Baking: Lemon Drop Wafers

I love lemon drops so I was excited to try these Cookies out of a Martha Stewart Desserts cook book.

Ingredients

Makes about 2 dozen.

* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 large egg
* Zest of 2 lemons, finely chopped
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* Pinch of salt
* 1/3 cup lemon drops, (2 ounces of whole candies), crushed


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl twice. Add egg; mix on high speed until combined. Add lemon zest, and beat to combine.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and mix on low speed until combined, about 20 seconds. Add candy, and mix to combine. Transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
4. Pour remaining 1/2 cup sugar into a large bowl. Shape the dough into 1/2-inch balls. Drop each ball into sugar, and roll, coating completely; use sugar to keep dough from sticking to hands.
5. Working in batches, place sugared balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Gently press balls, flattening to a 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer remaining dough to refrigerator.
6. Bake cookies just until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Baking: Present Cookies with Gift Tag

Making: Southwestern Nachos

This recipe comes from the Feb/March 2008 issue of Taste of Home. These were awesome. I baked two thick pork chops in the apple juice mixture instead of slowly cooking the pork loin roasts and I also divided the recipe in half. It still made a generous 9x13 pan full of nachos.


2 boneless whole pork loin roasts (3.5 pounds each)
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp liquid smoke. optional
2 1/2 cups bbq sauce, divided
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 T. honey
1 pkg ( 11 ounce) tortilla chip scoops
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can ( 15 ounce ) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro

Cut each roast in half, place in two 5 qt slow cookers. Combine the apple juice, garlic, salt, and Liquid Smoke if desired; pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until tender.

Shred pork with two forks; place in a very large bowl. Stir in 2 cups barbecue sauce, brown sugar and honey. Divide tortilla chips between two greased 13in x 9in x 2in baking dishes; top pork mixture. Combine the corn, beans, tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice; spoon over the pork mixture.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt cheese with milk. Drizzle cheese sauce remaining barbecue sauce over nacho. yield: 30 servings.

Busy Weekend: Pinewood Derby Races and Basketball Games

What an exciting weekend. Both boys have been enjoying trophies and medals. Cade's Basketball team won the championship game at the tournament. What an exciting game- they won in overtime by 2 points. Cade and Quinn's pinewood derby cars had to race without them since we had to go to the basketball game. We found out later that
Quinn's car was the fastest in the tiger den- so he was pleased to receive a trophy.
Little boys love trophies- and singing "We are the Champions".

Baking: a few more Garden Cookies

Baking: Garden Cookies