I was baking

I did some baking this weekend. Yes I did! I was happy and we spread happiness with the baked goods!

We were invited to a dinner on Saturday and I offered to bake some bread.  I cannot go empty handed.  So I made two loaves of buttermilk bread and just to be safe, a lemon-meringue pie.  Dinner was fabulous!  We had the best brisket, a crisp salad full of good vegetables, baked potatoes, beans and bread.  For dessert you had choices – pumpkin roll, chocolate cake and/or lemon meringue.  Great friends, food, drinks and conversation – the night could not have been any better!

Sunday we had two children over and the girls decorated cookies for Valentine’s day although I am sure by Thursday, the cookies will be gone. The girls decorated while the boys played inside and out. Here are some of these heavily frosted cookies.

They look delicious, don't they?  

Believe me, they are.

I sent plates of Carson's cookies home for her family to enjoy.  Everyone likes homemade cookies!

I have wanted to try a new recipe for cheese crackers since I’d like to stop buying Cheez-It crackers.  So I did. I mixed the ingredients together and made them.  The recipe failed to say how thin or thick to roll the dough out so I rolled it out quite thin. I was surprised to see how they puffed up in the oven. (That could have been due to the flour I used.  I’ll make note of that.) Cute!  Staying in the theme of things, I cut these crackers using a mini heart cookie cutter. 

Homemade Goldfish crackers

8 ounces (weight) Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

4 Tbsp. butter, cut into cubes

1 cup flour

¾ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. cold water

First I had to shred the block of cheese.

 Oh sweet cheddar...

Pulse the cheese, butter, flour and salt together in a food processor until it resembles coarse sand.  Pulse in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time. 

Remove dough from the processor, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. 

Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.    

Note: I did not flour the surface and all went well.

You can use a toothpick to poke the shapes (I did not do this so perhaps this is why they puffed). 

Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until crispy. (I did not have any parchment paper so went with just the tray).

Makes approximately 7 dozen crackers.  (I had 9 dozen crackers with the cookie cutter I used.)

I failed to take photos of the baked cracker. I'll have to do that and add to this.

They are quite good. I'll need to bake these again.

I might even add some red pepper flakes next time, at least to some of the dough.