A Fairytale

Once upon a time three months ago, there lived a beautiful accountant princess who longed to escape the evil horror known as public accounting.

So our little public accountant interviewed for a private accounting position. And in this interview, she let it slip that she loved to bake and would love even more to bring goodies in to her potential new office if she were to be hired.

"Why would she do such a thing?" you might ask.

Well friends, in an attempt to do whatever it took to get out of public accounting, our current little public accountant just might be willing to use this tasty little personal tidbet as leverage to get this job.

You might say, "Dear public accountant, don't you think you would be hired based on technical skill and background?"

And our little public accountant would most certainly and wholly agree with that. "But...", she might say, "what if someone else has my level of skill and background? Couldn't I just try to give myself a more personable appearance? Just to have a little advantage?"

You might nod your head in agreement.

Now in our fairytale, our favorite baking accountant is hired for the job. She starts at her new job that's full of friendly faces and non-public accounting happiness and a 401(k) plan subject to audit. And she remembers that there is, in fact, good still left in the world.

But then she realizes that she will now need to bake something for the office.

But this can't just be any little something!

I mean, you, er, our little public turned private accountant was possibly hired under the premise that she bake wonderful little somethings to share with her soon-to-beloved coworkers! She must wow them in order to keep her job, or risk going back to the fire and brimstone of public accounting.

So, dear friends, our little private accountant decided to pull out the big fairy tale guns: Chinese Cinnamon.

And she turned to a recipe she hoped could wow them all. A recipe so wonderful that they gave her a promotion, a raise, and a new corner office with many windows. But they built her the new office so no one else would have to give up their office.*


Cinnamon Cookies

from food.com

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
cinnamon sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixer bowl, cream together sugar and butter; beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
3. Add to butter mixture and blend well.
4. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or till firm enough to roll into balls.
5. Shape dough into small balls about 3/4-inch in diameter and roll in cinnamon sugar to coat.
6. Set cookies 1-inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or till the edges are lightly browned.
   

*Note: This recipe does not guaranteed the baker a raise, a promotion, or a new corner office with many windows.

Christmas in January!

So, by telling you that this blog is about the Christmas cookies I made, it's clearly an incredibly late blog entry since it's now about a month after Christmas.

And I know that I'm kinda sorta half-assing (yes Mom, I know you don't like that word) this blog anyways because I'm not giving you all the recipes and details for each cookie.

And I'm also aware that I still can't seem to take a picture without getting weird shadows in different parts of it. You would never believe that I took two years of photo in high school. Sorry to disappoint you, Ms. P.

But the bottom line is it's my blog and I'll do what I wanna!

So here is the unveiling of the cookie platters that were given and consumed more than a month ago!

From the top left and working clockwise:

Expresso Chocolate Shortbread (recipe by Dorie Greenspan)

Salt and Black Pepper Cocoa Shortbread (recipe also by Dorie Greenspan - the woman knows her shortbread)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (my favorite chocolate chipper recipe, also found here less the bacon this time)

Rolled Sugar Cookies with Royal Frosting Icing (cookie recipe by Dorie Greenspan) and hand-drawn Christmas decor by yours truly (I love edible markers!)

Butter Rum Cookies (recipe by Martha Stewart)

Maybe it's just the drunk in me, but I personally liked the butter rum cookies the best. At some point in life, there will be a repeat of those coming from my kitchen!

Peanut Butter Chili

Isn't it weird how things just happend to fall in place?

I spent all weekend on my sofa nursing a cold with the two tubby tabby cats who also apparently have either colds or allergies, according to the vet. We all seem to be doing better now, except for a very angry Toby who seems to have developed yet an ear issue now.

There will be an even angrier Toby when he realizes he'll now have to go back the vet.

Anyways, if I wasn't sick over the weekend, I would have made this oddly delightful peanut butter chili on Saturday for Josh's Chili Cook-Off. But because I was sick, I didn't end up making it until Monday. Then today I realized that Monday was National Peanut Butter Day.

Clearly it was fate that helped me to unintentionally celebrate one of the best food holidays of the year!

Anyways, I read online that there are people who always eat chili with peanut butter or peanut butter sandwiches. I've mentioned this to several people now, and our question is always, "Huh?".

Well friends, it's time for a little learning lesson. Apparently this is somewhat of a craze, if you will, with those crazy Mid-Westerners. They have typically used peanut butter as a thickener for chili, and also because (according to them) it compliments beans and paprika. Due to the peanut butter flavor in the chili, eating the related sandwich is clearly the only way to go.

That all said, I made the peanut butter chili on Monday. I would agree that it definitely helped to thicken the chili and the peanut butter taste was subtle but good. Had the chili and I made it to the cook-off, I don't know that it would have won, but it could have held its own.

The recipe as originally written is vegetarian, and I would have left it that way for the cook-off because so many of my friends don't eat meat the way the Quantity Control Expert and I do. But because it was for the Resident Taste Tester and myself, I threw in some ground beef and enjoyed it.

Also, the original directions have a couple of steps that involve adding half the ingredients for a little simmer and then putting more in for another simmer and maybe something else. But I'm more of a throw-it-all-in-and-let-it-simmer type girl with chili. I threw the ground beef in first to let it brown, but then I just added everything else all at once and let it simmer for about a half an hour. I think I also added some cinnamon, but I don't know how much.

(It was probably on the shorter side of a half hour. But I was hungry, don't judge me.)

Peanut Butter Chili

adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
2 cups tortilla chips (optional)

Directions
(as interpreted by Rachel)

1. Brown the meat (if you're using it) in a large pot over medium heat. Add all the other ingredients, stir, and let simmer for 30 minutes or until you finish the other chores you tell yourself your going to do. Seriously, go put your clothes away.