Marzipan Cookies

Betty Crocker Marzipan Cookie Recipe 

Once upon a time, in the far away Land of Kentucky, under the floor beams of a Wesleyan church, in a magical place called the Night Kitchen (of Fellowship Hall),  Brother Ben and I worked long into the wee hours making miniature marzipan vegetables.

 Sir Chandler was turning 3 and had requested a "LarryBoy" cake... I'll leave the remaining dots for you to connect :) 

Marzipan VeggieTales & Larry Boy Cake

Marzipan candies call for Almond Paste, but Barren County, KY was barren of this ingredient...amongst many other things. 

So we bought almonds and made a rustic paste of our own. 

In a blender.

Hours of buzzing and blending and mulching and molding later... we had crafted several marzipan VeggieTales. 

It was a LOT of work for little vegetables. 

Sometimes, the experience of making an item is as much the reason for undertaking an endeavor as the anticipated joy of using or eating the item in question.

 In this case, I decided the  decorative nature of marzipan was its only redeeming value. I did not care for the taste. I was not a big fan of almonds in general- whole, crushed or as flavoring. And while it was an experience to be sure, it was not one I was eager to repeat. 

 I chose all future cake decorating projects to exclude a need for tiny marzipan anythings.

Join me now a decade later...

Sir Chandler is now 13,  I have grown to love almonds in all forms... and almond paste is readily available in all the grocery stores I frequent. 

I found this adapted recipe for marzipan cookies in my favorite Betty Crocker cookbook. I have known it was there for a long time... I cannot explain what compelled me to succumb to it yesterday. 

I just did. 

I think it all started with the 'fortune cookies' that we made earlier in the year... I only needed 1 Tbs of almond extract for those. I've been using up the remainder of the bottle ever since. As I was looking for something to make that only used a few ingredients, I noticed the recipe for these mini fruits did not require almond paste- only almond extract. 

The dough recipe is pretty simple.  

Marzipan Cookie Dough

The shaping of the fruit requires a little patience. 

Marzipan Cookie Fruits 

Because we had errands to run and baseball practice and because I didn't have colored sugar and spent even more time making a batch of each color, a great deal of time elapsed from the time I started making the cookies and the time I finished. 

Making colored sugar turns out to be incredibly easy.

  It was with a wry grin that I switched the oven off in the wee hours of the morning... leaving the cookies in the oven to finish and cool til the arrival of a more decent hour. 

"Good Morning, Cookies. I shall eat you with coffee after my nap."

No matter how much some things change, other things never do :) 

**The marzipan cookies spread a little during baking. A longer chill may have prevented this. 

MARZIPAN COOKIES

1 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 c Sugar

2.5 c All Purpose Flour

1 ts almond extract

Food Coloring

Cream butter & sugar

Add Flour & extract

Divide into 3 or 4 parts

Add food coloring

Form fruit shapes

Roll in colored sugar & paint with additional food coloring as desired

Chill 

Bake @ 300 degrees for about 30 minutes~ until set but not browned. 

*The book calls for cloves and cinnamon sticks for the stems and fruit accents- I used pecan slivers for lack of the prior

**Only after dividing the dough did I realize I had accidentally used half the amount of butter called for. To make up for it, I drizzled in coconut oil. This may account for more of the spreading in the oven. 

Chinese New Year

February 10th, 2013 issues in the Year of The Snake

Last night, FLVirtual School held a special Collaboration session in recognition of the upcoming Chinese New Year.

To get in the spirit of things, we decided to have Chinese food for dinner. I had casually mentioned this plan to Clay before he went to a meeting. When he called on his way home,  to see if we needed anything while he was out, he was surprised to find that we had decided to COOK Chinese dishes instead of ordering it from the experts. I blamed homeschooling... He indulged me by trying to find chop sticks (a negligent oversight on my part!) then, swung by Beef O'Brady's for some 'real food' just to be safe.

So, we 'made' Chinese to the best of our ability~thankful for the Ethnic Foods aisle and the International Foods freezer at the grocery store. Without it, we may have had to call Lucky Wok.

It's About the Sauces: Sriacha, Sesame Garlic, Pot Sticker. Soy & Duck

I must preface the description of what we made with a quick shout out to Uncle Ben for tipping us off to the super powers of Sriacha sauce...it made the Peanut Lo Mein just right.

We 'made' (translation: opened packages & properly heated in pools of vegetable oil) various Pot Stickers and Spring Rolls. Several neighbors have stopped by this morning to order take out...it left our house that aromatic.

They cleaned their plates, so then it was time for my favorite part of the evening: Fortune Cookies

I had never made cookies that require folding before... when the first one took the shape of an actual fortune cookie like I am often handed after meals @ Ichiban, I was beyond tickled. 

First Fortune Cookie

(there's an actual fortune in there, too!)

The cookies are best made in small batches. By the time I had made enough cookies for everyone to have two apiece, I was tired of cooking in small batches and ten minute intervals. So I poured the remaining batter into one giant Choose Your Destiny Cookie... I was able to fit all the remaining fortunes in it too: 

Ideally, the fortune cookie is the happy end to a traditional Chinese bite to eat...but the sad reality for me was this: 

I am still whittling this away at lunch time the next day. Which is why I have to be going now... 

Benjamin Jacob

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

(a.k.a. MeMe)

~Check Out This Day In History: November 15~

My first memory of Benjamin is the phone call we got from the hospital to announce that we were the proud new owners of a baby brother. 

I had been praying for a sister for a long time but God always knows what's best. I think there was some expectation that I would be disappointed, but I really wasn't. When you are a 7 year old girl and a real live baby comes to live at your house... how can you be disappointed? Besides, my baby doll Moses was the happy recipient of all Baby Benjamin's hand-me-down clothes and... ironically, his Moses Basket. 

All it meant to be told we had been given a brother was that I must continue praying. Which I did. Until it worked. Which it did. 

...my Prayed For Sister would be delivered by the next stork two years later. But, how lucky am I? 

I got more than I asked for in a good way...doubly blessed, you could say.

:) 

I also remember helping dad convert the toy room into a nursery- helping run a Muppet Babies wall paper border around the room... I still think of Ben anytime I see Baby Kermie :) 

When I think of Ben, I think about many of our shared tastes in reading, food and music. I think back to when we both lived in Kentucky and he was learning to drive. About how we stayed up all night making marzipan Veggie Tales for Chandler's birthday cake. The storm thru town we made, looking for an appropriate liquor (& cheese) to make fondue (Barren County is indeed dry & barren when it comes to alcohol) We used Cooking Wine if I recall. 

I don't have time to list all of my favorite Ben Memories- but I can say that I am glad there is a Benjamin Jacob Carnes in this world~ and I am blessed that's he's my brother. 

Putting together a photo collage, as I did on Jamela's birthday, would not be gift-like to Uncle Ben. Another thing we share is a "super-critical-of-photos-of-ourselves" gene... I am almost certain he dislikes just about every photo I own of him, save perhaps the baby ones that have yet to be scanned in. 

So, the BrewCrew collaborated on a Wordle instead...each kid gave me at least three words that came to mind when I said "Uncle Ben"- if a word appears largely in the Wordle, it was offered by more than one contributor.  I added some words from my own memories...and then we tweaked the colors to fit the kids' insistence that it contain red, white and blue.
This UncleBenBen Birthday Wordle is in no way exhaustive...but it is created with lots and lots of love :)

Of course, I think a birthday isn't a HAPPY BIRTHDAY without at least ONE photo from the past.
So...

This one was taken after Ben's graduation from NGU.
He's so awesome, he not only graduated with honors but was also bestowed with an honorary
  RED HATTER Membership.

Little Known Fact: Only Two Men In The Whole World Hold Honorary Red Hat Membership:
 Benjamin Jacob Carnes & CHUCK NORRIS.

Uncle Santa ?

The kids all enjoy Toca Boca apps... this particular 'snapshot' was the result of one child playing stylist on the  Christmas Hair Salon app... 

(not sure which kid, but it definitely wasn't Rye- she gives everyone pink hair)

I say "Is it just me or does he kind of favor someone we know...?"

Fisher says "...Uncle Ben, kind of..."

Logan says "...maybe just a little...from a distance..."

 Chan says "...yeah, maybe a little, Big Time!..."

You Be The Judge: 

See Also: Aunt Barbie

~*~~*~

On another, slightly related note- The new Toca Boca Band app looks like fun.