Friday, December 14, 2007

Grandma's Honey Lemon Cookies

I haven't been able to sign on and write much, been pretty busy trying to get organized-a difficult process since I have too much stuff! But I wanted to share my Mom's recipe for Honey Lemon Cookies. We loved them as kids and they were only made at Christmas time and they were the cookies my boys requested every year even though they were not chocolate! These cookies start out crisp and they become soft and chewy after they are iced so they are best made a day or two ahead of serving time. We usually stored them in a Christmas tin and they lasted a week or so. They also freeze really well, just layer between wax paper and put the tin in the freezer!

MERRY CHRISTMAS COOKIES!


Grandma’s Christmas Cookies

Need

1/3 Cup Soft Shortening (Crisco)
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
2/3 Cup Honey
1 Tsp Lemon Flavoring (Liquid) Fork a lemon or fake stuff

2 ¾ Cups Sifted Flour (Gold Medal)
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt

Mix the first 5 Ingredients together thoroughly.
Sift the last 3 Ingredients together and stir into the first.

Chill dough. Roll out to ¼” thick.
Cut into desired shapes.
Place one inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Dough will be stiff.
Bake until when touched lightly with finger, no imprint remains.
When cool, ice and decorate as desired.

Bake at 375 Degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Notes:
Chill dough in refrigerator for several hours. It’s easier if the dough is divided into four pieces in saran wrap. Dust rolling pin with flour frequently and on the cold marble cutting board. To prevent sticking, you have to work fairly fast. Cookies will harden when baked. Use canned cream cheese frosting. Add a few drops of food coloring or just ice with no color. Put cookies in a container with a layer of wax paper between each layer. Cookies will soften as icing hardens.

Have Fun

Enjoy.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

On Choosing Happiness

Hi,

Don't know really what I want to say on this blog of mine, I think I will just see what evolves. I started this because of a conversation with a friend of mine about choosing to be happy. We were both unhappy with where we were living and going through a transition in our lives. My transition was moving from the Northeast to the Atlanta area and leaving my family, friends and church. I was nearing my mid 40's and not finding a lot in common with all the young families in my neighborhood and I was in the beginnings of menopause, my oldest was in Sweden as an exchange student and my 13 year old had his own needs and adjustments to go through and my husband was enjoying the challenge of his new job. Meanwhile, I was home with the 2 dogs and feeling fat and frumpy and getting fatter and frumpier as time kept marching on. Early on in this transition I decided not to be depressed and decided to keep choosing to be happy and content.
Now I wish I could say that this choice made the transition to a new area any easier, I still miss living closer to my family and that definitely has not gotten any easier during the last 7 years. I think I will always regret not being near my parents and missing a lot of these last years with them. They are now 79 and 80 and in frail health and with the boys in college and seminary it was difficult to find the money to travel back to NY to see them and they were unable to visit us here. However, making the choice to be happy has made a tremendous difference in my life
I was talking to my friend the other day and after 7 years she doesn't seem any more content or happy with her life than she was when I first met her. She has moved from GA to NC to GA to VA to NC and her house is up for sale again! She is looking for the perfect house to make her happy. Meanwhile, I had a part-time job that I enjoyed, welcomed an exchange student from the Netherlands into our home, found a new church, I became an emptynester and realized that just like when your child takes its first steps you hold your arms out to catch them if they fall and rejoice in their new accomplishment. When they leave for Sweden or collage, you hold your arms out to catch them when they fall and rejoice when they are successful! I lost my job and so far I don't really miss it! I took a pottery class and have a shelf filled with little pots that I have made and plan to make bigger pots in the future! We all miss the two Shelties we had but I welcomed a new pound puppy into my life and this furry friend has me out walking about 4 miles a day Where once I hated how hot the summer days were, I now feel joy when I watch this pup run through the woods. I'm now 50, and maybe still a bit on fatter side than I would like to be, but whenever I feel blue I keep making the choice to look on the brighter side of life and while my life is not where I had envisioned I would be I have no regrets about making the choice for happiness instead of complaining to my husband, kids and anyone who would listen
about how much I hated living in Georgia!