Dear Santa: Day Two

 

Welcome back! Today's Santa is my cool minty green color conversion of Brooke Nolan's glorious Stitching Santa. I did a red-to-pink color conversion of her Mrs. Claus back in 2019 and have had a green Santa in mind since then. Here they are, together at last!

I also swapped the Cardinal pin cushion perched in his basket for a sweet little Chickadee. They're my favorite bird and I thought the softer colors suited better.

Color conversions are one of my favorite things about stitching and I haven't done one in quite a while. If you'd like to see my other conversions, click on the tab at the top of the page.

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Let's get back to the cookie drop-in we hosted for the squadron. Here's a closer look at my centerpiece. I looked through the craft and home decor stores for inspiration, but couldn't find anything I liked, and I didn't want to spend much anyway. As it turned out, I didn't spend anything. I just raided my kitchen cupboards and put together a baking-themed centerpiece.

Pretty good for a freebie! 

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Before we start baking, I have three tips that will make your cookie baking experience much easier and your results much better. At my house, these are a must.

#1 Use cookie scoops! They come in different sizes, but my favorite is the tablespoon size, not quite 1 1/2" wide. This produces a two-bite cookie, which is a nice size for an event like this, as it allows people to try all the choices if they wish. Besides evenly baked and pretty cookies of uniform size, another benefit is if you're making a lot of different recipes, smaller cookies allow you to bake the batches quicker because you can fit 12-15 cookies on a cookie sheet. 

#2 Use parchment paper! I don't bake without it. It makes baking cookies a breeze, and you can use the same piece a number of times. 

#3 Use an oven thermometer! It's not unusual for ovens to be as much as 25 degrees off, usually on the low end. Yes, even the newer models with a digital display that assures you the oven is at 350. I keep an oven thermometer in the oven at all times. If the oven is a bit off, it doesn't matter too much for things like casseroles, but baking is a different story. Some ovens are accurate at first, but if you use them for several hours (like in marathon cookie baking), you'll find the temperature doesn't remain accurate. As long as the temperature isn't wildly off, I usually don't bother to adjust it. Much easier to just leave the cookies in for an extra minute or two, keeping an eye on them.

Cookie time! Today's tried and true recipe is Mr. Wonderful's favorite Butter Mint cookies. Deliciously buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, delicately minty. I make these every year, no matter what else doesn't get done. These are a must at our house.

However. I tried a new recipe this year and I think Mr. Wonderful may have a new co-favorite. These disappeared at the cookie drop-in.

Spiced Pecan with Strawberry Jam

1/2 c. butter, softened

6 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 c. flour

1/2 c. pecans, toasted and ground**

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

strawberry preserves

Heat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; mix well. On low speed, beat in flour, pecans, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven and use the back of a 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill wells with a 1/2 tsp. of strawberry preserves. Return to oven and bake an additional 7-10 minutes longer or until edges are light golden. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets and remove to racks to cool. Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen

**Toast nuts on a baking sheet in a 350 oven for about 5 minutes; watch carefully as nuts burn easily!

**If you don't have a food processor, grind nuts by placing them in a sturdy plastic bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.

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See y'all tomorrow for more stitching, more cookies, and more real-life open house!