Coffee Vanilla Bean Cookies

I love to drink coffee and I love vanilla so this should be a win-win cookie. It really is only a win but I do want to write down the recipe in case I ever feel the need to make them again, which is quite possible. They are very tasty. They hold up pretty well too, for storing. I took some four days after I made them to lunch with some lady friends (not kids, although they like them to) of mine and they all thought they were pretty good, so they do keep pretty well.

A few years back I was reading a blog called I am Mommy, I think, and she had a sugar cookie with coffee in it recipe she put up. I finally tried it this winter, but at the time I didn't have a coffee grinder and used pre-ground coffee from a can and we weren't too thrilled with the results so I tossed that recipe. Now this past week when I was messing with both the vanilla beans and putting away our coffee I thought about that recipe and decided I would try it again only now I couldn't find it so I came up with this one. Which was a winner in our book. I hope you like it as well. The basic recipe came from Margaret's Betty Crocker cookbook called Brown Sugar Refrigerator Cookies.This is what you need to make the cookies.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 1/2 cup white flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

I doubled the recipe and used 4 cups whole wheat but I think a little less whole wheat would be better.

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon vanilla beans

I used vanilla beans that I had already had soaking in vodka for about 1 year so they weren't as powerful. If you are using fresh beans I would say don't use the liquid vanilla. You be the judge though.

To get the beans out of the pod I cut it lengthwise with my kitchen scissors and then used a teaspoon to scrape down the middle and collect the beans that way. It goes real easy.

1/4 cup very finely ground coffee.

We get our coffee beans from Feed My Starving Children and really love the flavor!

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

This is how you make the cookies:

1. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg until nice a creamy. Stir in the remaining ingredients until mixed well.

2. Shape dough into a 1 1/2 inch diameter log on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap and refrigerate 2-12 hours. I wouldn't go any longer for fear of your coffee getting bitter flavored.

They just need to be cooled until they are firm enough to hold their shape.

3. Heat oven to 375○ F.

4. Unwrap log and slice into 1/4 inch slice. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Then I dipped a glass in sugar and flattened each one a little more. Making sure I put plenty of sugar on it to give it a nice sparkly look.

5. Bake for 6-9 minutes or until browned lightly. Cool 1-2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet.

I frosted some of the cookies with a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla beans and half and half. I thought that added a nice touch but it didn't really affect the flavor. The icing dried hard so it was good for stacking.

Enjoy,

~Anna

P.S. If you don't have a coffee grinder I bet you could get what you need from a coffee shop.

Canning

Summer is here and so is preparing food for the winter.

I did something this week that I have never done before. I was pretty proud of myself when I thought of it so I am going to share with you my lovely efforts at homemaking.

We buy a whole steer for our beef for the year and that totally maxes out our freezer space, or over maxes it when it comes in so this time I solved a little of the problem. I cooked down all of the soup bones the day after I brought home our beef and then canned the meat and broth so it is all ready to pour into soups or noodles or whatever I need broth for. I am just thrilled with my efficiency. It took two days of quite a bit of labor and now I have 29 quarts of beef stock all put away and ready for a quick meal.

One day while the broth was canning we also made 9 pints of hot pepper jelly. Margaret chopped all of the peppers for me. Which was wonderful and Travis stirred the jam while it came to a boil.

Such helpers I have. We love hot pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers for a light meal or snack. So I am excited to have all of those jars ready for later as well. In other food preservation news we have canned 14 pints of black raspberry jam this month. I am always very proud of ourselves with that one since we have to fight for every berry from the very prickly viney bushes they grow on that don't like us taking from them. Unfortunately we have already eaten two jars. At that rate we will be through it before winter even sets in.

We also had a visit from Travis' parents this week and they brought us green beans, corn and other treats from their garden. Monday we canned 21 quarts of green beans and put several packages of corn in the freezer, now our freezer is completely full!

We have done more canning this past week than I have done in several years. It is so exciting to use my jars again!.

Happy food preservation to you!

~Anna

Book Review

This is a review for the book Pujols, More Than the Game.

I need to do a bit of a disclaimer about myself before I tell you my opinion on the book. I am not a huge baseball fan, in fact I hadn't even heard of Albert Pujols before I read this book, so I probably shouldn't have chosen to read it, but I read more than the game in the title and thought that meant it would be more his life than about baseball statistics.

Albert Pujols sounds like a very neat guy. He has amazing baseball skills and a deep love for the Lord. He has a desire to serve and help children with down syndrome and their families. He also does alot for the people in the Dominican Republic, which is where he is from. The chapters telling about these works were very fun to read. Unfortunately a lot of chapters spent a lot of time telling about his hitting percentages, RBIs and game plays from games throughout the years, that for a baseball fan would be very interesting to read, but for me was only tedium. What I got out of this book is that Albert Pujols is a very hard working, studious baseball player that wants to do his very best for his team the Cardinals and give the honor to God. He is also very dedicated to being a great father and husband.

So, if you are a sports fan you will probably love this book if you aren't, this book may not be for you.