Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inaguration Celebration

Whether or not you voted for Barack Obama, today was a huge moment for America, and hopefully a turning point for the state of our country (ok, so that might be interpreted as political, but I don't mean it as such). I work at a small high-tech start up here in Austin and we celebrate all the little things (and the big ones), today was no exception, we ordered Rudy's BBQ (one of my favorites), used Slingbox to project the whole she-bang on the wall and myself (and one of my co-workers) brought in desserts. I brought in red,white and blue sugar cookie stars. The cookies were festive, patriotic and quite the hit, every single one was gone before 5PM!

I used Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie Recipe for the cookies:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cup sugar
2 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix until incorporated. With mixer running, add egg, and vanilla; mix until incorporated.
2. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. 5. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

After I finished that (around 10:30 last night) I realized it was too late to frost them, so I needed a 'patriotic' alternative....I turned to glaze!

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cream
*I used icing gel coloring to tint 1/2 of the batch red and the other 1/2 blue

Mix all of the ingredients together and paint on to cookies.

After so much cooking last night I wasn't really up for a difficult dinner tonight, plus I've been dying to try the Scintillating Sausage Stuffed Squash Reeni had on her blog Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice, I was certainly not disappointed! Yet another delish recipe I found on her website!

12 comments:

Reeni said...

I came over to see how you celebrated! And here I am on your blog!! A happy surprise. Your squash looks beautiful! So do your scrumptious cookies, love how you decorated them. Thanks for trying my recipe!

Tangled Noodle said...

The squash turned out great but those cookies look so tempting! It really was an amazing day, wasn't it?

Chef E said...

Whooo hooo, enough cookies for us all! and you had to go and mention Rudy's BBQ did you? I am dying for it now, thanks :(

That squash looks nice and delish...plate us all up a bite, pleaseeeeeeee

Selba said...

I think I will try to make this Martha Stewart's sugar cookie, it will be a good treat for Valentine's day :)

Dee said...

I do like Reeni's recipe. If I can adapt it & make it with choyote or some squash I could find down here. Looks wonderful. I do like the glaze on your cookies. Yummers.

Hornsfan said...

Reeni - Glad you came by and like the cookies, despite being up late working on them, they were fun....and I love love love the squash, that's going to be a new go-to favorite!

Tangled Noodle - It was very cool, but I'm a history nerd (undergrad degrees in government and history) so it really was fun to watch for me!

Chef E - Sorry for the Rudy's mention, it is one of those only in Texas kind of things, but the sauce is portable :)

Selba - Thanks for stopping by, I thought these would be cute for Valentines Day too - I'm thinking maybe some chocolate cookies too...

Mom - You've got to find the stuff for that squash, I can't say enough how good it is!

Karen said...

Sounds like quite a celebration! The cookies are so cute cut into stars. Does the glaze harden? I'm thinking I might want to send them thru the mail.

Finance Foodie said...

I love Rudy's BBQ! ahhh I miss Austin!

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

yumm...i love sugar...n all things sweet...i like the icing especially...how do u make ut stiff...i still can't ice my cookies..

thanks for following my blog dear..

Hornsfan said...

Karen - the glaze hardens pretty quickly - within about twenty minutes of glazing them I was able to stack them on the tray!
Finance Foodie - I can't imagine a Rudy's-less existence, my sypmathies :)
Navita - the glaze is so much easier than frosting, a little messy because it drips but it cleans up easily too, I highly recommend it!

... said...

I thought I celebrated "correctly." I needed to take a page out of your "inaguration" handbook. Great job on the cookies. Go Texas!

(ahem... the squash looks FAB by the way!)

Hornsfan said...

Thank SoCal!