It's December 2009 already!! We have lots of things to do to keep busy this month, birthdays for one, my father in law just turned 81, my sister and daughter share a birthday, my birthday and my sons as well!
That means it's time for a gathering here at the redneck homestead!
Fun times, meet my father in law, 81 today, and of course, after I looked at the photos I had taken, who do I see in the background flying the bird? on yes it's cuz Ralphie, what a heathen!
who me? ~ yes, him there on the left, he's the guilty party! Gotta love them, HAR
that's ok, it appears that the santa cake is sticking his tongue out, geesh!
hubbs with his brothers
and yet another brother!
we were missing a sister and brother as one is in Florida and the other had to work, gotta love family gatherings, it's never a sane time when they are together!
Alright - let us talk a bit about my lovely new vintage mixer, I love this thing, I searched and searched for one of the old Hobart Kitchen Aid mixers and after a year I got one, it is awesome!
I know they have those new beautiful colored ones out there, and they are pretty and nice, however I would far rather have the old ones, they hold up and last so much longer, everything was made better back in the day! The gears are actually stronger, not the plastic they use in today's models.
It's pizzelle cookie making time!!
a pizzelle is an Italian wafer like cookie, since the family I married into is pure Italian, well you can guess what this Amish hick learned how to cook, yup, Italian foods, and I am loving every single minute of it let me say!
Pizzelle - Italian wafer cookie
(makes about 2 dozen)
3 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon anise flavoring (can use vanilla, lemon, almond, etc.)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick. Stir in the melted butter and flavoring of your choice.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, and blend into the batter until smooth.
Heat the pizzelle press (I spray with Pam lightly). Drop about one tablespoon of batter onto each circle on the iron.
You may need to experiment with the amount of batter and baking time depending on the iron.
Bake for 20 to 45 seconds, or until steam is no longer coming out of the iron.
Carefully remove cookies from the press.
Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
These make wonderful gifts for family and friends.
yes, my counter top still has not gotten the new laminate job done yet!
I mix up the batter, then my youngest son is the pizzelle master, he loves using the pizzelle press and it's his job every year, if you don't have a pizzelle press/iron, they can easily be purchased at your local Walmart store, at least they used to be available there . . .
get them wafer cookes made and let them cool, time to sit back and enjoy our own company LOL
after they cool, we store in a huge tupperware cake container, works perfect until its time to package them up for gift giving. My daughter gets that job
What kind of family favorites do you have that you make each year? Would love to hear about them.
Next time I will be back with a hand painted cedar chest, it's a Christmas present for my mother, hubby builds the cedar chest, I paint it, then we clear coat it, we like to make our family gifts each year instead of buying items.
So see you back here next time . . .
