The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

Stinky was on his way through the teleporter and Periwinkle could hardly contain her excitement.  It seemed like forever since the two went on an adventure....how could it only be a week?  She missed him so much.  With a loud WOOOSHH he bounded out of the teleporter.  Their eyes locked and they ran up to each other and hugged tightly.  Stinky looked around and recognized where they were right away.  "Periwinkle, what are we doing here again?  Thanksgiving is over!"   Periwinkle smiled and took his paw as they entered Mauricio's bakeshop!

Periwinkle explained that her fursibs, Cat Scouts Raz and Allie told her all about the super birthday party they had at Scouts.  Everyone dressed up like a Christmas cookie and shared their favorite recipes.  "Are we going to be Cat Scouts?" asked Stinky.  "No we're not," said Periwinkle "but your big brofur Mau was kind enough to let US do some cookie baking today!  Let's go in and get started"

Holding paws, the two went into the bakeshop to get started.  Stinky wanted to bake Cooper Murphy's recipe first so the two decided to start with that one.  No surprise, they were making Gingersnaps!!

When they finished the Gingersnaps, they cut out some traditional sugar cookies and put them in to bake.

"Periwinkle, this was a great idea.  I hope we have time to sample some before we go home."  "Don't worry Stinky, you know we always stop and have a snack."

Next, they made Raspberry Thumbprints and Mexican Wedding cookies.  These were favorites of Periwinkle's Mom and her fursibs Scouts Raz and Allie brought them to the Cat Scouts party. Periwinkle made sure they had the recipes for all the cookies they were going to make and so they could share them with their friends:

Raspberry Thumbprint cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam

GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add flour; beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.
Bake 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

INGREDIENTS

For the cookie dough:

• 1 cup (115 g) pecan pieces
• 1 cup (225 g or 2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (85 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

To roll the cookies:

• 1 1/4 cup (145 g) powdered sugar

METHOD

1 Toast the nuts on the stovetop: Place the nuts in a medium skillet and place over medium heat. Toast the nuts, stirring frequently, until they darken slightly and smell fragrant and nutty, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and let the nuts cool in the pan.

2 Crush the nuts: Once the toasted nuts are warm to the touch, but not hot, pour them into a quart-size sealable freezer bag. Seal the bag, and then use a rolling pin to roll and crush the nuts until they are crushed into a chunky powder. Set aside until needed.

(Alternatively, pulse in a food processor until powdery. Be careful of over-processing or the nuts will turn into nut butter!)

3 Mix the butter and sugar: Place the butter and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat together on medium speed until the sugar is absorbed into the butter and the buttery paste clings to the side of the bowl. Add the vanilla and beat for an additional 30 seconds to incorporate.

4 Add the flour and salt: Mix at low speed. As the dry ingredients start to absorb into the butter-sugar mixture, you can increase the speed back to medium. Once all the flour is mixed in and a dough has formed, stop the mixer.

5 Empty the crushed nuts into the bowl with the dough: Mix on low speed to incorporate.

6 Chill the dough: Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk about 1-inch thick. Wrap tightly with the plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or until the dough is firm.

7 About 10 minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

8 Roll the cookies: Place the 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar for coating the cookies into a shallow bowl. Remove the chilled dough out of the refrigerator and form into 1-inch balls of dough. (If your dough chilled longer than 1 hour, you may need to let it soften for a few minutes at room temperature.)

Roll the balls of dough in powdered sugar and place on the baking mat, spaced slightly apart.

9 Bake for 17 to 19 minutes, or until the cookies start to brown slightly on top and are golden brown on the bottoms. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes after baking.

10 While the cookies are still warm, roll each cookie in the powdered sugar again. Return the cookies to the cooling rack and let cool completely before serving.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container. They will keep well for at least a week.

Just for fun, the two decided to make an impromptu Gingerbread house!!  What clever tabbies they are!!

All of the great smells made them hungry so they found a table in Mau's bakery and enjoyed some cookies and hot cocoa.

As much as they didn't want to leave each other, they knew it was time to go.  They took one last photo inside the bakery so they could remember the fun time they had and see how many cookies they helped bake.  They thanked Mau for letting him bake at his bakery. Periwinkle and Stinky were bringing bags of baked goods home to their families too.

Holding paws, they hugged and shared whisker kisses and headbonks.  Neither wanted to leave but they knew they had to.  Both Periwinkle and Stinky were so excited about Santa coming the following week and they sure hoped they were still on the "Nice" list!  Eventually, they hugged one more time and entered the teleporter to go back to their families.   

Arriving home, Periwinkle and Stinky shared their goodies with their families and told them about the great time they had.  They really enjoyed the special time they had together and already missed each other.