Recipes

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cookies, Cookies, and more Cookies (and Lobster)

Don't worry there are no Lobster cookies!!

Well my unexpected day off Friday was VERY productive...I got SO much Christmas shopping done!! Yay! I also met a friend for lunch while I was out, got a manicure, and returned to my apt and got back to work on my Gingerbread cookies.


All I had to do was get together the wet ingredients, and then add the dry ingredients that I assembled that morning.
I love whenever I can use my Kitchen Aid Mixer :) It was an engagement gift from my grandmother!

Then the dough went into the fridge for the evening.
Saturday morning I got up early (well early for a weekend) and headed to the gym to have another go with running :) I love that 5k map on the treadmill. I did another 5k worth plus a little extra, but it took me about 1min longer than last week...I had more walk breaks (a couple cramps) and just overall not feeling as great with it as last time. I still felt like I had an amazing workout though!!
I came back, ate some fruit, and took out my cookie dough and cookie cutters.

This part is definitely the simplest. Rolled it out nice and thick, made little gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and snow men!
Ready to go into the oven:
The aftermath!Fresh hot cookies
I also made some with my mini cookie cutters because I love bite size things!
Then they sat and cooled while I got my frosting ready!When it comes to nice soft gingerbread cookies, I just cannot justify using the plaster-like "stuff" that sometimes ends up on cookies because it's easy to decorate with. It may look pretty but I'm all about TASTE!!

That's why I go for straight up butter cream!I basically use the recipe on the box of Domino Confectioners Sugar that consists of 4 things: Butter, Confectioners Sugar, Vanilla, and Milk! This stuff is Incredible!!

I made some green for my trees

I did make a little decorating icing (confect. sugar and water) to add a little detail to my cookies, but the main flavor is the delicious butter cream.
I made a tray to take to my mom's for the annual Cookie Swap on Sunday. Every year my mom and her sisters, sisters-in law, and my grandmother get together for the cookie swap. No kids allowed, but seeing as this year my mom is hosting I was able to help out.

Pretty cookies, and olives on the coffee table.

Cookies!Cookies!More CookiesHoly Cookies! And they are all SO good :) I made myself a nice plate (or two) to take home with a sampling of them all.

They set up the cookie swap like afternoon tea. My grandmother has a large collection of tea cups and she gives away 1 to each aunt every year....this years selectionsThe one my mom took isn't in the picture, she grabbed it before anyone else got there hehe.
The table...We made little finger sandwiches...chicken salad, egg salad (gross), and lobster salad (!!!).

My mom saved all the lobster shells, and I took them home. I figured I have a go at making Lobster Bisque, so last night I started with a stock.

I'm sure there are way better versions but I wanted something EASY...so I just put all the shells, some celery, carrots, onion and a bay leaf into a stock pot and simmered for 3.5 hours.
So tonight I need to figure out how to make the actual soup from my stock. We'll see how that goes...it smelt SO good though (well if you LOVE lobster I like do)

Roomie and I also decorated our tree last night!
We had bought it Friday but let it hang out for a while, and did some pruning. It's still pretty wide haha!

I'm also SUPER excited for my lunch...my mom got me an extra lobster, so I am having a big lobster salad pita really soon

14 comments:

  1. Your cookies look gorgeous! That buttercream recipe is the same we use in my family - it's the best!

    I'm so jealous of your kitchen aid! I can't even tell you how many hand mixers I have broken over the years - probably enough to buy TWO kitchen aids!!

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  2. The cookies look great! I love cookie exchanges so much fun and such great yummy eats! Hope you have a nice Monday!

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  3. Those are absolutely beautiful! How fun that your family does that.

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  4. How fun!! I love any excuse to use my Kitchenaid mixer too- it's my favorite kitchen tool :)

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  5. your cookies looks so perfect! I used my kitchen aid for the first time this weekend to make dough - so easy!

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  6. Sounds like a good workout :)

    Cookie making is so fun! Yours are adorable.

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  7. COOOOOOOOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy freaking yum x10000. My favorite holiday cookie is the gingerbread man, so I'm all over those :-D

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  8. So many gorgeous cookies!! You have some mad decoration skills:)

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  9. don't know if you had a 5k in mind, but if you want some support, let me know and i can join you for the run :) (if it's in boston!)

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  10. WOW those cookies look not only adorable, but super delicious! You are such a talented baker :)

    Looks like such a nice little lady-get together. Cute tradition, even if you can't join in 100%

    Have a nice day, Bridget!

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  11. Yea, she was my coach! Marina came out a few times and taught us, haha so funny that they are identical twins. That is SO awesome that you made it that far!!…A few of my old teammates are/were on the team..and absolutely loved it! Those try-outs are so crazy, that must have been a blast…would you consider trying out again??

    ps: i'm adding you to my blogroll!

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  12. Great looking cookies! We use the recipe on the box of confectioner's sugar, too. It's much tastier than the crunchy stuff. Although, I like my cookies plain anyway.

    I think I am going to make gingerbread men this year - first time!

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  13. You're cookies look great! Way to go on the real butter cream icing. :)

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  14. I love that 5K function on the treadmill too - it just seems more like running outside because it changes inclines and stuff. :)

    Those cookies look delicious (esp. the icing!)

    Not sure if you saw my response on my blog - I go to Baptiste Yoga Institute in Brookline. Check it out - the place is great!

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