Long time no blogging!
Thanksgiving in the US was last Thursday and even though I(unfortunately)am not from the US therefore don't celebrate,I have only one thing on my mind right now: Christmas!!
This year I really wanna enjoy Christmas to the max,like I've always written in my stories but actually never done before.
I wanna shower my loved ones and my friends with love and presents,decorate the house,take care of each and every little detail and just try to enjoy every moment!
I decided I will go to the Midnight Mass this year as well since I haven't been able to go in a while.
I also have my Christmas outfit picked out..and praying they put on sale the shoes I decided to wear under it.
Any girl with CP knows that finding a pair of shoes that are both cute and CP friendly can be hard so..I'm really hoping they go on sale.
I usually am not this picky with outfits or shoes but I wanna look cute for once,even if it's just to spend Christmas Day at home with my family.
Well..besides the boring girl talk up there,my mind is all set on Christmas right now.
I just want to decorate the house,buy people presents(either in person or online..God bless Amazon!
Speaking of which,is anyone out there in love with the Amazon delivery guy?
Just me? Okay)..play Christmas carols (Andrea Bocelli's are my favourites) and sing to them,write Christmas scenes,wrap Christmas presents(or rather,practice doing that! ) and..bake cookies!
Now..since starting a journey to the best and healthiest version of myself last May (more about this coming in the next post) I got closer to the kitchen and started cooking for myself.
By no means I am good at cooking or baking but now I can cook myself a nice healthy meal.
I also learned how to peel/cut fruit and veggies..something that I wasn't able to do before.
Yay to beating CP!
Last Sunday,I was in this Christmassy mood I told you about.
So I decided to face my previous fails induced fear of baking and to try out a simple sugar cookie recipe.
I told myself:
"I've been watching Laura Vitale's videos dutifully for 5 years now and know quite a bit of the theory behind baking( two of my characters are pastry chefs so...)..Laura makes it looks so easy..I should just go for it!"
So I did it.
And I just used a bowl,a spatula and a fork..no fancy mixers.
In fact:
1. The blender/food processor I use is broken and mum's is too complicated and heavy for me.
2. I want to learn how to do things "the old fashioned way" before using mixers/fancy equipment. I need to have the basics down first.
3. I count mixing by hand/kneading as a nice arm workout. And working out equals more cookies later!!
I followed the recipe to the letter,adding some ground cinnamon to it to make it taste Christmassy( I LOVE cinnamon!).
I got mad and frustrated at some point though because I couldn't make cute cut out cookies..they would get misshaped as soon as I tried to lift them up to put them on the cookie sheet.
Fine work is not for me!
After trying to make cute shaped cookies for a bit with not success,I gave up and just took little bits of dough,rolled them into little balls and put them on the cookie sheet.
I then pressed on them lightly with a fork dipped in flour,to make a bit of a pattern on them.
And off into the oven they went.
When I saw that they were rising and baking nicely in the oven,I actually thought they would taste good for once.
I was just so excited.
So I took the other half of the dough from the fridge and divided it in two.
To one half I kneaded in some cocoa powder and added some crushed hazelnuts and some more cinnamon.
To the other I added oats,dried cranberries and hazelnuts.
I formed that dough into cookies as well and off to the oven they went.
When I saw those too were baking nicely,I was just so happy!
Then my family ate them and told me they were good..and I almost cried.
But the best part was that my brother,who's not into sweets,ate more than one and told me he loved them!
Two days ago,he asked me to make the plain cinnamon cookies again.
So yesterday I got to work and made them.
Same exact recipe,same exact method.
I just rolled some cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar and some into powdered sugar to make them snickerdoodle like and crinkle cookie like respectively.
Guess what?
They came out better than the first time!
So soft and buttery they melted in your mouth..yum!
My brother ate all the plain cinnamon ones,two or three at a time!
A miracle!
When he came home from school yesterday and saw the cookies he barely let me take a picture..he wanted to dig in right away!
And when my mum asked him what he wanted to eat as a snack before going out with his friends yesterday afternoon he enthusiastically said: "cookies!".
Unbelievable.
I can't describe how happy I am when I see him happily munching on the cookies I made.
My mum loved the snickerdoodle ones and the crinkle ones and ordered me some more.
Long story short my family polished off all the cookies I made yesterday and now our cake stand is empty..such a sad sight.
Anyways..I'll leave you the recipe down below if you wanna try to make the cookies yourself.
Off to bake some more cookies I go now..so my brother can have them for breakfast tomorrow!
Do you like Christmas?
Do you like cooking/baking?
What are your favourite cookie recipes?
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SUPER EASY SUGAR COOKIES
ORIGINAL RECIPE HERE (in Italian): http://www.misya.info/ricetta/
Makes about 25 cookies
• 1 + 2/3 cups (200g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup(100g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup+ 2 tbsp(90 g) unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• Vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon(if desired)
• Confectioner sugar /cinnamon sugar for coating(if desired)
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METHOD
1. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and mix together (using either a spatula and a whisk or a standing mixer) until they're nicely combined.
2. Add the egg and mix well.
3. Add the vanilla extract.
4. Mix flour,baking powder,salt and ground cinnamon(if using that) together briefly with a spoon.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet either little by little or all at once(I find it doesn't make any difference) and mix until a dough forms.
6. Take the dough out of the bowl,wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes
7. Put on some Christmas music and dance around the house singing out of your lungs while the dough is chilling.(This step is crucial to make yummy cookies!! )
8. Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F
9. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat (*My cookie sheets are on the smaller side so I put 12 cookies on each one..if yours are bigger you might get away with using one cookie sheet only but I do advice you to use 2 because the cookies spread a bit during baking)
10. Get the dough out of the fridge.
11. Now..here is where the options come in:
You can either:
-take little bits of dough at a time,roll into little balls and put them on the cookie sheet,making sure you leave some space between them.
-roll out the dough and cut shapes out of it to make cut out cookies. Make sure to leave some space between the cookies when placing them on the cookie sheets.
12 TIP 1 :If you went with the first option you can roll the little balls into cinnamon sugar(granulated sugar+ground cinnamon mixed together) or confectioner sugar before placing them on the cookie sheets.
TIP 2: If you don't want to coat the balls of dough into the sugar but still want the cookies to look extra cute,slightly press on them with a fork dipped in flour before baking.
13 Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or until they get slightly golden on the top and are done on the bottom.
14 Let them cool slightly on the cookie sheets.(If you can wait that long!)
15 Make yourself some hot chocolate/hot drink of your choice to dip them in.
16. Enjoy!!
NOTES
~If you want you can turn these cookies into chocolate cookies by adding cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. Make sure to sift the cocoa powder first though.
~You can add everything you want to the dough..nuts,coconut,chocolate chips,dried fruit,orange or lemon peel...
~If you want you can mix confectioners sugar and water(or orange/lemon juice) together until you get icing and spread it on the cooled cookies.
You can then add sprinkles of top of them to make them extra cute!
~To have warm "just out of the oven" cookies whenever you want,just pop them in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.
And now.... PICTURES!!!
From the outside to the inside: plain cinnamon,snickerdoodle like and crinkle like sugar cookies...
