Christmas All Around

I am working on getting ready for the Christmas Party I am having on the 12th of December.  Yesterday Brian and I put up the tree and today we decorated it.  It looks pretty good now, but we are still missing a star.  I'll work on that on tuesday.  Where oh where am I going to find a star?

I am keeping myself pretty busy at the moment.  I have finally finished baking the rest of my Christmas cookies tonight.  I had to improvise with the sanding sugars near the end.  I ran out of the red and green so I use regular white sugar and dyed the dough green and red.  It worked successfully.  I have made Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies, they are very pretty and yummy as well.  The great thing is they are good for any occasion because you just change the sanding sugar colours to match the holiday.  I got the recipe from Sarah Kostiuk (she found it in Gourmet  Magazine )

Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies
Makes about 50 sandwich cookies  (this is not true, it makes about 3 dozen)

For cookies
    * 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
    * 2/3 cup cornstarch
    * 1/4 teaspoon salt
    * 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (I used salted and they taste fine)
    * 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
    * 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla
    * White or colored sanding sugars
For filling
    * 1 cup confectioners sugar
    * 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
    * 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    * 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (if your using regular corn syrup only us 1 tbsp)
    * 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

Equipment:

      a heavy-duty sealable bag
      a hand mixer or kitchenaid mixer 
      parchment paper

Make cookies:
    * Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
    * Whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt.
   * Beat together butter and confectioners sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in zest and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture just until a soft dough forms.
    * Put sanding sugars in different bowls. Roll a scant tsp of dough into a ball and drop into sugar, turning to coat. Reshape if necessary and transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat, spacing balls 3/4 inch apart, until baking sheet is filled.
    * Bake until tops are slightly cracked but still pale (bottoms will be pale golden), 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment to a rack to cool completely.
    * Form and bake more cookies on second baking sheet.
Make filling and sandwich cookies:
    * Beat together all filling ingredients in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined well. Transfer to sealable bag and snip off a corner.
    *Turn over half of cookies and pipe about 1/2 tsp filling on flat side of each. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently. (its a good idea to put the icing in the fridge or freezer for a bit, same with the cookies, because the icing gets pretty runny and hard to work with if you don't)

Hope you like the recipe, have any questions give me shout using "comments"

I am Back for good

I am Back and not without changes. I recently got married and what an experience that was! All the planning that goes into one day and then as slow as it comes, its gone in the blink of an eye. Also My husband and I bought a house in April and we moved in on May 16th (one of the most exciting days of my life along with the wedding) Brian and I have started the dreaded job of re-decorating and renovating our home. So far i have painted 2 rooms and a half a hallway. the next half comes next week. I will be provinding pictures from before and after the decorating and renovating. Bri and I plan to do most of it on our own! We will be using Direct Buy to renovate the Kitchen, but thats not for a little while. I hope to post more often then i have been. I will be sharing some interesting highlights on the experiences of Married life and trying to do everything i have ever wanted to do!!!

I hope you stick around to find out what happens to me. Its going to be an adventure, so sit tight!