See, first you hold him in the towel and spread the wing out
On to the nails...I have never seen done this way. Look, she is not even holding him! Yes he is in there...somewhere
Chuck and I got the same idea at the same time...
Almond paste cherry topped butter cookies...these are close to my personal favorites
BUT THESE are hands down the best! I have been practicing for several years to match the cookies that my grandmother used to send us kids at Christmas time and up 'til now was generally unsuccessful. Understand that I was trying to match a professional bakers product without the benefit of the private recipe. This time I have come pretty close, these cookies are absolutely divine!
Cookie cutter chocolate-orange Christmas cookies
Everybody got ahead of me so I thought I would get their pictures
Here I am christening my new snow shoes
Kasia is mixing the dough, I recently picked up this really cool dough gadget. It makes the mixing as easy as it can be and does a very nice job incorporating the ingredients without overworking it
We rolled out little chunks of dough and began the cutting and stuffing process. I did not have a 2.5 inch cookie cutter so we used a small plastic storage container...it was about the right size. Kasia said they always used a teacup.
See? You make the circle and put the small rounded bit of potato-cheese filling into it, squeeze a bit and bring the edges together, press to seal and remove any air pockets. But the real secret is in getting the dough REALLY thin.
Stack them on a cookie sheet and cover with a clean cotton dish towel. This keeps them from drying out.
/>Then when ready to cook, just boil them in water until they float. drain and eat them with sour cream. IF you have any leftovers, they can be fried in butter with onions and or bacon bits the next day. They are even better then, than the first time! We made a total of 97 pierogi! I thought it was a lot, but now I am already sad that there are so few left and WHEN will I do this again!?
Crusted Tilapia over linguine with a light tomato sauce
Ravioli Quattro Formaggi
Capellini Del Mare
I found this very informative piece at Thanksgiving on the Net and thought I would share it with you.
The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious persecution in their native England. In 1609 a group of Pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered. After a few years their children were speaking Dutch and had become attached to the dutch way of life. This worried the Pilgrims. They considered the Dutch frivolous and their ideas a threat to their children's education and morality.
So they decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World. Their trip was financed by a group of English investors, the Merchant Adventurers. It was agreed that the Pilgrims would be given passage and supplies in exchange for their working for their backers for 7 years.
On Sept. 6, 1620 the Pilgrims set sail for the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. They sailed from Plymouth, England and aboard were 44 Pilgrims, who called themselves the "Saints", and 66 others ,whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers."
The long trip was cold and damp and took 65 days. Since there was the danger of fire on the wooden ship, the food had to be eaten cold. Many passengers became sick and one person died by the time land was sighted on November 10th.
The long trip led to many disagreements between the "Saints" and the "Strangers". After land was sighted a meeting was held and an agreement was worked out, called the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed equality and unified the two groups. They joined together and named themselves the "Pilgrims."Although they had first sighted land off Cape Cod they did not settle until they arrived at Plymouth, which had been named by Captain John Smith in 1614. It was there that the Pilgrims decide to settle. Plymouth offered an excellent harbor. A large brook offered a resource for fish. The Pilgrims biggest concern was attack by the local Native American Indians. But the Patuxets were a peaceful group and did not prove to be a threat.
The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. The cold, snow and sleet was exceptionally heavy, interfering with the workers as they tried to construct their settlement. March brought warmer weather and the health of the Pilgrims improved, but many had died during the long winter. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew who left England, less that 50 survived the first winter.
On March 16, 1621 , what was to become an important event took place, an Indian brave walked into the Plymouth settlement. The Pilgrims were frightened until the Indian called out "Welcome" (in English!).
His name was Samoset and he was an Abnaki Indian. He had learned English from the captains of fishing boats that had sailed off the coast. After staying the night Samoset left the next day. He soon returned with another Indian named Squanto who spoke better English than Samoset. Squanto told the Pilgrims of his voyages across the ocean and his visits to England and Spain. It was in England where he had learned English.
Squanto's importance to the Pilgrims was enormous and it can be said that they would not have survived without his help. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap. He taught them which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. He taught them how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.
The harvest in October was very successful and the Pilgrims found themselves with enough food to put away for the winter. There was corn, fruits and vegetables, fish to be packed in salt, and meat to be cured over smoky fires.
The Pilgrims had much to celebrate, they had built homes in the wilderness, they had raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, they were at peace with their Indian neighbors. They had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate.
The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be shared by all the colonists and the neighboring Native Americans. They invited Squanto and the other Indians to join them in their celebration. Their chief, Massasoit, and 90 braves came to the celebration which lasted for 3 days. They played games, ran races, marched and played drums. The Indians demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims demonstrated their musket skills. Exactly when the festival took place is uncertain, but it is believed the celebration took place in mid-October.
The following year the Pilgrims harvest was not as bountiful, as they were still unused to growing the corn. During the year they had also shared their stored food with newcomers and the Pilgrims ran short of food.
The 3rd year brought a spring and summer that was hot and dry with the crops dying in the fields. Governor Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and it was soon thereafter that the rain came. To celebrate - November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving.
This date is believed to be the real true beginning of the present day Thanksgiving Day
The custom of an annually celebrated thanksgiving, held after the harvest, continued through the years. During the American Revolution (late 1770's) a day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.
In 1817 New York State had adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.
Rolling out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness happens pretty quickly, again parchment paper helps to keep the mess to a minium. Also, I found using a pizza wheel makes cutting them a breeze
Placing the dough on the baking sheet with enough space so they don;t touch each other...they get smaller once you start pinching the edges
Here is where you have to be careful, if the jelly smears to the edges, you can't pinch it closed. Most of these cookies came open, so next time I will make a bigger square and pinch harder..I was very gentle with these.
If you take the cookies off the tray right out of the oven, any spillage will easily be left behind and the cookie will look much better for it
