With Love ♥: martha stewart

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

4th of July

So I made these 4th of July sugar cookies from Martha Stewart. I ran out of gel though and so I couldn't make all the cookies the same design. I know it's late for the 4th of July, but if you want, the recipe is in the post below this. You could do it for Halloween or Christmas or any color just for fun.

17 minutes was too little, 19 minutes was a little too much for mine. Be careful.

And I made my mom's green tomato salsa which I absolutely love. There's a Mexican grocery store nearby with super super cheap produce so it wasn't that expensive to make. So I used green tomatillos instead of unripe tomatoes but it worked out fine. And because I wasn't canning it, I cut the recipe in half. Make sure you have a huge pot, because it does boil down, but all the cut up vegetables take up a lot of room. I wish I had read the comments on the recipe at the bottom of the page...or asked my mom for more advice. Because you definitely need to cut the salt in half (or quarter it if you're halving the recipe), and not as much vinegar. So it was way too salty for me. I added sugar which helped a little, but it was too salty for some people. Lots of people said it was fine. But I wasn't satisfied. Oh well. I know for next time. Don't make my mistake. If you want the recipe, click HERE.

Bear started the day off with playing baseball with Andrew. It was the first time he got to play ball since nationals, in the middle of May. He did have to work half the day, but did get 2 sales. I didn't think anyone would be interested on the 4th. Life is full of surprises.

We went to a BBQ at a ward member's house. They have an adopted little girl and boy and they reminded me a lot of my own family. Two white blonde kids close in age and two firecracker brown kids :) We finished the day off with city fireworks. At the end of the day, my body was exhausted but I couldn't turn my brain off and had to talk poor Bear's ear off. I hope you all had a good holiday with friends, family, and food. Sometimes bbq's and lots of food don't feel like celebrating a holiday to me. I need to come up with my own traditions for my future family (no I'm not hinting anything).

Oh, and it was our one month anniversary. Just saying ♥

Cookies

Put on a show with a display of these patriotic cookies.

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Coarse salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

FOR DECORATING THE COOKIES
- Red, White, and Blue Royal Icing

Directions

Make the cookies: Sift flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a large bowl.

Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, then vanilla. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies using a 1 3/4-, 2 1/4-, 2 3/4-, or 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, rerolling scraps once. Transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Bake until edges just start to brown, 17 to 19 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

Decorate the cookies: Pipe an outline of white icing around edge of 1 cookie, leaving a 1/4-inch border, then "flood" with more white icing to cover.

Immediately pipe a red or blue dot in the center of cookie. Then pipe concentric rings of colors around the center dot (using the same color as the dot, or alternating colors).

Immediately drag a toothpick through the colors to create bursts, starting from the center dot and working toward the edge, then alternate dragging inward and outward as you work around the cookie. (Or drag around the cookie in 1 direction or curve the lines for a pinwheel effect.) Let dry. Repeat with remaining cookies and icings.