Mammy’s little baby loves short’nin’, short’nin’

January 24, 2007 at 1:39 pm | Posted in birthdays, cooking, family, recipes | 5 Comments

No, I am not “Mammy,” and Elisabeth is not eating shortbread.

(You know when you look at a word for too long, and it starts to look like it’s spelled REALLY incorrectly?  While trying to figure out the apostrophes, that just happened to me with “shortening.”)

But I have been making–and tasting–some.  But only tasting!  The shortbread was really for my Dad, as his birthday was yesterday, and shortbread is one of his all-time favourites.  (My birthday tribute post to him will not be posted until next Monday…stay tuned to find out why.)  :)

I wanted to share the recipe because making it was so simple, and the results are DELICIOUS!  A big thanks to “cheryl otten” at allrecipes.com for this fabulous find. 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup white sugar–I used 1/2 cup, and I sprinkled some on top after baking
  • 3/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
  2. Blend all ingredients well. Dough will be stiff.
  3. Press into a 9 x 9 inch buttered dish. Prick top with a fork.
  4. Bake until pale golden brown on the edges. Cool and cut into squares.

My dish was actually an 11″ round dish, and it worked just fine.  Also, all the reviews said to wait until the shortbread cools to cut it, but I cut mine into wedges with a pizza cutter while it was still warm.  I made a second batch pressing the dough into three large heart-shaped stoneware molds…I had to go all out for my dear Dad!!  :)

sticky & sweet

January 5, 2007 at 10:42 am | Posted in cooking, family, recipes | 1 Comment

have you ever made your own maple syrup?

my dad made delicious pancakes so many saturday mornings throughout my childhood and youth, and my dear mom would always make the syrup to go with them.  she would pour it steaming hot into this old, warped tupperware container (probably supposed to be for salad dressings or the like) with a little spout on the lid…boy, i couldn’t wait to get my hands on that!  i always thought it was so neat that she MADE the syrup; as i got older, i of course was interested in learning how to do it, as well.  who would’ve thought it was so easy?  (but i still can’t manage to make it taste “just like mom’s.”)

Pour 1 c. BOILING water over 1 c. sugar and 1 c. (packed) brown sugar.  Add 1 tsp (or so) of maple flavoring and stir until your arm almost falls off.  :)

doug made breakfast for dinner the other night (at my request–my favourite!!), and after he whipped up some scrumptious cakes–including throwing in nutmeg, among other things!–i made some syrup to go with them.  he has always said he doesn’t like the homemade syrup, but he did this time!  i think it helped that after stirring (a LONG time), i put the bowl in the microwave for a few minutes…it really helped to dissolve the sugar a little more.

what about you?  have you ever made your own maple syrup?  :)

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