Menus on Monday

'Tis Monday, and I haven't posted this week's menus! Forgive me for being such a foodie, and only blogging about food lately! Just hit delete when you see the word "menu" in the subject line if reading about food doesn't make your heart leap! (As if you need my permission to do this, but anyway!) We loved the French Dip sandwiches last week, but my choice of venison roast wasn't a good one. Too dry! A nice chuck roast marbled with fat 'twould be much better! I never made the apple salad...still want to! Made funfetti cookies instead of chocolate chip; life is always better with LOTS of sprinkles! I made them when Katie and I took snack to school last Thursday, and Ryan sarcastically said that I would probably blog the recipe so I dare not disappoint him! 

SOFTBATCH FUNFETTI SUGAR COOKIES

Move over cake mix. These easy, super soft cookies are from scratch and loaded with sprinkles. They're super soft and tender, with just hints of chewiness, and are my new favorite sugar cookies. They're pillowy soft without turning cakey or crunchy, thanks to a bit of cornstarch. It's my secret weapon for making softbatch-style cookies. The extracts used give the cookies a cake batter-like taste, while the abundance of sprinkles baked in adds texture and flavor to the rich, buttery dough. They're fast, easy, and the recipe makes a small batch size. Feel free to double it. Chilling the dough is imperative before baking and don't be tempted to overbake.

YIELD: 15 medium cookies

 

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

 

COOK TIME: 8 minutes

 

TOTAL TIME: 2+ hours, for dough chilling

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract (real vanilla extract may be substituted)
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste (sharon here - I use 1/2 tsp.)
3/4 cup sprinkles (jimmies) (sharon - almost too many! Gasp! 1/2 cup would be better! Buy at Dollar Tree - bright, pretty, and peanut-free for $1!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, egg, extract, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes). Do not shortcut the creaming process; make sure dough is very light in color and fluff, stop to scrape down the sides of the mixer as necessary.
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
3. Add the sprinkles and beat momentarily to incorporate, less than 1 minute, or fold in by hand.
4. Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two tablespoon mounds (I made 15). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
5. Preheat oven to 350F, line two baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake for 8 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. These cookies should not turn golden or brown at all and should stay white. Do not bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 15 minutes, and were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark). Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
6. Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Adapted from Chewy Sugar Sprinkles Cookies and Sugar Doodle Vanilla Cookies

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

OK, here goes for this week! Believe it or not, we actually had some meals made with leftovers! Yay!

-SATURDAY LUNCH-

(We were so blessed to have Wayne, Tif, and Bailee join us!!!)

Chicken Wings

Baked Cheesy Potatoes

Lettuce Salad

Birthday Cake Cookies

Blue Ribbon Chocolate/Vanilla Ice Cream with homemade Magic Shell

-SATURDAY SUPPER-

Philly Cheese-steak Sandwiches

(Danl created these using leftover London Broil. I told him I thought it was the best sammich I had ever eaten!!!) 

(Leftover!) Potato Salad

-SUNDAY LUNCH-

(Leftover!) Fajitas

-SUNDAY SNACK-

Jalapeno Poppers

(Leftover!) Philly Cheese-steaks

Sprinklelific Cookies (only I devoured them, Danl abstained effortlessly!)

-MONDAY-

Grilled Hamsteaks with THEE best grilling sauce! (Pine Mountain $1/# at Piggly this week!)

(Bring to boil - 1/2 cup brown sugar, rounding 2 T. horseradish, 2 T. lemon juice. Baste liberally on ham before and during grilling.)

(Leftover!) Cheesy Potatoes

Canned Asparagus

-NO TACOS TUESDAY-

Pizza Hut! Our usual - CHEESE with Extra CHEESE! 

(I know I have to go to Atmore for various errands anyway...)

Apple Salad

Tossed Salad

-WEDNESDAY-

Shrimp & Grits

Orange Creamsicle Jello

Pan-fried Okra

-THURSDAY-

Hopefully we will attend Atmore's "Taste of the South!"

I absolutely ADORE this happy community event! You pay $10 for 5 "tastes" and get to walk around sampling the local restaurants', church groups', etc best menu items!

-FISH FRIDAY-

Fried Bream

French Fries

Green Beans

-FRESH FRUIT OF THE WEEK-

California Valencia Oranges

-DESSERT OF THE WEEK-

Pudding! 

(Vanilla! Chocolate! Coconut! because I have to make the white layers for Bill's upcoming birthday cake and I will have egg yolks running out of my ears!)

Goodnight, y'all! I should be "pudding'' myself to bed!