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Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

These cute little shortbread cookies with jelly or jam in the middle are the best things since merengues.  They're really simple and quick to make, but you may end up making a few batches because you eat them all... Ingredients- -1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened -3 tablespoons sugar -1 teaspoon vanilla extract -1 cup flour -About 2-3 tablespoons jelly or jam (it's far easier to just take the jar and a spoon) 1.  Beat sugar, vanilla, and butter until light and fluffy. 2.  Add the flour and beat to form a smooth dough. 3.  Roll teaspoon-sized balls of dough, spacing about 1 inch apart on cookie tray with parchment paper 4. With your thumb, make an indentation in the top of the cookie.  This part is always a little frustrating, and I learned the hard way that dough sticks less to clean hands than greased. 5. Fill the indentation with jelly.  It's okay if it's a little messy. 6.  Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes, until tops of cookies begi...
Recent posts

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie FAIL

4/29/18 Okay, so yesterday I tried to make PB cookies.  We were short on flour, so I thought it was a lovely little quirk that the recipe didn't call for flour.  Looking back on it, that should have made me deeply suspicious, especially since the title of the recipe wasn't "Flourless PB Cookies."  It was probably a typo to leave that out.  Sooo... anyways we stuck it in the oven for the called-for amount of time and it ended up looking like this- So as you can tell, this fun little plan didn't work out so well.  When I put it in the oven, instead of solidifying into cookies, the batter sort of all melted together into one big lump in the pan.  Then it started bubbling, which is really random for cookies.  When we took it out, it had made a sort of greasy, soft, wet brittle, I guess you could call it, but it wasn't brittle.  It wasn't bad though!!  If you ever want to make a peanut-buttery apple dip with a very strange texture, or w...

Tweaked Quaker Oatmeal Cookies

   You can find this recipe on the bottom of a Quaker oat lid.  It's delicious, of course, but with a few changes you can make it even better.   YOU'LL NEED -14 tablespoons of softened butter (almost two sticks) -3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar -1/2 cup granulated sugar -2 eggs -1/2 teaspoon almond extract -1 1/2 cup flour -1 teaspoon baking soda -1 teaspoon cinnamon -1/2 teaspoon salt -3 cups oats, uncooked -1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

DIY Paw Print Charm

Sculpting is one of the things I do best.  Cats are some of the best things on the planet.  So I decided to combine these two, and the resulting paw print charm is a very cute and simple craft idea.  You can give it to a friend as a gift, or keep it for yourself, or clip it to your cat's collar. YOU'LL NEED- -Medium-sized ball of clay, your choice of color ( I use Sculpey) -Toothpick -Eyelet

My Best Photographs

Okay, I'm not pretending I'm an amazing photographer. My lighting is often off.  My backgrounds are not the best.  My subjects are sometimes boring.  You know.  I could go on and on about what's wrong with my photos, but once in a while everything just falls into place.  Presenting my best photos so far- Nature's Babies I caught these gorgeous captures of plants in my yard at the perfect time of day, it seems.  I love the colors in them.  Like babies, they are beautiful and somewhat pinker than average . These beautiful fall colors show up once a year.      This cute bush of pink flowers blooms in the spring.  They even smell delicious! Yes, these are weeds that grow at the base of our tree, but they're beautiful weeds. Purple Mountain Majesty After catching this on a long hike in sunny California, I started to really grasp what the iconic line means.  Look at that sky!  I loved ...

February

The daffodils grow in bright little clumps  And the soft breeze blows away frost lumps. The warm weather enters like warm fuzzy cape As the winter disintegrates and the world reshapes. Some cute little daffodils growing in my yard.

How To Draw Cartoon People

I've done my share of horrible comics in the past, the best of which involved a love affair between an overweight unicorn and a black cat. I guess my storylines need a little work.  But over the years I've gotten pretty good at drawing cartoon people.  Here's a little step-by-step: 1.  First, lay out the face and hair.  Almost all of these lines will eventually be erased, so make them light.  2. Sketch in the body. Accentuate the curves a little, even on guys, to follow the typical cartoon style.  Lay out the hair a little more, changing it if you want to.  3. Draw in clothes and props. Now for the face.  You know those lines you see on professional sketches?  Turns out they're actually pretty helpful!  The eyes, which should look like slightly squished gumdrops, will be right on the center.  Check it out below- In this face, you can see that line goes through the center of the eyes,...