Monday, December 19, 2011

Recipe Card: Forgotten Cookies



If there's a cookie that reminds me of childhood it's, by far, the Forgotten Cookie. We always had the recipe taped up in my mother's cupboard right next to the stove. Our family friend Patsy would make them whenever she visited us. Upon finding the recipe, copied one day in haste, I see that it also says it's Aunt Filly's recipe, although I don't recall her making them. I'll have to inquire further!

The recipe (a copy, not the coveted original)
These are simple, sugar-filled cookies which give the feeling of eating a cloud filled with chocolate chips. Simply heavenly. Simple to cook and a great recipe for children to create (with the help of an adult, of course). These Forgotten Cookies are meringue cookies, called "forgotten" because the last step requires putting the cookies in the oven and turning the oven off leaving them overnight to "forget" and be found, happily, in the morning hours.


Ingredients:
2 Egg Whites
2/3 Cup Sugar
6 Ounce Pack of Chocolate Chips
1 Tsp Vanilla
Supplies:
Cookie Sheet lined with aluminum foil
Whisk or hand blender
Mixing Bowl

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium size mixing bowl mix 2 egg whites (forever) until they're stiff and stand in peaks:

Perfect peaks


Mix in sugar, chocolate chips, and vanilla. I was lucky enough to have my friend's homemade vanilla! Delicious!


Dollop the mixture onto the aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Your cookies will fluff up while cooking to about 1.5 times the size of the dollop you put down.


Place your cookie sheet into the oven and *get ready for this* TURN THE OVEN OFF! Do not open the oven. Leave the cookies in the oven overnight (5-6 hours). They cook in a nice low decreasing heat. In the morning, you'll have some delightful goodies to test!



These make a great bake-ahead treat for parties in the holiday season when you just don't have all of the time in the world. And if you leave some in the oven for Santa I'm sure he'll be happy, too.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Take a Look at my Jewelry Box


 If there's anything that I love to collect it's jewelry. A second is pottery and we'll get to that in a later blog post, I'm sure. For today, I wanted to start a series with a little show-and-tell about my favorite jewelry pieces. Each piece of jewelry that I own has a story connected to them. We'll take a look at some special pieces in this on-going series. I hope you enjoy!




1) These earrings were a creation of mine under the guidance of Lisa Salsbury from Willow and Me Jewelry. Lisa taught a Precious Metal Clay (PMC) workshop at my former arts & crafts school Sweetland Retreat. Lisa is a wonderful instructor and taught me how to use this amazing technique to preserve my favorite tree's leaves. A friend of mine sent me some leaves from a magnolia tree in South Carolina. I was able to use them to imprint onto the PMC and fire the clay to form these silver beads. I love wearing these earrings and they always remind me of my time living in the South.

2) This is a ring that I wear every single day. Well, let me take a step back here. My boyfriend Bryan bought me this ring from Monkitree in Gardiner, Maine. They had listed a few photos of new pieces they had just gotten in from jeweler JudyB Designs from Portland, Maine. I "liked" the image on their facebook page and commented on how gorgeous it was. A couple weeks later Bryan gave it to me after he'd saved enough money to purchase it. He said it was our "going steady" ring (!!!). I wore it all the time and only took it off to wash my hands. One afternoon I took it off at a local restaurant bathroom to wash my hands and had left it on the sink by accident. I went in not ten minutes later and it had been stolen! I was inconsolable. I felt naked. I was beyond upset. Bryan ended up contacting Judy and had her create a new ring in the same design with an equally gorgeous piece of labradorite. Somehow it was even better than the first one. I wear it non-stop and now don't take it off when I wash my hands. Ever. Lesson learned. 

3) A gorgeous necklace by my friend Jennifer Lisa of Quench Metalworks. I've wanted it for so long {along with many other things from her amazing shop} and it came up for auction at two different fundraisers and I bought it both times! The first time I gave it to my friend Laurie O'Neil and the second time I finally got one for myself. I'm on a mission to "learn" to wear necklaces because #1 I'm really fidgety and play with them way too much and #2 I still don't know how to pair them with earrings which I have to wear all of the time. I'm learning...see the next item.



4) I won these gorgeous silver earrings from a giveaway on Sometimes Sweet's blog. These lotus  earrings are from Chrissy Gemmill Jewelry and they are simply wonderful. They're the perfect earrings to wear with necklaces and I couldn't be happier to have found them... or I guess they kind of found me! These are super new to my collection and I adore them!

5) These are a pair of earrings that I made a few years back as a collaboration with my friend Bob Matus. Bob is a woodworker, lobsterman, photographer, and I'm sure he has many more tricks up his sleeve. He made the wooden hoops and I simply added the dazzle beads. His etsy shop, Heron Cove Wood Carving, has some wonderful items: hair forks (I have the whale tale!), spoons (yep, got some of them, too), and some more earrings! I wear these at least once a week. A personal favorite and I remember the beautiful day when we had our little crafty afternoon and made them.

Isn't it funny how these items, no matter how small, can hold such memories?