de facto redhead

Christmas is coming!

Yes, Christmas is, indeed, coming – in exactly 39 days! I have started my Christmas shopping, but since I obviously can’t reveal my purchases, I took the above picture of some Christmas gift tags I bought this year. Just over a week ago, Erin asked me to go with her to a holiday-shopping open house at Lulu & Lavigne Home Studio, in Hamilton, and with the lure of free cupcakes making me tear up Highway 403 in a fit of a blinding anticipation, there was no way I was missing out. My only purchase was the tags at 40% off, but I can say with confidence that Sweetness Bakery gained a new client because I ate two of their mini cupcakes at the event, and then bought four full-sized confections this past weekend (more on that later!).

Want some?

Staying on the baked-goods track, I made this banana-chocolate loaf (I hate that word) last week, and it was amazing! The recipe said to wrap the loaf overnight, and then cut into it the next day, but that author was crazy to think anyone (read: me) could resist something that looked like this, hot out of the oven. I sold all my bakeware at my yard sale in Edmonton, and I just recently acquired new pans, etc., so this loaf was me, back in baking action. Here’s what my counter looked like mid-bake:

You can check out the recipe for this Two-Tone Banana Bread here.

I got to enjoy the last piece of the bread on Friday, the day after Darcy left for the weekend to visit his friend in Houston, Texas. Yes, I had five days and four nights to myself, and I made them count. The first adventure of the weekend was actually getting Darcy to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which is in Cheektowaga, New York. The flight on Air Tran was so cheap in comparison to WestJet or Air Canada, there wasn’t really a question about choosing this airport/airline, so after getting through the border safely (I always feel so nervous!), we were early, so we went to eat at a local eatery Darcy had looked up – Charlie the Butcher. It was a great lunch!

The view at Charlie the Butcher.

The food at Charlie the Butcher: Beef on Weck, potato wedges, sweet potato fries, and a hot dog with a German name that I can’t remember. And yes, I know my hot dog looks pathetic, but the condiments were at the table, and I put them on after the picture was taken, OK?

After I dropped Darcy off at the airport, I made my way back toward the border, where I stopped at an outlet mall. I bought an olive-green corduroy skirt at Old Navy, but who cares about that when you can shop at Charlotte Russe! Oh my God, has anyone else shopped here before? I had only heard of it on the What I Wore Today blog, but didn’t know anything about it. The sparkle in this place almost made me pass out, and I felt like I didn’t know where to look because I wanted EVERYTHING! The clothes and accessories were also reasonably priced, similar to Forever 21, but all I took away with me was a tank top with metallic chains hanging on the front of it, and a bronzed metal necklace with brown feathers attached to it. I needed to restrain myself because Christmas is coming up, after all, but I will see you again, Charlotte Russe.

So this all happened on Thursday, and on Friday, I went on a thrifting extravaganza, going to every second-hand store in Burlington. I had such a great time, and I found not only Pyrex for my collection (you can check out my purchases on the Pyrex Collective here), but I also bought a creamy-coloured angora-and-wool winter coat with a fur collar at Goodwill for $14.99, a black cross-body purse at Goodwill for $4.99, and three belts of varying golds and blacks at the Burlington Humane Society second-hand shop for $1 each. Yay! These purchases, in combination with my U.S. purchases (Old Navy skirt, $5.48; Charlotte Russe tank and necklace, $16.80), bring my Tally it Up spending to $634.82.

On Saturday, I made my way into Toronto, where I met up with Caroline at her place. We went out for dinner at Ferro, where we split the Spinacce “insalate” and I had the Gnocchi Alla Napoli for my main. Oh, God, it was so good! Caroline, I’m coming to see you again today, OK?

After dinner, we had a drink of Baileys back at the apartment, and settled in to watch the second Sex and the City movie. We also settled in to…our Sweetness Bakery cupcakes! I told you I would mention them again, and here they are:

How amazing do these look?

Here we are, fake-eating the s’mores cupcakes. We demolished Caroline’s couch with their crumbs immediately after this picture.

That pretty much brings an end to my weekend, as Sunday I went out to the Freelton Antique Mall for a browse, but didn’t get anything for myself except for a couple postcards I plan on framing, and then on Monday it was time to head back to the U.S. of A. to pick up Darcy at the airport. Luckily, I had these friendly woodland creatures to guide me in times of crisis:

We had a serious chat about stores in the area, and one of them told me to go Hobby Lobby. I went forth with their blessings, and I discovered ample bounty. Thanks, Mr. Deer! (Along with Charlotte Russe, I now also love Hobby Lobby.)

Next up, I am heading to the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo this weekend!

Can’t be glamorous all the time.

…than peanut butter and chocolate. It’s the ultimate in decadent, delicious desserts, and I thank my mom for reminding me about this amazing peanut butter/chocolate square recipe. I haven’t made these squares for a couple of years and after whipping up a batch of them the other day, I was left dumbstruck as to WHY?!! How could I have forgotten how GOOD they were? It was apparent my taste buds remembered these squares quite well, though, because after I ate almost the whole pan myself within the span of a few days the boyfriend was not shy to point out “You’re having another one?” “You ate almost all of those, you know.”  Yes, I know – and I don’t care. And now you, too, can throw sensible nutrition into the wind:

Peanut Butter Squares

BASE

1 1/3 cup peanut butter (you can trick yourself into feeling good by using low-calorie PB)

1/2 cup margarine

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups Rice Krispies

2 cups icing sugar

Melt peanut butter and margarine together (you can do this in the microwave – no stove-top heating necessary! Microwaves will vary, of course, but remember to stir halfway through your melting  time). Add vanilla, Rice Krispies, and icing sugar. Press into ungreased 9 x 13″ pan.

TOPPING

1 cup chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 – 2 cups for a thicker chocolate layer)

4 tsp margarine

Melt chocolate chips and margarine (can also be done in microwave, just make sure to take out partway through and stir). Spread chocolate topping over base of squares. Refrigerate.

NOTES: This recipe is super-simple and there isn’t really much for me to comment on. But, if your mouth is watering for a taste of what these squares will taste like once hardened, stick the pan in the freezer for about half an hour or so and they will be ready for mass consumption much faster than if you place the pan in the fridge. This is what I did and here is the result:

Craving alert! Craving alert! These just might be getting baked two times in a row…

Two things you should know about this look: 1) I cleaned the bathroom about an hour before I started baking; 2) I took this picture myself and had three seconds to get into position. Enough said.

Baking is back! My sweet tooth never went away, just the effort that went into baking anything new and as-yet-untested. Since January, I have made the Best Brownies Ever a couple times, despite the boyfriend’s urging to make Darcy’s Squares (he loves them, I’m sick of baking them), but that’s about it. I was chatting with a friend last week, though, and he said he liked the baking posts. Hand to my ear – what?! – a male fan! So, in giving my readers what they want (SG!) – and casting out a new idea for everyone else who enjoys the labour pains (of baking) and then the satisfied feeling of flopping down on the couch in front the of TV with your baked goods, a glass of milk, a clean kitchen, and a great-smelling house, I present Butterscotch Brownies from Company’s Coming 150 Delicious Squares!

Butterscotch Brownies – described in the cookbook as “a chewy brownie with a caramel flavour.”

BASE

Butter or margarine – 1/4 cup

Brown sugar, packed – 1 cup

Egg – 1

Vanilla – 1/2 tsp

All-purpose flour – 3/4 cup

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Salt – 1/4 tsp

Chopped walnuts – 1/2 cup

Melt butter in saucepan and add it to sugar in bowl. Stir. Add egg and vanilla and stir. Measure in flour, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Mix well. Spread in greased 8 x 8″ pan. Bake in 350 F oven for 30 minutes until sides show signs of pulling away from the pan.

ICING

Butter or margarine – 2 Tbsp

Brown sugar, packed – 1/4 cup

Milk – 2 Tbsp

Icing (confectioner’s) sugar – 1 cup

Combine first three ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool. Add icing sugar and stir well. Add more icing sugar or milk as needed to make a smooth-spreading icing. Frost brownies. Cut into squares.

MY NOTES: This is my first go at these, and in my oven, they were ready to come out after about 26 minutes, maybe even a bit less. The most annoying part of this entire process was waiting for the icing mixture to cool so I could put the icing sugar in. The actual mixing of the icing is kind of irritating, too, because you definitely need more icing sugar than the called-for 1 cup plus “maybe” more. I probably used about 1/4 cup-ish extra of milk and at least a 1 cup and a half extra of icing sugar (it was probably even more than that, so be prepared with lots of icing sugar if these squares sound appealing to you).

Right: pre-icing; Left: post-icing. Which looks more appetizing?

THE VERDICT: Because of the insane amount of icing sugar I had to use, the Butterscotch Brownie turned out very sweet and settled nicely into any cavities I might have, but so do Sour Patch Kids, and I can’t resist those – ever – so the sweetness factor isn’t really an issue for me. I digress…The icing kind of overpowers the taste of the brownie, but I will eat them anyway because they’re here, I made them, and they do taste pretty good with a cold glass of milk, but the bordering-on-maple flavour isn’t for me and I probably won’t bake them again. But that’s just my preference for chocolate overload (does anyone remember the Triple Chocolate Utopia from Dairy Queen? Heaven! And then an upset stomach for hours afterward. That’s more my dessert style.).

User comment last night from the boyfriend: “These are unbelievably sweet, but good with a glass of milk.”

Final user comment today from the boyfriend: “My teeth ache thinking of eating one of those again.”

So, will you be trying out the Butterscotch Brownies?

I made these cookies on Thursday morning for a charity bake sale my office had yesterday afternoon, and while this recipe takes hours to complete from start to finish, the effort is always well worth it. (One important note by a braggart: all my cookies sold. Another important note, this time by an anti-spendthrift: I went to the bake sale with $2o and came back with $2. Whoops. Someone can just shove me off the couch at any time – but look out for the flurry of crumbs that are bound to fly in your eyes.)

These cookies have an official name, I’m sure, but I have no idea what it is. The recipe was passed down from my maternal great-grandmother, and she didn’t even have it written down – it was all in her head. Thankfully, my mom had the foresight to lock that thing down on paper, and the tradition continues, safe and sound.

The cookies were first called Great Mom’s Cookies by me because that was my name for my great-grandmother and, simply, it just made sense. On the other hand, I have heard my mom refer to them as Sugar Cookies, but that doesn’t seem right to me since the cookie itself is kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread. However, I can now say with confidence that these legendary cookies have finally landed themselves a name, and that is PEI Cookies.

My longtime friend KL always raided my mom’s baking at Christmastime for the “PEI Cookies” and after her repeatedly calling the cookies that for 15 years, the name has finally stuck. I suppose I should also note that my family is from PEI, which is where KL’s whole “PEI” thing came from – she didn’t just start that out of nowhere, like “Mmmmm…these uh, um, Newfound…no, Ont…no, PEI Cookies are great! Yeah…”

PEI Cookies for everyone!

PEI Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

1 cup margarine

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. salt

3 cups flour

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Place bowl in fridge for about 10 minutes to chill the dough to make it easier to work with. Place cookie cutters in fridge as well, as this will help (marginally) in battling against the sticky dough. Preheat oven to 375 C. Cover cookie-cutting surface, rolling pin, cookie sheet and hands with flour (you are going to need a lot of flour for this part – the dough is REALLY sticky and lots of flour is pretty much the only way to combat this unfortunate side-effect). Roll out dough to about 1/3-inch-ish thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before cutting it through the dough. Go to town cookie-cutting – but remember, keep your hands and the rolling pin coated in flour or else the PEI Cookies might not get baked at all and the dough will just end up in the trash in an act of extreme frustration. Bake for about 10 minutes. As cookies are baked, spread them out on wax paper.

When all the cookies are cool, you’re ready to ice them. Take about a tablespoon and a half each of shortening and soft margarine and mix together in small mixing bowl. Add milk and icing sugar until consistency is that of icing (you will use much more icing sugar than milk). Add small amount of almond flavouring.

Place desired amount of icing on cookies and then decorate with sprinkles. When finished, I dare you to eat less than five. It’ll be harder than you think.

I had a long day today. I was at my office in the morning, then off to another job in the afternoon. The traffic was horrendous, and I read a tidbit today about why that might have been: because it’s so cold out, people don’t want to walk, bike (yes, people bike here year-round!), or wait for the bus, so everyone gets into their cars, clogs the roads, and drives themselves (mad) instead. This was someone’s off-the-cuff observation, but I think it makes a lot of sense – and I was out there battling with the best of them, so I can attest to the unusually crowded streets on this frigid Tuesday. But, what was getting me through this far in the day was the bin of peanut butter balls I had made on Sunday. They were waiting for me at home in the fridge. I had a couple (three) at lunch, and there were five left for suppertime.

But first, I had to go to Rona. I hate it in there. I never know where anything is, it’s always really hard to find a worker, and when I do locate one, that worker never seems to know which aisle has the item(s) I need. Today I was looking for plastic to go over the windows at home to keep the drafts out, and zip ties for the Christmas lights going up in the front windows (long story – I just needed zip ties, OK?). The person I asked for help gave me 0-for-2 advice and sent me to the wrong aisle for both the plastic and the zip ties. ARGH! Rona! Peanut butter balls, peanut butter balls, peanut butter balls.

Next stop, the grocery store. Have you ever pushed a cart over snowy, slippery, rugged parking-lot terrain? Not the most fun experience in the world, and I don’t particularly enjoy already being in a sweat before I even start shopping. ARGH! Winter coats! Peanut butter balls, peanut butter balls, peanut butter balls.

OK, home now, time to put away the groceries. Cheese, eggs, and milk go in the fridge … what the eff? No peanut butter balls! The room spun and I saw bright stars; I screamed and looked at DN – turns out he and his friends ate all the peanut butter balls when I was cursing, grumbling, and sweating all over town. Then he said, “Well, they were a hit.” DN and his friends are dead now.

Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups icing sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 ½ cups peanut butter (you can use a low-calorie version)

1 cup chopped walnuts (cheaper to buy bulk and chop them yourself)

2 cups sweetened coconut

Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Roll into 1- to 1 ½-inch balls and put on cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in fridge for about half an hour to harden the balls. Spread wax paper over another cookie sheet (or two) in preparation rolling the balls in chocolate.

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup Parowax*

Put both ingredients in a double boiler**. Once melted, roll the balls in the chocolate one-by-one*** and put on wax-papered cookie sheet(s). When all balls are coated in chocolate, put in fridge to harden the outer shell. Enjoy!

*This is usually kept in the baking aisle in the grocery store, with the canning/jam-making supplies. It’s in a blue box (see below), the writing is yellow and white, and you’ve probably never noticed it before.

**I don’t have a double boiler, and I don’t know anyone who does, so what you can do instead is use two pots. Make sure one can rest on top of the other, as shown below, and boil the water in the bottom pot. You only need to fill about half the pot with boiling water because you don’t want the top pot to touch the water underneath it – all you need is the heat; you don’t want to burn the chocolate! Once the water is boiling, turn the element down to medium.

***Use a spoon to do this. It makes getting the ball out of the chocolate and onto the cookie sheet easier.

Who doesn’t love a brownie? It’s a pretty safe dessert to order, bake, or buy, and even the worst brownies are at least a little bit good in that you know you’re eating something chocolate and you can hang on to that thought, desperately—at least it IS dessert and not a piece of black licorice … or something. Now, forget about all those mediocre experiences and bake these brownies instead. They are, as the title of this post says, The Best Brownies Ever! I first encountered these brownies in high school, courtesy of AB. They were just so completely delicious, there was/is no other way to describe them other than to say this:

“Oh my God, these are sooooooo good!!! I just ate two … well, three. OK, I ate five. These are the best brownies ever!”

Any woman who loves herself a little sumpin’ sumpin’ of the sweet variety knows this is all there is to say in trying to explain the pleasure of eating a good chocolate dessert. As for myself, I must have added a few extra emphatic “o’s” in my exclamation of “sooooooo good,” showing just how earnest I was in my praise, because AB very graciously gave me the recipe to The Best Brownies Ever!, typed out and laminated onto a piece of Bristol board with gold stars stuck in the corners, no less! If you can believe it, I had that recipe card with me for six years and never made the brownies once. Blasphemy! That recipe card was a persistent little bugger, though, and it stayed with me through thick and thin, moves within Ontario and outside of it, and now it resides with me in Alberta, brownie batter splattered on it as proof of its tenacity.

So after a long (and puzzling) hibernation, I unearthed The Best Brownies Ever! recipe and it has been used countless times since I’ve been living in Edmonton. Now I want to pass the recipe on to you. Just make sure to bake them when alone so you don’t have to share.

The Best Brownies Ever!

1 cup margarine, melted

12 Tbsp cocoa powder added to melted margarine

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1¼ cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips (more or less according to taste)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Sprinkle some flour into bottom of 9×13” inch pan, pour in batter, and bake for about 25 minutes. When cooled, sprinkle icing sugar over brownies. Mentally thank AB.

Left: Freshly baked Darcy’s Squares. Right: Brother and sister all grown up.

“Darcy’s Squares” are named after who – my brother or my boyfriend? Ding-ding! if you guessed my brother. And for those of you who don’t know me or don’t know me well, and therefore had no background information on which to base your answer, yes, my brother and boyfriend have the same first name. This fact has caused much confusion with friends and family, both immediate and extended. People ask me if I find this double-Darcy situation weird, and my answer is always no. I like one Darcy in my life, so why not two?

I think my mom has been mentioned more than anyone else on my blog so far, and her ubiquity only increases with this post. She baked Darcy’s Squares, then known as Chocolate Chip Blonde Brownies, the day my brother was born, so while I might have come home from school that day excited about new baked goods being in the house, later happenings in the day trumped the thrill of the square – welcome to the world, baby brother of mine! I really don’t remember much about that day 21 years ago, but one thing that does stick out in my mind is the blue cigar made out of gum that my dad bought for me. It was good! And then, because I probably begged somewhat pathetically for seconds, the pink gum-cigar I happily acquired after consuming the blue one. I guess I thought the pink variety would have a different taste than the blue, and I just HAD TO KNOW if my suspicions were true.

Anyway, the Darcy’s Squares moniker only seemed appropriate, and now they have become boyfriend Darcy’s favourite recipe in my rotation of regularly baked desserts. But, to be frank, I am getting a little sick of them because of this! I do have some good memories, though, of them arriving, baked by mom, at my various residences in Toronto. Probably slightly malnourished yet bloated on English-muffin pizzas and peanut-butter-covered rice cakes, I was always thankful for some of that down-home bakin’! And for the large grocery bill the parentals always picked up for me on their road trips to the T-Dot, yo. Now both traditions have been passed on to my brother. So, in honour of parent-paid grocery bills everywhere, I present you with Darcy’s Squares:

Base:

1 cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup Crisco oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Topping: semi-sweet chocolate chips; chopped walnuts

Mix all base ingredients together. Spread in 8×8” pan sprayed with Pam. Cover with chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes. Once a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, you’re in business!

Note: For some reason my computer wouldn’t format some of the fractions and I couldn’t figure out how to do it myself so everything looked the same. Grrrr…!

Anyone who knows me only needs to see a picture of these squares, and they’ll think about how frigging good they were when I made them that one time, and then that other time, and oh, what about that different time…. Introduced to my family by my mom, they are unofficially called the Squeaky Squares and officially called Chocolate Confetti Squares. I prefer the former because it’s such a great conversation opener:

Me: “Hi! These are my Squeaky Squares.”

Potential Square Eater: “Wow, what a name. They sound great—all squeaky and fun to eat.”

Me (leaning menacingly towards Potential Square Eater): “THEY WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.”

A completely fabricated conversation, yes, but ever since bringing this recipe outside of the familial home, it has been a hit. I have been accused (jokingly, I hope) of trying to steal a boyfriend, of being a bad, bad person for bringing such an addictive substance through the door, and of being the only one who can make the squares taste as good as they do (true or false, friends?). Many a party was abandoned for the club/bar and too-expensive drinks, only for a few stragglers to return to the pre-going-out house to eat the leftover food, which always included warm Squeaky Squares. While made to be refrigerated, get a few drinks in anyone and left-out Squeaky Squares suddenly become the epitome of snacks.

Make a batch for yourself and reap the rewards, i.e.:

Party-goer: “Who brought these great squares?”

You (smugly): “I did.”

Party-goer: “Will you marry me?”

(While that scenario might not be as appealing to male readers (and maybe some female readers, too!), just insert your own fantasy into the last line and you get an idea as to the power of the Squeaky Square.)

Squeaky Squares/Chocolate Confetti Squares

¼ cup margarine

½ cup peanut butter

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 small bag of coloured mini marshmallows

Melt margarine in microwave. Pour into large mixing bowl. Soften peanut butter in microwave, and add to margarine. Stir together into lovely melted mixture. Add bag of chocolate chips and stir until mixture is smooth (if you need to put the bowl in the microwave to help this process along, that’s OK). Once everything is all nice and smooth, add the bag of marshmallows and mix in until all are coated with chocolate. Pour Squeaky Squares into 9 x 9”ish baking pan. Place in refrigerator and eat when hardened.

Note 1: Do not use reduced-calorie margarine. I have made this mistake and believe me, it doesn’t work. You can, however, use low-calorie peanut butter.

Note 2: You can use white mini marshmallows, but they lessen the goodness of the recipe, so I don’t recommend tampering!

I am learning how to play with my photo-editing program, and apparently one thing I need to work on is my font sizing. Everything looked so much bigger before I imported to my blog! So, clockwise from top, An annotated life of the Squeaky Square: Squeaky Squares in action; Here lie the Squeaky Squares; One of Squeaky Squares’ debuts; And here they are again; Acting as a birthday-cake stand-in.

Also, in the first picture I’m wearing the leopard-print top referenced in “T’was a mild day in Edmonton.” See? It’s not hideous!

If there’s one thing I like, it’s baked goods. They can be your baked goods, they can be my baked goods, they can be baked goods from the grocery store – it really doesn’t matter to me because it’s guaranteed that I will eat whatever has been mixed in a bowl and has had sugar and eggs added to it, preservatives be damned. One caveat, however, and it is straight from what my friends like to call my “rule book”: I do not like fruit in baked goods, so let it be known I will turn my nose up at apple pie, every time.

It is difficult to go wrong with the combination of cinnamon and sugar, though (mini deep-fried doughnuts at any carnival are an excellent example), so for my virgin baking voyage as De Facto Redhead, I decided to dedicate two hours of my Friday night to Snickerdoodles. I was introduced to Snickerdoodle deliciousness while in college. My closest friend (LK) in an otherwise tedious group of journalism students made these cookies for me as part of my Christmas gift. Oh, how they warmed my heart! Slightly raised on top, with craggy breaks in the dough into which cinnamon and sugar fell left me swooning (or, maybe just swaying unsteadily from how full I was after eating the entire tin). During following Christmas-baking seasons, I asked my mom to make Snickerdoodles, and they were good, but they never quite attained the select taste of my first experience with LK’s delectable sampling. Forgetting again tonight that trying to achieve someone else’s baking success is usually impossible, I gave the recipe a try, courtesy of Company’s Coming’s Most Loved Cookies. The recipe started with creaming together the margarine and sugar. As I am no Jean Paré, I’m not quite sure what “creaming” means since mashing and stirring seems to have worked for me in the past, as well as today, but hey, as I said, I’m no Paré.

After more creaming, beating, stirring, mixing, and rolling, and then two hours that involved, among other things, leaning against the sink with one oven mitt on, sampling too-hot pieces of cookie that had come straight out of the oven, my version of Snickerdoodles were baked and browned. (By the way, doesn’t it seem as if you’re eating fewer cookies as a whole if you’re only breaking off pieces of numerous cookies?)

So, are my cookies good? Yes. Are they worthy of a gorging session? Oh, yes. But, the million-dollar question, do they measure up to LK’s? No, they do not!

Snickerdoodle experiment over. I guess all I can do now is eat my cookies. Shame, that …

Snickerdoodles:

Hard magarine (or butter), softened – 1 cup

Granulated sugar – 1 ½ cups

Large eggs – 2

All-purpose flour – 2 ½ cups

Cream of tartar – 2 tsp.

Baking soda – 1 tsp.

Salt – ¼ tsp.

Granulated sugar – 2 Tbsp.

Ground cinnamon – 2 tsp.

Cream margarine and first amount of sugar in large bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine next four ingredients in medium bowl. Add to margarine mixture in two additions, mixing well after each addition until no dry flour remains. Roll into one-inch balls.

Combine second amount of sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Roll each ball in cinnamon mixture until coated. Arrange about two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in 375°F oven for about 10 minutes until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet for five minutes before removing to wire racks to cool. Makes about 4 ½ dozen cookies.

Note: Follow the 10-minute baking time! Even though the cookies seem really soft when you take them out, they harden up in the five minutes you leave them on the baking sheet before transferring them to the wire racks. I left a couple batches in the oven for about 15 minutes and they ended up being too hard for my liking.