Cat-shaped Cookies
Hello everbody
Hope you are having great, relaxing and magical holidays with your friends, family or on your own.
Currently, I'm alone with my kitties, but from tomorrow on I'll pay the obligatory visit to my family, which means I'll be gone until the 29th. I might be able to check on my messages, emails and LJ briefly, but I probably won't be able to reply, at least not at length. And I won't be on messenger or skype until I'm back. Just wanted to let you know, and apologize in case I have to keep you waiting.
Yesterday, I spent half of the day editing my Yule/Winter Solstice one-shot, a project that was very dear to my heart, because I often lack the right words to tell my wonderful friends how much they really mean to me (yes, that includes you. I am so happy to know you!), and this was a try to spell out my feelings. Between the lines, of course.
Before and while editing the story, I also did something I traditinally do every year, but couldn't do last year, due to a severe lack of time: baking cookies.
I love doing that (yes, I have a very motherly side... even reminding me of Gillian at times). In addition, I got some really nice cat-shaped cookie cutters last year, and never had the chance to try them out... So this year, I made Butter Cats (traditional shape: any you want, various), Lemon Cats (traditional shape: heart), Cinnamon Cats (traditional shape: stars) as well as mini Choc-Chip Cookies (suiting as well ;) and Vanilla Moons (the latter two can't really be put into a different shape, so no kitties there).
If any of you lived closer, I would sent you some, or even better invite you to tea and cookies. But since you all live so far away, all I can offer is the 'virtual' version (aka photographic proof).
First of all, the snow report (I live in 'lowland' Switzerland, so a white Christmas is not always guaranteed). This is a fairly 'normal' amount for this time of the year:
(taken from my bedroom window)
(taken from my kitchen window. Yes, I'm lucky to live next to a forest. Really pretty sight, no matter what season.)
(My balcony. Just to give you another idea of the amount of snow...)
(Just for the sake of completion... my little altar, decorated for Yule. The special candle holders cast star-shaped dots of light, which looks extremely nice Sadly enough, I couldn't take a good picture, since it's a new camera and I haven't figured out yet how to turn the flash off.)
But now over to the baking part...
(This is how you start... after the dough is done, of course, but I thought I spare you that part.)
(This is how it works... Fairly easy actually, but takes sooo much time...)
(Those are the Butter Cats, by the way. I did some different shapes - christmas trees and stars - too)
(Those are the Lemon Cats. The dough is really soft, so I didn't do that many 'standing cats', because their tails and legs would break so easily... After baking, they get a lemon icing.)
(The Cinnamon Cats. Here the veeery messy part of adding the icing - made out of eggwhite and icing sugar.)
(As you all know how Choc-chip Cookies look like, here a picture of the Vanilla Moons. Those are very traditional over here. After they are baked, you roll them in a vanilla-sugar mix while they are still warm - so the sugar sticks better.)
Baking makes tired... here one of my trusty 'helpers' :)
And finally: (virtual) cat-shaped (and other) cookies for everyone! (The trees and stars were done traditionally with a decoration of sugar pearls, the cats are sprinkled with special sugar - Chocolate Coffee and Tropical Vanilla).
Hope you are having great, relaxing and magical holidays with your friends, family or on your own.
Currently, I'm alone with my kitties, but from tomorrow on I'll pay the obligatory visit to my family, which means I'll be gone until the 29th. I might be able to check on my messages, emails and LJ briefly, but I probably won't be able to reply, at least not at length. And I won't be on messenger or skype until I'm back. Just wanted to let you know, and apologize in case I have to keep you waiting.
Yesterday, I spent half of the day editing my Yule/Winter Solstice one-shot, a project that was very dear to my heart, because I often lack the right words to tell my wonderful friends how much they really mean to me (yes, that includes you. I am so happy to know you!), and this was a try to spell out my feelings. Between the lines, of course.
Before and while editing the story, I also did something I traditinally do every year, but couldn't do last year, due to a severe lack of time: baking cookies.
I love doing that (yes, I have a very motherly side... even reminding me of Gillian at times). In addition, I got some really nice cat-shaped cookie cutters last year, and never had the chance to try them out... So this year, I made Butter Cats (traditional shape: any you want, various), Lemon Cats (traditional shape: heart), Cinnamon Cats (traditional shape: stars) as well as mini Choc-Chip Cookies (suiting as well ;) and Vanilla Moons (the latter two can't really be put into a different shape, so no kitties there).
If any of you lived closer, I would sent you some, or even better invite you to tea and cookies. But since you all live so far away, all I can offer is the 'virtual' version (aka photographic proof).
First of all, the snow report (I live in 'lowland' Switzerland, so a white Christmas is not always guaranteed). This is a fairly 'normal' amount for this time of the year:
(taken from my bedroom window)
(taken from my kitchen window. Yes, I'm lucky to live next to a forest. Really pretty sight, no matter what season.)
(My balcony. Just to give you another idea of the amount of snow...)
(Just for the sake of completion... my little altar, decorated for Yule. The special candle holders cast star-shaped dots of light, which looks extremely nice Sadly enough, I couldn't take a good picture, since it's a new camera and I haven't figured out yet how to turn the flash off.)
But now over to the baking part...
(This is how you start... after the dough is done, of course, but I thought I spare you that part.)
(This is how it works... Fairly easy actually, but takes sooo much time...)
(Those are the Butter Cats, by the way. I did some different shapes - christmas trees and stars - too)
(Those are the Lemon Cats. The dough is really soft, so I didn't do that many 'standing cats', because their tails and legs would break so easily... After baking, they get a lemon icing.)
(The Cinnamon Cats. Here the veeery messy part of adding the icing - made out of eggwhite and icing sugar.)
(As you all know how Choc-chip Cookies look like, here a picture of the Vanilla Moons. Those are very traditional over here. After they are baked, you roll them in a vanilla-sugar mix while they are still warm - so the sugar sticks better.)
Baking makes tired... here one of my trusty 'helpers' :)
And finally: (virtual) cat-shaped (and other) cookies for everyone! (The trees and stars were done traditionally with a decoration of sugar pearls, the cats are sprinkled with special sugar - Chocolate Coffee and Tropical Vanilla).