Raisin Filled Cookies + Update!

Wow! I haven't had a blog post in 4+ months.  In August I started a new job with the State of Tennessee. I work Monday - Friday and that keeps me pretty busy. Evenings and weekends I spend with the Mexican and the girls so there's not a lot of time left for blogging.

But it's the season for Christmas cookies and I thought I'd share my favorite cookie from my childhood: raisin filled cookies. My mother has been making this cookie from the same recipe for as long as I can remember and I figured it's time I did the same!

Raisin Filled Cookies

Filling:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 cups water
• 4 tbsp corn starch

Add brown sugar and raisins to a medium sauce pan. In a bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Add cornstarch mixture to raisin mixture. Stir on medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and cool. (Don't do like I did and sit down to write a blog post about raisin-filled cookies and burn half of the mixture to the bottom of the pan...)

Cookie Dough:

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4-5 cups flour

In a large mixing bowl combine wet ingredients. In another bowl combine dry ingredients. Add in flour mixture one cup at a time until dough is dry and thick enough to roll. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 3" rounds using a water glass or similar cutter.

Place one cookie round on a baking sheet, spoon 2 tsp filling onto the round. Place another cookie round on top and pinch edges together. Repeat with remaining dough/filling. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

One of the best things about this cookie is how well they freeze.

I have two four-day weekends coming up soon with Christmas and New Years so hopefully I will be able to share a little bit of what the family gets up to over the holiday. Until then, enjoy!

A Busy Week!

I haven't had any posts in the past week because I haven't been making anything. I spent Monday - Friday this week in training for a new job with the State of Tennessee.

While I've enjoyed the time off to spend with my newborn, I'm not really cut out to be a stay at home mom. That and I needed to get back to something that provides benefits. The new job also allows me time off that I never before had in the restaurant industry. I don't even know what it will be like having nights, weekends and holidays off while still having a job that pays me money and provides me insurance. The money is obviously nowhere near what I made as a restaurant manager but that's a trade off I was willing to make when I left restaurants almost a year ago. It has taken me that long to find another job that wasn't "cashier at Home Depot" but the Mexican has been supportive all the way. 

With the start of my new job, the girls started daycare. They are at the pre-school where Izzi has been for the last year. She was very excited to go back and Janelle seemed to take to her first week just fine.

Hopefully, once we get into a groove as a family with my new schedule, I will be able to get back to a few projects a month and will be able to share them here. In the meantime, I will try to post photo updates regularly about what we've been up to.

I lead off this post with a picture I took this morning of an Asiatic dayflower. It's considered a weed here in North America and admittedly grows like one on the side of my porch but goes to show that with the right perspective and proportions even weeds can be photographed to look lovely.

Feliz Cumpleanos & Mexican Goodies

Yesterday was the Mexican's 31st birthday so I made him a couple of goodies to remind him of home.

Conchas

We love to get conchas at a local panaderia so I thought I'd try my hand at them at home.  They are a Mexican sweet bread shaped, as their name suggests, like a shell. Typically the sugar topping is shaped with a shell mold but the same effect can be achieved with a knife.  The Mexican told me he would take me to a place where I could buy one since they seem difficult to find online. Perhaps I need to search in Spanish. I used this recipe for the conchas. They turned out a bit more dense than those purchased at a bakery. I feel it was a combination of older yeast, too much butter and no convection oven. But the Mexican said they were really good and took a few to work today. He texted me that everyone enjoyed them.

I also made him horchata. It's a beverage made from rice soaked overnight in water with a cinnamon stick. Then the rice mixture is added to milk, sugar and vanilla in a blender and the resulting mixture is strained.  I must admit, I'm not a fan of horchata.  I don't really like milk or cinnamon and especially dislike strong vanilla smells or tastes but it was fun and exciting to make for my man and he loves it!

Recycled Wood Wall Art

 I had been kicking around the idea of a wall hanging for my living room for a while now. I made a few sketches and planned on heading to a home improvement store to purchase some wood for it when I remembered a lovely pile of stuff in my next door neighbor's driveway.  She had several sheets of lattice and treated 1x4s over there weathering for several seasons. As it looked like she wasn't going to make use of it, I asked if I could have some.

I helped myself to three pieces of wood. 

The non treated wood in the back is from an old mattress foundation. It will be used as backer.

Then I cut them each in half.

I took some spray paint and painted two of the pieces white.

Then I painted one florescent pink.

All the while, my plan had been to have three natural pieces, two white, and one pink...

But I liked how the wood was showing through the white pieces so I decided to paint them all white.

I had the Mexican paint the backer pieces white and assemble everything together with screws. I then touched up the screws with paint to make them blend in more.

Backview

Finished product.

Ok, I know it's not actually hanging on the wall but that sucker is kind of heavy and the Mexican is not home right now. I will leave the nailing and whatnot to him.

Easy Fruit and Cream Pie

Today I'm sharing a recipe (if you can even call it that, it's that simple!) for a fruit and cream pie. There are only five ingredients. Four if you want to omit the sour cream!

Here's what you need:

1 - 15 oz can mandarin oranges, drained
1 - 4 oz cup peach yogurt
1 - 8 oz container whipped topping
1/2 cup sour cream
1 - ready made pie crust
1 additional 15 oz can mandarin oranges, drained (optional, for garnish)

Possible substitutions:
You could make this pie with 1 1/2 cups of any fresh fruit and use any flavor yogurt.  Also, you could use light or fat free versions of all ingredients to cut the calories.  I used a shortbread pie crust but you could easily use graham cracker. The possibilities are endless.

Ok let's get to it. Gather your ingredients.

Add the first four ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Gently fold to combine.

Add to pie crust.

Evenly distribute filling and garnish with additional fruit if desired.

Refrigerate at least three hours and enjoy!

 Additionally, I always save the juice from the mandarin orange can and mix with sparkling water for a refreshing beverage.