Catching Up - First Quarter 2012

Can you believe it's November already?  Where has the time gone?  Until last week's Black Cat Cookie blog, it had been 10 months since any news from sunny AZ.  I'd like to post a quick catch-up of this year and then forge fearlessly ahead toward the new year.  Anybody with me?  Here goes - 

Baby Adele, Grammy and the new curtains made by Grammy

January - Mid-month we traveled to Illinois and Michigan for post-holiday visits with our daughter and son and their families. It was to be a whirlwind trip of one week with the special intention of meeting our newest grandchild and first granddaughter.  Not feeling tip-top the day we were to fly home, I chose to stay on in Illinois with the little family there.  

Perfect day for ice cream and a snowman

Opening Day at Lombard DQ

It was an unexpected opportunity for a longer visit and turned out to be fun for all of us. Em and I cooked and baked, did projects around their house and yard, enjoyed walks on the Prairie Path and I got to attend our grandson's preschool Valentine's Day Party. One special highlight was 2012 Opening Day at the Lombard Dairy Queen.  Ice cream in the snow.....We know how to have fun! 

Two cousins anticipating ice cream cake

February - Tom returned mid-month for my birthday. We planned to travel to Arizona via the Amtrak Southwest Chief the next day. As we sat down to birthday dinner with two of our children and their families, we received distressing news about my mom's health. We put on happy faces and had our party for the sake of grandchildren who were so excited. Instead of traveling westward the next day, we awaited the arrival of our Vermont sister, then the three of us made the long drive to northern Michigan.

Em's little car buried in snow

March - We stayed a couple weeks at Mom's after she was home from the hospital. The day before we were to attempt (again) to return to Arizona there was a huge snowstorm. We'd lived in Michigan 56 years before going to Phoenix and a bit of winter shouldn't have made us flinch. But this was serious, wet, heavy snow! How were we supposed to get out of northern Michigan when we couldn't get out of Mom's neighborhood? We delayed going until afternoon the next day. By then roads were somewhat passable.  It was slow, but Em's Ford Focus got us through.

Mom's road on the day after the storm

Next post.....Our adventures on the Southwest Chief!

Back to Blogging with Black Cat Cookies!

It's been a long, long time since I posted anything new here.  The year 2012 has been filled with challenges, but life seems to be settling back to a comfortable routine and I found myself missing blogging.  Last week I put some pictures of our Halloween Black Cat Cookies on Facebook. They generated some interest and, I hope, a lot of smiles. Some friends asked for the recipe, so here it is complete with a few pictures.

Black Cat Cookies

1 c. butter, softened 

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

3 t. vanilla extract

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. baking cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

48 candy corn candies

24 red-hot candies

Preheat oven to 350 F.  In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  

Roll dough into 1-1/2 inch balls. Place 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Pinch tops of cookies to form ears.

Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

To make whiskers, press a fork twice into each cookie. 

Bake at 350  F. for 10 -12 minutes or until cookies are set.  Remove from oven; immediately press on candy corn for eyes and red-hots for noses.  Remove to wire racks to cool.  Makes 2 dozen.

Tips:
I have made these with 1/2 butter and 1/2 Crisco.  They are good, but better tasting and more moist with all butter. 

I have also made them with 1/2 the sugar called for in the recipe. They were good, but a bit dry and "dark chocolate" tasting. They also didn't seem to bake up into as large a cookie. I have also made them with 1/2 the sugar and added Agave Nectar with good success. 

I use a Pampered Chef cookie dough scoop to form the dough into balls.  Use a generous scoop!  Make the dough balls big enough or the cat faces will be too small and you won't have enough room to push the candies into the freshly baked cookie.  If you don't have a cookie dough scoop, think "golf ball" sized handful of dough.

It's important to not overbake. Recipe says 10-12 minutes, but know your oven! I bake mine 9 minutes.  If they are in too long, you'll not be able to press the candies in without cracking the surface of the cookie.  I let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes after I quickly get the candies in place.  This allows them to finish "baking" and firm up. If you remove them to the cooling rack too soon, they will not make the trip well. 

It's important to work quickly when pushing the candies into the hot cookies. I only bake 6 at a time so I can get them all done before the cookies cool too much to accept and melt the candies.  If the candy doesn't go into a hot cookie, it may not stick.  I have had to use merigue powder to make a kind of "glue" to get the candy to adhere when I didn't get them pushed into the cookies fast enough.  Work quickly, but be careful not to burn yourself on the hot cookie sheet (spoken from experience....)

There you have it!  It's not rocket science, just cookie baking, but I have figured a few things out from making them so many times.  The only thing I haven't figured out is how to make them last longer once they are in the house.  

Whisker-less kitty!  I forgot a step! 

This recipe was originally published in the Muskegon Chronicle and was passed on to me by my dear friend Marilyn Kingsley.