More ♥'s

Furry Friends~

Heartbeats~

Le Lionceau

Je t'aime.

Added sptinkles..the way to go w/ 4 Littles..more exciting..

Le Bisou~

Snow angels..lol...Noah's mom captured this and she sent it to me;)

Noah and his funny friends:) In the snow..Michaela and Noah..are taking cooking classes together:)

She's so cute..that's her little brother Ben in the middle and there is a wee baby sister at home~ Abbie~

Littles and snow.. priceless.

You're looking at life ..that is normal for our family..my girls liked being silly and my Littles like it too..

I look at blogs from far and wide w/ much more decorum..and think..

we have never really known that.

Speaking of decorum..Downton Abby..you should hear my comments..:(

Jacques even laughs..

Mr.Carson?  Change now..or you have lost all my love.

Mrs Hughes? Bet you are wondering if you made a wise decision?

Daisy? Come on...Can you just let Mrs Patmore be..? After everything she has done for you?

Mr.Barrow..you have my undivided attention and empathy now.

Mary..every episode you seem smaller and smaller to me..in essence.

Do you love George? Ice cold mommy.

And I can tell there's no chemistry w/ your new beau.

The whole tour of Downton Abby and your ignorance of it's contents..all of you..

..shame on you.

I am so tough this week!

This guy..braves the winter ..in the manner his mistress sees fit:)

Lord Grizzly..freshly groomed..lol.

Every year sure as sugar,I come home w/ 4 furry friends for the Littles..for Valentine's day..and then Jacques and I think of which one goes better w/ which Little..this year we were polar opposites..

I let him choose...

Like our daughters names..we had a pact 42 yrs. ago..I pick the boys names ,he picks the girls..I never had a pick!

This year..it's his choices..

I was ready to pick numbers etc..lol..

too complicated he said..

he is right.

I bowed out.

So meet the 4 that made the cut for this year..maybe the last.

I made  special cookies for the Littles....I bought this cookie cutter last yr..many many many days after Valentine's..at our one and only WS..a day's trip away..almost.. w/ pay tolls..and boring views..

but a great place for General Tao....in that city mall area..IMHO..and fun shopping in a shopping city.

I used a recipe from Bake at 350..because..well...it's Bridget..

the recipe made enough for the 4 large cookies and the mini hearts ,that are in fact part of the cookie..

I have to give you tips re using these huge cookie cutters..see below...as many may have Christmas ones..like I do..

So these cookies are BIG..and w/ all the cut outs..the hearts..it makes them hard to lift when raw or just baked..

1.I rolled out each cookie on an ind.square of parchment ,so I could lift the cookie..on the parchment and place it on my baking tray..each tray held 2 cookies..and I baked the small hearts in another batch..because they are tiny and bake quickly.

2.I remove the small hearts before baking..I make sure that when I am pressing the cookie cutter..I stretch around each tiny  heart,well,so that every heart comes off..some still remain..don't lift the cookie ,lift the whole parchment and curl it back a bit to get that heart out..very few should remain..3 was tops on mine after I perfected my little method..

3.I put my cut out cookies in a screened in porch that has a cold outside temp..until they were stiff:)

4.Keep an eye..my cookies took longer than her recommended cooking time..maybe 10-11 minutes..you could need less..

5.When done ,lift the whole parchment and place on cooling rack..let cool..  and THEN..gently slide a spatula to remove from the paper and leave on rack till cooled completely .

6.I thought the boys would like a bit more special..so I put the Wilton gel..in the form of hearts and sprinkled the sprinkles..that do stay put ..where you placed the gel..

Place a waxed paper if you want to recuperate the sprinkles that don't make the cut..I forgot..I had a million sprinkles on my counter..so The Dirt Devil came in handy..then I sparkled everything..

I hope these instructions do not deter you from trying BIG ind.cookies..I know the Littles will be happy.

Chocolate cookie batter and I are not a match made in heaven..the cocoa powder..etc ..the batter..a chocolate mess..until all is well again.

Now that I know how easy these cookies can be..I look forward to ind.Christmas ones..I did make large Easter ones last yr..but not in chocolate.

Our youngest daughter turns 39 on the 21rst..we are celebrating this coming weekend..

Seems like yesterday~

I'll be working on a cake..and cupcakes...

♥