S is for Shortbread

Shortbread is rapidly becoming my favorite treat. Easy to make, good with coffee, and oh so yummy to eat! Well on Friday, my amazing mother-in-law knocked on the door and handed me an early birthday/Christmas/just-because present: a shortbread mold!

Earlier in the week I had noticed one hanging up at the Sniders, and got really excited about it because I had never seen one before. So Mom Snider went and found me one for my very own :) On Friday, when I got a bit of free time (time when I *should* have been writing those Thank You notes I'm behind on...), I went and found my mom's shortbread recipe, and made some yummy Christmasy shortbread!

The recipe is super easy, just butter, flour, and sugar.

It takes all of 3 minutes to mix up, and only about 15-20 minutes to bake.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (softened). A great way to do this is 3 minutes in the microwave at power level 2. Softens beautifully, but doesn't melt!
1/4 c sugar
1 1/4 c flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease cookie sheet (or mold).
Beat butter until soft with wooden spoon. Beat in sugar. Sift flour (after measuring) and stir in with wooden spoon. Finish combining with your hands.

If you’re gonna put it on a cookie sheet, pat into a circle 1/8 inch thick on a floured board. Score into wedges. Sprinkle with sugar and transfer circle to a cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.

If you're gonna put it in a mold, press dough hard into mold until flat. Trim excess off top. Sprinkle sugar on top, place in oven and bake 20 minutes.

Well, I don't think I pressed the dough down tight enough into the mold, because the pictures on the cookies were anything but clear. Sigh. I think I could tell one was an ornament, but the others? Nothing.

But the shortbread was so good, and it's not quite the holidays, so I have time to perfect my shortbread molding skills before they really need to look like Christmas trees ;)

Organizing my Life

I feel like things still haven't slowed down since we moved, but when I think about it, they really have. I just haven't learned how to use my unscheduled time very well. The days have rushed by and now it's November, but I still don't have a lot to say for my organization skills. The house is a constant project and that's just so I can walk around without stubbing my toe on some thing-a-ma-jig lying on the floor. I still find myself popping to the store at least twice a week for that milk I forgot to buy, or that butter we're all out of. And if I'm not at the store, I'm apologizing to Nathan for the lack of anything green with dinner because I forgot to go to the store. I am light-years behind in writing thank-you notes (not to mention some actual letters!), so my relatives are beginning to wonder if I'm still alive. I haven't branched out a whole lot and actually planned things with anyone either, so I really don't know where my days have gone, and that's a little scary. When I realized what an unorganized mess I had made out of the new Snider household, I decided to dedicate my November to organizing my life. So on the first of November to-do lists came out, projects started to get done, and exercise videos began rolling. We'll see how long I can keep this up. Yeeeeah.

This week I made a Thanksgiving banner to hang above our fireplace to remind me to be thankful for everything God has given me (even if He didn't give me natural organization skills!), and to add a bit more Harvest decor to the apartment. Pinterest strikes again.

And I also finally got my pantry into shape. I was getting tired of onions falling off the shelves onto my head, so I carved out a chunk of time, and cleeeaaaned her out.

Heh. Now I'll have to see if some thank you notes get done tomorrow...