Life Above the Clouds

Oh man, I totally dropped the ball and was going to post this last Thursday. Oh well, tomorrow is Halloween so there's still time to make these! Plus, it's National Candy Corn Day so all the better to make these wonderful little sugar cookies. In retrospect, I would have added a little more dye to make the colors more vibrant, but they still turned out great.

2 Sticks Butter, softened
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
2 T. Lemon Juice
2 t. Lemon Zest
1/8 t. Salt
3 c. Flour
1/2 t. Baking Soda
Red Food Dye
Yellow Food Dye

Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy.

Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed.

Add flour and baking soda, beat until well mixed. Divide dough into thirds.

Press one-third of the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper. (I actually don't have a loaf pan so I used a tupperware container that worked just fine.)

Place another one-third of the dough into a bowl and add yellow and red food dye to make orange (refer to the chart on the back of your box). Once it is mixed evenly, press orange dough evenly over white dough.

In another bowl, add the final amount of dough and dye yellow. Press that evenly over the orange dough. Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best).

Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. Flip it back over and place it on a cutting board. Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary.

Cut each slice into 6 wedges.

Place 1-inch apart onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven.

(Inspired by Kathie Cooks via Pinterest)

It's time to get dressed up and go trick or treating! That's pretty much what Halloween has become. But why all the jack-o-lanterns and slutty costumes? Some people say the holiday dates all the way back to Ancient Rome, but it's more commonly linked to a Celtic festival named Samuin, which translates to "summer's end." There are some mentions of supernatural encounters in Scottish Folklore, but there isn't much evidence to support that. The name "Halloween" comes from "All-Hallows-Even" "Even" means "evening" so the original Halloween was the night before All Hallows Day which is also referred to as All Saints' Day.

Now instead of carving a pumpking, how about trying a turnip? Believe it or not, jack-o-lanterns originated from the tradition of carving turnips into lanterns to remember the souls held in purgatory. Pumpkins were much more available in North America than turnips, and they were bigger and easier to carve. Carving pumpkins wasn't associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. Originally, it was associated with harvest time in general.

(Inspired by Wikipedia)