Edible Undies...It's not what you think!

My brother got married recently to a wonderful woman, Amanda. For Amanda's bachelorette party I decided to make some delicious cookies I saw on Pinterest. I used my grandmother's sugar cookie recipe. The recipe calls for sour cream, which I've never used in a cookie recipe before....and honestly, I'm really not a fan so I don't use it much at all. Here's the recipe from a cookbook I found at my Granny Therese's house.

"Rolled Sugar Cookies"

1962 Adams County Homemade Extension Association's cookbook

Ingredients: 1 cup shortening (I used butter flavor), 2 cups sugar, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 6 cups flour, 1 cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon almond extract. Directions: Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Blend. Add vanilla extract and almond extract. In a separate bowl, mix baking soda into sour cream then add to wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Gradually add to wet ingredients. Chill for one hour or overnight. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes with cookie cutter. Bake on non-stick cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. I baked them for 8 minutes and then checked them. I don't let the edges get too brown this way. Also, I used the stand mixer to blend the ingredients...6 cups of flour makes for a stiff dough!

My sister piped the shaped of the undies (there is one "bra" but we didn't like it, so we stuck with panties). I mixed icing and flooded the cookies and then Rach went back and added decoration. I used a simple powdered sugar, butter, almond extract and milk mixture...it's not an exact science, at least not for me...so I experiment till I get it the way I want.

The Bread Machine and the Mixer

Over the summer, I went to a garage sale and found a bread machine for $10. I was sooo excited! The chick who sold it to me said that she could no longer find the sweet bread mix at the grocery store, so she didn't want it anymore. I thought...that's nuts! I'll take it!

I brought it home and, sadly, it sat in the pantry for a few months. In August, my sister and her husband announced that they were moving to England...I was devastated. Not only was I losing my sister, but the caregiver for my sweet daughter, Hazel. I frantically sought new child care and then had a meltdown. I drug out the bread machine and made my first batch of rolls (http://www.thepastryaffair.com/blog/2011/4/3/honey-rolls.html)...OMG....SOOOO good...I ate all of them, OK, I had a little help. Didn't you know? Fresh, hot, buttery bread can fix almost everything!

The feeling I had making those rolls made so happy. The dough was mixed in the bread machine, and I rolled them into balls with my very own hands. And the yeast...I love the smell of yeast! I watched them rise, then put them in the oven to bake. When they came out, all golden brown and hot, I'd felt so proud, like I'd given birth again! I was hooked on baking!

Since then, I've made a lousy loaf of whole wheat bread (I felt the urge to punch it down after it had risen and it didn't rise again. Hazel still liked it!), a pan of AMAZING cinnamon rolls, and a new, better loaf of whole wheat bread.

Not long after I starting using the bread machine, my sister asked me to be a foster parent to her Kitchen Aid mixer....YES!!!!! She decided that she wouldn't be taking it to England and asked me to keep it while she was away....I already know that once she returns and gets it from me that I will be running out to get my own! I love love love it!

So this blog is a little about everything...and my new found love of cooking and baking...let the fun begin!