Monday, April 13, 2015

Frost s****

The new plants yesterday? Frost last night took out most of it. :(

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Gardening day 1

We went to Home Depot to get mulch and things for the front lawn, and picked up plants for the garden. Yay!

Got basil, Italian parsley, rosemary, and cherry tomatoes again. Adding in sage, chocolate mint, and a blueberry bush and a raspberry bush. Really excited to see if they will survive here. The rhubarb and strawberries came back, which is awesome. The catnip did too - that's in a large pot by the patio, so leaving it there for now.  

Here's hoping it all lives!


Thursday, April 9, 2015

Puppas

One of the things my husband's family would make for Easter are Puppas - cookies wrapped and baked around hard-boiled eggs. It kind of looks like a pretzel. 

When we moved cross country, I looked for a similar recipe, but only found a papoose bread. It was good, but it wasn't the same. I finally broke down and asked my husband to ask his cousin for the recipe, and the younger kiddos and I made them this year. I'm posting the details here so when I lose the recipe, it will be safe and waiting on the internets. ;)

We halved the recipe, using 
5 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cups sugar 
1 T vanilla (not halved)
6 eggs
Plus a hard-boiled egg for each Puppa
(We made 6)

Mix all ingredients (except hard boiled eggs) in stand mixer until a smooth dough consistency



Score dough in the bowl into quarters, divide 1/4 in half, and in half again 

Roll into a rough ball, then roll between hands into a sausage

On parchment lined cookie sheet, roll out into a thinner rope, between a quarter and a nickel in diameter

Set aside

Roll out remaining portions for each Puppa. Leftover dough can be baked into cookies

To shape Puppa, place dough rope where you will bake it, form into a horseshoe, lay the egg on the cookie sheet, touching the dough, wrap the dough around he egg and twist the bottom ends around each other to secure (we didn't and it was a weak point)

Repeat. (We baked 3 on each sheet)



Bake 8-11 mins until bottom edge is golden brown (and top of cookie firms)

Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes on sheet

With long spatula, carefully move to cooking racks (with paper towel underneath to catch drips of icing)

When cooled, mix 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1t lemon juice, and 1T milk together. Drizzle over cookie. Sprinkle with candy confetti or colored sugar. 



Note: The eggs can be a bit hard to peel due to the extra baking in the oven. 









Thursday, April 2, 2015

Easter already

I can't believe that Easter is on Sunday already. Did the requisite Easter basket shopping yesterday, and included some nice non-candy surprises for our three kiddos. We're (read that as I'm) going to bake Puppas, a cakey-cookie thing wrapped around an Easter egg, sort of like a pretzel. Haven't had them since we moved here 13 yrs ago, and I've been searching for a similar recipe and finally had DH ask his cousin for the family recipe. It isn't even the family's, it's from an old neighbor of his grandparents'. Go figure. 

It's incredible how this year is just flying by, and the kiddos will be out of school in two months! It had warmed up nicely, and then today we had snow, so the weather just can't seem to make up its mind. Turned the heat back on, so we don't freeze tonight, lol!