At Wick's End - Tim Myers [71]
I made a solemn promise to her that I’d do my best to live up to that trust.
I walked back in and Eve was looking frantic. “Thank goodness I found you.”
“You couldn’t have been looking that hard, I was still at The Crocked Pot.”
Eve said, “You don’t understand. Mrs. Jorgenson just called. She wants her first lesson on pouring candles this morning, and no one else will do.”
After facing down a killer the night before, I was pretty sure I could handle Mrs. Jorgenson.
After all, pouring candles was my new specialty.
Belle’s Snickerdoodle Cookies
This is a longtime favorite of my family. These cookies are a treat out of the oven, but they’re just as tasty right out of the freezer, too.
Ingredients
Dough
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
A dash of salt
1 cup butter or margarine, creamed
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
Coating
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Sift this mixture thoroughly, then set it aside. Cream the butter (or margarine) until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar and eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients, then chill the dough until it’s cool to the touch. This makes it easier to work with. Make balls a little bigger than a quarter, then roll them in the combined cinnamon/sugar mix. Place them two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The cookies take 8-10 minutes to bake and will be lightly browned on top.
This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Millie’s Pumpkin Doughnuts
For a delightful treat on an autumn day, my family and I make these doughnuts when the leaves start to turn.
Ingredients
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup butter or margarine, soft
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 can solid pack pumpkin
2/3 cup buttermilk
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger; then sift and set aside. Cream butter until fluffy, then gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy again. Beat in 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients, then add pumpkin and buttermilk and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll dough out on floured surface to a quarter inch thickness, then cut out doughnuts and holes with a 3 1/2-inch doughnut cutter. While the doughnut cut-outs are resting, heat 4 inches of oil in a heavy large saucepan to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Add doughnuts and holes and cook until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels, then dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.
Tips for Making Beeswax Rolled candles
Rolled candles are a great way to begin candlemaking. They are easy to make, producing a satisfying product with minimum effort. And the candles burn great too. This is an especially easy way to get started with kids.
Once you’ve mastered the technique of rolling a tight candle with the wax sheets, it’s fun to play and experiment with cookie cutters. We make all kinds of shapes, from card-suit candles to red hearts on Valentine’s Day to green Christmas tree candles in December. It’s especially nice to alternate two complementary colors as you build up your cookie cutter candles. For July 4th, try stacking individual candle cut-outs with red, cream and blue waxes for a patriotic centerpiece candle.
To make a layered candle with cookie cutters, treat the wax sheet as if it were dough and cut individual thicknesses out of the colored wax you prefer. Open cutters work best here, as the wax sometimes gets stuck in the closed cutters. Build a candle with four or six layers, remembering to put the wick in the middle. Don’t be afraid to press the edges of the candle together. This gives the candle a softer, more rounded look and also serves to bind the pieces together. A blow-dryer gently run over the edges can help soften the wax, just enough to further press the candle together.
Another technique