Stained-Glass Eggs for Easter
Materials:
Bowl
Eggs
Large
safety pin
Solid-colored tissue paper or decoupage paper in a variety of
colors
Scissors
(optional)
Small
paintbrush with synthetic bristles
Mod Podge
with gloss lustre finish
Day One:
Step One:
Blow eggs. Moms will probably want to do this for their kids.
You can choose to use hard-boiled eggs, but if your children
want to keep their masterpieces, blowing the eggs is the way to
go. Wash eggs with soap and water and dry them. Prick both ends
of the eggshell with a large safety pin. Chip out pieces to make
the bottom hole about the size of a pea. The hole will not be
perfectly round. That’s okay! Hold egg over bowl and make
contact with the smaller end of the egg. Blow. Yolk and white
will come out from the bottom. You can make scrambled eggs or a
great Lenten quiche with your bowl contents.
Step Two:
Wash blown eggshells with soap and water and dry overnight in
empty egg carton.
Day Two:
Step
Three: Lightly sketch religious images, such as a lamb or a dove
with an olive branch, on eggshells with a pencil. For smaller
children, a better option is to allow them to make their tissue,
stained-glass background and then add stickers to the finished
product. There are some beautiful stickers available at craft
stores. Note the eggs pictured with the Celtic cross and silver
cross.
Step Four:
Choose colors. For my dove egg, I choose white for the dove,
green for the olive branch, and pale blue and lavender for the
background. Tear or cut tissue paper into tiny pieces that will
fit inside your design.
Step Five:
Use the paintbrush to cover the section you’re starting on with
Mod Podge. I would suggest starting with the most detailed
portion of your egg and working your way out. Place tissue piece
onto the glue, paint over the piece with more Mod Podge,
overlapping pieces as you go around the egg.
Step Six:
Once the egg is completely covered with the tissue pieces, brush
entire egg with a coat of Mod Podge. It should only take 15-20
minutes to dry. If you have a design like the lamb or dove, once
the entire egg is dry, use a permanent, fine-tipped, black pen
to outline your design.
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Cookie Recipes
By
the Noodlers
Lemon
Ricotta Cookies
Submitted by
Theresa Ragan
1 cup unsalted butter,
softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
15 ounces whole-milk, Ricotta
cheese
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or
1 teaspoon lemon baking oil
3 tablespoons lemon, freshly
grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Glaze:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick)
butter
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice
Decorating sugar or small
silver balls (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees,
and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine butter and
sugar in bowl; cream together until light and fluffy. Add eggs,
Ricotta, lemon extract (or baking oil), grated lemon and juice;
blend well. Add 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt; blend to
combine. Add remaining flour in two parts, blending to combine
between each, until a dough forms. Drop by rounded tablespoon
two inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake until cookie edges are
very light golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Let cookies rest on
baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer to wire cooling
rack. While cookies cool, prepare glaze by creaming together
butter and sugar. Continue to mix, gradually adding juice until
desired consistency. Decorate cooled cookies by adding silver
balls or decorative sugar, if desired, before icing sets.
Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (Chunky
style is best.)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup unsifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornflakes
1 cup rolled oats
Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in peanut butter, egg, and
vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop round teaspoonfuls
onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.
Cookies of Yesteryear
Years ago, and long before
Thin Mints, Girl Scouts had to make their own cookies to sell.
Here is one of the first recipes every printed, sometime in
1922.
1 cup butter, or substitute
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Cream butter and sugar
together, add well-beaten eggs, then milk, flavoring, flour and
baking powder. Roll thin, and bake in quick oven. Sprinkle sugar
on top. Makes six to seven dozen cookies.
Fabienne’s Almond-Rosewater
Cookies
(See pp. 95-96 of Janet’s
book, Dedication.)
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
Dash (1 teasp00n) rosewater or
vanilla or almond essence
Dash salt
Process almonds and a little
of the sugar in a food processor until coarsely ground (bits of
nut should still be visible). Cream the butter and the rest of
the sugar, and beat in the eggs. Stir in the almonds, flour,
rosewater, and salt. Drop by teaspoon well apart onto a greased
cookie sheet, and bake at 400 for about 5 minutes. Cool on rack.
Serve to your hero and then seduce him.
Sugar Cookies
Contributed by
Merrillee Whren
4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
Mix together flour, baking
powder and salt. Set aside. Cream together butter and sugar; add
egg and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add flour
mixture and milk alternately. Chill dough until easy to handle.
Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 to 10 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen 2
1/2-inch cookies.
Pistachio Fingers
Contributed by
Trish Milburn
1 cup sugar
1 cup margarine or butter,
softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream
cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose or
unbleached flour
1 (3 3/4-ounce) package
instant pistachio-flavored pudding and pie filling mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ounces (3 squares)
semi-sweet chocolate or 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon shortening
In a large bowl, beat sugar,
margarine and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla
and egg; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, and
level off. In medium bowl, combine flour, pudding mix, baking
powder and salt. Add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture; mix
well. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one
hour. After one hour, heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie
sheets. Wet hands to avoid dough sticking to hands. Shape
teaspoonfuls of dough into 1 1/2-inch fingers. Place on cookie
sheets. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool completely.
In small saucepan, melt chocolate and shortening, stirring
constantly until well blended. Drizzle small amount of chocolate
over each cookie. Allow chocolate to set before storing. Yield:
8 1/2 dozen cookies.
For metric conversions of the measurements above, consult any
of the following sites:
http://southernfood.about.com/library/info/blconv.htm
http://www.thatsmyhome.com/recipes/conversion.htm
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/conversions.htm
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