Seriously Good Snickerdoodles

Thank you, Martha

No really, there are some basics for which she is my go-to gal (sugar cookie frosting for example).  These Snickerdoodles are the best, and you probably have everything you need to make them just sitting in your pantry.  In between batches (which can be years) I think about them often.  Perfect crumb, just the right amount of sweetness, beautiful color, amazing crackle across the top.  

Which brings me to the main point of this post.  Why do I go years between making the most perfect cookie I have ever baked?  

Answer #1:  I'm busy. I get up at 5:30 and do things - work, laundry, parent, drive, shop, talk, care, sell, clean, fold, make, prevent, love, pray, eat - until 11:00 then go to bed and do it all over the next day.  It is by no means boring - each day is different and on some days I even find myself in exotic locations doing all those things.  

Which brings me to Answer #2:  I like to try new stuff.  I have a stack of recipes I keep in file folders - there is always a "new" cookie I just have to make instead of the Snickerdoodles.  (See my first post, Making the Cover).

So somehow "Make Martha's Snickerdoodles" doesn't come up on the list that often.  Some day, when things slow down, I'll have the luxury of putting it closer to the top where it belongs.

Here's the recipe for you . . . when you get around to it.  

Martha Stewart's (and My) Snickerdoodles

The shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco) and the cream of tartar make all the difference in creating a well-crackled cookie that doesn't spread too much.

*Yes I know this is not a cover and I haven't posted in a year.  Therese is inspiring me tonight.

October's Cover - Tortilla Meatball Soup

Well, Cooking Light made it after all with their Tortilla Meatball Soup.  When I got my October copy, I wasn't too enamored by the soup on the cover, but two of my other magazines featured front porches and the pork roast on Bon Appetit seemed a little out of my league and budget.

When I looked more closely at the soup I saw that it had the potential to be a kid favorite. It has some elements of our favorite - chicken tortilla soup - and it has meatballs. Win win? Not so much.

It was fun to make - not quite the "five hour (blank)" that we have become accustomed to but enough steps to take about 2 hours. The large amount of onion and corn that it called for made it come out pretty sweet in the end. Roasting the bell peppers added to the sweetness. I should have added more chipotle peppers to the meatballs to kick up the heat, but it's really hard to judge seasoning in raw meat. I used to actually taste the hamburger I was seasoning when I was a kid . . . before we were as well informed as we are now. Can you believe that? But I digress . . .

The soup is good, but more sweet than spicy. The chunks of veggies in it make you feel all healthy as you are eating it. But my kids are purist. They like their tortilla soup to taste like our old standby and their meatballs to have spaghetti under them.

Here's the tortilla soup recipe and Grandma Prusa's meatball recipe, maybe they will become your standby's too.

Grandma Prusa's Meatballs
Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

My kids really, really love this soup!  We make it twice a month from October to Summer.

1 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp canola oil
2 garlic cloves - I use jarred garlic for convenience (I fully understand that freshly pressed garlic is best, though)
2 cups cooked chicken breast
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional - just add a little more broth)
1 tbsp chopped jalapeno - I use the jarred kind for convenience
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can condensed tomato soup, undiluted
2 cans chicken broth
1 can petite diced tomatoes

Heat the oil in a dutch oven.  Add onion and garlic and saute for two minutes.  Add everything else and bring to a boil.  Simmer for one hour and garnish to your heart's delight!

Garnishes -- these make it awesome -- sour cream, avocado, cheese, tortilla chips, cilantro

Grandma Prusa's Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (from the can)
2 eggs
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbs finely chopped onion

Mix all in a large bowl and form into 1-inch meatballs.  Place on a rimmed cookie sheet covered with foil.  Bake in a 400-degree oven for about 15 or 20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly browned. 

Plop as many as needed into a saucepan and add jarred spaghetti sauce.  Simmer for about 20 minutes and server over spaghetti.

You can freeze the meatballs and just take out as many as needed.  Simmer the frozen meatballs in the sauce for 30 minutes on low heat.

September - Southern Living's Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

September's cover, Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake, was the perfect way to move into fall -- apples being the gateway drug to the full-on pumpkin of October.  I made it on one of the first cool days of September that make those 100-degree days of summer seem like a thing of the far, far past.

Like August's pie, this did take about four hours, but again, it was worth it.  The spices in the cake, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg were a perfect blend.  I really like using allspice - it's like cardamom in that you can't quite nail down what it tastes like, but it can really change the flavor of what you use it in.  It's a little bit cinnamon, a little bit nutmeg, a little bit something you can't put your finger on.  If you want to read about what it really is click here.

The "cream cheese" part is a basic cream cheese filling.  Personally I think the cake would be just fine without it.  The recipe makes a LOT of filling.  You are supposed to make it stay in a ring around the bundt pan 1" from either side of the pan.  That's kind of impossible.  Maybe I'll make it again so I can get it "right."  While the filling is optional, the frosting is not.  It is a wonderful praline sauce that really brings everything together. 

This cake was a completely wonderful experience that lasted for a week.  Meaning that I pretty much ate one or two slices a day for a week.  It's a good thing calories escape when you slice cake.

Baking the Cover

I am often overwhelmed by guilt - yes, I'm a mother and a daughter - but that's not the guilt I'm talking about.  This guilt is directed toward my cooking magazines.  I get them, I devour them, but I never make all I planned to.  I have dog-eared copies of Cooking Light, Midwest Living, Southern Living, and Bon Appetit all over my house.   

Often when I'm dealing with deep feelings like guilt, I need a plan to pull me through.  That's why "making the cover" is so brilliant.  I've decided to make the cover recipe from one of my magazines each month.  So simple!  I'm committing to the COVER, so even if I dog-ear-and-don't-make any of the other recipes, I'm off the hook because, I've made the COVER.

The plan came together after I made my first cover, August 2011 Bon Appetit -- Lime Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie.  We were invited to our good friends' house one weekend.  When she picked my kids up for school that Friday, I brought out the magazine and told her, "I don't know what you would like me to bring this weekend, but I was thinking about THIS" and I showed her the photo.  She was in!

It turned out beautifully (although my custard could have cooked a little longer or chilled a little longer), but we did rename it Five Hour Pie.  That's how long it took -- from the time we got home from church to the time we were walking out the door for dinner.  But, it was among my best five hours all summer.  I love spending a day in my kitchen, NPR in the background, in my cooking-zone.  And taste-wise it was totally worth it.

September's cover has been chosen - the apple cake on the front of Southern Living.  I wonder what October will bring?