Tuesday, October 23, 2012

2012/2013 Bunco Schedule

Every month but October and January we will meet on the first Thursday of every month.

October 11*  (Sally)
November 1  (Heather)
December 6  (Amy) 
January 10* (some of you may be out of town for this one.  If our numbers are small we'll just make it a girls night out)  (Mary)
February 7  (Jena)
March 7   (Rhonda)
April 4  (Tammy)
May 2  (Ann)
We will regroup at the start of the summer and make plans according to how many we have around.
 

Friday, October 12, 2012

Lemon Drop Cookies

Hey, guys here's the Lemon Drop cookies recipe I brought last night.  This is the original post I made for my other blog.



Remember my favorite Lemon Tree?

Well, I finally picked my last two lemons and I just knew what I wanted to make with them.



Curious about the difference between meyer lemons and store bought lemons?

Well, they look a little different.  My meyer lemons are very round.  They are also very soft and smooth.  But as far as taste goes, they taste just like a normal lemon.


So, once I "harvested" my bounty of two lemons I was trying to decide the best way to eat up these lemons.

Immediately I thought of the Best Cookie Shop in the World (I'm probably not exaggerating).

I went online and I googled, "Recipe for Ruby Snap Lemon Cookies".

Unfortunately Ruby Snap has not released any of their recipies.  

What??  I know, I was as surprised as I'm sure you are right now.

So I went on to plan B.-- which was googling, "Lemon Drop Cookie Recipes".

I searched through a couple recipes before deciding this one from Make It Do looked the best.

Here's her Recipe:

LEMON DROP COOKIES

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 – 1/3 cup sugar
  • Zest of one lemon – reserve juice for glaze
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 – 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 4 ounces lemon drop candies, crushed
For the glaze:
  • 1 – 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, soda, and salt until well blended, set aside.   In a separate bowl add sugar and lemon zest.  Using your fingers, rub together until well blended and fragrant.  Add softened butter and cream together.  Blend in eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract.  Mix in crushed lemon drop candies.  Add flour mixture in batches until mixed in.  Do not overmix.
Using a cookie scoop or a spoon drop 1 inch balls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Flatten balls slightly with your hand.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes until slightly browned.
Cool and spoon glaze on top.  Allow glaze to set up before serving.
Makes 4 dozen cookies.


The one thing I thought that was kind of weird was when it tells you to add sugar and lemon zest together and then rubbing it with your fingers to blend.

I thought it was sort of strange.  But then I did it and it smelled So yummy.  Then I licked my fingers when I was done.  Yum-- lemon sugar.



Another step tells you to mash up the lemon drops.  I got out my lemon drops, put them in a ziplock bag, then did one hammer with my mallet.  Immediately my husband was at my side, eagar to mash up some lemon drops.  He thought that was quite fun.

I decided to leave my lemon drops a little chunky, because I was thinking bigger chucks would be fun.  Next time I make this (probably this afternoon) I'll probably smash them up smaller.


Also, I will mention these cookies grow a lot during their baking time in the oven.  Be warned.



After they're cooled, you add a lemon glaze.  So good!  My husband said they were even good enough to replace chocolate chip cookies.  And we're pretty serious about chocolate in this home.  So that's very high marks indeed. 




Oh, and in case you're wondering, my lemon tree is growing two new baby lemons.


Feta Dip

(from cookingoncloverlane.blogspot.com)

olive oil
1 block (1#) of feta cheese  (I bought the pre-crumbled kind)
tomatoes (any kind)
1 bunch of green onions
1 baguette
Greek Seasoning

Pour olive oil onto platter
Dice tomatoes and green onions and sprinkle them on top of the oil
Sprinkle feta cheese on top
Sprinkle Greek seasoning on top
gently mix together

Serve with thinly sliced french baguette 


Chicken Enchilada Dip

This is one of those dishes I just throw together without a recipe but I'll do my best to write it up in a way you can follow.

2 large cans canned chicken
1 bar cream cheese
1 C sour cream
1 C mayo
2 small cans green chiles
2 cups pepperjack, grated

Mix all ingredients together and spread into a greased 9x13 pan.  Top with more cheese (I used colby jack last night but it really doesn't matter what kind you use.  It's all good!)

Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes, or until bubbly.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Pumpkin Cake w/ Whipped Topping

Pumpkin cake w/ whipped topping

CAKE
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 C water
2 eggs
2 t. cinnamon
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 T apple or pumpkin pie spice
1 15 oz can pumpkin.

Mix all ingredients and spread the thick better into a greased cake pan.  Bake @ 350 for 25 minute (this last time I made it I checked it at 25 minutes and the middle was still gooey so I had to bake longer.  Just make sure you check it).  The cake will be moist but it shouldn't be gooey.

TOPPING
2 C heavy cream, whipped
1/3 C brown sugar
2 T sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Mix everything into the whipped cream.  Spread on cooled cake.