Cookie Recipe: Jammy Flowers

I’ve been on a cookie craze, wanting to make different types of cookies. Last week I brushed off some imaginary dust from my baking book “Cookies” by Pamela Clark, which I purchased a few years ago on sale at Barnes and Nobles and had never used. I asked my fireman what type of cookies he would like me to make and he asked for jelly cookies. By request, I baked Jammy Flower cookies.

Cookie Recipe: Jammy Flowers

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
1 cup almond meal
It took my three days to get my ingredients together to make these cookies because no one knew what almond meal was, not even the employees at my local grocery store. Turns out another word for almond meal is almond flower, which my grocery store sold.
1 egg 1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/3 cup raspberry jam  I used blueberry jam instead
3 tablespoons apricot jam

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheets; line with parchment paper.

2. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar, and almond meal in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat until combined; stir in sifted flour.

3. Divided lemon zest between both jams; mixed well.

4. Roll rounded tablespoons of mixture into balls; place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet, flatten slightly. Using end of a wooden spoon (about ½-inch deep) into the dough; measuring spoon fill each hole with a little jam, using apricot jam for center of the flowers. The wooden spoon didn’t work for me so I used my pinch measuring spoon.

5. Bake about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets. Makes 26 You'll make more than 26; I did.

I left the cookies on the kitchen counter for my fireman to eat when he got home. At work I got a text from him saying, “They are so damn good babe!”

I can’t wait to bake more cookies. Luckily, “Cookies” by Pamela Clark offers quite an assortment of yummy cookie recipes. You can get your own copy of “Cookies” by Pamela Clark here.

Fire Wife Necklace For Bride To Be

I went to a bridal shower last weekend and this is what I made for Becky, the bride to be. Becky is marrying a coworker of my firefighter named Kevin. Her gift included a heart trinket box, a fire wife necklace, and a gift card to Victoria’s Secret. I stained a wooden heart box and wrote on it with a white paint pen, inspired by a DIY tutorial. I embroidered Fire Wife onto a charm for a necklace and attached a fire truck charm to it.

Becky absolutely loved her gift. She can’t wait to wear it when she officially becomes the wife of a fireman. I can’t wait to make a Fire Wife necklace for myself too!

This Year Cooking Will Be Fun

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2013 is to learn how to cook. So, I was thrilled when I received this mini cookbook from Nicole for the Out With The Old, In With The New swap.

Nicole, who loves to cook, included simple recipes she uses all the time and uses and tricks for common spices in the cookbook. All the recipes were hand written. My favorite part of my new cookbook is the beautiful illustrations, which were hand drawn with pencil, paint, and color pencils. I also like the personal comments Nicole wrote with each recipe. For the Pizza Poppers, the personal comment said, “These are super easy, and dangerous for your waist line.” On the back of the cookbook is a list of Nicole’s favorite food blogs, which are “friggin great,” according to her.

I can’t wait to try all my new recipes. Here’s to making cooking fun!

Click here to see what I made for Nicole.