Giveaway - USA address

Edit:  The winner is Rita in WI.
I have removed the entrants from the comment section.
I am giving away the leaflet for the O Holy Night Nativity that I finished this year.
I will only mail this to a USA address so if you live out of the country you may enter the drawing as long as you can provide a USA address for me to mail your prize to you should your name be drawn as the winner.
If you would like to enter please leave a comment on this post.
If you are a follower of my blog you can leave another comment saying you are a follower and you will have a second chance to win the leaflet.
I will draw a name around January 3, 2018.
Please leave your email address in your comment(s) if it's not easily available from your entry so I can notify you if you are the winner of the drawing. 
I stitched this on Zweigart 14 count Vintage Blue Whisper Aida and I substituted DMC floss for the beads.
CLICK HERE to see my finished piece.
Good Luck to everyone.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Last of the Cookies

The cookie baking is over for another Christmas season.  A lady on the 123Stitch message board posted about making some cookies she called Slovak Cookies - Rosky, that her mother made while she was growing up.  I found a similar looking cookie here and decided to try them out.  After much time and even more work I had 3 dozen cookies for our Christmas gathering tomorrow.  My thought was this is not something that would become a tradition for me and I was ready to never think of them again.  But after sampling them, my dear husband has deemed them the most wonderful of all the cookies and for each negative I pointed out about my experience he came back with a positive that made it all worthwhile to end up with such delightful cookies.
The messy red cookies in front had Smuckers Sugar Free Stawberry preserves for the filling which melted and ran all over and as they cooled there is a sticky jelled layer on the bottom of the cookie - I suspect the "sugar free" aspect is the problem.  Since I only had sugar free jams/preserves I knew I needed a different filling for the remainder of the cookies.  Aren't they a pretty red color for Christmas, though?
I used the date filling recipe in our date pinwheel cookie recipe (see the recipe in an earlier post below) - this must be the magic for dear husband.
I won't say I will never make these cookies again because by now I am very familiar with my selective memory.  Next year I may only remember the positive reviews and totally forget the major pain these were to produce.
Have a very Merry Christmas, if you are celebrating, or a Merry End of the Year.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Cookies!

I made 12 dozen orange cookies (see post below for the recipe) to take to our family Thanksgiving but sadly word came back that so many were out of cookies. So I made another 12 dozen orange cookies that will be delivered tomorrow. I also made some date Pinwheel cookies which are my dear husband's favorite cookie that his Mom made for him. We don't need a lot of cookies but I only am sending 1 1/2 dozen Pinwheel Cookies with the Orange Cookies.
I am also sending the recipe for anyone who wants to make more cookies.

Mom’s Pinwheel cookies
FILLING:
2 1/2 cups Dates, cut up
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Mix and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stir. Then add:
1 cup Nuts, chopped, walnuts
DOUGH
Cream together
1 cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar, packed
Then add and beat until well mixed
3 eggs
Then add and mix well
4 cups Flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
36 slices from each roll
Mix dough and refrigerate at least 2 hours
Divide dough in half and roll into 9 x 15 rectangle. Spread with half of date mixture.
Roll from long side as jelly roll.
Freeze, or refrigerate .
Slice and Bake when ready
Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes
 

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Virtual Cookie Exchange

Grandma’s Orange Cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I substitute 1 T lemon juice mixed into 1 cup whole milk)
3 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 large navel orange - see note

Mix sugar and shortening until well blended then mix in eggs one at a time.

Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add buttermilk and dry ingredients alternately to the sugar and egg mixture and mix by hand.

Note:
Zest the orange and then juice it.
Reserve 3 T of zest and 3 T juice for the frosting.
Add any leftover grated orange rind and orange juice to the buttermilk (if there is more than 3 T of either from one orange).

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

FROSTING: Mix all together
1/2 cup soft butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 T orange juice
3 T chopped orange rind
3 cups powdered sugar

These freeze very well.  I usually freeze them on a cookie sheet after they are frosted.  Then I stack them in large containers with wax paper between the frozen layers.

If you would like links to more cookie recipes CLICK HERE to go to  Carol's blog, Just Let Me Quilt or click the links below.

December 5 

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Creative Latitude

Gray Barn Designs

Domestic Felicity

Pieced Brain

Quiltscapes

Ms P Designs USA

Cynthia’s Creating Ark

December 6

 Sew Incredibly Crazy

Freemotion by the River

Moosestash Quilting

One Old Goat And Her Little Farm

A Little Bit of Everything, from Mike & Alisa

Hazel’s Daughter

Patchouli Moon Studio

Bumbleberry Stitches

Selina Quilts

Brenda’s Blog

December 7

 Quilt Doodle Doodles

Kris Loves Fabric

Life in the Scrapatch

Home Sewn By Us

For The Love Of Geese

Stitch Days

Val’s Quilting Studio

Tu-Na Quilts

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Just Let Me Quilt

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]