Sugar Cookielicious!

 

It's cookie time!  Ky came home from work the other day seeming a bit "American treat" homesick, so I surprised him with some nummy yummy sugar cookies.  It also made my little girl who was pleading to make Santa some cookies pretty darn happy.  (Not sure how Santa's going to get any cookies since my little love and big love keep asking me to bake more of the dough that I froze for the big guy!)

 

Now I've got to give it to you straight, these cookies are AWESOME.  Full disclosure though, the recipe with the Crisco is just a bit better.  The cookies puff up nice and pretty with the Crisco, and if you're not a butter enthusiast, these are just a touch more buttery than they would be with Crisco.

 

This nice thing about these cookies, is that they make about 50 per batch (awesome, right?), and whenever I've been in a "baking pinch", these have saved me from having to devote hours that I don't have to making tons of cookies for that party/event/school lunch that my exhausted, semi-brain dead self may have forgotten about.  Whew.  Also, since I usually do these as 2 inch balls, if you shrink the balls down to 1 inch, you'll have twice as many cookies, and barely any extra work.

 

First, here is the recipe as I would make it in the States:

 

Sugar Cookies

 

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees Farenheit.
• Whip the butter and shortening for 20 seconds.
• Add the sugar and vanilla.  Whip until creamy.
• Whip in the egg yolks.
• Beat in the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  Scraping the sides occasionally.
• Gradually beat in the flour. 
• When the dough is well mixed, shape it into 1 or 2 inch balls.
• Place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet, and pop them in the oven!
• Bake for 6 minutes.
• Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. 
• Transfer to an air tight container.
• Make sure your container is air tight so that your cookies stay chewy!

Enjoy!!

American Sugar Cookies Italian Style

 

You'll need

• 250 grams butter, softened (I could only find salted)
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 125 degrees Celsius.  (I tried it at a higher temperature and it made the cookies spread too much).
• If you're kickin' it old school like me and don't have a mixer in your beautiful new abode, here's what you do: 
• Put your softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs into a nice big bowl.  Wash your hands thoroughly.  Dry them thoroughly.  Dive those hands in and cream that sugar baby!  Squish until it's mixed!  You'll know it's ready when everything is feeling very thoroughly mixed.
• Next, work the cream of tartar and baking soda into the creamed sugar.
• Add the flour, and work that in until it's a nice, sticky-smooth dough.
• Create 1-2 inch balls.
• Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet.
• Place the cookies in an air tight container.

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Laela wouldn't share!

 

Holiday time!

Holy moly, where did the time go?  Life has been a whirlwind for my family and I lately.  We lived in a hotel for six weeks, and now we've finally moved into our beautiful apartment...that has six broken sinks, one squirting toilet, and a partridge in a pear tree.  But we're finally in our home, and the adventure can officially begin!

You might be wondering what my family and I have been eating since we moved to Florence.  If you guessed pasta, you would be correct-a-mundo.  I have eaten so many different types of pasta over the last 7 weeks, that it would make a carb avoiding American run for the hills...then hit the treadmill, and maybe some bikram yoga.

It's interesting though.  Italian pasta isn't as heavy as American pasta.  Everything is fresh.  Typically, what you're feeding your family is what's in season.  Farm to table is just the way things are here.  It's not a trend.  It's not some next big thing.  It's the way Italians have always, and more than likely, will always cook.

We're talking about a place where the residents choose to maintain the history of their buildings, rather than knock them down and make them modern.  The art, architecture, and food are some of the most important aspects of Italian culture, and unlike many other countries, Italians don't want to change their culture.  It's amazing to walk down streets, or walk into a shoppe, and find out that it's been that same shoppe since 1706.

So while I'm on this Italian journey, bear with me as I learn the proper ways of cooking pasta, pizza, and other Italian specialties during my family and my time in Italy.

Lesson 1:  There is no brown sugar in Italy.

It's the holidays.  I found myself with a hankering for a giant ginger cookie- my most absolute favorite cookie in the whole entire world.  After a harrowing search, I came upon some vanilla (score!), and I had thankfully brought baking powder and baking soda with me from the US (for some reason it's flavored here.  Odd.).  Then I went on a molasses and brown sugar search.  Some friends directed me to one of the local shops that sells foreign goods.  I jumped for joy.  Silly, silly, naive American girl am I.

It looks like brown sugar.  It even smells like brown sugar (sort of).  But it is not brown sugar.  It's fine natural sugar that sticks together like brown sugar.  Sure, it'll be fantastic for some pumpkin muffins (which I also scored, even though I grossly overpaid for my tiny can of pumpkin.), but honey, it won't work for my ginger cookies.

So what's a gal to do?  Amazon baby.  I pillaged that website like it was no one's business.  I did however, have to come up with a solution to make my little girl who was BEGGING to make cookies happy.

So what did I do when I didn't have the majority of the ingredients I usually use to make cookies?  I made make-shift sugar cookies.

Tune in Friday for a tastylicious sugar cookie recipe that's super easy to make in Italy and the USA!