Coconut Icebox Cookies

I have never actually made these cookies but the recipe has been in my recipe box for a long time. I made the dough up the other week but have not gotten around to baking the cookies. All I have is a picture of the dough in a Ziploc bag. I am hoping to bake off the cookies within the next week. Once I bake them I will update about the taste and quality.

Icebox Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 beaten eggs

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups coconut

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla.

Sift the flour with the cream of tartar and baking soda.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the shredded coconut to the creamed mixture.

Form dough into round log about 2 inches in diameter.

Tightly wrap dough and chill for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Remove dough form refrigerator and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes.

Fruit Bread

Life has not calmed down in the least! I have started making mason jars filled with cookies, cakes, and muffins. I am selling them on facebook. I hope it turns out to be a worthy endeavor.

My mom and I started our holiday baking last week and I have not had a chance to update my blog. The next few posts will be recipes that we make almost every year. Fruit bread is one of those recipes. This fruit bread is not the hard stuff you hear about. It is moist, sweet, and amazingly tasty. I remember my grandma making this bread, so it has been in the family for years.

We normally make small loaves of the bread. The only picture I took is of the loaf we made in a fall shaped pan that Nick and I received for a wedding gift. This loaf was only enjoyed by the dog. I ran downstairs to change laundry around and she hopped up on the counter and had a snack. I wish I had a picture of it after to show. Luckily, she did not get sick, even though there are chocolate chips in the bread.

Fruit Bread

This recipe makes 8 small loaves.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 bananas - Mashed

4 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional (I never use nuts in this recipe)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup maraschino cherries

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar together. Add ingredients in order given. Bake in greased pans at 350 degrees for 1 hour or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Life

Life has been a tad bit crazy around here the past couple weeks. Nick's mothers birthday was a few weeks ago and mine was two weekends ago. I have been cooking and baking but have been bad at taking pictures and posting them. Hopefully soon I will get around to posting the recipes and few pictures I have taken. We are busy trying to get ready for out of town guests for the Thanksgiving. We are both very excited that Nick's friend from the Air Force, Josh, and his wife, Shannon, will be coming down from North Dakota with their two kids. It will be the last time we see them for a while since they will be moving to the east coast shortly after they leave Nebraska. We are already starting to think of when we can afford a trip out to visit them in Maine.

Roast Chicken and Acorn Squash

This post really doesn't require a recipe. It is pretty simple.

We took a whole chicken and seasoned it with butter and a turkey rub that I sell for Watkins. We also added a little salt. We place the seasoning under the skin of the chicken with some butter and also place the seasoning and butter all over the outside of the chicken. We roasted the chicken for about an hour and a half. The time depends on the size of the bird.

For the acorn squash, we cut them open and scooped out the seeds. Then placed them cut side down in a 9 x 13 inch pan with a little water in the bottom of them. These roasted for about an hour. After the hour, we flipped them over and added some butter to the hole in the middle of the squash as well as some brown sugar. They went back into the oven while we made some gravy for the chicken. This is my favorite fall vegetable!

For the gravy we just added some cornstarch mixed with some water. We also added a chicken bouillon cube and cooked it until the gravy had thickened.

It was a very easy meal that was very tasty.