The best thing about starting a new year — the anticipation of the unread books that sit on my shelf that will be read over the course of the coming year. What will I learn? What will I like? What will be my favorite? What will I hate? What will I abandon? What will be released that I wasn’t anticipating? What will tempt me at the library? What will I grab off my shelf that’s been sitting there for months, years — only to realize that I should have read it so much sooner!
Often I try to plan what I will read – I have two required book club books to finish each month, in addition to my own reading choices. Sometimes it’s easier to plan my reading schedule 4 books at time so I don’t get, what I call “literary attention disorder” — an affliction that I repeatedly get when the number of books on my “to be read” list overwhelms me (visit me on Goodreads and you’ll understand).
I try to read at least 52 books a year — one a week — and even for someone who reads like it’s her job, sometimes turning the first page is the hardest.
Will it be as good as the recommendation?
Should I believe all the hype?
What if I hate it?
So many questions to ask at the start of an unopened book.
But with those questions comes eager expectation, because it’s much likemeeting a friend: from the first page you can often tell whether or not the two of you will hit if off; whether you need to give it the “50 page rule” to determine if you should continue the relationship; or if that first page creates such magic you instantly know that for the next several hundred pages, life, home, children, employment, will cease to exist and you and your book will embark on a heated literary affair.
Starting a book can also be hampered with, what I call a book hangover: The time between starting a book after finishing another one — especially if it was particularly memorable. You’re not quite ready to let the other story, characters, feeling, memory go before embarking on the next reading journey.
I’m not sure what books I will read in 2014, but one thing I am certain of:there is always something exhilarating about turning the first page of a book.
My reading highlights from 2013:
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (fiction) was a complete unexpected treat. A ’90s tale of two friends — Beth & Jennifer — both writers for an urban newspaper whose email correspondence becomes late night reading material for Lincoln, an IT specialist hired to monitor the newspaper’s internal messages. What ensues is unanticipated hilarity and a lovely romantic comedy reminiscent of a Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (non- fiction) was a mantra to women — when women succeed all of humanity succeeds.
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton (fiction) was a WWII historical fiction epic that kept me guessing until the very last page.
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple (fiction) Told in epistolary form, Bernadette and the rag tag characters that inhabit the pages, take us on a Rube Goldberg-like journey – the reader never knowing what will happen next, where you will end up or how it will end. Truly, I haven’t read something so different, unique, and entertaining in a very long time!
The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (fiction) In this excellent novel, three ordinary families lives are subtly intertwined and harbor secrets that change their lives forever. I really enjoyed this book and how the author turned run of the mill families into an escalating moral dilemma.
Melissa McCurdy is a mother of 3; wife of 1; lover of football, politics, food, travel, theatre and all things literary. She has been published in Soiree and Little Rock Family. She works for the Fletcher branch of the Central Arkansas Library System. She blogs about books at www.gerberadaisydiaries.com
Hi there! I’m Whitney or RunningWhit as I’m known on my blog. I began my blog in March 2010 with the help of my friend Lyndi. I began with a blog post that was officially four sentences long including the one word sentence, “Thanks!” After that I quickly found my way and began to write posts recapping races that I did and my training adventures.
I initially discovered blogs as I would research races and try to get some insights into race courses. One of the first bloggers that I followed hosted a giveaway but you had to be a blogger to enter so that planted the seed for me of wanting to have a blog. Prizes! What can I say, I love prizes! I quickly discovered there was more to blogging than just giveaways. There was so much information available and so many different types of blogs to follow. As a new triathlete I was eager to learn about training plans and race strategies and through blogs I was able to learn more than I could through books and magazines that weren’t written by people like me with a full time job training and racing for fun.
Over the past four years of blogging, Arkansas Women Bloggers has been one of the biggest surprises for me. At one of the first AWBU conferences one of the speakers made the comment that bloggers are writers too. It sounds so simple, yet to me it hadn’t even crossed my mind… I know that sounds like it doesn’t make any sense!
Growing up I lacked confidence in writing. It was one of my least favorite subjects so much so that my mom mandated that I take Freshman Composition class in college even though I had tested out of it. She knew that I needed to be more confident in my writing in order to be a successful student in the rest of my college career. Fast forward to AWBU and one of the speakers saying that bloggers are writers and I was a little taken aback. I had a blog but I most definitely was not a writer and all this talk of having a voice, huh? After letting this concept sink in, I realized that it was going to be okay if my blog meant I was a writer too. The label didn’t mean that I had to change my writing style(otherwise known as my voice) and much to the disdain of some I love to use the “…”and you’ll find it in my writing quite often!
I’m excited to spend the next month with all of you talking about the theme of START! There are so many things that you can START this month and this year. It’s truly never too late to START living the life you want to and for me that means putting together a calendar for my year of all the races that I’m interested in doing and of course I make sure to block out a fall weekend for AWBU! It’s going to be fun to share some of my other interests with you as we kick off 2014 with a great START!
One of my favorite “traditions” is getting together to celebrate Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. I think back to as young as I can remember, and I see myself sitting in my Nana and Papa’s living room. I’m Indian-style on the carpet, scrunched between sixteen first cousins, and the grin plastered on my face is identical to theirs. We’re all talking a notch louder than usual, and the room is shaking with excitement.
Only a portion of the presents fit under Nana’s 4-foot tree, so the rest are piled on furniture and cover half the room’s floor space. After passing out each gift to its designated owner, one of my older guy cousins shouts “1, 2, 3!,” and we simultaneously send paper and ribbon flying.
I adore those memories.
As years have passed, though, almost all of us cousins have married and started families. And the chaos has multiplied as each family has grown. Attempting to fit all of us now into a typical living room would be almost a sick joke.
Thankfully, a few years ago, my Nana and Papa moved into a much larger house. Though it was a little sad to see our memories boxed up and shifted around, we were so happy for them and excited that we’d finally have room for our growing family to gather. For several years we enjoyed holidays in their spacious, renovated old home. It had a large dining room, two living areas, and seemed like the perfect hub for a multiplying family. Unfortunately, it just couldn’t keep up…
In our family, we joke that at every get-together, we take a photo of all the girls who are pregnant. (And really, it’s not a joke; it’s true.) In just a few short years, we outgrew my grandparents’ new home, and this year, we held Thanksgiving and Christmas at our church’s family life center. There are now 56 of us total. (2 Parents, 6 Children, 5 Spouses, 17 Grandchildren, 12 Grandchildren spouses, and 14 Great-grandchildren)
At the time of this photo, there were also three girls who were pregnant, and since then, another has announced a pregnancy. So it doesn’t look like we’ll be fitting back into a house anytime soon.
There is a little piece of me that misses those shoulder-to-shoulder Christmases in my Nana and Papa’s living room. They were wild, yet intimate… simple and memorable. But I’m thankful for the stages of life, and right now, I wouldn’t trade anything for my family that’s multiplying faster than architecture can keep up. I feel richly blessed to be part of a family that values family, a family that all likes each other enough to keep showing up for holidays, and a family that keeps having babies because we don’t know what else we’d rather be doing with our time…
A family Christmas that requires an industrial-sized kitchen and banquet tables wasn’t something we envisioned sitting in that small living room on the cozy carpet. But if it takes a 10,000-square-foot building to house the blessings God’s given us, then we’ll break it in right with flying paper and ribbon, and we’ll celebrate the fact He saw fit to bless us so.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
Here in the south we have a lot of traditions — or superstitions, if you’re less charitable — surrounding the turning of a new year. There’s kissing at midnight and making lots of noise, like everywhere else, but we also have food traditions, the most well-known of which include eating black-eyed peas (and often collard greens and ham hocks) on the first day of the year.
I have no idea why black-eyed peas are better than any other kind of bean, though my colleague Amanda at About.com Little Rock says they became symbolic of good luck when Union soldiers cleared out southern storehouses leaving only the peas, which were considered fit only for animal consumption.
Whatever the reason, I’ve embraced black-eyed peas as a party dish for New Year’s Eve in the form of black-eyed pea hummus. This is like traditional hummus with a couple of yummy twists that will keep guests guessing. Just make sure you save some to eat after the clock strikes 12 to ensure good luck in the coming year. I usually make a double batch, just in case.
1 can black-eyed peas, or about 2 cups freshly cooked peas (save some of the liquid)
2 tablespoons peanut butter (natural is better)
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
Instructions
Put all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until a paste begins to form. Add bean liquid as needed to loosen it up to a hummus consistency.
Notes
I like to serve it with pita chips (homemade or storebought) but you can use whatever dippers you like.
By Sarah White of Our Daily Craft
Adapted from Passionate Vegetarian, Crescent Dragonwagon
Adapted from Passionate Vegetarian, Crescent Dragonwagon
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
Sarah E. White is a crafter, knitwear designer, blogger and mom of one super-busy 4-year-old. She blogs at Our Daily Craft— where she writes about crafting with and for kids, the craft of blogging, parenting and more — and writes the knitting websites for About.com and CraftGossip.com. She’s the author of two knitting books, the latest of which, Quick & Easy Baby Knits, was published this year.
Jerusalem shares special memories of food and family on Christmas morning.
When I was less than a year old, my father left the U.S. Air Force in order to finish his college education and then to attend seminary. As far back as I can remember, my father has been a Southern Baptist pastor in some capacity, and during my middle childhood years, it was his only vocation; but at heart he is an introverted poet, scholar, and musician, and he never sought the role of senior pastor of a mega-church, never climbed the church leadership ladder. This also meant that our bank account did not climb any ladders, either. For herself, my mother chose to be a stay-at-home mother as her vocation, homeschooling all four of us for a large chunk of our education and creating an amazing environment for creativity. But even though this was what she wanted, what she chose—it was still work, and even though she wasn’t bringing in a paycheck, she still had financial responsibilities. So, the task to find ways to stretch one paycheck as far and as wide as the Atlantic Ocean fell to her.
Despite our cheese-and-crackers budget, we always had gifts under the tree—maybe not many, but there was always something lovely: something my mother had stayed up and sewn through the night; something she had saved pennies or Green Stamps to purchase. Once, during the Cabbage Patch Kid phase, she even took a night sewing class in order to make me an extra-large soft-headed Cabbage Patch knockoff doll, just what I had wished for (curiously I had wanted only a boy doll and that Christmas I got two—one my mother made and one off-brand doll that my grandmother bought me. Talk about foreshadowing!). Even my father, who loves to shop for gifts almost as much as his father, got in on the thrifty gift-giving, and my most favorite gifts from him were always things that were given with more thought than cash.
The big family gift that first Christmas in Juneau was a videocassette recorder. Months before Christmas, my parents had purchased and hidden it in my father’s office at the church. During those weeks leading up to Christmas, Daddy secretly videotaped television shows and movies for each of us, wrapping up the videotapes and putting them under the tree, so that come Christmas morning my three siblings and I would each have something special to watch. My tape was filled with the PBS Anne of Green Gables series, based on the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and within five minutes of viewing I knew had found a bosom buddy for life in Anne. I am sure there were many things on my Christmas wish list that year that I was convinced I needed, that I spent nights dreaming of and hoping for. But I have no idea what they were, and chances are I will never remember, but I will remember Anne of Green Gables forever—she became a huge part of my identity. As dramatic as it sounds to say, I would not be who I am today if it had not been for Anne, and I have my daddy and his thrifty thoughtfulness to thank for that.
I wonder now, a parent myself, trying to scrimp and save in preparation for Christmas gifts and decorations, staying up late to put the final stitches in a gift, juggling the electric bill with the boys’ wish lists, if my parents ever second-guessed their choices. If they ever felt that homespun gifts and home-taped videos were second-rate gifts. If they ever wondered if they had made the right choices, traveled the right path. I wonder those things about myself all the time—isn’t that part of parenting? The never knowing if you are getting it right? You hope you are, you want to desperately, but you never know for sure. “Please Lord, just let the good stuff stick,” I pray.
I take some solace in the fact that despite how I acted then, what matters now, what has stayed with me all these years about our family’s Christmas, was not when or how our tree was set up, or what presents I didn’t get, or how odd the gifts I did get might have turned out to be. What I am grateful for now, even as I put my own children’s inadequate gifts under the tree, is that regardless of whatever was not enough, what was always in full supply on Christmas Day was my parents’ love and presence. Come Christmas morning our home was full of merriment, laughter, and kisses; there was always hot food on the table, a dry roof over our heads, plenty of books to read, and music to dance to. We had each other, despite whatever other brokenness our lives encountered.
Christmas morning can cause a hiccup to menu planning if your big meal is later in the day, and especially if the budget is tighter than normal. Here are two easy recipes that will make any crowd happy, won’t break the bank, but will feel indulgent and can be eaten at everyone’s convenience throughout the morning.
Since I was a little girl, my mother has made the most wonderful hot chocolate mix, even when the budget was especially tight. It was always one of our little luxuries. Some of my favorite Christmas memories are of sitting underneath our family Christmas tree, giggling and sharing cups of cocoa with my childhood friend Tracy. To this day I can still lure friends over for a visit with the promise of a hot cup of Mrs. Jackson’s Cocoa. The recipe will make quite a bit of cocoa, and like Mrs. Jackson , you can give jars and repurposed coffee canisters of it away as gifts throughout the holidays (the mix will stay fresh for many months if stored in an airtight container. )
In a very large bowl, mix together the following ingredients
2 25.6-ounce boxes of nonfat dry milk
1 16-ounce jar of nondairy creamer
3 16-ounce cans of quick chocolate drink mix
2 8-ounce cans of Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa
1 2-pound bag of confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Mix all together and store in an airtight container.
To serve in a standard 8-ounce mug: Measure 1/3 cup of the mix into mug, fill with hot water, stirring thoroughly for a few seconds.
Top with fresh whipped cream and sprinkles.
Notes
(You may not find these items packaged in these exact amounts. Use a measuring cup or weight scale to get the amounts you need.)
By Jerusalem Jackson Greer
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
Crepe Bar
The very first time I ever had a crepe was at my friend Carrie’s house around the age of sixteen. I watched in awe as her mother flipped paper thin pancake after paper thin pancake Crepes are a great Christmas morning treat because family members can add toppings according to their taste – be it savory or sweet!
Ingredients
2 cups flour
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt (I love fine sea salt for this recipe)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
Directions
Mix ingredients together in a blender; mixture will be very thin. Cook these in a non-stick skillet or a crepe pan that has been lightly greased, on medium heat.
Crepes can be served as a savory or sweet dish, depending on how you fill or top them. My favorite crepes are filled with a creamy chicken mixture and served over a bed of sticky rice.
On Christmas morning, try creating a “crepe bar” by putting out lots of different fillings and toppings. Let each person create his or her own unique savory or sweet crepe at their own speed. Keep crepes warm in a low temp oven or crock-pot (make sure to coat the bottom and sides of your crock-pot with butter if you go this route.)
Some filling ideas for the crepe bar are:
Ricotta cheese
Shredded cheese
Plain or vanilla yogurt
Fresh fruit, sliced thinly
Shredded chicken
Sautéed mushrooms
Sour cream
Maple syrup
Nutella® spread
Butter
Powdered sugar
Fruit jam
“Juggling songs of praise with cries for help. Her words and works inspire..” – Publishers Weekly
Jerusalem Jackson Greer is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, former pastor, nest-fluffer, urban farm-gal, and author ofA Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting and Coming Together. Jerusalem lives with her husband and two sons in a 1940s cottage in Central Arkansas at the crossroads of beauty and mess with an ever-changing rotation of pets, including a hen house full of chickens and a Hungarian Sheep Dog mutt. As a family, they are attempting to live a slower version of modern life. She blogs about all of this and more at http://jerusalemgreer.com
Narrative and recipes excerpted from A Homemade Year:The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting, and Coming Together by Jerusalem Jackson Greer
There we sat beneath the Christmas tree in the living room of our first rent house. The tree was a skinny five-footer covered in cheap garland, tangled white lights, and the handful of ornaments we’d collected since we wed that summer. We posed beside our pup and smiled wide, knowing none of the Christmas card recipients would realize our family was growing.
That was number one. That quick snap of the shutter was the act that set the ball rolling for The Bauer Family Christmas Card. That was the first of a family tradition.
The family and friends who didn’t know something was brewing weren’t kept in the dark long and the next year’s card featured a chunky five-month-old on Santa’s lap. The following years showed a happy little family of three, sitting in leaves and posing for the camera. They showed a proud set of learn-as-you-go parents. They showed how fast babies turn into little boys. They showed us nestled in a new corner of the state, settling into new jobs and new lifestyles.
Christmas Present
The years kept coming and the cards showed us older, wiser, and happier. We were thrown into storms, but we found theother side every time. Our first baby started school and our second baby learned to crawl and walk and run. History repeated itself once more and the seventh Bauer Family Christmas Card held a secret. That particular secret joined us in July and will be making her card debut this month.
Annual greetings with grinning families are routine as far as traditions go, but the memories they hold are far more important than their placement on kitchen cabinets and coffee tables.When I arrange the outfits, pick the location, and pray they’ll look at the camera {see above photo for this year’s answer}, my mind goes back to the years I’ve filed away. Each of these photographs shows the progression of my family.
My family. My husband and I are the ones now responsible for spreading Christmas cheer and pouring the magic of it all into the hearts of our children.
It’s our turn.
Christmas Past
I grew up in an amazing family and Christmas was one of the best times of the year. We would gather at my grandmother’s house for a Christmas Eve dinner with all the trimmings. Once the dishes were clean and the kids were alternating between snoozing on the floor and playing with new toys, my parents gathered my brother and me for church. We leaned on theirshoulders during Midnight Mass as the priest talked about the glorious arrival of Jesus Christ. Once we tumbled through the church doors and gasped at the cold night air, my dad alwayscaught a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh in the moonlight.
Knowing he was close, my brother and I jumped into our pajamas the instant we made it home, shut our eyes tight, and dreamt of morning.
Now I’m the one who hears jingle bells in dark corners of the sky, arranges the cookies on Santa’s plate, and readies my camera before kids stir or dawn breaks. Each of our Christmascards proves my role in holiday cheer just gets better over time.
Christmas Future
As family and friends open the card that reveals two growing boys and a bouncing baby sister, I’m going to collect my family of five in front of our warm fireplace. We will eat popcorn, drink Hot Chocolate {or chocolate milk} and watch movies in our pajamas. Then we will take a drive through town to oooh and ahhh at twinkling lights.
The extra card that I’ll tuck away in the depths of my desk will serve as a frozen memory of this time in my life. Who knows where we will be when I discover it again.
I, for one, can’t wait to find out.
Hey y’all! I’m Jessica and I blog at Life With the Bauer Bunch. I’m a small-town girl just enjoying my slice of the good life with my husband Jonathan, our sons, Nathan, 6, and Owen, 2, and our brand-new baby girl, Nora. Stop by and visit sometime!
A Visit with St. Nick ~ December 22, 1922
Dorothy Johnson
The more things change, the more they stay the same. –Alphonse Karr (1808-1890)
Dorothy Johnson is an Arkansas girl who says she should have been interviewed for Gail Sheehy’s book PASSAGES because of the number of different jobs she’s had. She’s taught junior high English, spent time at home raising kids, worked as a writer and an associate editor at Leisure Arts and functioned as a liaison to the community and cardiologists at Baptist Health. Now she writes about life from her home overlooking the Arkansas River in Little Rock. Check out her blog, Reflections from Dorothy’s Ridge.
It was the first Christmas after Tyler and I were married, and we were back in his hometown, sitting at his parents’ kitchen table. We were both in college, but when we came home for weekends or holidays, we were kids again – catered to, doted over and cleaned up after.
It was Christmas Eve, the designated night for us to celebrate with his family. And the fragrance of juicy, marinated rib-eyes filled the small, cozy home. My mother-in-law’s steaks were and are my favorite meal, and my stomach was giddy with anticipation. She sang Christmas carols as she danced about the kitchen, buttering rolls, sweetening tea, and retrieving baked potatoes from the oven. “I’m just so happy to have all my family home!” she declared between verses.
In the next room, red and white stockings hung from a coat rack with each of our names penned in my mother-in-law’s writing, and a modest tree with colored lights twinkled above a sea of presents. A tacky, electric Santa sang and moved robotically, adding to the festive mood. And on the TV, A Christmas Story played over and over, as my new husband and his brother quoted their favorite movie’s lines verbatim.
Back in the kitchen, the five of us sat down for a Christmas feast: me, my husband, his brother, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law, who only moved off the “back porch” and into the kitchen to eat for special occasions. This was certainly one of them. We stuffed ourselves ‘til we were nearly sick, packing in every dripping morsel, then moved into the living room to open gifts. My mother-in-law glowed as we opened the presents she had thoughtfully purchased and wrapped and laughed jovially as we enjoyed the evening together.
It was a night to remember.
Now seven years later, things have changed. My husband’s family – my family – is navigating life paths none of us foresaw. Things like divorce and economic hardship have changed every aspect of their lives. I don’t know if there will be stockings hung in that small, cozy house this Christmas, but if there are, they won’t have our names on them.
Though things have changed a great deal, memories of Christmases, 4th of Julys, and regular ole Saturday nights with my “other” family are still thriving. I know my mother-in-law, in particular, grieves the loss of what was and regrets she can’t still give us the gifts of home and togetherness. What she may not realize, though, is that the joy created in that home is still rippling in each of our lives, mine included.
People change and grow and move on with their lives, and that’s just the way it is. But as I move on with mine, I’ll always carry that first Christmas in my heart. It’s wrapped as tightly as those presents sprawled out under the tree, and no amount of time, change, or hardship can take it from me.
For most of us, the holidays are enriched by family traditions sometimes established by someonewho’s no longer with us. But a custom doesn’t magically pass from one generation to another. Instead, it endures when someone younger embraces it and shares it with those they love. For my daughter and me, one such tradition is preparing my mother’s cornbread dressing during the holidays. No turkey is complete without Grandma’s dressing.
Terry, Maria and me with my mother and dad, back when Mom began to give us dressing-making lessons.
The last time Maria and I made this holiday staple, I realized the conversation surrounding its preparation had become a tradition in itself. Each year, if you joined us in the kitchen, you’d heara variation of the following:
“Why are you making biscuits in the middle of morning?” Maria asks, as she sautés onions and celery in butter.
“For the dressing. Grandma always added a couple of biscuits and rolls to the cornbread.”
Later, I crumble the rolls, biscuits and cornbread into my biggest bowl. “Did Grandma put eggs in her dressing?”
“You always ask that, but I don’t think she did.”
“I’ll leave them out.”
In obedience to Mother’s voice in my head, I pour a generous amount of broth into thebread mixture and say aloud, “Make it sloppy so it won’t dry out.”
Then I cautiously add salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and sage, frequently stopping to taste. It’s easier to add more than to deal with too much.
“Needs more poultry seasoning.” I sprinkle and sample again. “Is this about right?”
“I’m leaving that up to you,” Maria says.
In this manner, I season and taste my way to a dish as closely resembling Mother’s dressing as possible. And in the process, she is with us in the kitchen, encouraging us as always with the thought that whatever the outcome, it will be just right.
Somewhere in what I hope will be the distant future, I hear a similar conversation going on between Maria and her girls. After all, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving and Christmas withoutGrandma’s Cornbread Dressing.
Maria and her daughters, Caroline and Emily
Dorothy Johnson is an Arkansas girl who says she should have been interviewed for Gail Sheehy’s book PASSAGES because of the number of different jobs she’s had. She’s taught junior high English, spent time at home raising kids, worked as a writer and an associate editor at Leisure Arts and functioned as a liaison to the community and cardiologists at Baptist Health. Now she writes about life from her home overlooking the Arkansas River in Little Rock. Check out her blog, Reflections from Dorothy’s Ridge at http://reflectionsfromdorothy.blogspot
Welcome to our #ARWB #Virtual Cookie Swap hosted by Tiffany. Be sure to add your favorite cookie posts to our Linky. Which new ones will you try?
Today, I want to share with you a recipe that I sometimes make with my goddaughter. They’re simple to make so it’s a perfect activity to make with kids. They’re also really colorful and super tasty; it’s a win-win.
Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
You’ll Need:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups all purpose flour
1 tube of icing (your choice of color)
your choice of food colorings
(optional: various colors of sugar sprinkles)
How to:
Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl Beat in eggs and oil. In a separate bowl, mix the cream of tartar, baking soda, powdered sugar, salt and flour together.
Add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter/sugar mix then stir in the vanilla extract.
Next, split up the dough into sections depending on how many colors you want to make. I usually do at least 5 so that there’s some variation but you’re welcome to do more or less as you see fit.
Blend the food coloring into your separated bowls until you’ve gotten the color you want.
Proceed to roll each color into 8-10 balls of dough, decreasing the size as you go.Flatten your dough balls into circles and then sprinkle with granulated sugar or coordinating sugar sprinkles.
Using a small star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many stars as you’ll need to top your cookie trees.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, starting with the largest cookies first and decreasing the cooking time as the cookie sizes get smaller.
Remove cookies from baking pan and cool on wax paper. Once the cookies are cool, stack them starting with the largest on bottom, graduating to the smallest size on the top, adding a small circle of frosting between each layer to hold them in place.
Finish the cookie trees by topping them with a star and lightly dust with powdered sugar so that they resemble snowy trees.
I’ve created a printable recipe card so that you can take this recipe with you, if you like. Just right click and save, then print your desired size.
Tiffany blogs at Life Of A Lost Muse. She shares posts dedicated to things that inspire, lovely photos, creative drawings, tasty recipes, affordable fashion, and blogger love, travel, entertainment, fun tutorials and decor. You can find her at there or at her other blog, Fashion In the Forest.
Melissa McCurdy is a mother of 3; wife of 1; lover of football, politics, food, travel, theatre and all things literary. She has been published in Soiree and Little Rock Family. She works for the Fletcher branch of the Central Arkansas Library System. She blogs about books at www.gerberadaisydiaries.com
