Sophie's Pumpkin Spice Cutout Cookies

Sophie was very excited to make these Fall cut-out cookies! She wanted to show all the kids how to make cookies with their Moms, she said.  We stayed in our jammies while we made them. :) 

 These are super rich in flavor, and a bit soft at the bite.  We like this type more than the traditional hard sugar cookie. We added a few extra spices like Nutmeg and Cinnamon, to give it that Pumpkin-like flavor. 

Then, we topped them with a Pumpkin glaze that we made from our frozen Pumpkin puree we made last year-from the pumpkins in our garden! :) 



We were happy with ourselves, about that! 

(click this link to see how to make your own Pumpkin Puree) 

Sophie took over the entire cookie making process, and did every step, except for placing in and removing the pans from the oven. 

First, she mixed the dry ingredients with a whisk. Then, she blended the wet ingredients in the mixer; and then slowly added the dry ingredients. 

She made 2 discs out of the dough and wrapped them in waxed paper and refrigerated for 2 hours. Once they were chilled, we rolled out the dough to a 1/4" thickness and used our cutouts to make shapes. 
Then, Baked them at 375 Degrees for 5-7 minutes, until browned.  Once they cooled, we glazed the tops and we were done!  We ate a few right away and saved the rest for Dad and brother, and one for the dog, Cappuccino. Cappy was very happy with that. 

What Mom likes about these cookies is that they are EASY enough for kids to do most of it themselves, but they FLAVOR is good enough for adults to enjoy! 

Nice and thick, soft and a bit chewy, packed full of yummy fall flavors. 

 We hope you enjoy making these with your kids, too! Read more for recipe...

Sophie's Pumpkin Spice Cutout Cookie Recipe: 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk or cream
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
• 1 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add a bit more flour if dough is too sticky. Pull off dough with hands and form into a ball.  Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet or parchment, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. 

Glaze: 

1/4 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 cup Confectioners (Powdered) Sugar
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
In small saucepan, stir all ingredients together and let simmer for 10 mins. Transfer to bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Brush over top of cooled cookies and allow to dry approximately 30 mins, until hardened. 
Store in an airtight container 5-7 days. 

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The Very Best Cranberry Conserve! Homemade and Simple! Easy for Busy Moms :)

As women in charge of the households and lives of many, we cannot spend all day in the political realm trying to save the world!

Back to the kitchen's we must go...to love and serve! Thanks be to God! 

So, in the spirit of love, 

let me share with you another one of my favorite recipes! 

My favorite Cranberry Conserve is by Ina Garten @ Food Network! 

I found this recipe years ago and have such rave reviews from family and friends that I serve it without fail at every Thanksgiving gathering! 

It is rich with cranberry taste, yet chunky and full of sweet, nutty flavorings!  It is as simple as throwing the ingredients together and letting them meld over heat. Chill and serve! 

You will LOVE this and so will your GUESTS!!

Enjoy! 

Ingredients  Makes 4 cups-I always double it! 

• 1 (12-ounce) bag of fresh cranberries, cleaned
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 orange, zest grated and juiced
• 1 lemon, zest grated and juiced
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Cook the cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the skins pop open. Add the apple, zests, and juices and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the raisins and nuts. Let cool, and serve chilled.

Paris, the Luminous Years

Watch Toward the Making of the Modern on PBS. See more from Paris The Luminous Years.

As you may have heard, this Mommy is back to school!

This term, I am taking a fabulous class on the Expatriates in Paris, during the 1920's.  There are so many wonderful and eye-opening experience I have had already,
 and as we know great experiences are better when shared :) 

This is one of the videos shown in our post-class series, very inspiring...published by PBS.

Hemingway/Pound/Picasso/Stein/Cubism/Surrealism/Dali...All of the Greats of the Modern Era...

If you love Art, Literature, and Paris, you will love this movie about the rise of Modernism through the eyes of the artists...

Too good not to share...I hope you enjoy and fall in love with Paris, as much as I have.

Paris in the 1920's A Marvelous Time to Experience

If you have not yet read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, I would highly recommend doing so.  Especially, if you are looking to escape into another time and watch the world through the eyes of a romantic.

A romantic, not only in the sensual, but in the sense of discovery and in experiencing the depth and breadth of every interlude, intake of the landscape, complexity of emotion, and the wonderful tastes of  French food and liquor! 

 How this man gives you the taste of an aperitif` is amazing!

Paris, being what it was in the 1920's was an amazing place to live, dream, and aspire. Post war,  it took the world by storm with its avant garde approach to all things expressionist.  Music, Art, Thought... It forever changed the landscape of our minds and hearts, and we can attribute much of that to the Ex-Patriot's (Fitzgerald, Stein, Picasso...) whom made Paris their home during those years.

In this autobiography, you will meet those characters for what they were, their hopes, dreams, insecurities, passions.  You will begin to understand why their work was so important, and now so revered and you will be inspired to make more of yourself. 

  A  note about his original papers...

After his death in Cuba (he lived there with wife, Mary) 

Ernest Hemingway's writings...thousands of pages of original works, notes, and letters,  were confiscated by Fidel Castro.

 Mary begged for the American governments help and  JFK intervened. He was able to negotiate the return of all of Hemingways work, to Mary. 

As a Thank You to JFK, Mary Hemingway willed ALL of the works to the JFK public library; which are now available to all of us, in their original form.

 Next time in Boston, be sure to put this on your list of interesting things to see...

Remember, live the good life...La Dolce Vita oxoxox

Two Really Cool Guys & A Casserole

Tom, Jerry, and Pat Plenda

Made my Brussels & Gouda Casserole Recipe!

This makes me so happy!  I happened to be awake very late last night and with a final check of facebook, received the above photo.  What a pleasant surprise! 

This is doubly sweet, as this is from a childhood friend of mine, Stacey Plenda, whom was my VBFF until we moved away when I was 10. (Waaaah!) 

 I have just recently reconnected with her (sooooo happy that I almost cried), and cannot wait to meet up with her again...hopefully, soon!  

Apparently, her lovely Mom follows this blog :)

(Thank you, Mrs. Plenda, I am honored!!)

Naturally, I assumed that Mrs. Plenda had made the casserole, but as it turns out it was Tom (husband) and Jerry (son), whom try to help out in the kitchen as much as possible. 

Way to go guys!!  (We women love that!) 

Here is a note I received from Stacey about the event and the dish:

"They did make it with the brussels (and they were delicious)! My dad added mushrooms, because my mom likes mushrooms with everything, and onions because you have to have onions to give the mushrooms flavor, lol.  It turned out really great and we can't wait to have it again.

 As my brother says "IT WAS GOUDA"!!! 

Thanks again for trying my recipe "guys", and again I am sooooo impressed with your ability, especially in making the Bechamel~ that takes some finesse`!

I believe I will have to think up some more complicated dishes and test your skills further!

That would be fun!

Thanks for sending in your picture and your comments :)

Be Blessed!

oxoxoxo

Shakespeare & Company-Paris, France Picture of the Week

(Monnier, Unknown, Beach & Ernest Heminway)

**Reposted from earlier 2012**

With my interest peaked by the new course I am taking about Paris in the 1920's, I give you the original Shakespeare & Company Bookstore on Paris's Left Bank!   Opened by Sylvia Beach on 17 November 1919 at 8 rue Dupuytren, before moving to larger premises at 12 rue de l'Odéon in the 6th arrondissement in 1922.  During the 1920s, it was a gathering place for writers such as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Ford Madox Ford.^[1] It closed in 1941 during the German occupation of Paris and never re-opened.

Sylvia Beach was an American ex-patriot that helped other ex-pats achieve their artistic ambitions.  Where other bookstores did not want the likes of the poor lingering about, they found safe haven in her shoppe, where they ate and drank cheaply, and she lent them books for free.   She single-handedly funded the publishing of Ulysses, by James Joyce, when all other English and American publishers refused to do so, because of it's content. In fact, she went broke doing so and had to close the doors of the store to fund the last expense of the book.

(Here is a link to a very sweet & fun blog about Sylvia Beach and Paris :)  http://leblog1815.blogspot.com/2011/03/sylvia-beach.html

Another bookstore  "Le Mistral" was opened in Paris by George Whitman, and in Sylvia Beach's honor, he renamed it in 1964 to "Shakespeare & Company".  It is located at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, in the 5th arrondissement.  You may have seen this recently in Woody Allen's movie Midnight in Paris.    

Today, this is a true destination point in Paris, with visitors coming from all around the globe to see where the creators of classic literature of the modern era dreamt.  There is nothing like a good cup of French Java and the sweet smell of the Seine to set you right back to the ethereal desires of the 1920's...

Oh...If only Paris did not exist, I could feel more settled in my own life...