cars, cookies, and birthday treats October 18, 2011 – Posted in: Cooking, Family

Somehow an entire week of my life has flown by in the blink of one unproductive eye! Well, it’s been quite productive, just not in sewing or blog related ways.

I want to thank all of you for your amazing thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement following our collision with a drunk driver. It saddens me that so many of you have similar personal experiences and such a needless act has ruined many lives. Our wounds are healing and we’re getting on with life, but appreciate you reaching out to us (The Hubs reads all the comments you guys leave, too!).

We got the sad news late last week that our beloved Saturn was a total loss in the accident. We’ve had a hard time emotionally parting with it, as it holds so many dear memories for us. It was the first brand new car The Hubs ever bought (and it was totally paid off!). We spent many hours together talking and falling in love in it during the early days of our relationship. We drove away in it, complete with painted windows and colorful streamers, on our wedding day. It’s carried us safely on many road trips, vacations, and visits with family. Each of our three babies came home from the hospital in it. And it kept us safe and alive when it really mattered the most. While we’re excited to upgrade to a more family-friendly minivan, it’s been hard to part with such a great member of our little clan.

I spent the majority of last week on the phone with the claims adjuster, the salvage yard, the guy who estimated the damage to the car, the person at the total claims office at the insurance company, and fielded MANY calls from ambulance chasers. We spent the weekend celebrating my birthday with my family on Saturday, and The Hubs had to go into the office on Sunday.

Yesterday was my actual birthday, and I’m now enjoying the last year of my 20s. I remember so vividly my Mom saying for many, many years that she refused to be older than 29, and now that I AM 29, I totally get it! My darling husband came home from work early yesterday with flowers, a cake, and a bottle of champagne, then spent the evening spoiling me the way all men should spoil their wives on their birthday.

                          

And since Ella won’t let me put her down today, sewing is off the agenda. We decided some festive cookies were just the ticket on a cloudy afternoon. I decided to make the delicious candy corn sugar cookies I posted about last year. They’re still just as tasty!!

**I’m reposting my recipe from last year. I did use the plastic wrap when I made them this time–total lifesaver!

Candy Corn Cookies

1.5 C butter, softened
2 C white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 C all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir dry mixture into wet ingredients until incorporated.

Here’s where I started experimenting. Divide the dough into thirds.

To 2 of the 3 pieces of dough, add food coloring. I did 8 drops of yellow on the yellow ball, and 8 drops of yellow with 4 drops of red on the orange ball. The third ball was left untouched.

I kneaded each ball about 5 minutes to get the color fully mixed.

Grease an 8×4 loaf pan. In the future, I’ll probably also line the pan with saran wrap to get the dough out easier.

Take your plain dough and flatten to an approximate rectangle shape.

Place in the bottom of the loaf pan and press to fill the pan. Try to make it even on top.

Repeat with the orange,

then the yellow layers.

Cover the loaf pan and place in the fridge for at least an hour. I recommend overnight.

When you take it out to make your cookies, turn the pan over to remove the dough. You can see I had trouble getting mine out and had to separate it from the pan with a knife. This is why I’m going to use plastic wrap next time!

Slice off pieces about 1/4″ thick and lay flat. Cut into candy corn shape pieces. I marked how I cut mine, using the shape of the loaf pan to my advantage!

Place on a cookie sheet about 1″ apart (mine were a little closer) and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I take my cookies out just before the edges brown so they stay nice and soft in the middle.

I put my unused dough back in the loaf pan, recovered it, and put it back in the fridge between bakings.

I would estimate this recipe makes about 10 dozen cookies. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but they’re bite size, so they’re quicker and easier to eat! Plus, you’ll end up giving them away because they’re just so cute and festive!