Nic's Sugar Cookies

 So everyone knows I make sugar cookies.  Chances are if we're friends, and there is an event in your life, and my life is not crazy out of control, there's a good chance you'll get cookies.  My crazy little brain thinks up all kinds of kooky cookie ideas, but there really aren't enough days in the year!  However, not everyone thinks I am all that and a bag of chips...I did a blog awhile back called The Cobbler Kid's Brownies when my family was feeling left out of the sweet rotation.  

So this week I baked up some Superhero sugar cookies for an event at the store to benefit Share Our Strength.  A mission to end childhood hunger right here, where we all live.  For a small donation, a child could decorate and take home a couple of superhero cookies.  So Nic decided, that would be the only way he was going to get his hands on my cookies.  Ha Ha.  But if he wants to come at the end of the allotted time and buy up whats left, I say more power to ya, and more to Share Our Strength.  Happily, my children have no idea what hunger is.

But as the summer winds down, and my oldest (Nic)  is having his "last" of everything before he heads back to the barrens of Oklahoma, he begged me to make his kind of sugar cookies. He Googled, "Grocery Store Sugar Cookies" and found these by Gale Gand. She is a pretty accomplished chef, and she may not be crazy that her cookies fit the grocery store description, but they are far superior to them, I promise!  I followed the recipe exactly, and he was the happiest kid ever.  Soft, chewy sugar cookies with a little sugar crust on the outside.  These aren't my kind of cookie, those are in the fridge begging to be baked up tomorrow and blogged.  Cookies chock full of "stuff".  But today, it is all about Nic.  So here's the recipe, and if a crispy sugar cookie with royal icing isn't what you want, these softies will fit the bill.  So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!

Gale Gand's Chewy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3-4 Tablespoons buttermilk (I used milk and lemon juice to sour it)

Additional sugar to top cookies

Place all dry ingredients together in bowl.  In mixer, beat sugar and butter until fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg.  Add dry ingredients, and enough buttermilk to bring it together without being too wet.  Place large mounds, flattened slightly on lined cookie sheets and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each cookie.  Bake at 375 for about 9 minutes.  The edges should be golden brown.  Cool on a rack before moving them off cookie sheet.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

• 
  

SRC No Bake Nutella Cheesecake

When I got this month's assignment for the Secret Recipe Club, I was so excited.  Delishhh is an amazing blog written by Ewa.  She is born in Sweden, raised in Asia and currently lives in one of my favorite cities, Seattle.  I knew her blog would be full of cool stuff, but I wanted to make something Swedish.  So I decided on Jordgubbstårta.  Which is a Swedish strawberry birthday cake.  I am hoping I didn't butcher the spelling with that little "a" I inserted!  But wait!

I thought this cake would be a light dessert for one of those last family meals before my kids head back to college and my nest is empty again.  But no.  My kids asked what was for dessert and I told them it was SRC, and they said they would look for something for dessert.  Lucky for us, Ewa likes to bake (and not bake!) and after looking at every blog post, my kids unanimously decided we were having No Bake Nutella Cheesecake.  Who can argue with that?

Pantry Basics

Easy crust making in the Vitamix...

This is so easy to make.  Basically you grind the graham crackers and butter to make your crust, and whip the rest together for the filling.  Chill.  Seriously, it just cannot be beat.  And delicious?  Yea, it is that for sure!  So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake (or not bake!)

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake from Delishhh

CRUST

9 oz. graham crackers (about 2 packages from a Nabisco Honey Maid box)
7 T melted butter

Crush crackers in a food processor or blender until fine crumbs.  Add melted butter and pulse until moistened.  Dump into 8" Springform pan and press up sides.  Chill while you make the filling.

A tart tamper makes the crust firm

FILLING

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
3.5 oz. confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
13 oz. jar Nutella
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Add the Nutella and beat until incorporated and then mix in the whipping cream.  Dollop into the prepared crust and chill for at least 4 hours.  Ewa crushed some Ferro Rocher chocolate candies on her cheesecake.  We just topped it with whipped cream.  This is rich and decadent and super fast to boot!

The Playwright's Cookies

 So the summer is winding down, and the end of July was sooo busy.  The whirlwind started in Florida, and my mom's play Peace and Quiet being produced at a theater in Florida.  It was a One Act Play Festival, and this was her second play produced.  My sister and I headed down to see the production.  We were not disappointed!  The One Act Play Festival featured ten, one act plays.  Needless to say, my mom's was my favorite!  One night before the plays, we met up with about 27 of her friends for dinner, then off to the plays, and then to the house for a party.  I hand carried these cookies for the party and everyone loved them!  

The best part of the festival?  Well, I was inspired.  I have always written (hence the blog),  and I had a play just itching to be written.  So I did.  My first play.  I am getting ready to send it out, with the help of the best playwright I know!  Thanks Mom!  So who knows, maybe I'll be the next one to have my name in the Playbill!

These cookies, were just little nibblers that I brought for my parents.  They loved my little 4th of July cookies, so I thought I would go with that little idea and make various shades of blue.  They turned out pretty cute too!  So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!