When Life Gives You Lemons

It's a funny saying. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or as my Facebook friends suggested, lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, lemon drop martinis and lemonade and vodka! I had an enormous load of lemons dropped into my perfect little life. In the big picture, the real world, the life and death of daily life, is it all that bad? Well, not now. I have had all my emotions and am moving on. And I made lemon cookies.

I had to bake for inventory, everyone brings something to eat. So of course I brought some sugar cookies and decided to get rid of some of the lemons. First the sugar cookies. I used my regular cookie recipe which bakes up pretty hard. Then I tried a different icing. It's called Meringue Powder Buttercream and I found it on Karen's Cookies. After watching her videos on decorating cookies, I decided I needed to try her go-to icing. It tastes very creamy, and the color saturation was much better than with regular royal icing, perhaps because there is fat in it? No idea. It never gets rock hard like royal icing, and it also kept the cookies rather soft. It won't work for my baking, stacking, mailing, but for a plate of sugar cookies, why not?

Now to those dang lemons. I really wanted a cookie that I could bake up in little cookies because I knew there'd be lots of stuff to eat at inventory. Consulting my favorite book, Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax, I found John Thorne's Lemon Icebox Crumbles. They were ridiculously easy to make, and have an amazing lemon punch to them. But I didn't get that crumbly flaky cookie texture. Did I over mix? Add too much lemon juice? Not sure, but this is a keeper for me. I am going to try a few tricks with it. Next time I will make them in the food processor, which does a quick job of this type of cookie. I added the red sugar so they would look good with my red, orange and pink Valentine cookies.
Lemon Icebox Crumbles
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups flour, sifted
grated zest from 2 lemons
¾ cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
Lemon juice or cold water, if needed

Combine butter, flour and lemon zest with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Add sugar and egg yolks. With floured fingers, work the mixture into a smooth dough. Add juice or water for dough to adhere better if needed. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350° and on Silpat lined cookie sheets, roll 1 inch balls and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake about 12-15 minutes until pale and gold. Cool completely.

So, moving on. Some new things to adjust to. Everything happens for a reason, strength through adversity, God has plan, I have heard them all. They are easier said than believed, but sometimes you have no choice but to have a little faith. Here goes.

Every Cookie Tells a Story

When I get a cookie order, I generally bake a few extra in case I have a failure, yes, it does happen. Sometimes though, things work out beautifully and someone who ordered a dozen may end up with a Baker's dozen. I did an order this week in an African theme for a dinner a friend was having with friends who all went on a mission trip to Kenya. The zebra stripe cookies were a bit of a challenge, and many thanks to SweetSugarBelle who posted a tutorial that was an enormous help! Of course when you peruse her site, my stuff looks a little remedial. But I am working on it! One of my Africa cookies was flooded with icing that was a little thick, and it was not a nice companion to the others, so I put it aside and sent it in Christina's lunch. She, being the friend she is gave it to one of her friends that is apparently obsessed with my cookies. She wanted to know why Africa? And what country was the heart? Christina explained, and her friend's response was "Every Cookie Tells a Story". She is so right.

Harry Potter Movie Premier
United States Air Force Academy Squadron XXV
Senior Night for high school volleyball
Bunco
TV Pilots that didn't make it
Lots and lots of birthdays!
A Cross Country Team
Even a lingerie shower!And of course there are dozens of holidays, thank you cookies for friends, showers, sporting events and beach themes.

No event is too small for a sugar cookies. I can see the evolution of the cookies and am excited for whats to come. The many stories to bake for...

Handmade is Best!

Yes, we all know I LOVE to bake for people. It is a creative, cathartic process. And I enjoy the whole concept of gifting. Sometimes a little sugar brings pure joy to someone, I like that I can be responsible for that. So of course I gave away plenty of sweets this past holiday, but I had a few gifts looming in the sewing room. And finally, I have finished! Since I am a pretty talented sewer I decided to put this here as well as the Hipline blog.

First up is the Chicken Apron. My frind Mel gets an apron a year from me. I am always looking for an idea to embellish a great canvas apron (wonder where I buy those?) I have monogrammed, embellished, left blank and even embroidered some clever saying. She loves an apron and especially likes the full ones that go over the head. I am a butcher apron girl, but more on that later. I gave her an appliqued apron like the ones that follow, for her birthday in October. But when I was at her house gifting her, she showed me the apron a family friend made for her when she graduated from high school...in 1975. You do the math. The photo follows. It is green ticking with a calico chicken whip stitched on the front. It is stained and well worn, and obviously her favorite. So I asked to borrow it. Yes, I know it is January and I have held her favorite apron for almost 3 months, but I think she may feel it was worth it. How cute is this? I found green ticking with no problem. Then I spent hours (honest) trying to find coordinating calico-type fabric for the chicken. I think I got some updated colors, instead of whip stitching I appliqued, and well, the result is pretty darn cute. She's off playing in Vegas this week, but she will be gifted this weekend. My other apron gifts were for friends and family. I admit I get into a groove and stick with it. The groove now is applique. Big loopy letters in great fabric, way more fun than a boring old monogram. Take a peek.


Back in the fall I did an article for Family Corner appliquéing beach towels, I just can't stop! I have been hitting the clearance shelves with the fleece throws in lots of colors to applique for the hundreds (okay maybe just 30) graduation gifts.

Finally, I just couldn't resist an apron for me. But my needs are quite different. I wear the classic apron at work, so I am not interested in wearing it at home. I love a long apron with long straps and a straight cut. A butcher's apron if you will. I can whip one up pretty quick in a fun cotton for whatever mood or holiday stirs me. They don't really hang well, so you'll have to trust me on the finished product. Better yet, come on over when the ovens are fired up, I am certain to have one on. So, get in there and bake!