles- 2 for sight and 2 for smell.
-Snails are nocturnal creatures.
-In the winter, snails hibernate in the soil.

Sables

My son loves the story of the "Tortoise and the Hare." Every time I try to read a story in the Book of Virtues, he always request that story. I think it is a great story about perseverance but I also want to stress other virtues like compassion, hard work, and especially self-discipline. So, I was asking my two youngest children about how they should behave like the golden rule. My son suggested we should not use too many verbs. Yes, verbs. My daughter wanted clarification and asked, "Action words? We shouldn't be using action words?" (I think she had forgotten about the golden rule when speaking to her brother.) My son just replied, "Yes, verbs." So, try not to use too many verbs today! 

Sables
2 (8 oz) sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3/4 tsp salt
2 large egg yolks
2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
Colored sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute.
2. Add the sugar, powdered sugar, and salt to the butter until blended, about 1 minute.
3. Reduce the speed and add the egg yolks. Beat the mixture until combined.
4. Slowly, add the flour a little at the time. Mix the dough until the dough appears uniformly moist and no flour can be seen. The dough should be soft and clumpy not smooth.
5. Gather the dough into a ball and divide into half.
6. Shape the dough into 9 inch long logs and wrap in plastic wrap.
7. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or overnight.
8. After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
9. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
10. In a small bowl, whisk the egg.
11. With a pastry brush, lightly brush the beaten egg over the sides of the dough.
12. Roll the dough in the desired colored sugar to coat the eggs.
13. Slice the dough horizontally into 1/3 inch circles.
14. Bake the cookies for about 7 minutes and then rotate the cookies in the oven.
15. Bake the cookies for another 7 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden on the sides. 
16. Allow the cookies to cool for a minute before transferring to a cookie rack.

Recipe adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours Cookbook by Dorie Greenspan.

Did you already know...........
-Sable cookies are popular in France.
-Sables are moist and crumbly cookies.
-Other names for sables are shortbread, sand tarts, or butter cookies.

Raspberry Cream Sandwiches

I will admit my favorite way to eat raspberries are plain. I also love adding raspberries to my cereal. I add a little cereal and a lot of milk so I end up eating mostly raspberries with milk. What is your favorite way to eat raspberries? I know my daughters prefer plain.

 Since we normally eat the raspberries before I can make any recipes, I went raspberry picking twice this year. We probably will go again but it will be for some golden raspberries. Have you ever seen a golden raspberry? I saw this recipe at the beginning of the year and I bookmarked it. The cookie is a nice sugar cookie in which my daughter preferred with no filling. My husband saw me scrapping the vanilla bean and asked me what was I doing. I held out the vanilla bean and asked him to smell. He hesitated so my son did. My son looked up at his dad and said it is vanilla. My husband confirmed it was vanilla. I think my son spends a lot of time in the kitchen with me. Now, how do I get my husband in their more often is the question?

 Raspberry Cream Sandwiches
1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
1 1/3 cups fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar, for the filling
7 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
4. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
5. Add the egg, vanilla, and scraped vanilla seeds into the sugar butter. Mix until smooth.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar butter mixture.
7. Scoop 1 inch mounds of dough onto the baking sheet spacing the dough 2 inches apart. 
8. Bake the cookies for 4 minutes and then rotate.
9. Bake the cookies for another 4 to 5 minutes or until the cookies are golden.
10. Allow the cookies to cool on wire racks.
11. In a food processor, puree the raspberries and the sugar to make the filling.
12. Pour the raspberries through a fine sieve to extract the juice and remove the seeds.
13. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler over simmering water.
14. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and whisk in the cream in a slow, steady stream.
15. Add the raspberry mixture to the chocolate. Whisk slowly until pale about 3 minutes. 
16. Refrigerate the raspberry chocolate mixture for about 30 minutes.
17. To assemble the cookies by spreading 1 Tbsp of the raspberry chocolate mixture on the bottom of one cookie. 
18. Add another cookie to sandwich the filling in the middle.
19. Cookies can be refrigerated between layers of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

Did you already know...
-Different types of raspberries include red, golden, purple, and black.
-It is believed raspberries originated from Southeast Asia.
-Raspberries have a hollow core. Blackberries are not hollow in the center.

Sweet Cakes

We went to see the Disney's Brave. We liked it a lot. Afterwards, the kids asked me for some sweet cakes as in the movie. I searched the internet and did not find anything. Nothing at all. So, I had to create a recipe. The kids loved them. 

They informed me that the Sweet Cakes should have been topped with cherries but I didn't have any. If you have them, it would make a nice topping. I also added some chopped up strawberries to a few and they were good. My son and I liked the jam topping. Any chopped up fruit would be a great addition. Also, top the sweet cakes with any desired fruit. I did top a few with strawberries but I preferred the jam. The Sweet Cakes are like a cross between a cookie and a cupcake. They are soft and tender. Be brave and try them today!

Sweet Cakes
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
 1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  
5. Add the egg and combine.
6. Add the  vanilla and mix until incorporated.
7. To the butter mixture, add 1/3 of the flour and mix.
8. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour.
9. Add the remaining flour to the butter and mix.
10. Add the milk to the mixture and mix until incorporated. The batter will be thick.
11. Spoon about 3 Tbsp of batter onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
12. Space the batter about 4 inches apart.
13. Bake the sweet cakes about 7 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Set aside and allow to cool.

Icing
1 cup powder sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine the sugar, water, and vanilla together.
2. Drizzle the icing over the sweet cakes.

Top each sweet cake with:
1 tsp of jam
cherries
other desired fruit 

Recipe created by Jen of Sweet Morris.

Did you already know...
-In the movie Brave, Merida's hair consist of 1,500 separate curls.
-Pixar had to create a software for Merida's hair and her movements with her hair which took almost 3 years to develop.
-The original name for the movie Brave was The Bear and the Bow.

4th of July

Do you have any 4th of July plans? Do you have any traditions? We always watch fireworks. My favorite place to watch fireworks would be over the ocean. Since the water reflects the fireworks, the display always looks twice as spectacular. Do you have a favorite place to watch fireworks? I'm partial to Monterey but I can't fly there every year (or ten years). One year I was in Colorado and it hailed on the 4th of July. I guess it is better than rain.

When I showed my oldest daughter these cupcakes, she thought they looked wonderful. If you are going to make the batter red, white, and blue, it is easier to have another person helping than taping the bags. I think next time I would just leave the batter white and decorate the tops. I can only tell you that everyone said they tasted delicious. I served these cupcakes at a party and they were gone fast. I think my youngest daughter hid one for later since she liked them so much. They were suppose to look like snow cones but my colors are a little to vibrant and not as coned shape as desired but

Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
4 egg whites
1 cup skim milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt
food coloring, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder.
4. In another bowl, mix together the egg whites, milk, and vanilla.
5. To the flour bowl, add the butter and mix until it starts to combine.
6. Slowly add the milk mixture and mix until completely combined. (Add any food coloring at this step if desired.)
7. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. 
8. Bake the cupcakes for 16 minutes or until done.
9. Remove the cupcakes and allow to cool before frosting.

Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powder sugar
4 tsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
food coloring
sugar crystals in coordinating colors to the food coloring

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and vanilla together.
2. Slowly, add the powder sugar and beat until combined.
3. Add the milk to the butter cream and mix until smooth.
4. Divide the frosting evenly into three bowls.
5. Set one bowl to the side without adding any food coloring
6. Add a different color of food coloring to the other two bowls. Mix well.
7. Pipe the white frosting down the center of each cupcake.
8. Add the white sugar crystals over the white frosting.
9. Pipe one side of the cupcake with one of the colored frosting. 
10. Add the coordinating color to the colored frosting.
11. Repeat with the remaining color on the other side of the cupcake.
12. Add the colored sugar crystal to the same color on the cupcake.
13. Sprinkle a little of the white sugar crystal over the whole cupcake.

Recipe adapted from Bakerella.

Did you already know...
- In 1919, Samuel Bert produced the first snow cone at the State Fair of Texas.
-In 1920, Samuel Bert created a ice crushing snow cone machine.
-A stuffed snow cone is a snow cone with soft serve ice cream in the middle.