{"id":8995,"date":"2010-12-24T04:00:28","date_gmt":"2010-12-24T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/\/wp\/?p=8995"},"modified":"2010-12-24T10:30:33","modified_gmt":"2010-12-24T15:30:33","slug":"the-twelfth-cookie-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=8995","title":{"rendered":"The Twelfth Cookie of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m sorry to say that the cookies I\u2019m sharing with you (metaphorically, at any rate) today are not my finest work.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
There\u2019s nothing wrong with the recipe, I assure you. But some cookie batches\u2014and days\u2014don\u2019t turn out QUITE the way we hope they will.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Yesterday was my birthday. We weren\u2019t planning a family celebration until tonight due to the Washington Capitals\u2019 nefarious habit of scheduling hockey games on my birthday every year.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew love me, but they are die-hard Caps fans, and I don’t want to ask them to choose between hockey and me. I don’t think I’d be happy with their choice.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I had only two simple goals for the day. I wanted to buy some peppermint-stick ice cream, my annual birthday treat. And I wanted to post my last cookie recipe for this year.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The day started out nicely with phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday. At about 10:30 in the morning\u00a0it went downhill. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
It wasn\u2019t an awful day by any means. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I wasn\u2019t hit by a truck. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I didn\u2019t start a fire in the new apartment–unless you count the little melt down on one of the stove burners. (I really HATE electric stoves.)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
My near and dear\u00a0remained reasonably hale and hearty.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I did spend an awful lot of the day cleaning up after a slightly sick mother, however. I won\u2019t go into details, but the clean up involved\u00a0back-to-back laundry that lasted well into the night and a lot of on-my-knees scrubbing. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
When she wasn\u2019t being sick, the mother was longing to go for long walks in the open air\u2014until she actually felt the wind blowing on her face.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I popped her into the car to search for the ice cream. She enjoyed the ride, but\u00a0the\u00a0frozen treat\u00a0didn\u2019t materialize. We found egg-nog ice cream and gingerbread ice cream. For some reason, peppermint stick was impossible to come by.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Luckily, my brother showed up in the middle of the afternoon to visit with the mother so I could work on the cookies. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Nevertheless, the baking process\u00a0got a bit muddled. First I put too much milk in the dough (the recipe below gives the correct, not the Tinky, amount of milk).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Then I sprinkled sugar everywhere and spilled dough on the kitchen floor.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I couldn\u2019t find my cutting board so I tried rolling the cookies out on a plate. They were a bit misshapen.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Finally, I tried to answer the phone while measuring vanilla and ended up with very pungent icing.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
After all this I just plain didn\u2019t have the energy to color and pipe the icing. I simply slathered icing onto the cookies, took advantage of the wonderful holiday sprinkles Wilton<\/a> recently sent to me (really, I think sprinkles could save the world), and threw the things onto a plate.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
As you can see from the photo above, I let the setting sun do its thing and dapple the cookies; I figured\u00a0the\u00a0light\u00a0was nature\u2019s decoration. And who am I to mess with nature?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Luckily, the cookies still tasted amazingly good\u2014and brightened the day considerably. My mother also brightened up after\u00a0a dose of sugar and sprinkles. She tried to feed one to the dog, but I explained that Truffle wouldn’t be able to fit into her Santa suit if she ate cookies.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
My birthday wasn’t a perfect day, but it ended with laughter and good flavors. And I consoled myself with the thought that I will get a redo next year when I turn 39 yet again.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Merry Christmas to all. And remember, a loving family, sprinkles, and a cute dog can get you through just about any minor disaster.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Marge\u2019s Star Sugar Cookies<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
This cookie recipe was given to me years ago by my friend and fellow thespian Marge Matthews. It\u2019s simple and tasty. What more does one need in\u00a0a Christmas cookie?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
3\/4 cup butter (1-1\/2 sticks)
\n3\/4 cup sugar
\n1 teaspoon vanilla
\n1 egg
\n4 teaspoons milk
\n2 cups flour
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons baking powder
\n1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add the egg and milk, and beat until light and fluffy. Blend the dry ingredients and stir them into the creamed mixture.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nDivide the dough into manageable pieces (2 or 3; it depends on how comfortable you are rolling out dough). Cover the dough, and chill it for at least one hour.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1\/8 inch. Cut into shapes and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes (if you roll them out clumsily you may have to wait 10 minutes), or until the cookies begin to turn golden around the edges.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

Decorate with icing and\/or sprinkles. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry to say that the cookies I\u2019m sharing with you (metaphorically, at any rate) today are not my finest work. \u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong with the recipe, I assure you. But some cookie batches\u2014and days\u2014don\u2019t turn out QUITE the way we hope they will. \u00a0 Yesterday was my birthday. We weren\u2019t planning a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13,17,919],"tags":[128,203,1399,1398],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8995"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9009,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8995\/revisions\/9009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}