By Popular Demand

Okay 'popular' may be pushing it, but some of you asked for some recipes, so here they are.

For my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me some Easter cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma. I used the sugar cookie recipe on the box for the pink frosted cookies in the post below. The butter and cream cheese make this cookie very rich and their shelf life is pretty short. They're great for a day or two but after that they get pretty hard. What I'm trying to say is don't make them all at once unless you need a lot of cookies right away. I'm a cookie person and I can't eat more than one a day. I made these cookies at Easter, froze half of the dough and then used it last week. I just let the dough thaw in the refrigerator for about two days. They tasted the same as they did at Easter.

Williams-Sonoma Easter Sugar Cookies
5 c all-purpose flour
1 t salt
2 c unsalted butter (Yes, a whole pound!)
6 oz cream cheese
2 c sugar
2 egg yolks
2 t vanilla extract

Have all the ingredients at room temperature. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the cream cheese and continue beating until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy and pale yellow, about 3 minuts. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, beating in each addition before adding more. Beat just until combined, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Using floured hands, form the dough into a smooth mound ad divide into 2 equal portions. Shape each into a disk and wrap separately with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and let stand for 10 minutes. Place the dough on a clean, floured work surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate the cookies until firm, 20 to 30 minutes. Bake at 350 until lightly golden on the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely, then decorate as desired with royal icing. Makes about 32 cookies.


This is the Royal Icing recipe that I used. You're going to have to tweak it a bit to get the right consistency. The outline should be a little stiffer than the filling.

Royal Icing
2 c powdered sugar
4 t meringue powder (egg white powder)
1 t vanilla
1/4 c water

Whisk all together. Add more powdered sugar to thicken the icing. Add corn syrup to make it thinner.


And for those who wanted a good salsa recipe to go with their homemade tortilla chips, here's one from a friend with whom I used to work. It's her family's recipe that's been handed down from generation to generation and they make it for every family get-together. It's loaded with cilantro and I love it!

Homemade Salsa
4 green onions
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 lemon
3 jalapenos
fresh cilantro
fresh oregano
salt
garlic powder

Mix all in a food processor. The last four ingredients you add to your liking. Just another excuse to taste-test your salsa.