Modified Sugar Cookies

We wanted to make sugar cookies, but didn't have all the ingredients AND we didn't want to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours. Also we didn't have an electric mixer.  Here's the modified recipe.  Delicious.  Not too sweet, a tiny bit biscuit-y, and the icing adds a nice touch of sugar.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (we substituted 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• Scant cup brown sugar, not packed
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Combine butter and sugar (since the brown sugar was pretty much solidified, we put it in the microwave with the butter and kept stirring occasionally until the sugar and butter had formed a warm brown liquid - then we had to put it in the freezer for a couple minutes).  Add banana and cream.  Mix to combine. Add flour; mash with fork and then with your hands until it's all mixed.

Plop dough onto parchment paper and put in freezer until it feels cold when you touch it. 

Bake ~9 minutes.  Makes about 30 cute little cookies. 


Icing 

• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together and add food dye as desired.

What Happened to the Strainer?

It melted. 

We made a big brunch with kale, eggs, fruit salad, and potatoes. Somehow the plastic strainer was on the back of the stove for too long.

Cool, huh?


p.s. sorry - not sure what's up with the formatting here

Impulse Purchases Today

Today was so so so nice (like 55 degrees).  I got done with work and wandered a little bit, popped my head in different places.

-Little purple shoes
-A whole pineapple
-Poached eggs
-Lava cake

The first two I purchased on the way home, the second two were at a Greek/breakfast restaurant I passed in my wanderings.  Only one of these I regret. 

Can you guess which? 

Alice

So I just re-watched the new Alice in Wonderland and these words jumped out at me.  The White Queen speaks them to Alice as she's looking out at the faces of all the friends she has made along the way, deciding if she is up to the challenge of fighting the jabberwocky.

You cannot live your life to please others.  The choice must be yours, because when you step out to face that creature, you will step out alone.  

The beginning sounds a little cliche... but then that last part especially hit me pretty hard. While we can and often do have the support of loved ones - friends, mentors, family members - we ultimately battle our demons ourselves, by ourselves.

It is hard sometimes to know what you want.  It's hard to know what is your own and what you've merely absorbed from those around you.  But sometimes you need to know how to distinguish.

Maybe "that creature," the jabberwocky, can be a lot of things.  But it is certainly a thing we are afraid of.   I remember something a woman said at a presentation/seminar to other women about having a dream and working to reach it: if you feel scared, or like it's impossible, you're probably getting close.  And somehow, that same feeling seems to be the key to knowing what you want.  Pushing through the fear, pushing through despite the fear is what makes you strong.  It is how you know. 

You will step out alone.