Who doesn't love cut-out cookies?!!

I really think homemade gifts are so much fun.  Maybe it's because I have too much of my momma in me, or maybe its because I love the personal touch (and taste!!).  So a sweet friend from Tunisia was coming to Malta with her family for a vacation.  (Its awful that the word "holiday" came to mind first.)  I need to get back to the states ASAP!  Anyways, I decided to make her a cookie bouquet since yesterday was her birthday.  If anyone is curious how to do one, I'll try to outline it as best as I can.  Also, if you dont think you can do it...trust me you can!  It's super easy.  

So here was the end product:

I think everyone probably has a sugar cookie recipe that they love.  Mine, I thought was an old family recipe.  See, my mom had an Aunt Ethel.  And every time I would pull her old, tattered recipe card out of the box... I would read "Aunt Ethel's Cut Out's."  So I thought we had the real deal.  Well after I moved away, I remember one day calling my mom for the recipe.  She was driving and just said... "Google it.  It's from the Betty Crocker Cookbook."  I remember saying to her... No...thats not the recipe I want.  I want your Aunt Ethel's.  She started laughing.  Wouldn't you know that the Betty Crocker recipe is listed under "Aunt Ethel"???   Broke my heart :)  So, if you want my recipe here it is:

Ethel's Sugar Cookies

adapted from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (copyright 1977)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1. Mix butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly.
2. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Blend butter mixture and flour mixture.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to sit on the counter for 15-30 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
6. On a board that has been lightly floured with a mixture of flour and confectioner's sugar, roll dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. Cut with your favorite cooky cuter.
7. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Top with colored sanding sugar, if desired.
8. Bake 6 to 8 minutes, or until cookies are a delicate light golden color. 

For the frosting... I love the butter cream icing in the same cookbook.  It's like the real frosting taste, not the fake kind.  Royal icing is very popular with perfect looking cookies, but I just dont like the taste at all....so I try my best to work with the butter cream one.  

Buttercream Icing

Blend together 2 1/2 TBS soft butter and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  

Add to it:  1 1/2 TBS milk and 3/4 tsp vanilla.

It's so simple and yummy.  Whenever I make the frosting though, I always double the recipe for one batch of cookies and it seems to come out just about right.

So after you decorate the cookies however you like and they dry... here are a few easy steps to put it all together.

I forgot to mention that it's sometimes a little tough to get the candy stick into the cookie correctly.  I do recommend cutting the cookies a little thicker and then placing them on the cookie sheet.  I like to insert the stick with them ready to bake.  Go slowly and I try to spin the stick carefully as I slide it up.  Go about half way up... and make sure to let them cool a little before removing them from the cookie sheet. This all sounds funny I know, but I'm not sure how else to explain it!

All the craft stores have these like longer treat/candy bags.  Put your cookie inside gently and then pinch the bottom and tie it together with a ribbon or whatever you have.

So this is pretty random, but I didn't have access to anything to use for weight this morning when I was making this.  It rained so I couldnt get to the beach for sand (which I prefer) and I was in a hurry.  So I used two bags of Malta's version of powdered sugar.  Although after I bought it and tried it, I realized I would never use it again because I dont know what it really is.  It was way to fine.  Anyways... For this bouquet, I just used a simple gift bag I had.  You can use anything from a bag to a container or be creative!  You just need to make sure you have weight on the bottom.

On top of the icing bags, I cut a piece of floral foam or whatever you call that stuff and placed it inside.  I used the stiffer one (there are two kinds for real and artificial flowers), because I think it holds the sticks more securely.   

Then start putting tissue around the outside of the foam.  I cut one piece of tissue in half, and then kind of pinch the center of that piece and whip it in one direction to make the rest rise up.  If that makes sense?  Or do what you need to do to be able to tuck it into the sides.  Keep the back a little higher and the front shorter.

After you have all your tissue in, put something small on top of the remaining green foam so you can't see it.

This part I think is one of the most important and something I learned by trial and error.  I used to always take the cookies on the stick and push it down into the foam where i wanted them.  This sometimes caused the cookies to come off the stick because of the force when I would push it down.  I also bake my cookies so they are very soft and so because of that, I have to be so gentle when putting it together.  So anyways, as logical as this is... it just took me a while to figure out that I needed to use a separate candy stick to just make all the holes. Then i could just slide the finished product into the foam without applying pressure.  

You can arrange them anyway you like.  I usually do like three in the back, one in the middle, and then two short ones in the front on the sides.  The bigger the container, obviously the more you can do.

Good luck!!!

When God speaks ... loud and clear

Yesterday I was reading my daily sections of my Bible for my goal of reading it in one year.  I was reading in Luke, chapter 5... versus 27.  It was the first verse for the day and it goes like this:

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Well the reason this was both awesome and awakening is because it took me back to 2005 when God called me to go on a year long missions trip called The World Race.  It was His exact words to me all those years ago and I honestly wrestled with it for about 9 months before I gave in and surrendered to what He was calling me to do.  Back then, I had my life in a perfect box.  My job, family, friends, car, home, stuff...everything was great and comfortable.  I did NOT want to give it all up for some unknown.

2006 was maybe the best year of my life.  Going on that trip in full submission to God...knowing it was what he wanted me to do...and really living in it was unreal.  It was an experience that I'll treasure forever.  It showed me a different side of God's heart I didnt know.  His love for the poor, the sick, the outcast... and He showed us how to follow Him and love them too.  

I'm so excited that I've gotten back into the Word and am working on praying more and I guess regaining that strong foundation of a relationship with God I had before.  Living overseas is sometimes a struggle for me because I dont have my church, my family and friends who encourage and speak truth to me, my mentor, my bible studies...all that stuff.  But its also not an excuse either.  I have really just been kind of lazy at disciplining myself to keep God at the center of my days.  And the silly thing is... I KNOW without a doubt I'm such a happier, kinder, more generous person when I'm giving each day to the Lord.  

Something that I'll be forever grateful for is in December of 2009.  I heard a man speaking from a video at my church.  He was Burundian and desperately needed help with street children.  I originally had planned on going to Thailand for the winter to serve but really felt God tugging on my heart for Africa.  So in January...i left.  My amazing friend Kim went with me and I spent the next 5 months in Africa.  We had to go to the U.S. Embassy to get malaria meds and as we are walking in, this blonde hottie is walking out.  Long story short, that blondie is now my fiance...2 years later!  Two midwest people meeting and falling in love in the middle of Africa... can you say God is    AMAZING!!!  

So at the beginning of this new year... its definitely in God's humor to throw me the verse that changed my life before.  The verse that says "Follow Me."  I know He desires for us all to be close to Him and the best part is He never gives up trying.  Even when we suck and are lazy.  He still loves us.  Unconditionally.  

I was looking back at my blog from my trip and wanted to share this sentence I wrote.  It was like my first or second night into the trip and I was kind of scared.  

"Last night I think reality set in. We arrived in a little village over the border and slowly tackled the bumpy roads back to our new home. The building is a part church/ part dorm. As I laid in my sleeping bag, I felt a bit nervous. What am I doing? And then I felt a peace come over me and God reassuring me that He desires for me to grow, learn, and minister on this trip. I just needed to trust."

It encouraged me today when I re-read it because following God is very scary at times when there are so many unknowns.  But I know the fruit from trusting Him even in the small day to days is so worth it!

I hope you find Jesus in your days and grasp Him with everything inside of you.  He is worth fighting for!!