Sugar Cookies
Dec. 19th, 2017 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI have promised and will bring chocolate chip cookies to the Christmas party I'm attending. But I also want sugar cookies. I think some Christmas tree ones would be fairly simple and festive. I'll frost them with green frosting and maybe a yellow frosting star and put sprinkles on it for the decorations.
Step One: Get sprinkles. The best price I found was at Dollar Tree, and the ingredients were no worse than those in sprinkles at standard grocery stores.
Step Two: Pick out a recipe. I settled on the vanilla cookie dough from the cookie decorating class I took a while back. I have another "perfect no-refrigeration" recipe, but my notes say that although it tastes good, I'm not sure it's any better than the recipe from the class. The class recipe had a higher flour-to-butter-and-sugar ratio, so I decided it seemed healthier and picked that.
Step Three: Make sure I have the ingredients. I got more flour (it calls for 5 cups) just in case.
Step Four: Make the cookies. I used a lot of shortcuts. Since I don't have to bring them to the party, I don't care too much if they come out, and it's valuable to know if the shortcuts work.
I've made these before, but didn't take any notes, so I don't remember if I took shortcuts then or what. Well, today I ended up with a crumbly mess, added more milk, and was then able to roll out the dough.
My cookie cutter is very small, so two cookie sheets holds a lot of cookies, and they taste kind of boring (without frosting, anyway), so I stopped with that amount.
And the recipe makes way too much dough, so I decided to turn some of it into a pie crust and make a pumpkin pie. I already had the ingredients plus leftover whipped cream (in a can) from last time.
That basically worked, though it turned out a little thicker and harder to cut than my usual pie crust. I still have some dough left, so I'm also going to make an apple pie--I'd already bought the apples.
The remaining steps will be done on another day.
Web Tool of the Day - Maxim Lott's Tax Plan Calculator - It just asks for basic data so does not give the exact taxes you'd owe, but it looks close for me (if I make one calculation for years I take the standard deduction and another for the years I itemize).
Exercise update - Yesterday I took a medium hike (~2 miles) and did not feel strangely light-headed like the day before. But I did feel a bit used up. Grocery shopping that evening I carried a heavier-than-usual basket around the store (gallon of milk, 5-lb bag of flour, etc.). I definitely felt used up and sleepy early that evening. So the exercise break continues. The good news is that my cold or whatever has not gotten worse again like it often does.
Step One: Get sprinkles. The best price I found was at Dollar Tree, and the ingredients were no worse than those in sprinkles at standard grocery stores.
Step Two: Pick out a recipe. I settled on the vanilla cookie dough from the cookie decorating class I took a while back. I have another "perfect no-refrigeration" recipe, but my notes say that although it tastes good, I'm not sure it's any better than the recipe from the class. The class recipe had a higher flour-to-butter-and-sugar ratio, so I decided it seemed healthier and picked that.
Step Three: Make sure I have the ingredients. I got more flour (it calls for 5 cups) just in case.
Step Four: Make the cookies. I used a lot of shortcuts. Since I don't have to bring them to the party, I don't care too much if they come out, and it's valuable to know if the shortcuts work.
I've made these before, but didn't take any notes, so I don't remember if I took shortcuts then or what. Well, today I ended up with a crumbly mess, added more milk, and was then able to roll out the dough.
My cookie cutter is very small, so two cookie sheets holds a lot of cookies, and they taste kind of boring (without frosting, anyway), so I stopped with that amount.
And the recipe makes way too much dough, so I decided to turn some of it into a pie crust and make a pumpkin pie. I already had the ingredients plus leftover whipped cream (in a can) from last time.
That basically worked, though it turned out a little thicker and harder to cut than my usual pie crust. I still have some dough left, so I'm also going to make an apple pie--I'd already bought the apples.
The remaining steps will be done on another day.
Web Tool of the Day - Maxim Lott's Tax Plan Calculator - It just asks for basic data so does not give the exact taxes you'd owe, but it looks close for me (if I make one calculation for years I take the standard deduction and another for the years I itemize).
Exercise update - Yesterday I took a medium hike (~2 miles) and did not feel strangely light-headed like the day before. But I did feel a bit used up. Grocery shopping that evening I carried a heavier-than-usual basket around the store (gallon of milk, 5-lb bag of flour, etc.). I definitely felt used up and sleepy early that evening. So the exercise break continues. The good news is that my cold or whatever has not gotten worse again like it often does.