"SWEET ON YOU"

One woman's insight into her daily life and some 'adventures'.............cooking, collecting, travels etc. With a lil' bit of this and that...........

Monday, December 28, 2009

Kitty Kats

Thank you Hostess Sally for hosting "Blue Monday" for some fabulous inspirational ideas and fun!...
Be sure and visit the other participants at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Blue Kitty Kats

This is a collection of cats that I have..........can't remember where I got them from. They seem to have been around for a long time on my shelves.

Big kitty and a wee lil' one sleeping.

These two snap shots you can see the beautiful turquoise blue colours.

Close up of the pattern on the Kitty kats.




This another set of Kitty Kats.......not sure why they have a yellowy colour to them but they are a cobalt blue.




The Whole Family.




Thank you for stopping and please do leave some comments I love reading them.
Don't forget to visit the other participants.


Thursday, December 24, 2009

"MERRY CHRISTMAS"

I want to wish all my Friends a very
"MERRY CHRISTMAS" and their Families.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Blue Mugs and Cookies

Thank you Hostess Sally for hosting "Blue Monday" for some fabulous inspirational ideas and fun!...

Be sure and visit the other participants at
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/
These are my favourite Cut/out Cookies sandwiched with raspberry jam. I got this recipe from a Canadian Living Magazine way, way back from the 80's. I cut it out and pasted it into my trusty 'keeper' recipe notebook.

..............also my two blue cobalt blue coffee mugs, I have a set of six.

All dressed up the cookies with a dusting of confectioner's sugar [icing sugar].


Here is the original recipe that I had pasted into my notebook.

Blue Dessert plate.......I have a set of six.


Naked cookies before the dusting of sugar.......they taste better with confectioner's sugar on them.




Tea Cresents
Source....... Cooking Light


My Blue and White figurines that I picked up at the Flea Market this summer.

Ingredients;
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons 2% reduced-fat milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon aniseed, crushed



1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
3. Beat 3/4 cup sugar, butter, and oil with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture and aniseed; beat at low speed until blended. Chill 30 minutes. Shape dough into 32 (2-inch) logs; bend logs to form crescent shape. Arrange 16 crescents 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove from oven; cool on pan 3 minutes. Repeat procedure with remaining 16 crescents.
4. Sift remaining 1/2 cup sugar into a medium bowl; toss warm cookies in sugar to coat. Cool completely on a wire rack.


Rolling the cookies in powdered sugar while they're still warm results in a deliciously sweet, snowy coating.
Yield: 32 cookies
Thank you for stopping by and be sure and visit the other participants.
Have a great "Blue Monday"!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

RUGELACH

I made three batches of these cookies yesterday.............I think that my husband and daughter while they were cooling managed to eat one batch. :-)
I got this recipe off my friend Linda of http://linda-howtocookawolf.blogspot.com/. She is a fabulous cook and has been making these for years.

She said that this recipe comes from Sarabeth’s restaurant in NYC…she got it in the old Cuisine magazine in the very early 80’s and has been making them ever since. I use to make a Canadian chef's recipe by Bonnie Stern for years, but this year decided to try Linda's and I really liked the dough better.


Sarabeth’s Rugelach
1 cup butter softened
1 8 oz.pkg. cream cheese softened
½ cup + 2 T.sugar divided
½ t.vanilla¼ t.salt
2 cups flour¾ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ cup currants
2 T.cinnamon
½ cup plum preserves
Confectioners sugar

Pre-Heat oven to 325*
Mix Cinnamon with 1/2 cup sugar and set aside.
Cream together butter and cream cheese,add 2 T.sugar,vanilla,salt ,and flour.
Turn out on board and knead quickly until just together and smooth…
Divide into 3 pieces, press each piece into disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or overnight.
Roll disc out into a 10 inch or 12inch circle…don’t worry if the edges are uneven.
Spread 1/3 of the jam, the cinnamon sugar,nuts and currants over dough. Leave a 1 inch border without filling around circle.
You can roll over filling with rolling pin to press into dough.a long sharp knife or bench knife cut into 12 pie shaped pieces.
Roll each piece into a crescent, long end toward the point. Place on a parchment lined (or silpat) baking sheet .
Turn the edges in so it looks like a crescent.
Bake at 325* for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.Cool on rack…dust liberally with powdered sugar..
This is the filling that I used for my Rugelach's as I had two big jars of Apricot jam on hand. this filling I've had for years I found in my Mom's old recipe book binder that she had.
Filling:
1 cup walnuts, finely ground
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup apricot jam
In a bowl, mix the walnuts, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl put the apricot jam and mix well with a spoon just to loosen it.

Ready and baked.........I always put confectioner's sugar [icing sugar] but these were going into the freezer so after for presentation when I take some out to de/frost I will dust them with the confectioner's sugar. But I did sprinkle them with decorator's sugar before baking, which some I will leave just plain as you see them.


Thank you for stopping by.
Have a great day!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Mexican Wedding Cookies OR Russian Teacakes



This is our families favourite cookie, my husband just pops them into his mouth one after another.
When I was in high school while working in the summer time in a dept. store one of the Ladies brought this cookie in that I absolutely loved. I had never tasted one like it before. I asked for her recipe and she gave me an index card and said 'you write and I'll tell you the ingredients and method". She said that they are called 'Mexican Wedding Cakes'. Now sometimes they are named Russian Teacakes, which sounds better for me as my family background is from near around there :-) in that part of the world.







This is still the same index card that I wrote in the 70's that my co-worker recited to me.






I did 2 batches, one with walnuts and one with pecans, and my husband said that he can't tell the difference.







Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!!!!!........... love reading your comments. Let us know what cookies are your Family favourites?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Teapot and Teacups

Hi to everyone visiting 'Tea Things Tuesdays' at http://shabbypinkandpretty.blogspot.com/.
Thanks to Kim for hosting this and be sure to check out everyone and all their 'tea' treasures!
Teapot and Teacups

This is a teapot that has no label on the bottom and I purchased it because it looked pretty with those colours.



Santa waiting for a cup of some nice hot tea.
I bought these teacups and saucers all four of them for $2, at a 'yard sale'. That was a very good Saturday morning for me. They wanted a buck for each, but if I took them all I could have them for 50 cents each. Sometimes I don't want to get out of bed very early on Saturday mornings and go hunting as my husband said BUT sometimes it is worth it.

This teacup has three different designs around the rim.

Saucer has this sweet lil' pinky rose pattern on it.

Design on the handle.



Rim of the teacup.


Design of the rose on the saucer.


This is the label on the back of the suacers and teacups.



Thank you for stopping by and be sure and visit the other participants and see some Tea Treasures fun!
Have a great day!


Love to hear your comments.