Happy Holidays!

[cohan]

All the best to members and their friends and family! Happy Solstice and all the best in this holiday season, whether you are in mid-winter or mid-summer-- here's to growth in 2012!

[RickR]

And the Best to all of you...


From me and my buddies

        

[cohan]

Are your buddies going to help eat those cookies?
I used to have a pile of cute toys, but just one thing too much to carry on one of my cross country moves (that one was by bus, so pretty light!), left them with my nephews...lol

[Jan Jeddeloh]

How'd you make those nifty two colored Spritz cookies?  My recipe spreads so much I'm not sure I could do it but they look really cool.  You do use real butter in them don't you?  A butter cookie without butter is an oxymoron.

Jan

[Saori]

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Wow, looks like great Christmas scenery in Alberta. We don't get much snow here, which is good, because when we do, everyone panics.

I never got around to baking any cookies this year... I'll have to just drool over all of yours.

[McDonough]

Saori, your dog is adorable, I want to give him or her a hug.

Not sure what Spritz cookies are, but those cookies look almost too decorative and horticulturally-inspired to eat.  I once had a collection of "bendy" figures; I spy some Bugs Bunny and friends, and is that Mr. Bill?  Oh no!  Watch out for Sluggo.

Rick, your cookies look as inspired as your wonderful dried floral arrangements, such a talent.  

Happy Holidays everyone!

[RickR]

Regarding the Spritz cookies, yes, I always use real butter.  If they spread too much in the oven, you can add a little extra flower flour (what was I thinking?) to stiffen it a bit.  If you think you are adding so much as to change the taste of the spritz, add some sugar along with.

Of course, you can use any of the cookie designs, but if you want good symmetrically colored cookies, the six section "star" is the only one that works.  Even using the eight section one results in too much uneven coloring in the final cookies.

Of the dough, add food coloring, approximately:
1/6 red
1/6 green
2/3 uncolored

The trick is in loading the cookie press.  You will be stacking balls of individually colored dough directly on top of each other.  Make sure the balls are centered in the cylinder, or asymmetrically colored cookies will result.  (If the dough is so soft that you can't roll it in your hands, then it is way too soft.)

First, put in a colored ball about the width of the replaceable spritz design. Smash it lightly with the bottom of a glass.  The dough will not touch the sides.

Second, roll a ball of uncolored dough, the width of the cookie press cylinder, so that it just fits inside.  Lightly press again.

Your third ball will be colored again, and probably a little larger than the first.  Then lightly press.  Fill the rest of the press with uncolored dough, rolling it into a ball before inserting.

If the second ball too small, the first and third ball colors will run together.  Red and green do make a purple, but it's not a very pleasing color.

The hard part is done, and all you need to do now is press the cookies onto the cookie sheets, just like normal.  No need to sprinkle with candies: they're already decorated!

Once you know the method, I really don't see the difficulty, but I have two sisters that can't seem to master it.  Both are good cooks and bakers.  In fact, one asked me to send her some (to Arizona), and said she would even pay for them!

I do fancy myself a very good cookie maker.  When I grew up, I made a batch of cookies nearly every week.  With six kids in the family, we never had too many.

              

[IMYoung]

Well, I'm really here to pass on the good wishes of Ian and myself to all our NARGS friends ..... but what a wonderful diversion has been provided by Rick's cookie recipe 
In the SRGC forum, food is very nearly as important as plants, so I've posted a link there to Rick's recipe 

Back to the happy holiday theme.......
here's a bonsai Tsuga, decorated with cotoneaster berries.... doing it's best to be a christmas tree....
wishing you all a wonderful time over the holiday season and hoping for health and happiness in 2012!

Cheers,
 Maggi and Ian

[Schier]

Ian and Maggie, I love your Christmas tree! Rick - the cookies look fabulous, & natch, Saori, love your pooch, I want one like that! ( really, I'm looking ) Cohen - you have more snow than we do, is it about ready to melt out your way?  I see the forecast for Stettler is 5 deg. or so for tomorrow, unless it changes of course.   I wouldn't mind a bit more snow. Now that I say that, we'll probably be snowed in next week....Have a great Holiday everyone!

[Lori S.]

[bulborum]

Best wishes From Us all

Picture from our house a few years ago

Rick

We don't have a problem
if you send us a large sample from your cookies

Roland & Gemma

[Hoy]

Here is a little late greeting from me to all forumists! I think you understand what it says


May 2012 be a good year for the germination of seeds and a floriferous one for all of you.

[cohan]

Hope the day has gone well/is going well for all- however you are spending it! I've had wildly varied holidays in the past- time with family, away from family with friends, home alone with music and food, Christmas Day night out at a nightclub(disco) and various combinations of those!

Maggi-- love that tree!
Faith and Saori- our snow has been on the ground - at least part of it- since early November, and is unlikely to disappear any time soon- but it really depends on where-- it is bare and has been mostly, around spruce trees, and those bare patches extend with this warm weather; some kinds of woods have only an inch or two of snow, but other parts of the woods, and open places have from several inches to a foot or more of snow-- that is getting lower as it settles in this warm weather ( days up to 5 or 6C for a few days, and the whole week until friday above freezing days); around our paths and driveways where snow has been shovelled, it is up to several feet deep..... in places that have flat/smooth ground and are in shade (describes almost all of our yard in winter) the snow falls deep and lasts long... (below, a view across the neighbours', yesterday, Christmas Eve)..
Trond, nice view- is that from your house/mountain house?

[Hoy]

Hi Cohan, it is from my mountain cabin. The pic is from last winter as we haven't been there this season and it isn't much snow so far either.

Got home tonight and here it is +11C (no snow of course). Have to take a stroll around the house tomorrow to see if the hurricane damaged anything here. The worst weather hit further north last night. A new storm is brewing and will hit the coast this night.

[cohan]

Hi Cohan, it is from my mountain cabin. The pic is from last winter as we haven't been there this season and it isn't much snow so far either.

Got home tonight and here it is +11C (no snow of course). Have to take a stroll around the house tomorrow to see if the hurricane damaged anything here. The worst weather hit further north last night. A new storm is brewing and will hit the coast this night.

Hope you don't see much of the storm... our weather has been quite tame, lately, besides being warm, we have not had much snow in the last couple of weeks, and rain forecast several times has not appeared, thankfully-- we don't need a coating of ice on top of the snow! Overall, though, winter is not a time for violent weather here-- it can be brutally cold, but not violent...