Silver And Gold

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  I have one gift left to buy and then the baking and candy making.  But, if you are going to use nonpareils or dragees on your holiday baking, think about my tooth crown first.  These little goodies are like little rocks.

I called my dentist's son yesterday, to glue my crown back on, and he had had an emergency appendectomy the night before.  So, put in perspective, I'll take the crown mishap. 

By the way, the silver dragees now cost nearly $17.00 a bottle, say non-edible on the directions, but look oh so pretty atop the confections.  With only a few days left to get ready for Christmas, my friends are taking me out today to celebrate my birthday.  Love my friends.  We've been together for over thirty years now.  True gifts - the best kind.

Happy Holidays

I have always loved silver dragees.  Nowadays, you can find them in all sizes and colors, but for some reason, I have a hard time finding the silver ones.  The last bottle I bought said something about them not being edible.  What?  What are you supposed to do with them?  Spit them out?  Ridiculous. 

This year my middle daughter is selling decorated sugar cookies on her facebook page.  I'm glad this tradition of iced sugar cookies will go on.  

Happiest holidays!

Dragees

I've posted about dragees before, so type in dragees in the upper corner to find out more about them.  Once, I could only find the silver ones of my childhood, but now I think they make all sizes and colors.  I love them during cookie baking and decorating, but they really aren't so toothsome to bite into.  Anyway, you'll find my recipe for sugar cookies by digging into my past blogs.  Again, upper corner.  Hey, I'm still recovering so I'm borrowing from the old stash. 

Christmas Sugar Cookies

I've been sick. But, I am better. I didn't even feel like going near the computer. I am so behind on Christmas preparations, I probably won't get everything done this year. My priority is to get all the gifts purchased and wrapped. So, I will give you the gift of the recipe for these sugar cookies. I love re-using old posts.
My children and I used to ice sugar cookies for every holiday and woefully, I just about burned them out. I still have a little granddaughter and grandson to pass on the tradition to. I made these for a tea room for a year or so and that was too much as they take a lot of time when you are making them a hundred at a time. Nonetheless, I have quite a following and still get many requests for these - which I refuse. We used to make great works of art out of them even using paint brushes. These look like hell, but I just wasn't in the zone today, not to mention I burned an entire batch while trying to upload pics to this blog. Oh well, my sweet little grand babies enjoyed one.


Sugar Cookies


2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
4 TBS. milk (I use half and half)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
5 cups flour


Combine butter and shortening. Add the sugar and cream until well mixed. Next, add eggs, milk and vanilla. With a hand-held mixer, mix until all ingredients are combined. Add flour and salt and mix. Dough will be fairly stiff but sticky. Roll out dough on a heavily floured surface. Cut out designs with desired cookie cutters and transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet with sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes (depending on how thick and large your cookies are). Continue to roll and cut out designs until all the dough is gone.
Tip: the secret to my success in baking is that I always slightly undercook my baked goods. These cookies will melt in your mouth. Also, I roll them out to about 1/4 inch thickness. I guarantee you will get raves for these.


Sugar Cookie Icing:
In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons butter with a bag of confectioners sugar. Add enough cream to get a spreadable consistency. You can use any method you want for application. In our family, we use butter knives and toothpicks. If you want to make different colors of icing, split the batch into smaller bowls and add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl. If icing starts to become too thick, add a few drops of cream to thin. You can also use the various icing implements and flood the cookies etc. Also, you can use meringue powder if you want a stiffer icing. Royal icing works well too. These really aren't difficult to make just time consuming.




As an aside, I must tell you you can make your own cookie cutters. I used to make large cookies and couldn't find large cookie cutters. You can go to the hardware store and buy galvanized tin and/or copper and a pair of aviation snips that will cut out the strips to form cutters into whatever shape you can imagine.

Merry Christmas, every one...

DRAGEES

Do confectionery decorations remind you of when you were young? They do me and though they are basically tasteless, it wouldn't be Christmas without them. I'll not bore you with the encyclopedic history of the dragee - just a few facts I gleaned. Though dragee is from the french, the Greek term is tragemata, meaning sweet treats and they date back centuries. Who knew? The classic form are Jordan almonds. Throwing out these sweet treats at special occasions and weddings meant to ensure happiness, good luck, prosperity and fertility. Multi-colored paper confetti is now usually the replacement.

Silver dragees have long been used for pastry decorations. Gold, copper, rainbow and pearlescent colors are now available. The USDA says the silver dragee is inedible. Early in the 20th century, they contained mercury though they don't now. They were even banned for sale for a time.

What to do with them? Well, decorate iced sugar cookies for the holidays. Type in sugar cookie in the upper left hand corner for my recipe. I used to sell these at a tea room and have had many compliments. They are really good and great for the holidays as you gather together or gift your friends. And, you can make and ice them ahead of time. They freeze wonderfully.