Naughty and Nice

I am getting down to the wire with last min. baking and gifts. I finished the last quilt I was going to do in time for Christmas.  This one is Amy's.  I just love the colors, Just fabulous!  I did this same pattern several years ago in dark colors.  It's good to see

 something so fresh and so NICE!

Yesterday I made popcorn balls.  Yummy and NICE!

I use to not like popcorn balls as they were so hard and crunchy.  I have a recipe that I really like that is creamy and chewy.  I am sure because it has more butter and also goes to the soft ball stage while others seem to go to the crack stage, which tends to stick to my teeth!

Popcorn Balls

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lt. karo syrup
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
12 cups of air popped popcorn without salt

Air pop popcorn and set aside.  In a heavy duty sauce pan, combine other ingredients and cook on medium heat until temp. on the candy thermometer is in the soft ball stage.  Remove from heat and pour over popcorn.  Butter hands and form into balls.

Everyone has a favorite that they want me to make.

For my daughter, it's sugar cookies.  My Ex husband's grandmother made the best!  The sour cream seems to be the secret!  This year I tried something different in making icing with snow flakes.  Believe me,  no two snowflakes are alike! After spending so much time decorating them,  I kept thinking that certainly there is something faster!  Nope, I didn't have any sprinkles, but the craft side of me wanted to substitute beads instead!   NAUGHTY!

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
6 egg yolks
6 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the sour cream, egg yolks and vanilla.  Mix the dry ingredients and combine.  Roll out dough on a non stick surface and cut out into shapes.  Bake 350 degrees until lightly golden.

Glace' Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar
6 Tbs. whole milk
6 Tbs. lt. corn syrup
1 tsp. flavored extract (almond or lemon)

Combine sugar, and milk until smooth.  Then add the other two ingredients.  Tint with food coloring or food paste.  frost the cookies with this consistency.  If you wish to decorate, add more powdered sugar to the mix to make it stiffer.



My son likes lemon bars the best.  Somehow the first batch didn't turn out very well at all.  The lemony portion was runny and didn't even taste like lemon!  Then it dawned on me that I had missed putting in the lemon, the flour and the baking powder!  My thoughts were to give them to my son anyway. NAUGHTY!   But today I took time and remade them.  It's all about the list thing, checking it twice and making the second one NICE!

Lemon Bars

2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
cut in 1 cup of butter and pat into a 9 X 13 pan.  Bake 20 min. at 350 degrees.
 then mix 2 cups sugar, 4 slightly beaten eggs, 1 Tbs. flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 4 Tbs, lemon juice.  Pour over crust and bake for 25 more min.

 I made baked potatoes for dinner.  Imagine my surprise when I ran across one in the shape of a Christmas stocking!

I have some gift cards to give out this year and ran across a unique way to present them in cans.  You can find the link here!  NICE!

NAUGHTY and NICE....
Remember that New Year's resolution I made about hemming pants?  Well they all finally got done! NICE!  So I am wrapping up
8 pair for hubby for Christmas. One pair I picked up at a thrift store just for fun and hemmed it about 8 inches shorter than the others. hee hee...ha ha...ho ho....  NAUGHTY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL and hope it's all NICE!