The Lehman bakery was open on Dec. 14, and I had two volunteer employees. Two granddaughters put their best effort forward to help grandma, and they exceeded the expectation. Actually one stayed over on Friday the 13th and made two batches of fudge for me.
It is not that I can’t make the fudge myself, but the stirring causes my shoulder some pain, so I welcomed the help. I admit, she was a bit less than enthusiastic since this was her first attempt at making fudge, but the recipe is easy, and it is the best fudge I have ever eaten.
The first batch of fudge separated, with some of the butter rising to the top. While it doesn’t look the best, it still tastes yummy. The second batch, she stirred longer, and it heated through better, and it turned out smooth and glossy as was expected.
Apparently, stirring fudge was hard on her shoulder also. “It feels worse than pitching softball,” she noted.
The mixing of the cookie dough has gotten easier due to the fact of having a mixer to do the hard work. I can’t believe that I used to do this all by hand.
The first batch we made was of the date-filled cookies, as they needed to be rolled out, spread with the cooked dates, rolled up into logs, and then refrigerated until firm. The white cut-out cookies were next. Since they are made with sour cream, the dough is fragile and soft; it is best refrigerated first.
Next came the Walnut Frosties, which are intensive and putsy work, but well worth the effort. Small pieces of dough are rolled into balls and placed on a cookie sheet. Then an indentation is made in the middle, and a filling made up of sour cream, brown sugar and walnuts are placed in the middle.
The cookies that are favorites of the grandchildren are the peanut better ones, with the chocolate kiss. My granddaughters mixed them up, rolled them into balls and then into sugar. There was a problem of them falling apart when transferred from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack. But we solved that by letting them cool completely on the cookie sheets before moving them.
Next were the gingerbread cookies, which were mixed and rolled out and cut out. Again, the granddaughters worked hard at getting them all rolled and cut out. When these were rolled out and done, they rolled out the white cut-outs, sticking to the task diligently.
Then, when these were baked and cooled, I mixed up my frosting. I always make it from scratch, but this year, I apparently made too much, as we have leftover frosting. I believe the secret to my frosting is I heat up the butter and milk, and then pour it into the powdered sugar. For extra flavor I not only add vanilla but also almond flavoring. To my surprise, they did all the frosting of the cookies, and decorated them also.
Some of these sweets were taken home by those who made them, others were packed up to give as gifts. The rest are tucked safely in the garage where I won’t be tempted to go out and have a taste.
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