A Warm Kitchen

No need to visit the Arctic. It has come to see us instead. If yesterday was cold, today is a block of ice. The temperature at the moment is -25C with a wind chill factor of -37C. I did take Meeko out for his walk yesterday, wrapped (me that is) in a ski jacket, snow pants, hat, gloves and two infinity scarves. We'll see if we venture out today. Meeko doesn't seem to mind the cold at all and, as I've mentioned several times here, he adores the snow.

Days like this are best spent indoors sipping hot coffee or tea and making or at least dreaming about warm creations coming out of the oven.  Our ever-expanding cookbook collection grew a little over the holidays. Pictured at the top are the books that were under our tree, plus a couple I ordered in early January. I bought the book 'I love cinnamon rolls!' because I couldn't get the cinnamon rolls my sister-in-law made for our family out of my head. What to do when plagued by thoughts of cinnamon rolls? Make more!

We own every Jamie Oliver recipe book that has been published. We love Jamie and his recipes. They always work and taste so good. We own most of the Barefoot Contessa collection too, also wonderfully reliable although I've learned to reduce the salt a little and use evaporated milk in many of her recipes calling for cream.

On the very top of the pile are two books published by Love Food (aka Parragon Books)--one owned by Chloé and the other by Emma. We now have three of their books. I posted last summer about a fabulous 'sheepscape' that Emma made, inspired by a cookie recipe in one of their books. I contacted Parragon at the time and asked if they would give me permission to print the recipe on my blog. They were lovely about it and said 'yes'.

Some family recipe cards and a photo of Emma at three decorating a cake

A few months later, they contacted me and asked if they could feature my blog as their first 'blog of the month' on their website. They asked me about my art and garden but were particularly interested in how Emma and Chloé got to be such wonderful bakers.

It is pretty exciting to have my blog featured somewhere and it was fun to talk about all of the baking that has gone on in our kitchen over the years.

My interview with Parragon

Keep warm, my friends!

Pumpkin Cookies

Chloé made the most wonderful pumpkin cookies yesterday. The house smelled so lovely and they tasted divine! Emma told her they were the best thing she's ever eaten. High praise from a big sister. Chloé followed the recipe here.

I ate some. Well, we all did. Emma is right. They are very, very good.  I also painted a couple. Not the same two above. Chocolate chips found their way into these ones. That happens here.

In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October. I have so many blog and Etsy friends in the U.S. now that I feel like we should celebrate twice. I suppose being thankful twice a year (at least!) would not be a bad thing. Have a wonderful celebration!

Sheep Cookie Recipe

A few weeks ago, I published photos of the wonderful cookie 'sheepscape' that Emma made. A few of you asked for the recipe.  I contacted the publisher and asked it they would mind if I provided the recipe here. Well, first of all, they said that Emma's cookies looked 'fantastic'! And then they said that, although they don't ordinarily grant permission for recipes or extracts to be published, I was welcome to print the recipe here for the personal use of my readers. Thanks very much Parragon Books!

Farmyard Friends
Makes 25
(from '1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & other tempting treats')

heaping 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups superfine sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

few drops of food coloring

tube of decorating icing

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and beat to combine, then sift the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix to form a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Set aside one third of the dough and leave uncoloured. Divide the remaining dough into portions and knead in different food colourings. Shape the dough into animal shapes* and place the cookies on the baking sheets.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Add eyes and other features with the decorating icing.

*Fluffy sheep cookie: For the body, roll small balls of uncolored dough and lay them on the baking sheet, touching each other in an oval shape. Use colored dough to shape the head and feet.

Parragon Books Ltd, © 2009

Emma used a melted chocolate and cocoa mixture rather than food colouring to colour a small part of the dough (she only coloured about 1/3 of the dough). She didn't use decorating icing.

While the book shows the sheep-shaped cookies, Emma went one step further and created stars, a moon and a fence.

If you come here regularly, you already know that we have an enormous cookbook collection in our house. '1001, Cupcakes, Cookies & other tempting treats' really is a lovely book. We've made several recipes out of it and all have turned out beautifully.

All photos © Kathleen Maunder 2012

Counting Sheep

I suffer from insomnia quite regularly, but I don't usually count sheep. I will toss and turn for a little while and then read until I'm sleepy again.

So I've established that I don't count sheep, but I sure do eat sheep when they are as cute and delicious as the cookies that Emma made this week.

She found the cookie recipe in the book 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats and then she went one step further by creating a whole sheepscape (I think I've just invented a word) with a fence, the moon and some stars.

Mysteriously, the sheepscape is now missing a few pieces. (They were scrumptious.)

You can find the recipe here.

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The days since returning from our New York vacation have been busy.  I have been working this whole week on a commissioned painting that I have to deliver tomorrow.  I finished it at about 5:30 p.m. today. Phew! I have had double knots about it as it was commissioned by a friend to be delivered to her friends in France, so I want her to be happy as well as the final recipients. I will post a photo of the final version once it has been delivered into her hands tomorrow. Chloé has been at a one-week overnight camp for the first time this past week. We pick up the happy (I hope) camper tomorrow. I still have photos to sort and stories to tell about our Manhattan visit. Stay tuned.

The Approach

It smelled so good in our house this morning.  Emma made gingerbread cookies.  It's funny how simple things can be such powerful mental triggers.  The spicy scent of those cookies wafting up the stairs started to get me in a Christmas mood.  The snow helped this week too, although sadly it has already melted. It'll be back soon enough.

We've put our Christmas lights up outside.  I love approaching our house from a distance and seeing the golden lights.  They'll be even prettier once the snow returns.

The decorations in the house will be next.  Chloé has already brought up the box of Christmas books and DVDs from the basement and I have tranferred them to a basket.  Even the books they have outgrown stay in that box. Tradition.

I held onto one of my Christmas books from my childhood and it still puts tears in my eyes when I read it. It's a beautifully written and illustrated book about family members making gifts for their little girl (and of course she makes gifts for them).

It seemed too soon to be thinking about Christmas before and all of a sudden I'm wondering if I'll have time to do everything I want and need to do.  It's that way every year. It's exactly one month away today.

In the end, it's important not to hurry and worry too much as I think this is the best part of Christmas:  the approach.

(Every Day in the Year by Phyllis Rowand - out of print, but still available used)

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If you have started to think about your Christmas shopping, just a reminder that I have a special in my Etsy shop all this weekend right until the end of the day, Monday November 28th.  Just apply the coupon code THANKS2011 when you check out and you will receive 15% off your entire order.

Enjoy your weekend.