Celebrating Canada Day

On Sunday I was looking for Canada Day festivities in Houston to do as a family. When the only thing I found was a gathering at a pub I decided that it probably was a good parenting decision to not take Peyton to that and since I still wanted to celebrate Canada Day, we decided to throw a party. We made that decision midnight Sunday and had a busy couple of days to be ready to celebrate on Wednesday.

It was so worth it and we had a blast hanging out with friends, drinking Canadian beer, eating burgers, singing 'O Canada' while lighting sparklers and good conversations. I am so thankful for the great relationships we have made here and for great friends who came out to celebrate with us! I am looking forward to many more Canada Day celebrations and will be bringing some Canadian gear down from Canada this trip (because hunting around Houston for a Canadian flag is a pain...thanks to Capital Flags for being awesome)!

Here are some pictures from the day...

Table Decor, Drink Area and 'O Canada' song sheets

My variation on Martha Stewart's Maple Cupcakes. She calls for fondant made maple leafs but I decided to make sugar cookies instead.

FYI...the drink Peyton is trying to drink is Canada Dry and not beer and it was not open! Just don't want any grandparents going all crazy.

It was a great Canada Day and now we will be getting ready for Peyton's first Fourth of July! She is a busy girl celebrating all of her nationalities!

Maple Cookies

My attempt to rid my kitchen of the insane amount of cookies by sending some with John to work back fired as he didn't bring enough and in order to keep friends, he jokingly asked me to bake some more. I obliged. 

Last year around this time I found a recipe for Maple Cookies on www.allrecipes.com that was submitted by a guy named Craig Gund. I have no idea who Craig is but he has given me John's favorite cookie! I have made them multiple times and they keep getting better as I am fine tuning the recipe...so, due to a very popular demand here is the recipe!

1 cup butter, softened 

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup real maple syrup (the better the quality the better the cookie, also I normally add a little bit more and if you do you will just need to increase the flour accordingly- see note below on flour)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour (I start with 4 cups and then slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is sticky but manageable, I have found that it normally takes another 1 1/2 cups to get to that point however sometimes it takes more depending on the maple syrup)

2 cups of granulated sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare baking sheets. I use parchment paper on my baking sheets, I have made these with greased cookie sheets and they end up very flat and mushy and have found that parchment paper covered sheets yield a nicer cookie (pretty much the case with most cookies).
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to syrup mixture slowly and stir into mixture until well blended.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar.
5. Place on cookies sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Crinkles

Let the Christmas baking begin...here is a childhood favorite that I attempted for the first time. I got a stamp of approval from my sister Shannon when she said they looked and tasted like my mom's! Here they are from the "Company's Coming Cookies," cookbook.

1/4 cup of butter or magarine, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

4 x 1 oz unsweetened chocolate squares, melted

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup icing (confectioner's) sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla and chocolate.
2. Stir flour, baking powder and salt together. Add and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls.
3. Roll balls in icing sugar. Coat well. Arrange on greased baking sheet. Bake in 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 8-12 minutes. Cookies will be soft. 

Pumpkin Cookies

I guess by blogging about baking it has given me the baking bug and I suppose the 6 empty Christmas cookie tins in my kitchen have also given me reason to start some baking. Since it is not too far from Thanksgiving I decided to do one more pumpkin based dessert...Pumpkin Cookies. I did a variation (mostly adding more spices as I love cinnamon) of "Company's Coming" Pumpkin Cookies from their Cookies Cook Book.

1/2 cup butter softened

1 1/4 cup of brown sugar, packed

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Canned Pumpkin (I ended up adding a little over a cup)

2 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added about 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup of raisins or chocolate chips (being a chocolate lover, I do chocolate chips)

1 cup of chopped nuts

1. Cream butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and pumpkin.
2. Stir remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and add slowly. Mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased pan. Bake in 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes until lightly browned

Makes about 5 1/2 dozen.

Pumpkin Spice Bars

I love to bake and cook. I didn't really have a whole lot of time for either before Peyton and have less time now but I try to fit it in when I can. One of my dreams would be to take a cooking class! Since this blog has mostly been about Peyton I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite recipes now and then especially as I find new dinner recipes that are quick and easy to fit into our new lifestyle! So, first recipe is a fall favorite around our house and very easy to make (I made it during Peyton's morning nap)....Pumpkin Spice Bars.

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin (NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup raisins (if desired, I don't put them in)

Cream Cheese Frosting 

1/2 cup of walnuts (if desired, I do put these on top)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease bottom and sides of a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch pan (I normally use a large Pyrex pan)
2. Beat eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin in large bowl until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger and cloves. Stir in raisins if desired. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 25-30 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack for about 2 hours. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Sprinkle with walnuts. Store covered in refrigerator.