A Change

Well, things have finally slowed down at work.  I had today off and ended up tackling a project that has needed to be done for a while: this wall over my bed.  Here's a "before" shot.  I'm not sure what I don't like about it, but it has been bugging me for quite some time.  

I singlehandedly used up most of the empty picture frames in the house, but I'm pretty happy with the results.   (See the "after" picture below.)  In particular, I'm glad that I was able to cover up a section of cracked paint in the bottom left corner.

Here's a closer shot.  I used a painting I bought last year, a couple framed Bible verses and lots of photos I've taken.  It's nice to actually be displaying these photos instead of keeping them tucked in a drawer!  

Anyway, that's all I have to say for today...I hope everyone is having a nice start to the week!

A Sweet Treat: Jam Thumbprints

Can you believe it's 2013 already?  The final few days of the year really flew by for my family as we headed out of town the day after Christmas for my brother's wedding.  When we got home on the 30th, we were all rather disoriented and felt like 2012 couldn't possibly be over yet...but here we are, 3 days into a new year! 

Well, I'm guessing all your Christmas cookies are probably gone by now, so here's a sweet treat for you to try out.  This is an old family favorite called Jam Thumbprints - I'm not sure if they're classified as shortbread or sugar cookies, but I can tell you that they're delicious!  :)

The ingredients, as pictured below, are pretty simple: sugar, margarine (or butter, of course), eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt.

Melt the butter and mix in the other wet ingredients.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Add the dry to the wet...

...and stir together into a lovely cookie batter!  :)  

Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet and press your thumb into the middle of each cookie.  Add a dab of your favorite jam or jelly.  We always use raspberry preserves, but probably almost any flavor would be delicious!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  They'll flatten out a bit but will still be pretty pale.

Dust with confectioner's sugar - just be careful you don't inhale any of the powdered sugar while you're eating the cookies!  ;P

And there they are - one batch of deliciousness!

Whoops!  Well, you know what they say - the baker must try one cookie from each batch...I hear the test cookie is calorie-free, too...  ;P

"Hot cookies - come and get them!!"  That is what we shout when we're done baking, and this is the result:

This is why we usually double or triple the batch in our household.  :)

Here's the complete recipe:

Jam Thumbprints

1 C sugar

1 1/4 C margarine

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 1/4 C flour

1/4 tsp. B. powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Melt butter and mix in other wet ingredients.  Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and then stir into wet mixture.  Spoon 1-2 T. onto greased cookie sheet and then press you thumb into the center to create a spot for the jam.  Spoon jam flavor of your choice into the cavity.   Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Once the cookies have baked, remove from the tray to cool.  After a few minutes (while still warm, but not piping hot) sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over the cookies. 

Happy New Year!!!  :)