2011 September — A Southern Fairytale

Happy Birthday, Monkey

12:26 PM ByRachelFiled UnderBirthdays, Monkey

Five years ago – 9:36 PM I sat in a hospital room waiting on your dad to get back with some food.

I sat in a hospital bed with my fingers tracing lazy circles over my stomach, over you. I tickled and pushed and watched you push back. I talked to you and dreamed of you. I shared dreams and hopes and wishes with you, whispering and imagining.

12:26 PM on September 20th, 2006 – our family became complete.

Sept 20th, 2006 at about 3:26 PM

Monkey, 2 hours old

The moment you were in my arms, I knew - you were what we’d been waiting for. Our family was complete, my heart full, every piece in place.

September 30th, 2006 – 10 Days Old. Our Family

You bring such joy to our lives

(age 3)
big-boy

you make us laugh

You take my breath away

You scare the hell out of us

You are fearless

You are loving
Science Camp Day 3 sweet pic

You are a gift.

You’re a devilishly brilliant perfect combination of your Daddy and Me and you’re designed to enchant us and drive us bananas.

You’re sweet and cuddly and snarly and prickly.

You have the biggest heart and the attitude to match it.

You give hugs and kisses as freely as you climb the walls of our house and send my heart racing.

Every. single. one of your joys, I feel in my soul.

Every. single. pain, bump, bruise, scar, knock and heartache (Of which you are the king of all) I feel times 1,000.

I love you so very much.

We. Love you So Very Much

Happy 5th Birthday, Monkey. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.

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Rum Raisin Shortbread Cookies

6:32 AM ByRachelFiled Underholiday craft along, holidays

The Holiday Bake, Craft, Sew Along is BACK!

The amazingly talented Cindy and Kelly and I have teamed up again to bring you 30 days of Handmade Christmas gift ideas!

Do you want some Sewing Inspiration for Holiday Gift Ideas? Skip To My Lou has those!

How about some new Craft Ideas for handmade Holiday Gifts? According to Kelly has those!

Need ideas for Homemade Food Gift ideas for the Holidays? I’ll have those here!

You can visit each of our blogs every day in September for great inspiration for all your Handmade Holiday Ideas!!

I’m really excited to introduce today’s Handmade Holidays Guest Poster, Debra from Smith Bites. I frequently find myself inspired by and drooling over Deb’s blog. I hope after y’all finish drooling over her Rum-Raisin Shortbread cookies, you’ll go over and visit her blog.

Hey there ~ I’m Debra and so excited that Rachel asked me to be here sharing one of my all-time favorite
holiday cookie recipes! I realize I’m probably in the minority here but one of my favorite ice creams in the
world is rum raisin . . . and when Martha Stewart rolled out (pun intended) her Cookie App for the iPad, I
was thrilled to find a recipe for this Rum-Raisin Shortbread cookie – it is a wowzer!

Admittedly, this is a grown up cookie and probably not appealing to the kiddos in your life but hey, that’s
fine because it means more cookies for moi . . .

I also happen to think these little gems are perfect for holiday gift-giving, cookie swaps, host/hostess gifts
or any time you simply want to say ‘thank you.’ And the best part is that once your currents are soaked
in rum overnight, the dough comes together in less than 10 minutes, is rolled into logs, refrigerated for
an hour (or up to three days) and then you simply slice and bake . . . easy-peasy! But please use currants
instead of raisins – these cookies are smaller and currants just plain work better here.

Place in clear, decorative gift bags, small tins, Chinese take-out containers lined with parchment or bundle
in plastic wrap, then place in holiday tissue paper, tie with holiday ribbon and you’re ready to roll!

Thanks for having me Rachel!

Rum Raisin Shortbread Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

Serving Size: 1/2 inch cookies

Rum Raisin Shortbread Cookies

Rum Raisin Shortbread Cookie recipe originally from Martha Stewart this recipe shared by Debra from Smith Bites

Ingredients

½ cup dark rum
1 cup currants
1 cup (2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp)
¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
¾ cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon course salt

Instructions

Combine rum and currants in a container w/airtight lid and let sit at room temperature overnight;
drain, reserving 2 Tablespoons rum
Beat butter, confectioner’s sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until creamy and smooth – 2 to 3 minutes
Add vanilla and reserved rum; beat well, scraping down side of bowl
Reduce speed to low; add flour, coconut and salt and beat 3 minutes; stir in currants by hand
Divide dough in half and form each into a log about 1-1/2 inches in diameter; wrap in parchment
and chill 1 hour or up to 3 days
When ready to bake: preheat oven to 325 degrees
Remove dough from parchment; slice into 1/2-inch rounds
Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 1-inch apart
Bake until pale golden, about 20 minutes – rotating sheets halfway through at the 10 minute mark; you are not looking for a dark cookie
Transfer to wire racks to cool completely
Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

(SMITH BITES NOTE: The only change I made to the recipe is to slice the dough a bit thicker - 1/2-inch simply because I wanted a sturdier cookie - at 1/4-inch, these are fragile and tend to crumble making packaging a tad tricky; resist slicing any thicker as this would require a longer baking time and would most likely result in a darker cookie.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2011/09/20/rum-raisin-shortbread-cookies/

7 Comments

Handmade Holidays Weekly Wrap Up

8:52 AM ByRachelFiled Underholiday craft along, Mouthwatering Monday

Holiday Cheeseball ~ by Eighteen25

Chocolate Almond Snowball Cookies ~ by Sandy

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies ~ by Wendy

Chocolate Dipped Spoons ~ by Liz

Sea Salt and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce ~ by Bree

Bourbon Balls ~ By Aggie

What an tonguegasmically delicious week of Handmade Holiday delights I got to share with y’all last week! Thank you to all my wonderful guest posters. There’s more to come, the 30 days isn’t up yet! Have y’all been visiting Cindy and Kelly to get Sewing and Craft ideas for more Handmade Holiday gift ideas?

I hope y’all check out all these recipes and then go see the creators at their own sites, they’re truly talented and amazing people!

Happy Mouthwatering Monday, y’all!!! This linky is one of my favorite parts of Monday – I love seeing what y’all are sharing.
I get inspired and I often drool over what y’all are feeding your friends and family.

Link up one recipe that you’ve posted over the past week.
Only link up a recipe that you’ve made yourself, do not link a photo to someone else’s blog, please.
Leave a comment after you’ve linked up your recipe
Link back to Mouthwatering Monday in your linked post
Share the love
Visit 3 or more other MWM participants

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