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

Birthdays, Books and Cake

Each family has its own traditions around birthdays. In our family, birthdays always involve a homemade cake, a family dinner and books.

My eldest daughter Emma is 17 today. I'm having a lot of trouble believing how fast the years have gone by, but I am so proud of the beautiful young woman she is.  She is intelligent, kind, principled, a little bit quirky and very strong-minded. I love each and every part of her.

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Emma. It was on the Thanksgiving weekend and that seemed entirely appropriate.  I recall how very hard it was waiting to meet her which I finally did on June 1, 1995. As a birthday bonus, Emma's cousin Erica was born the very next day.

From the look of these recipe cards, you have an idea of how many times I've made this cake. That peacock blue ink and calligraphy-style printing tells me that I copied this recipe in my early twenties, loooong before I was a mom. :)

Ever since Emma and Chloé were babies, books have been one of the gifts they have received from us on birthdays and at Christmas.  Of course, they would receive toys but there would always be books among the packages.

When Emma was about eleven or twelve, she came into my room and said 'Mama' in a serious voice to the point that I was a little worried about what she was going to say.  She said, 'Mama...I just wanted to thank you for giving me your love of reading'.  I thought my heart would burst.

This year, Emma has asked for an iPod as a gift. She has been using my old one that is not performing very well at all anymore.  A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if by requesting an iPod, would she still be receiving some books as she always looked forward to them.  I would find it very hard not to include them. Right now, I am making her cake. Later we will go to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner.  And tonight, along with a brand new iPod, Emma will receive a big stack of lovingly chosen books.

♥ Happy Birthday Emma! ♥

A Bird Nest is a Symbol of Hope

This sweet bird nest lives in my house.  I was very lucky to find this original watercolour under the Christmas tree--a gift from my husband.  I love it.  I also love its artist--Jody Edwards.

A lot has gone on this past week.  A week ago, Jody found this very nest and several of her feather images in the Etsy shop and on the blog of a German artist. Through hours of detective work, Jody tracked down three other Etsy artists who had their work copied by the same person.  The copied images are gone now but the past week has been a week of pain, anger, and frustration for Jody. I got involved because Jody is my friend and I feel sick when artists, especially friends, go through this kind of thing.  I ended up being labeled a 'hater' and 'bully' for standing up for Jody and the other artists by saying that the other artist was wrong to do what she did.  While she has apologized that others saw a resemblance in what she was selling (they were identical), she still claims never to have seen Jody's work before. Yesterday, despite two walks with Meeko in the forest, I was in and out of tears. I was feeling disappointed with the world, discouraged with what that means for my daughters in the future and reeling from the names I had been called.  I have taught Emma and Chloé to stand up and speak out when things are wrong. It is a strong message in our household, not to mention their school. I thought, if this is what happens when you do speak up, had I taught them the right thing?

But, do you know what? This is a new month. Bird nests, especially those filled with tiny, sweet eggs, are symbols of hope and love.  Here is a list of good and wonderful things I can take from the past week:

I am thankful for my friendship with Jody. Who knew that an email I sent her last October on Etsy telling her how much I loved her watercolours would turn into such a special and supportive friendship. We have our painting styles, motherhood and a sense of humour in common.  It turns out that she grew up just minutes away from my sister's house. My sister now owns some of her originals too. I encourage you to have a look at her beautiful paintings, maybe even say hello to her.

I am thankful for my beautiful friend Colette who sent me the most amazing email one morning this week full of words that had nothing to do with me being a bully or hater without knowing how very much I needed to hear them. She is also the sweetheart who delivered that bouquet of Valentine candles to me.

I am thankful for my sweet friend Lucile who took time at midnight in Paris to send me words of encouragement when I told her that I was feeling discouraged this month about my art and Etsy. I am also the proud owner of two of Lucile's original paintings and I will show you them some day.

I am thankful that a stranger named Mary Jo took the time to leave a sweet and kind comment here after I visited her new blog, a welcome place of peace and beauty called Still.

I am thankful for the internet. Though this past week, I started to think of it as the big, bad internet and it definitely has that side, it has been the source of the most wonderful creative inspiration and beautiful friendships. There are a lot of very nice people out there and I am lucky to know so many of them. I am thankful for knowing Geninne, Margie and Arounna...and there are so many others that I can't list you all here as I would be afraid to leave someone out and hurt your feelings. I appreciate each and every one of you.

I am thankful for my daughters. They are kind, sensitive and wise. They are so supportive of my painting efforts--"Mama, go upstairs and paint!". They have a true sense of integrity, not to mention wonderful senses of humour (they are slightly nutty). For everything I teach them, they teach me something back.

I am thankful for my parents because I know that my moral core comes from what they taught me when I was young. I am also happy to say that my Mom is doing really well these days.

I am thankful for Meeko and how he gets me outside even on days when it's icy and horribly frigid, and the unconditional furry love he gives me throughout each day.

I am thankful for my husband and the gift of this painting. And Jody again, for making this beautiful bird nest, this symbol of hope, something that I get to look at each and every day.

One more thing:  I am thankful that January is over! :)

Hope     

Hope is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul, 

And sings the tune--without the words, 

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 

And sore must be the storm 

That could abash the little bird 

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 

And on the strangest sea; 

Yet, never, in extremity, 

It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

Bird nests and feathers are symbols of hope.

Mama's Bear

I painted this bear many years ago.  I borrowed it so many times from Emma's room for my painting sessions that she started referring to it as 'Mama's bear'.

Most of the stuffed toys in our house have now been given away, shoved to the back of closets or moved to the basement (a sort of holding ground as decisions are made as to whether to part with old fluffy friends). This little fellow however has an ongoing place of honour in our guest room.

Yesterday, I worked at converting my original painting to a print. When Emma and Chloé came home, they both thought I had the original in my hands.  I think Teddy approves too. He is going into my Etsy shop this morning.

Here are two other animals I am very fond of:  Monkey and Meeko.

Cucumbers & Nail Polish

I don't know if you occasionally look at the Etsy shop listings at the right side of the page.  I've added a few new prints the last few days as well as some gift cards.  I just added the Cucumber Slices print this morning.  Emma has asked for the original painting to put in her room. I've done this print on lovely Fabriano Artistico cold pressed watercolour paper. My printing experiments continue!

I'll keep adding new things to my shop as I can. The scanning and photography process takes so much time. Today is a lovely bright day which certainly helps the photos.  There have been so many drab days lately.  I'm also enjoying using one of my Christmas presents--a camera tripod.

And did you notice? I put on nail polish!  I was getting so tired of seeing my ragged nails showing in photos. In the summer, no matter how often I clean them there are always stubborn bits of garden dirt under them. In the winter, they tend to be paint and food stained. (We've been eating a lot of beets lately.) Plus, I have the very bad habit of using them to pry things open. Nail polish lasts about an hour on me without getting chipped, but I do like looking at it on the rare occasions that I do put it on.  Emma and Chloé are much more beauty-oriented than I have ever been. They teach me more than I teach them in that whole area.  Funny how that is.

I haven't been painting the past few days and need to get back into my studio. I can feel it when I have been away from it too long.

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Nail polish update:  It's already coming off.  It looked pretty nice for a couple of hours. :)

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New nail polish update:  Emma says I need to put on two coats and an overcoat. (I told you the beauty advice moves upward in our house.) She has also offered to colour coordinate my nail polish colours with the paintings I am photographing. Not sure I'm ready for green nail polish. But who knows where this period of evolution will take me. :)

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Newer nail polish update:  Chloé passed me in the hall last night and says 'Whoa, you have nail polish on!'  Told you it wasn't a normal occurrence. :)

Paint Splatter & Mind Over Matter

Do you know those television programs where designers paint walls while dressed in fancy, pristine clothes? Well, that's not me.  I have spent the past three days painting my eldest daughter Emma's room and have been pretty much covered in paint from head to toe. Witness my paint-splattered Toms' shoes.  (I used a pair of old ones with holes in the toes. Do I have particularly pointy toes or does that happen to everyone? :)

Emma's room was previously a deep aqua colour which suited her perfectly six years ago. Now at sixteen, she has her own grownup taste. She chose a pale, elegant green.  It's called 'lime sorbet' on the paint chip but Emma says that it makes her feel like she's inside of a cucumber (a good thing, by the way).  The room is completely painted as of the end of yesterday afternoon but is not yet 'photo ready'.  I will let you have a peek in a few weeks once she has everything the way she wants.

A quick painting of cucumber slices to celebrate finishing Emma's room!

I wanted to share a story and have asked Emma's permission to tell you.  As I was about to paint the frame of her doorway, I noticed that she had been using it as a height chart. I asked, 'Are you okay with me covering this up?' As I spoke, I looked up and several inches above the last pencil mark and well above the top of my head was a line with the word 'Goal'.  I grinned and asked, 'What's this?'  She said, 'Yeah, that was my goal but I don't think I'm going to make it. I think Chloé is going to be taller than me.' That's my quirky, lovable Emma. Setting a height goal. Mind over matter. And why not?