Prairie Faerie

 

 

After 15 years of trying to make a decent biscochito cookie I finally got the recipe right!  It is crisp, yet not crumbly, it dunks well in coffee, it is buttery, and not greasy and has just the right amount of anise flavor.

I've searched the internet, cookbooks, and tried to modify my own mother's recipe to no avail.  I finally scrapped the traditional recipe and started from scratch with a really good sugar cookie recipe.  I compared other recipes and finally came up with this one.  Please note that these cookies were baked at around 6,000 ft elevation.  (don't know if this has any effect on the cookies but thought I'd throw that out there.)

Also, I live in NM and have eaten MANY different versions of this unique little cookie and I have to say that to the "trained biscochito palate" this cookie of mine is a winner.  Ok, I might be boasting a bit.  Here's the recipe.  Give it a try and tell me what you think.

 

INGREDIENTS

6 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar (C&H is best, it's very fine)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 cup Crisco shortening (at room temperature)

2 eggs

1/4 cup white wine

3 tsp. anise seed

1 tsp. anise seed extract (optional for a stronger anise flavor)

PLUS: To dip cookies prior to baking

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

2. Blend/sift flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda together.  Set aside.

3. Cream butter and shortening with blender until light and fluffy.  Mix in sugar, beat again until well blended.  Stir in the wine and last, the eggs.  Blend well.  Add optional anise seed extract here.

4. Mix into the sugar cream 1/2 the flour mixture until blended, mix in last half until it forms a dough. When the dough comes together add the anise seed.  (I like to use my hands to do this part)

5. Let the dough sit aside for 1/2 hour in a cool spot.  Prepare sugar and cinnamon mixture.

6. Roll out dough on floured surface to about a 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut shapes with cookie cutter.  Use a knife to lift up the cut dough and lay it in the cinnamon sugar.  Place on non-stick cookie sheet or on parchment paper.  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until cookies are slightly browned on the edges. Let cool and store in air tight container.

 

A FEW MORE THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS

For a sweeter version of the cookie sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top of cookies before baking.

Biscochitos tend to taste better a few days after baking.

They are one of the best compliments to a good cup of coffee.

If you don't want a buttery cookie substitute all shortening for the butter.

The traditional biscochito is make with lard, yes that's LARD.  I think that using all lard makes the cookie taste funny and messes up the texture.  It can add a bit of unique flavor so if you want to try lard, I would suggest substituting no more than 1/2 cup of lard for the shortening. 

Milk or juice can also be substituted for the wine.  I prefer wine.

 

HAPPY BAKING!!! 

We're on our 2nd round of colds in a month.  My 6 year old is complaining about a stuffy nose and sore throat.  My 3 year old is stuffy and cranky and is telling me he just doesn't feel well.  And my 1 year old who cannot express her discomfort with words is crying to let me know how she feels.  I, of course, cannot complain about my own miserable state.  I could, but it is a useless waste of words and energy for my complaints fall on deaf ears.

What do I do with 3 sick kids while I feel like crap myself?  I just keep going, I have no choice.  I long to take a nice long bath and get into some comfy pj's and get into my cozy warm bed and just sleep off this cold, but that will not happen so I push on and try to not exert myself too much by leaving my housework and laundry to accumulate in piles around the house.  As I wander around the house in a congested head daze with sippy cups, droppers of tylenol, boxes of tissue and herbal teas I feel like this will never end.  It is, in my opinion, one of the hardest parts of being a parent.  What do I do for them?  For me?

Drugging my kids isn't the answer.  Here is an article from injuryboard.com http://www.injuryboard.com/national-news/no-cough-and-cold-meds-for-kids-under-four.aspx?googleid=249038 The FDA is saying certain types of cold medicines shouldn't be given to childen 4 and under BUT these cold medicines can be very dangerous for young children over 4 and they are ineffective for children under 12. 

We will get through this.  The things that work for us are soup, tea, vaporizers, warm baths and lots of hugs and love.

 

Here's a recipe for a nice herbal tea for kids:

Bring 2 cups water to boil, remove from heat and add:

1 tsp. cammomile

1 tsp. wild cherry bark

1 tsp. fennel

1 tsp. peppermint

1 cinnamon stick

Let steep for about 5 minutes and then add about 1 tsp. honey. 

 

Other tips:

For sore throats:  Coat a spoon with honey and let your child suck on it like a lollipop.

Put salt water is spray bottle and use for oral spray in toddlers (who don't know how to gargle).

September is honey extraction month.  Here are some pics of the process.  Lots of hard work goes into harvesting this liquid gold.  So delicious...

 

 

Scraping off the cappings and getting ready for the extractor.

 

Our extractor.

 

Honey drips out as we spin....

 

Here's the honey being filtered.  This is the only filtration process the honey will go through.

And here it is...all bottled and ready for savoring.  It is a lovely mixture of clover and wild flowers, light and delicious.

 

Sunflowers are abundant this time of year and show their happy little faces for about a month in fall.  They sway in the wind, chatting with one another and say hello as I pass them on the road. 

 

Bison are as abundant as the sunflowers, but they're around all year long.  They're shedding their winter coats here but when it gets cold they will look simply marvelous.  Bison hides are so soft.  I love their pompadour hairdos.

 

Sitting alone on the side of the road near our house is a retired box car.  It was converted into a habitable space for a time but now it houses bats, bees and various rodents. Box cars are valuable areas for storage around these parts. Who needs a tough shed.

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Here's some fancy meadow decor.  Long lost and forgotten rusty old car wears some green leafy vines so fashionably.  Old farming implements also provide a curious eye something interesting to look at.

 

Beautiful New Mexico sunsets..... ahhhhhhhhhhh  what can I say, I love them.  They often bring a refreshing reprieve from the bland, colorless winters.

 

 

Skulls abound around the yard seem to capture and emit an essence of prairie life.  They are reminders around our home of how they provide life sustaining food for our family.

 

Neighboring cows walk along the lonely highway near our home.  Cows break up the monotany of a treeless and bleak country road.  We stop and say hello from time to time and give them our best impression of a moo.  They sometimes look indifferent and sometimes look a bit annoyed but I'd like to think that we are an interesting break in their monotany as well.

 

 

Here's Buck the horse.  He used to live on a neighbor's land but moved away a while back.  We miss Buck.

 

 

 

Bears sometimes visit.  We don't mind them except for their ravenous appetite.  Our bees don't like them at all.  After building a fortress of sorts around our bee hives we haven't had any bear attacks on our honey...yet.

Questions, questions...here's a few questions asked by my 3 1/2 year old boy today....

"Mom, do snakes have bones?"

"Do dinosaurs poop?"

"Can you jump over this mud hole? I can."

"Where's my spiderman underwear?"

"Do you want to see my muscles?"

 

 

 

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."  – Anna Quindlen

The day that I finally realized that I could be who I truly am is the day I finally felt comfortable in my own skin.  I have worked so hard all my life to please others and to do the right thing or say the right thing.  I'm done with that and feel a sense of freedom that I never had before.  Working to be perfect is just that, work and I was at a point of exhaustion.  I'm searching still for what I believe spiritually but that makes me who I am.  I have a dysfunctional family, but isn't that the norm these days?   I'm still a little over weight but I enjoy rich foods and desserts, a lot.  I'm aware that I'm politically incorrect at times but I don't care.  I don't have it all together, nor do I see things coming together any time soon.  But my life is my own and I like it.  Becoming myself has finally become enjoyable.

 

"The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on.  It is never any use to oneself." ~ Oscar Wilde

 

Very Good Advice
From "Alice in Wonderland"
Music and Lyrics by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard

I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it
That explains the trouble that I'm always in

Be patient, is very good advice
But the waiting makes me curious
And I'd love the change
Should something strange begin

Well I went along my merry way
And I never stopped to reason
I should have know there'd be a price to pay
Someday...someday

I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it
Will I ever learn to do the things I should?
Will I ever learn to do the things I should?

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Picking wild flowers with my kids is one of our favorite things to do.  We went out picked some sunflowers today.  They're everywhere.  They always remind me it's the beginning of the end of summer.

If you have to buy a bottle of water here's what you do....Don't grab a bottle inside the coolers near the check-out, look down the isles of the store to find water. Instead of paying $1.50 for one 16 oz. bottle, you can often get 6-8 pack for $3 or $4 bucks, or you can buy a whole GALLON (that 128 oz.) for only a dollar! That's like 8 water bottles for one dollar. So, let's see, that's only 12 cents per bottle! (of course you have to buy some bottles in the first place to fill up.)

I often look around my messy house and sigh, thinking, "I wish I could have a clean, uncluttered house.  When I have these thoughts, I look at my children and sigh, thinking, "One day I will treasure my memories with them."  I've resigned myself to the fact that I am not a good housekeeper, nor will I ever be one.  Having fairly clean kids, a few clean clothes, an acceptable kitchen and bathroom is good enough for me. There is always something more important to do than clean.  I was supposed to vacuum today but I think we'll go outside and make mud pies instead.