Sunday, February 21, 2010

Strawberry Mojito Cookies













These Strawberry Mojito Cookies over at Smashed Peas and Carrots are going on my to make list for a summer treat.

Recipe and picture from:
http://peaslovecarrots.blogspot.com/2010/02/memories-of-sunshine-strawberry-mojito.html
"1/2 pound unsalted butter (softened)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg (room-temperature is best)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the glaze...
1 pint fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup white rum
1/2 cup water
Small handful fresh mint leaves, minced fine

What to do with it all...
Cookies: Beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add all other ingredients except flour and beat until well combined.  Reduce mixer to low and add flour slowly until well combined.  Divide dough in half and wrap and put into fridge to chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove one half and place on a well-floured rolling surface.  Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out cookies with about a 3-inch cutter (or use a tin can!) and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat 1 inch apart.  Bake on mid or upper rack for 6 - 8 minutes or until golden.  Repeat with second half of dough.  Set aside cookies to cool.

Glaze: In a medium saucepan, heat all ingredients except mint on medium, stirring occasionally until strawberries are soft and giving off color into liquid.  If there is too little liquid, just add a little more water.  Puree mixture with emulsion blender or standard blender and return to saucepan.  Simmer until thick.  Allow to cool slightly, then add a tea spoon's worth of glaze to each cookie and spread until shiny and lovely.

Finish with powdered sugar if desired."

Friday, February 19, 2010

Faux Fireplace Screan

I love the faux fireplace over at How To Do Something

It was inspired by a screen at Crate and Barrel that is $200 - is hard to believe this was made for $20!Instructions on how to make it are here. http://howtodosomething.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-make-faux-fireplace-screen-dress.html

Thursday, February 18, 2010

New Blogger Background - Sugar and Spice
















I changed the background on my actual craft blog Crafts and Creations with KMOM14 to "Tied To You" by , which is a free background and I liked the creations so much that I decided to change the background for this blog also.  The background has been changed to Truly Madly Deeply from the Valentines Day collection and I changed the layout in blogger to "Rounder 2" to coordinate the foreground colors to with the lovely new background.   If you are looking for a new background for you blog, I recommend checking out Sugar and Spice as it is is super easy to change without worrying about messing up the entire blog as you post the code in the HTML/Java Script under gadgets.