Emerging Spirit

First Birthday

I finally got my camera back from my son, so that I can share pictures of the Rocking Horse cake I made for my grandson's first birthday.  I have a single picture of the one I made for my son 24 years ago.  I could not find any instructions for cutting the cake (Google failed me), so I just made it up as I went along.  I had left over pieces so I made a baby rocking horse for the baby.  Twenty four years ago the cake had coconut frosting and gum drops.  The updated version had cool whip frosting, strawberries and blueberries.  The boy picked all the fruit off his cake and ate them first, before diving into the cake.
Tasty, but cold - that was a bit of a surprise!
The rapt audience:  mom, son's girl friend, son.

Cream Cheese Wreaths

My holiday company has come and gone.  We had a whirlwind week complicated by crowded conditions, including the addition of all the stuff that was on my porch (including washer and dryer) to my dining room (because the sunroom replacing the porch was not finished in time) and all the babystuff that has invaded my office, dining room and living room since my grandson Jack has been pending at least one day a week with me (but three days in the past week).  Whew.

Anyway.  A couple friends had asked me how to make my favorite Christmas cookie, so a little late, here is the recipe for Cream Cheese Wreaths.

Cream together:
1 cup butter
3 oz. cream cheese

Add and cream well:
1/2 cup sugar

Add:
1 tsp. vanilla

Add slowly and mix well:
2 cups flour

Fill a cookie press.  Using the large star plate form wreaths by moving the press in a circular motion on ungreased cookie sheets.
 

Decorate the tops with pieces of candied cherries (three tiny red pieces for the berries and two slivers of green to form the leaves - growing up my mom ordered angelica to use for the leaves, but now I just go with green cherries).  Be forewarned that this is a labor intensive cookie and goes much faster with extra hands.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Cookies should barely show brown at the edges.  They will be exactly the same size as when they went in the oven.  Do not over bake.

Enjoy the melt-in-your-mouth goodness of these delicate cookies.