Recipe Club Update

In case you're wondering how recipe club went today...It ended abruptly when my child threw up her red-frosted Santa cookie all over the floor. Moms with babies sure do scatter fast when there are germs around! But what a blessing they are, asking how they can help while they want nothing more than to get their own kids as far away as possible. I just hope this is through with our family before we're supposed to head to Ohio... :(

Lemon Cookies

I finally got started making this year's Christmas cookies. I had to get at least one kind done before the MOMS club recipe club I'm hosting tomorrow! So I broke out the old standy special event cookies. The Lemon-don't-know-what-to-call-them cookies. I don't remember where I got the recipe for these filled lemon cookies. Once upon a time they were sandwich cookies that were then rolled in powdered sugar called "Lemon Snowdrops", but most of the Lemon Snowdrops I have seen are just plain teacake cookie balls rolled in powdered sugar. I've also tweaked it so much that it doesn't really resemble the original anymore anyway. They take a while to make, but are oh so worth it!

Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powedered sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp milk

Filling:
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is truly best here!)
1 1/2 tbsp soft butter
lemon zest (if you used a fresh lemon - just a bit)

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add extract, flour, salt and milk. Mix thoroughly, but do not overmix. Add a few drops more milk if the dough is too crumbly. Form small balls (I use a small cookie scoop), then flatten slightly and make an indentation with your thumb to form a "cup" shape. Place 1/2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.

Make lemon butter filling by combining all ingredients in the top of a double-boiler. Cook over hot water until thick, stirring constantly. Cool. Fill indentation in cookies and allow to set. (Note: I sometimes skip the double-boiler and just do straight in a pan over medium-low heat, but you have to be careful!) I like to have the cookies on a cooling rack so the excess that runs out of the dent doesn't pool around the edge of the cookies.

Once the filling has set, put powdered sugar in a mesh strainer and shake over the cookies.

Suggestions?

My moms Bible study will be wrapping up our current book, then taking a 2 week hiatus. During those 2 weeks, I am supposed to find and order a new book for our study. Unfortunately, having another mom from the group suggest our next book - or even a topic - did not pan out. Some of our guidelines are:

1) Preferably a book that is not too dependent on having been at the discussion for the previous chapter. Read it - yes - but it's OK if we miss due to kids, schedules, weather, what have you.

2) Something that will relate to moms of kids ages 3-9 and wives.

3) Something that will generate good discussion, preferably with a study or discussion guide available.

Some of the books that we have done are:
If Mama Ain't Happy Ain't Nobody Happy
Receiving God's Goodness
Living Above Worry and Stress
The Power of a Positive Mom

So, does anyone have a suggestion for us? Or a topic that your small group did that you really enjoyed?

Let the Christmas Marathon Begin!

At least that's how it feels sometimes. I made an effort last year to not let it be that way. I'm hoping to keep it up this year. Trim the fat out of it, if you will. We make a big deal about focusing with the kids on the REAL reason for the holiday. They get presents and we give presents, but the focus is on the giving, not the gift, and on the greatest love of all in the form of Christ. But despite my best efforts, I just cannot give up a few things. And I tend to go overboard. How can you make just one kind of cookie? And if you make a few kinds, how do you not take a tray to family? And to work? And if one of you takes to work, how do you not let BOTH people take a tray to work? As long as you're at it, why not make just one extra handmade gift for that person, since it doesn't really cost anything...but then what about this person and that person and so on... Yeah, it's all my own doing, but it's still tough!

So...wish me luck as I embark on the annual baking, bagging, sewing, wrapping, writing, decorating, singing, playing and not-so-nightly-but-trying-nativity-activity marathon that is the holiday season at our house. I wish you all luck and health while you try to cram a year's worth of festivities and socializing into this one month with me. And may we all learn to slow down, let go and focus on what really matters.

It's the Little Things...

I know it's trite, but it really is the little things that make a person's day. Like waking up to a sandwich snuggle in the morning, with a soft warm face on each cheek and their sweet, moist breath mingling beneath your nose. A smile from someone who hasn't seen you in a week and actually missed you! And little love notes scrawled on a white board by someone who can't wait to share their newfound skill with you.

So that's why I haven't posted in a while. Been a little busy. :)