Backyard Farmgals

I made the cutest little sets of hand warmers for our neighbors this year, I had to share.  These are super easy to make, I can bust out about 60 in a day of sewing, and I am NOT fast! I went to the fabric store and got pre-cut fabric squares that were 5-inches by 5-inches.  I sewed them, wrong sides together with a 1-inch seam, leaving a small opening on one end.   I then used a small funnel to fill the bags nearly full of rice, pinned the opening and then went back to the sewing machine and sewed the opening shut.  Easy-peesy! I took a pair of pinking shears and trimmed 1/2-inch off the edges all the way around, so the finished bag was 4-inches square (there should be 1/2-inch between the fabric edge and the seam).  Then, stacked them in piles of four warmers and tied them with twine.  I attached a little note on the top with heating instructions: To warm: heat in microwave for 30 seconds, drop in mittens to stay toasty-warm ...

I had to share how our cookies and goodies turned out this year.  I was really very pleased with the cookies, the presentation, everything.  I love doing this!  Every year it gets more fun to search out new recipes, find different ways of putting things together, and create something fun for those we love.   The cookie line up this year consisted of Chocolate Stars, Jumbles, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Chocolate Crackles, Fudge or Marshmallows (links to recipes provided at the bottom of the article).  Not anything too elaborate, but lots of fun and really tasty cookies.  The hubby does a lot of work for a few large and well known food companies, I don't know what possessed me to send them cookies and fudge.  It's a little intimidating to send food to people who win oodles of national awards for their salami, cheese, waffles, sandwiches.  Eeek!  What was I thinking??? We also did granola in ...

These have got to be my farmhands' favorite cookie.  I think that they are fascinated by the deep chocolate cracks, and they love how the powdered sugar coats their fingers too!  These are so good.  An all-time favorite at our house.  I invariably make them every Christmas.  I think that the powdered sugar reminds me of snow.  The dark chocolate colored dough is rolled in powdered sugar and baked, as they bake they crack open to reveal crevices of chocolate.  They are simple, but magical, and that is where the attraction lies. Chocolate crackles taste as amazing as they look.  They are crisp outside and molten, gooey chocolate on the inside.  A cookie phenomenon.  These are a Martha Stewart recipe.  As a newly married girl, I clung to Martha, she taught me how to cook!  Without her show, I think we would still be eating spaghetti, EVERY NIGHT!!!  Not that we don't eat spaghetti, but it's maybe once every few months now...

One of my all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipes.  These have fresh ginger, lots of chocolate and just enough spice.  The outside is crunchy, the inside is soft, with a coating of sugar on the cookies to make them sparkle, these are sure to be a favorite for you too. I have been making these for years and they never disappoint.  People always rave about these, so they seem to make it into our cookie boxes often at Christmas.  Give them a try, you will love them! CHEWY CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD Martha Stewart Makes about 2 dozen 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses 1 teaspoon bakin...

Christmas cookie season is here!  Oh, the butter laden joy!!!  I love baking for the holidays, and every year we make an assortment of cookies to give to our favorite people.  We start a few weeks before Christmas baking and freezing until the freezer is stuffed and our hearts are full.  We bake some old favorites and some new finds.  My little farmhands get into it.  They love sampling and are the first to offer their opinion of what should stay on the list of recipes for next year.  They love delivering the cookies to friends and family, spreading Christmas cheer. This is a recipe right out of the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  I love Smitten Kitchen.  I have followed this blog for years, and now I get to thumb through the delicious pages in the first cookbook.  These are called Brownie Roll-out Cookies in the book, and they really do taste like little slices of brownie.  Instead of cutting them into rounds, we went for st...

I had to share these, they are so cute!!!  I made them for our bonfire tonight.  Frosty the snowman sugar cookies, bundled up in a blue scarf, ready for the celebration.  I had so much fun making these.  Give me a tube of butter and sugar with an array of colors to play with, and I can be happily occupied for hours!  Really these only took about an hour of my time last night.  These would be so cute for a New Year's party! His body is piped with a large round tip, his hat used a slightly smaller round tip.  Eyes and mouth are done with the same tip as the hat.  Buttons are done with a small star tip.  His warm blue scarf is piped with a flat 1/2-inch tip and his nose is squiggled on with a very small round tip.  Really easy and the design is so uncomplicated, even I can do it!!!  That should tell you how easy it is!!! Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!  Be sure to tell those around you how much you l...

Every Christmas Eve, we make a big bonfire and sit around it telling Christmas stories, reading the scriptural account of Jesus' birth, roasting homemade marshmallows, eating sugar cookies, and sipping hot chocolate.  We stay up as late as the kids want, then it's tub time and off to bed so that Santa can come.  We started this little tradition a few years ago.  Everyone in our extended family either has to work or has some kind of Christmas party on the 24th.  We were always alone on Christmas Eve, so we created something that we could do to have fun and be together as a family.  I love having a unique family tradition, and I hope that my kids grow up to remember Christmas Eve as something that was always fun and really special. Since we are talking traditions, have you ever had a homemade marshmallow?  These are a tradition at our house every Christmas.   Ohhhhhhhhhh.......baby!!!  They are incredible!  These are soft and liter...

I don't know what I would do if I couldn't give at Christmas.  Really, there is nothing more meaningful or joyful than giving something of yourself to those you love.  Isn't that what Christmas is all about, LOVE? I think so.   From top clockwise: Rocky Road Fudge, Gingersnap Palmiers, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows, Allison's Honeyed-Almond Cherry Shortbread Since we are on the topic of love, I love these simple and fantastic cookies.  Gingersnap Palmiers are so easy to make, they are crispy, and full of sweetness and spice when you bite into them.  These really couldn't be easier! GINGERSNAP PALMIERS Modified from Martha Stewart 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup dark unsulfured molasses 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1/2 tsp coarse salt 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper 14 ounces good quality ...

I have been working so hard (12 and 13 hour days at the hospital), Christmas has kind of crept up on me, and I am realizing that I need to prioritize and spend some extra time with my two farmhands.  After a day of delivering cookies and gifts to friends and family, we decided that it was time for a little Christmas spirit, something special and fun.   Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City gets lit up with millions of tiny sparkling lights.  Every year we go to see it, honestly it is gorgeous, with all the architecture in the background of the lights.  Everyone is in a holiday kind of mood and the place buzzes with energy.  Last year we went on a night when it had snowed 2-feet throughout the day.  I have never been downtown when it has been so quiet.  Hardly anyone was there and we seemed to have the place to ourselves.  We took a horse drawn carriage ride and loved it so much, we decided to repeat it this year.  I think t...

Okay...can you say, "divine"?  Yep...these cookies are just that.  They are so earthy but complex at the same time.  Shortbread with bits of honeyed almonds and cherries macerated in marsala.  Good bye diet!!!  No, not really goodbye, just turn your head while I take a bite.  These really are one of my new found favorite cookies and they bring some bright fruity flavors into my holiday cookie mix.  Yum!!!  The best thing about these is that the dough can be made a few months in advance and then frozen.  Just bring the dough to room temperature before you slice it. This is a Martha Stewart Recipe, not really modified.  The original recipe macerates the cherries in sherry, I simply didn't have it and I wasn't going to the store for two tablespoons of sherry.  Instead of sherry, I had a very nice bottle of marsala, so I used that.  They were fantastic.  I never have great luck with the Martha recipes, there is alway...