BIG NEWS!

(In case I have any followers that don’t actually know me in real life.)

My sister is engaged!!

It makes me nostalgic for my pre-GS third wheel posts with Kelly and Aaron. Now they’re getting married!

My cousin, Hannah, is also getting married (in less than a month!) and I volunteered to make all the cookies for the wedding. I live alone and don’t really have friends in Rochester, so I’m perfectly fine spending the week before with my hand mixer pre-making cookie dough. I made a bunch of cookies this weekend so that we could taste test for the wedding at camp, and also so that Aaron would meet his cookie quota as he’s been missing my baking since I left Baltimore.

I made double chocolate, two kinds of oatmeal raisin, and these Italian cookies. My Aunt Diane (my godmother) makes these cookies for all McDermott holidays and they always  vanish.

And last night I made another batch to bring to work today for my birthday, as I’ve developed a personal tradition of making my own birthday dessert. This is the first time it hasn’t included chocolate, so you KNOW these must be good. Or it means I’m turning 25 and can branch out a little bit with my sweet tooth.

Last weekend I made the cookies with buttercream frosting, but I tried out a lemon glaze this time to see which one will be better when I make them for the wedding.

Italian Cookies

5 eggs

5 cups flour

5 tsp baking powder

3 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

2 sticks softened butter

1/2 cup milk

Aunt Di says this makes about 5 dozen cookies. That’s a lot. If you’re in a pickle and only want to make half of the recipe like I did- you can crack 5 eggs into a glass measuring cup, and pour out half. Scramble up the other 2 1/2 for dinner.

Combine the eggs, butter, vanilla, milk, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until a sticky dough forms.

Roll the dough into small balls- about a teaspoon, and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Aunt Di recommends the air baking sheets so that the cookies don’t get too brown on the bottom. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Once they cool, frost each with a little buttercream. You can use store bought frosting, or make your own and use food coloring to make it pretty. Lemon glaze is just fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and powdered sugar. You can add the sugar gradually until you reach a consistency you like.

I’m guessing there’s a more ladylike way to glaze cookies, but I’ve always favored speed and efficiency over being ladylike.

So cute and poppable!