before i forget......

first off i want to wish you all the very happiest of holiday seasons

then i want to tell you how to make one of my favorite cookies
(it makes a LOT..... either freeze half or use this as a holiday tray cookie)

i make the dough, and keep it in the fridge.....it keeps about a week in the fridge
it rarely lasts that long with bernie around

thoroughly cream 1 cup of sweet unsalted butter
use the high speed on the mixer
then add 8oz of cream cheese and thoroughly cream that with the butter
add 2 and 3/4 cups of white sugar... scrap down the sides of the bowl and keep that mixer going at high speed
add 4 duck eggs (or 5 jumbo chicken eggs) and beat that batter within an inch of it's life
add 1 tablespoon each of vanilla (remember when i told you how to make it?) and almond extract
and continue to beat it until it's fluffy and smooth and almost looks like frosting

meanwhile sift 5 and 1/2 cups of flour with 4 teaspoons cream of tartar, and 2 teaspoons of baking SODA...... mix this all up very well you can add some salt....maybe 1/8 teaspoon

then stir it into the wet ingredients.... be careful not to over mix.... you can use the mixer on low/med
and stop often to scrap the sides down

DO NOT OVER MIX THIS PART

chill for about an hour

drop by tablespoonfulls on a cookie sheet -
sprinkle some multi colored sanding sugar or sprinkles on the top
and bake between 10 and 14 mins at 350 degrees
until the edges are medium brown

let cool on the tray about 3 minutes then move them to a cooling rack

ok now the variations

you can add some ground cardamon to the dry ingredients
and or some lemon or orange zest
about a teaspoon measure
you can add chips to the finished dough (or part of the finished dough)
or nuts
or sprinkle chopped nuts on top
raisins soaked in liquid can be added to the dough before dropping on the cookie sheet
or cranraisins...... or sweetened dried cherries, or blueberries....crushed toffee.....

or bake without and then ice or glaze later
( i like lemon icing on these just FYI)

we do however make these all year round... they are not just for christmas.

now just a fast update on other stuff.....i have a layout on the board for a nest with quail....
we'll see how that goes
i have the quail in a better/larger/ more quail comfortable arrangement now in the basement, after doing research with google and also quail breeders here.. one got out and was flying around in the duck room but we got it back and they are both fine, nestled together in the alfalfa hay part of their new pen...they also have sand/oyster shell to dust themselves with, and i ground the pellets into crumble for them, and added some bird seed too..........
in knitting news i have about 40 inches of vine lace on that scarf i'm working on......it looks like i also have another 200 yards or so left of the skein so i am going to keep knitting.

bernie starts his new job tomorrow night..... he's met some of the guys when he brought his tool box up to the new shop.

ok i think you folks are all caught up....now tomorrow (this will post monday so for tuesday's post) i have a funny story...... i am liking reposting the archive stories that are funny..... i hope you folks are enjoying them too.
and again i can't say this enough, i wish you all the most wonderful of holiday seasons

vanilla extract DIY

i've been trying to rest my eyes today.
i got the drops and so far today have used them twice
i cleaned the woodstove, added some plastic to a window that i thought had a storm in it but didn't
got the studio/main house door covered in hardware cloth (and ditched the window screening which wasn't letting heat through)
cut the cat's claws
did paper work and research

went out with the left over seed from when roland was alive, and fed that to the ruffed grouse and the winter birds
let me tell you.......
this resting my eyes is a lot of work

ok another thing i did was make vanilla extract today.
i had found some vanilla beans hanging around in my pantry from two years ago (all safely vacuum sealed) and i found a bottle of cheapo vodka i had bought at the same time.....since we don't drink it wasn't even opened!
i was being very lazy so i just opened the vodka, poured a bit of it out into the other mason jar full of vanilla extract, and put all the whole beans into the vodka bottle......
capped the bottle and shook it up good then put it back where i found it! in six months it'll be extract

now to do it right .......i should have chopped the beans up before putting them in there, and down the road i most likely will remove the beans and do that, before putting them back into the vodka.....
the bottle was i think what is called a 'fifth' and i think i put in 18 or 24 beans......
you should shake it daily, and i might remember to do that
really it IS simple.. and we use it for baking
i have some that's over 2 years old and it's wonderful. since i heavy up on the beans my extracts are a very very VERY dark color..... which is great, and we use normal measures (ok so we don't actually measure, it's more like..... hmmmm that looks like enough) i figure about a teaspoon for whatever we use it in.
it keeps forever if you leave it in the dark in the closet. and overall it's so much cheaper then the stuff you get in the store.
i found my beans on ebay
i don't quite remember what i got or how much i paid for them but there you go

oh and bernie asked met to tell you how to make a tortilla pizza, as he loves them
so maybe tomorrow?