Cookie of the Month: Lemon Crisps

Have I told you that I work for a non-profit?  Well, I do and, like a lot of non-profits, one of the things we do a lot of is fundraising. Just since April, we have already put on one luncheon, two bike rides and two walks - and we have 8 walks to go before our event season will be over.  For this year's bike ride in my neck of the woods, my coworkers approached me about offering cookies as an auction item.  We had someone donate a sweet of the month package - pies, brownies, cookies, cakes - all kinds of sweets and since they know how much I like to bake cookies, they suggested I offer the same thing with cookies.  So I did it - and the package was auctioned off for $100!  Pretty cool.

I knew right away which cookie I would make for August.  I love, love, love these Lemon Crisp cookies for summer entertaining.  There is something so summery about lemons for me and these cookies don't disappoint - slightly crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside (so much so that I was surprised they are called "crisps"), with just the right balance between sweet and tart.  I can't remember if I found this recipe online and Pinned it, or if I found it directly on Pinterest, but either way, I Pinned it and have been making them pretty regularly ever since.

I'm not going to share the recipe here, since it's well covered on it's original bloggers' page (and there was no need to change it in any way) but I will share pictures of the process...

Cream the butter and sugar together...



... add the wet ingredients and lemon zest...



... add the dry ingredients...



... mix until it just comes together...



... and it's ready to scoop.



Once they are baked, they will look like this:



While they're cooling you can whip together the icing - I used only 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and drizzled in some lemon juice...



...this is the consistency I went for - just thin enough to drizzle, but not so thin it would run everywhere...



... then I drizzled it onto the finished cookies.  Mine aren't as pretty as the original bloggers' are, but they sure are tasty and I'm sure my Cookie of the Month auction package winner will really enjoy them!



I'll be posting the cookies I send out each month - some of them may be throwbacks to older posts (so keep an eye out for the odd Thursday post instead of the usual Wednesday post) and some will be recipes I've yet to share with you.  I hope you will make them all and share your results!

Ciao!

Blog Update - Vacation Time

I hope you've been checking out my companion YouTube Channel CJ's-Kitchen and enjoying the videos there.  I have lots of ideas and projects in the works, but before I kick those off, I'm taking off with my husband and my Dad to the beach to enjoy the annual Kite Festival and some much needed downtime.

There's a possibility that I might decide to vlog from the beach - maybe just beach musings, maybe actual food or cooking related content so I wanted to be sure to ask you to keep an eye on my channels.  Yes channels.  I may have neglected to tell you that, in addition to CJ's-Kitchen, I also have a secondary channel, CJ Vlogs.  I haven't done any actual vlogging yet, but I knew when I created the CJ's-Kitchen channel that I'd have some off-topic videos sooner or later and, in fact, I purposely shot some video and posted it there first, just so I'd know what I was doing once I had my first food video ready to roll.  So you'll find a random collection of videos of  my cat being cute and playful, and also some video my brother in law shot using a Go Pro camera and a quad-copter - pretty neat aerial footage of our house, yard and environs.  If I do some vlogging from the beach and it's not food related, that's where you'll find it.  If it's food related, it'll be on CJ's-Kitchen, right where you expect it.

I hope you'll check in.  In the meantime, have fun, stay cool and I'll see you in my kitchen when I get back - Ciao!

Haul: Traffic Hassles and Asian Market

Sometimes traffic is such a nightmare your just better off getting off the road.  Recently, I had just that situation and I decided to make the best of it by checking out an Asian Market that had been recommended to me.  Here's a video of the haul that resulted:

Until next time, Ciao!

Haul: Cost Plus World Market Snacks

Do you ever feel like you're in a rut, food-wise?  I do.  Even though I love food - a good variety of food and love to cook  I have found lately that I am ready to try and experience new foods.  Not just recipes for meals, but snacks too.  I indulge several flavors and styles of chips and crackers, I love popcorn, all kinds of nuts and seeds and even though I mostly prefer to snack on salty, crunchy foods, I also enjoy cookies (rarely store-bought any more), ice cream, chocolate and few other kinds of candies.  Even so, I've often found myself completely stumped recently in the chips aisle preparing for a Gaming session with my friends, unable to decide which chips to get and completely uninspired by the choices.

Solution?  A trip to Cost Plus World Market to pick up a sampling of snacks and goodies from their grocery section!  I have recently re-discovered my love of this store thanks to my co-workers who suggested we shop for Christmas Cards there this past holiday season.  Our office is just minutes away from one of these fabulous, fun stores and I found myself wanting to spend all day there checking out the interesting snacks from all over the world.



A couple of weeks ago, I took a little time off which included leaving the office at lunch hour on a Thursday and taking the following day off as well.  The idea was to go clothes shopping, then spend the weekend with my sister getting pedicures and enjoying the last opera of the season.  I'm not a big fan of shopping for clothes for myself and I had been wanting to stop in to Cost Plus World Market to check out their snack selection again so I made that my first stop - a pre-shopping reward, you might say.



I had a lot of fun there and found so many interesting snacks and treats to try... here's the video:

I did manage to pick up some new clothes and since then I have been slowly trying each of the snacks.  So far my favorites have been the Crab Curry Thai Rice Crackers and the Coconut Candy, but I still have quite a few things to try.  Now that's my idea of shopping!  Next visit, I hope to pick up a couple of great things I saw for the kitchen.



Where do you turn to for food inspiration?  What's grabbing your attention right now with regards to food and, specifically, snacks?  Have you had any of these snacks?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.  As always, please let me know if you like these types of posts/videos by commenting below, following this blog and/or subscribing to my Channel and sharing.

Ciao!

New Year, New Family Member and a New Look!

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your holidays were merry, bright and filled with all the things you love and, of course, all the things you love to eat!  We got a new family member over the holidays.  After being cat-less since June and pet-less since August, I adopted Joy from the local animal shelter on December 23!  She's been a real "joy" to our household.  She's very sweet and cuddly and has fit right into our lives as if she's been here for a lot more than mere weeks.





In the spirit of starting fresh with a new year and a clean slate, I decided it was time to update the look of the blog - I hope you like it!

Sorry, no recipes this time, I just wanted to share the new look.  I'll have a new post for you very soon (no really, it's all set to go), hope to see you then!