Cookie Club Recipe #4

I am so happy for the weekend. I have been sick all week with a virus and finally feel really great today. I did not make the cookies for this week but Suzi over a Savy Suzi made them and they were a big hit with her kids.
Spring is really around the corner and I am so ready for it. Old man winter can surely pack up and go away. So this week I have a really yummy Spring recipe for cookies that will get you in the mood for chirping birds and flower blooms. It is from my Martha Stewart cookie book but with a Cookie Girl twist.

I hope you all enjoy them...

Lime Sugar Cookies (Lime Flowers)

2 cups AP flour, plus more for work surface

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs. finely grated lime zest

1 1/2 sticks butter (room temp.)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

( I will use key lime juice)

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions: Sift together flour,baking powder,and salt into a bowl.

Put granulated sugar and lime zest in a separate bowl and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add butter, and mix until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla and lime juice. Reduce speed to low, and gradually mix in flower mixture.

On a lightly floured work surface, halve the dough. Flatten each half into a 10 inch disk, and wrap each in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Working with one half at a time, roll out dough on parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. Cut shapes with a 3 inch flower cookie cutter or cookie cutter of choice. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining disk.

Wrap scraps in plastic. Freeze 30 minutes, re-roll and cut.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until cookies are set, 12-13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on wire rack. Before serving, sift confectioners sugar over cookies.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Cookie Girl Notes: I will be using key lime juice. I am going to forgo the freezing step and use my cookie press instead. I will chill the cookies before I bake them.

Eight Amazing Years

Tuesday, February 17th marked eight wonderful years of marriage to Mr. Cookie. I just don't know where the time has gone. It was just like yesterday I was walking down the aisle to Unchained Melodies with butterflies in my tummy waiting to become the wife of the most amazing man you will ever meet.

It is funny how I reminisce and remember every little detail of our wedding day, right down to the moment he carried me through the threshold of our first home. I still miss that little place and all the memories that were made there.

So for our anniversary this year I wanted to go to the Georgia Aquarium and see the fish....sort of :) I really wanted to meet Martha Stewart who was going to be there signing her newest cookbooks. Being the wonderful man that my husband is he happily agreed to take me.

We got up early Tuesday morning and had mmmm...well, breakfast. We then left the house house and headed to the great ATL. An hour and half later we arrive at the aquarium and make our grand entrance toward the Ocean Ballroom where Martha was waiting to see ME. Okay, Okay...maybe not me personally but she was there. We actually waited and waited and waited for about two hours in line. Luckily we got there early enough to get a good place in line. There were hundreds of people behind us. The picture only captures a small amount of them.

We were even entertained by the beautiful Beluga whales the whole time. We were all served milk and cookies during the wait which for me was like Heaven! Helloooooo..I am the Cookie Girl.Yep...this is me! 100% Guilty with Dark Chocolate on my fingers and a smile on my face!

After the long wait....did I mention my AMAZING husband stood in line with me? Yes he did Girls....I just love him sooooooo much. There were reporters there with cameras taking pictures of the crowd. Once they saw Mr. Cookie and I they completely forgot everyone else and we were swamped with flashing lights and microphones......well, that is only half true. :) They did take our picture and ask us some questions about our Anniversary. Who knows if they made it into the paper. I would say Martha's picture took a little more precedence over ours.

Finally.....the doors opened and the line was moving very quickly. I was so excited but really contained myself for Mr. Cookies sake. Once we got close enough to the door they told us that we could not get a personal picture with Martha but we could take pictures from the line. Bummer!


I did have an idea though. There were two of us so Mr. Cookie could snap a picture while I was keeping Martha occupied with my Cookie Book. Woo Hooooo! I am so freakin' smart! LOL
Not really....but he was able to get a quick shot of us. Darn I should have looked at the camera.
Yes...those are real fish behind her in the aquarium!
Martha was very nice and soft spoken. She really is a beautiful lady. She complimented on my necklaces saying they were very pretty. I replied quietly with a thank you. I told her it was nice to have met her and she of course being the polite lady she is ,said it was nice to meet me as well.
I wish that we could have had tea or something after the signing but I just could not wait on her all day. :)

After all of this Mr. Cookie and I took a tour of the Aquarium gazing at all of the beautiful fish and sea otters. We got a couple of pictures of each other at this water fall that uses reclaimed rain water. Pretty Cool I thought.

The aquarium wasn't as big as I had thought. We finished up and headed out about the same time Martha did. Nope, no romantic dinner for us either. I had been feeling a little dizzy and nauseated all morning and on the way home it escalated into a full blown stomach virus. Yep...I did the most horrible thing ever....upchuck in the car. Ewwwww! Finally we made it home and my wonderful Mr. Cookie has been nursing me back to health ever since. I spared you the Gorey details...Trust me! You will thank me for that part.
All in all, it was a great anniversary DAY!

Thanks Honey for all you do. You are the LOVE OF MY LIFE!

I love you!

Cookie Club Recipe #3

Wow! I can't believe we are already on recipe #3. These are going so fast. I hope you are enjoying them as much as me. I am a little ahead of myself this week and decided to go ahead and post this recipe instead of waiting until tomorrow.

If you would like to join the Cookie of the week club, just grab the banner in this post. Simply copy it to your a file on your computer in jpeg format. Then add it to your blogs side bar linking it to my blog. Voila! Easy peasy and your are ready to join in on the cookie fun.

(P.S. when I figure out how to create a real banner I will post that too.)

This recipe is full of flavorful chunks. Yummy! Some ingredients can be optional or substituted as well. I will be using parchment paper on my pans this week.

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 c. shortening

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c. AP flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c. coconut (optional)

CG Note:Should probably add extra oats in place of coconut if you choose to leave it out.

1/2 c. old fashioned oats

1/2 c. Nuts (macadamia,pecans,or walnuts)

12 oz. white chocolate chunks

Combine sugars and shortening and beat til fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and blend well. Combine flour,soda,salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add to wet mixture and blend slightly. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Drop onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool and place on wire rack. (depending on the size of cookie scoop you use, the bake time will vary. I make mine a little large and bake for 10-12 minutes)

Have fun with these and let me know what you did to make them special!

I would love to see pics on your blogs too.

Cocoa Mallow Cookies~Valentine's Style

Here are my Cocoa Mallow cookies from the Cookie of the week club. I added a few extra pictures to give you an idea of what they will look like before and when you bake them.

Some of you had trouble with the cookies sticking. I had mentioned using parchment paper to prevent that problem. I was of course out and decided to use bakers joy. It worked like a dream.

Once they are baked they come out looking like this. Not too fluffy not too flat.

I let them cool about a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack. They cooled completely before I added the filling. I decided to do them Valentine style and added a little pick icing color to the cream. YummmY!

The only thing I did different than the regular recipe is that I had to use 1/2 and 1/2 and water instead of milk because I was out of that too. (Really need to make a trip to the market)

I used pink icing color in the filling and Bakers Joy on my cookie sheets instead of greasing them.

They turned out beautifully! Enjoy!

What more do you want?

Look up! See the poll at the top of this page? I have added this to find out from you what would help make my blog better. I would love to hear from you, so please take the poll and add comments to this post. Let me know what more you want from the Cookie Girl Blog. I really want this to be a great place everyone will enjoy visiting.

Let the suggestions begin!

My Honest Scrap

Woohoo! I just received an Honest Scrap award from my friend Suzi at Savy Suzi.

With this I get to tell you something, actually 10 somethings about me.

Here is what I must do.

List 10 honest things about yourself.

Pass this on to 7 bloggers whom you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

So here goes....

I pass this on to these Blogger Friends....

Panz at A Divas Hammer

Tammy at White Iris Designs

Gourmet Mom on the Go

Groovy Baby Blog

MammaTalk

Optimistic Cynicism

From a desperate housewife

1. I sing. Yep! I belt out songs without any warning to those around me. If I feel one coming on..I just can't help myself (get it) I just can't help myself...I love you and nobody else. LOL Much to their surprise, It is actually in tune. I sing in the choir at church and have been known to sing at weddings too. (yes I was requested) :)

2. I sell Premier Designs Jewelry. I never thought this would be something that I would ever do but I actually love it. Even though I enjoy singing in front of others I have a hard time speaking in large groups. I think it is the "All eyes on me" thing that really freaks me out. Ever since I started selling premier and holding home shows, I have really relaxed and get a kick out of talking to people. ( just picture them in their underwear) just kidding!

3. I am obsessed with CLEAN. Germaphobe if you will. For instance,if someone walks by me coughing or sneezing I actually hold my breath until I get 100 ft away from them. I know, I know! It is crazy and makes no sense but I can't help myself. Yes my house is germ free! LOL Not really, but in my mind it is the cleanest house around. Does this actually fall under the OCD category?

4. I love to bake and cook. No surprise I know this. But what you don't know is that I don't like cooking unless it is for a large crowd of people or a party. I would rather eat out during the week. Go figure. Baking is a little different though..I will bake anytime. Just love it and it is a "Very good thing" LOL

5. I am very uncomfortable with my size. I am tall 5'7" and 160 lbs. I feel like an amazon woman. I lost 30 lbs and got to 130 about a year and a half and it was great but then I gained it all back plus 5 lbs. Turning 30 didn't help either. No pity party here, I promise. I know it is in my control to lose it again. It's just these darn cookies and stuff. LOL

6. I love the fine things in life. Gourmet foods, extravagant tropical getaways, all the pampering a girl can handle, clothes and shoes. There is a BUT coming....here it is! But I don't indulge in such things as much as I would like. I think that getting wiser (not older) and having a family really changes ones priorities. It sure did mine. I actually find myself being more frugal by the minute.

7. I am the baby in my family but have first-born traits and habits. I think being 10 years apart from my sister has a lot to do with that. I grew quickly being around adults more than kids. It has made me a more serious person but thanks to my husband I have really changed.

8. I love animals. Dogs and horses mostly. All the horse lovers out there will understand this next part and not think I am weird....I love the smell of a horses face. The velvet soft feel of there nose is so sweet to me. I love nuzzling them. Dogs are wonderful animals and very loyal. My favorites are Rottweilers and Boxers. I have had 3 Rottweilers and now have a boxer named Izzy. They are great with children and enjoy loving and being loved on.

9. I have an extensive collection of cookbooks. Over 200. I have an uncontrollable desire to buy them when I go to a book store.

10. #9 leads to this one. I love Barnes and Noble and Starbucks. The smell of all the new books and coffee combined sends my creative senses into overdrive. I can hang out there from open til close. Wanna join me?

I hope you have enjoyed reading a little more about me.