Well it is that time of the year here in the US. A time for gathering with all your family and friends, cooking for 18 hours straight, yelling at each other till you want to throw the turkey out the window, eating the meal in 12 minutes, blaming your tummy ache on someone else for not stopping you on your 15th helping and them falling into a food induced coma....All in the name of being grateful.
That's right, it's Thanksgiving! The air is cool and crisp in most of the US. Some of us are still dealing with a summer heat while others are plowing snow to get to their in-laws. Today you will feast on not only Turkey but dressing, stuffing, casseroles and ham. Not to mention all the sweets!
Oh the sweets, those glorious sweets! It is the time of years when Granny and Auntie pull out their most prized recipes to make. Those treasures of the family that are such a pain in the butt to make they only get made once, maybe twice a year. Everything from cakes to pies to cookies will all contribute to the clogging of many an artery today.
But let us not forget those that are so far away from now. Soldiers are still holding the front line. Police are still on the beat. Doctors and nurses are still in the hospitals. Not to mention the firefighters and EMT that are on call today to run over to your house because you forgot to thaw the turkey before you deep fried it. Yeah, I'm looking at you.
So, give thanks today. For your family, all those crazed relatives that contributed to the mess you are today. You know you love them. For your friends, the ones that helped you through all the crazed messes your family drove you to. For our soldiers, police, doctors, nurse, firefights and emt. For healing us and protecting us time and time again.Just be thankful because remember, no matter how bad it is, it can get worse and we should all...In every country, every where....Take a moment here and there to give thanks, for all we have had, for all we have and all we will have.
Happy Thanksgiving to All!
Maple Sugar Cookies:
- 2.5 Cups Unsalted Butter, room temp
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Egg
- 5 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2.5 Teaspoon Maple Extract
- 5 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 3 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
- In a bowl sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar on slow speed until just creamed.
- Add in the eggs and extracts.
- Mix until just combined.
- Fold in the flour mixture until everything comes together. Be careful not to over mix the dough or get too much air into it. You don't want these to rise or lose shape.
- Take the dough, sprinkle it with the cocoa powder and roll it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper until .75-1 cm thick. I use dowel rods on each side to rest my rolling pin on. This gives me the perfect equal thickness for each cookie.
- Place the rolled out dough into your refrigerator for 3 hours.
- Remove and cut out shapes. Arrange on cookie sheet 1-2 inches apart. Return to refrigerator for another hour.
- Repeat steps 6-8 till all the scraps are used up and chilling.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Make sure oven is to temp before baking.
- Remove each cookie sheet from the refrigerator 1 at a time and bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool fully.
- Decorate!
- Serve and Enjoy!
