Peanut Butter Madness

These are so sweet! I could barely make it through one! Not overly sweet...just right...but so filling! This recipe only made ten complete cookies which seemed perfect to me..but if you want more, you should try doubling it.
I love having the internet for a recipe source. You can find so many recipes and variations and then you can still use your creativity and make your own variation. It is an excellent resource. This recipe is found on allrecipes.com.
I am crazy for Peanut Butter.

Double Decker Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 Tbl. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. quick-cooking oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape bowl. Add the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Add the oats and beat just enough to distribute evenly. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2-inches between each. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden and puffed. Cool completely and place a spoonful of filling on half of the cookies and top with the other half to form a sandwich.

Filling:

4 1/2 Tbl. unsalted butter, room temp.

1/2 - 3/4 c. creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1-2 Tbl. milk

Filling: Beat butter and peanut butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla and 1 Tbl. of milk. Beat until smooth and fluffy. If it is too thick, add another Tbl. of milk.

Food, glorious food

This is an imitation recipe for Texas Road House rolls....or you could say Rexas Toad House as one of my boys calls it. These rolls took some time with all the rising...but they were fairly simple to make. I think they tasted really close to the real deal. They were kind of dense and very tasty. I cut them into squares using a pizza roller. This recipe made a ton. About fifty rolls. I followed the recipe with one exception. Well I don't know if you can call it an exception...but all that is found in my fridge on a normal day is skim milk so I used mostly skim milk with about 3/4 of a can of evaporated milk as well. In a nutshell, these were glorious.

Copy-cat for Texas Road House Rolls

4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

2 c. milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

3 Tbl. of melted butter, slightly cooled

1/2 c. sugar

2 quarts all purpose flour (7-8 cups)

2 whole eggs

2 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy. Add melted butter, eggs and salt. Beat well.

Add enough flour to form a soft dough. Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto counter and let dough rest. Meanwhile, grease a large bowl. Knead dough until smooth and satiny and put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Punch down. Turn out onto a floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Baste immediately with butter. Yield: 5 to 6 dozen.

Wool stripping and hooking

My mother wanted to take a class on wool rug hooking. She needed someone to take it with her in order for it to be offered. I hooked this pillow or table runner. It was actually really simple and fun. I cut strips of wool using a material stripper and then just pulled it through fabric with a hook. It is a log cabin pattern. The sweet old lady that taught this class was so funny. She belongs to the Plum Alley Hookers and Strippers club. She makes the most beautiful rugs, wall hangings, runners and pillows. I recently pulled this out to finish the edge on it. I love how the light contrasts with the dark colors. The example the lady made was out of reds, whites and blues. I have never been very fond of blue and chose to wing it with different colors. I am happy with how it turned out.

It will be here before you know it! Yikes!

This cold weather has got me thinking about the Holidays. My mother had this painted tray in her kitchen during the Christmas season. I have always admired and loved it. I found a tray at the thrift store for a buck. I spray painted it red and let it dry. The most difficult part of making this was trying to transfer the design from my mom's tray. I tried several things including charcoal rubbing, using tracing paper, and the thing that finally worked out the best was placing a piece of paper on the design and then rubbing a crayon over it. It is painted on the metal tray and thus it is somewhat raised. At least enough that I could finally get a rubbing to show through. I then just outlined the crayon rubbing and using transfer paper, traced it onto my tray. I then painted the lines and filled in the words with black paint and a tiny paintbrush. I never knew I had a problem with shaking until I attempted this project! It was difficult and one I do not wish to repeat. I am now ready to place it in my kitchen for the holidays reminiscent of bygone childhood days. This is the finished project with all its imperfections.

Poetry

I have been Spring cleaning recently (yes, in the Fall) and I ran across some poetry I had written years ago. I had forgotten that I enjoyed writing poetry. I have always wanted to try my hand at writing a children's book and maybe even illustrating it as well.
I don't claim to be very good at poetry but I thought I would share one of them.

Watching through silent panes of glass

Waiting for clouds to disperse

Weary, misplaced in a chasm of doubt and fear

Wanting to run, imitating the breeze on an Autumn morning

Whispering words of my undying devotion to hear the hollow echo return

Wishing for unspoken kindness through love that cannot be touched

Wondering if man is capable of being true, entering into unfailing commitment

Wandering down barren paths I've trod before but somehow all is new springing forth

Winter has faded, shafts of light pierce through clouds

Waking, I realize it is you, here by my side, proving your great worth

Willingly I give you my hand, my love, my life and my unwavering heart