Day Nine of the Twelve Days of Christmas in July!

 

Hi, all!

How quickly time flies when you're having fun - and just imagine how quickly the days until Christmas are going to fly by!  But I hope that you're getting some inspiration, and maybe even a head start on your Christmas crafting!  Today I'm going to share a recipe with you before we move on to the last two blocks for the center of the Christmas quilt.  Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Many of you already know how proud I am of this girl (my eldest granddaughter, Lilli) since you've seen her grow up from her earliest appearance on my blog in 2010....

...to today.  She's changed a lot, right?  Well, for many years now Lilli has wanted to be a pastry chef (although she's thinking about adding astrophysicist into the mix now!) and she make SPECTACULAR chocolate chip cookies.  We joke that her philosophy is 25% cookie, 75% chip!  That's not precisely right, but for her, it's definitely more is more.  

Well, I asked her if I could share her recipe here for the 12 Days of Christmas in July - because if you're like me, you stink at decorating cookies, but a truly delicious, well made chocolate chip cookie can go a long way in taking people's minds off those pretty decorated ones!  So here's her recipe:

Lilli's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1        cup    butter, softened

2/3     cup    sugar

2/3     cup    brown sugar

2        tsp     vanilla extract

1        tsp     salt

1        tsp     baking soda

2                  eggs

2 1/4  cup    flour

1        cup    dark chocolate chips

1        cup    milk chocolate chips

Whip together butter and both sugars for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.  

Add in vanilla, salt and baking soda and mix until combined.

Add eggs one at a time.

Add in flour.  When flour is partially mixed in, add chocolate chips.

Mix until fully combined.

Bake at 350 degrees F 13-15 minutes.

Now, in the interest of being sure the recipe was correct, I made a batch.  No other purpose, I promise (ha ha!).  Trust me that your cookies will taste best if you really whip up that butter!  I set my stand mixer to a high speed and set a timer for five minutes, just so I don't shortchange the process.  I do scrape down the sides of my bowl occasionally (I have the really large mixer and small batches sometimes get pushed up on the sides and not mixed well) so you may need to do this as well.  Your butter will get lighter in color as well as fluffier the more you whip it.

Now, I have to admit that quite a few cool kitchen tools have made their way into my drawers since Lilli started baking over here....

...like these magnetic double-ended measuring spoons.  Very useful for this recipe, as I can use one end for the liquid measurements and one end for the dry!  But the fact that they all stick together in the drawer is a plus too.

I also find cookie scoops to be a great and versatile tool!  Yes, I know it looks like an ice cream scoop, and you can probably use it for that, but it ensures that all of your cookies will be similarly sized, which is nice for gifting.  We actually have three sizes of these, with this being the largest.  Using this scoop, I made 20 cookies from this one batch.  Using a smaller scoop would increase the number of cookies, obviously.  I also use a scoop when making anything that I want to be sized alike, such as meatballs.  Really handy little gadgets!

Another handy gadget, although I think I introduced Lilli to this one rather than the other way around, is parchment paper.  It really makes cleanup a snap - you just throw it away - and the cookies don't stick!  Speaking of which, be sure to give your cookie dough a good bit of space to spread out!  I only made six at a time on my large cookie sheets, and see how they spread out?

And one last tool that we've added based on Lilli's recommendation - a dough scraper!  

This thing is positively the bomb at getting up all the little spills and dough scraps from the counter top, and I honestly don't know how I lived as long as I did without one!

One thing that we've discovered with these cookies is that you can add all kinds of things to them - Lilli makes one version she calls an Everything Cookie, that may also have white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chips, nuts, coconut, or even broken pretzel bits in it.  It's a good way to use up little bits of leftovers from previous baking sessions!

Once the cleanup is done and the cookies are cool, you are ready to package them up in a cookie tin, a pretty plate, or even a little plastic goodie bag tied with a bow!  I've found nice cookie tins and plates at the dollar store, and the goodie bags can be found in various sizes at Joann's.

But whatever else you do with your cookies, be sure to have at least one hot out of the oven with a glass of milk!  I hear the calories don't count if you are writing a blog post at the same time..... 😉

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now we're ready to make the last two blocks for the center of the quilt, or the remainder of the wall hanging!  Today we will focus on blocks H and I.  Once again, they are mirror images of each other so we will make first one and then the other.

For block H, you will need the following pieces:

3 3.5” sq. white

3 3.5” x 2” white

1 3.5” x 2” green

1 2” sq. green

4 3.5” sq. red/white 9-patch blocks

Step 1 - Lay out the pieces as shown below. 

Step 2 - Draw a diagonal line on the back of the green 2” square.  Take one of the white 3.5” x 2” pieces and lay the green square on the right end of it, aligning edges and corners and having the diagonal line running from upper right to lower left.  Stitch on the line.  Trim off the corner.  Press out.  Take another of the white 3.5” x 2” pieces and sew it to the bottom of the W/G piece.  Press seam down toward the white piece.  Replace in the layout on your work table.

Step 3 - Take the remaining white 3.5" x 2” piece and the green 3.5” x 2” piece and sew them together along the long edge.  Press seam up towards the green piece.  Replace in the layout on your work table.

Step 4 - Assemble the nine-patch block.  This block will go in the lower left of your Christmas tree unit.

For block I, you will need the following pieces:

        3 3.5” sq. white

3 3.5” x 2” white

1 3.5” x 2” green

1 2” sq. green

4 3.5” sq. red/white 9-patch blocks

Step 1 - Lay out the pieces as shown below. 

Step 2 - Draw a diagonal line on the back of the green 2” square.  Take one of the white 3.5” x 2” pieces and lay the green square on the left end of it, aligning edges and corners and having the diagonal line running from upper left to lower right.  Stitch on the line.  Trim off the corner.  Press out.  Take another of the white 3.5” x 2” pieces and sew it to the bottom of the W/G piece.  Press seam down toward the white piece.  Replace in the layout on your work table.

Step 3 - Take the remaining white 3.5" x 2” piece and the green 3.5” x 2” piece and sew them together along the long edge.  Press seam up towards the green piece.  Replace in the layout on your work table.

Step 4 - Assemble the nine-patch block.  This block will go in the lower right of your Christmas tree unit.

And you're done for the day!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

We're moving right along!  Tomorrow we'll have another stop on the blog hop, as Carole of From My Carolina Home shows us how to finish up the project she started last Sunday, we'll show the wall-hanging people how to assemble their top, and provide the next step for the quilt folks!

See you then!

Sarah