Saturday Afternoon

The older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the few joys of childhood are the best that life has to give. ~Ellen Glasgow

Holidays, when I was little, meant decorating, and baking. We were fortunate to have my Grandma Bailey live with us. One of her Christmas goodies was Fattigmad bokkles pronounced (Fotamun Buckles) a Norwegian Fried Cookie. She would let me help her do everything.


Today we decided to strike up the Christmas music, pull out the baking ingredients, and try our hand at these classic Christmas Cookies.


1 square butter
1 3/4 c. sugar
7 eggs (oh my)
4 tsp. vanilla
5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
4 tsp. cardamom


It was an adventure. I wish my grandma was around to let us know if the texture was correct. The last time I made these was probably when i was 10 with my grandma.


We mixed up the ingredients, rolled them out, like sugar cookies, and cut them into diamonds.


You then twist them into a buckle, thus the name and deep fry them for 10-12 seconds.

No picture of the frying process, it just went too fast.


The finished product, little buckles. The kids thought they were OK!? What? They should think they are the best cookie ever. They were fun to make and it did bring back a lot of memories for me. That is it though, they are my Christmas Memories and so today was for me.

I think this will become a new holiday tradition with the kids, and just maybe when they are older and have kids of their own they will want to make Norwegian Christmas cookies with them.? If not, for now, it is fulfilling a holiday tradition for me.

Childhood is a short season. ~Helen Hayes

A Favorite Holiday Treat/Tradition

A holiday favorite of ours is English Toffee. Usually right after Thanksgiving we begin making a batch and continue to make several batches throughout the week. We eat a lot and share some. This is one thing we give to our neighbors and friends around the holidays. Super simple recipe and super yummy.
2 cubes of butter (that is why it is so yummy)
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
melt butter, add sugar and water and stir until combined do not stir after that
bring to boil on medium heat (never stirring or it will turn sugary)
cook to 300 degrees hard crack stage (use a candy thermometer)
pour out on a large Texas cookie sheet lined with tin foil do not scrape pan
cover with favorite chocolate (I prefer dark chocolate Parker likes milk choc.)
and chopped almonds
enjoy.

To note we have already made it two times and have not given any away(doesn't last long enough). The kids have enjoyed it in their lunches, after school, and, of course before, breakfast.

When I was little we would make this several times during the Christmas Season. It would not be the holidays without English Toffee.

Concert Time

After trying to upload the kids Fall Artistry Concert i resorted to the beautiful snap shots of the concert. The girls were so excited to perform in their first concert. Since i could not get the video to download just imagine 2o children playing and trying to stay in rhythm. The concerts are always fun. It was a great concert. 10 songs and 30 minutes later we were heading home. It was a great night.