ramblings from an arkansas farm girl
Stop whatever you are doing and feast your eyes on this Grapefruit Vanilla Shortbread. I’m here to tell you this is the most fabulous dessert I’ve ever made.
It’s oh so dreamy.Continue Reading
Are you ready for something a little different? For the next six days, I’ll be counting down to a merry little Christmas here at Grace Grits and Gardening. After several busy weeks of going and doing, I’m ready to focus entirely on yuletide cheer. The waiting and anticipating. The sights and sounds and memories. The sheer delight of it.
Consider today’s Christmas Countdown post to be the first of a (nearly) week-long Grace Grits advent calendar. My plan is to provide one simple thing a day to enhance your Christmas spirit. Each daily focus will be different—something to nibble or something to forage or craft, a last minute gift idea for a friend. Or perhaps just something to think about as you anticipate the magic of Christmas morning.
And every post will include a musical pairing, of course. Be sure to give it a listen.
I baked six dozen sugar cookies for a garden club luncheon last week. Since we are all rather fond of plants, I went with a semi-botanical theme using fresh violas and fennel from our garden. I also used dried herbs and other nuts, fruits, and candies from my pantry.
My goal was to create simple, delicious cookies that looked like those I imagined Marmee might have baked for Jo, Amy, Beth, and Meg. She would have used whatever goodness had been put up from the March orchard and garden, along with sprinkles of sugar and spices valued like gold dust.
What an entertaining baking project this turned out to be.
And the best part—I foraged the decorations from my own pantry and garden. I was so pleased with how my botanical Christmas cookies turned out, I thought I would share my ideas with you.
