Cookies and Cameras

I'm leaving on retreat tomorrow and will be gone until Tuesday so this will be my last blog till then. I'm running around trying to gather all my "stuff" to take with me. I should do this earlier every year, but something always comes up and I end up doing it at the last minute. When I'm in a hurry I tend to get ahead of myself and get clumsy. I knocked a bag of flour on the floor of my pantry. What a mess!!

I went to the big box store the other night to buy myself a little camera so I can take pictures more easily for my blog. I know nothing about cameras, that's my son's area of expertise. The only think I knew is that the one I picked out was small and pink. Hopefully I'll have retreat pictures for you when I get back.

I baked soft sugar cookies to take, not that we don't eat ourselves stupid on the food provided. I never buy purchased baked goods for a party or potluck. I'll buy them for just me at home, but not for my friends. I don't like to cook, but I love to bake. The cookies in the picture below aren't the ones I made (see above-can't work camera yet). I thought I should have a picture, and since these were pink, I thought this one would do. One of my favorite authors is Susan Wiggs. One thing I like about her books is that she puts recipes in them along with the stories. This is an awesome sugar cookie recipe, soft and puffy and not too sweet. Since our group is called the Busy Bees I frosted them with yellow frosting and put black sugar stripes on them. They turned out really cute.

Ricotta Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup softened butter

1 cups sugar

1 15 oz carton full-fat ricotta cheese

2 eggs

3 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp grated lemon zest

4 cups flour

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2-4 Tbls milk

2 drops almond extract (optional)

sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cookie ingredients to form a sticky dough. Drop by teaspoonfulls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until bottoms turn golden brown (the tops will stay white). Transfer to wire racks to cool. To make the glaze, stir milk a few drops at a time, along with the almond exract if desired, into the powdered sugar in a saucepan. Stir over low heat to create a glaze (don't keep on stove too long). Drizzle over cooled cookies and top with colored sprinkles. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend. See you next week.

P.S. Thank you for all the help with my barstool that had water spots on it. All of your advise was great and the bar stool is back to normal. Now, does anyone know why the blogspot spell check doesn't work?