Bake it: Pan de Polvo (Mexican cookies!)

Good evening, lovelies! How are your Christmas preparations coming along? TEN DAYS LEFT! Ah! I can hardly believe it. We actually JUST got our tree up the other day and I’ve only wrapped one gift. We’ve been buying a lot online and so it comes to us in a box and…well, there hasn’t been a reason for us to wrap those, you know? I’ll eventually make them pretty, but right now my boys can’t see what they’re getting so it’s ok.

ANYWAY, I am here with a recipe! I’ll share a few with you over the next week or so. My aunt is hosting a cookie exchange this weekend, so I’m trying some recipes out. Three or so. I hope you enjoy this first one, as it took a while to get down.

Let me start at the beginning? Another aunt of mine always makes the best pan de polvo cookies. They’re a Mexican tradition around Christmas time and at weddings. I asked for the recipe and she struck me DOWN, guys. Apparently her’s is a secret. I don’t mess with that, so I moved on. I checked online and there are so many variations, I didn’t know how to narrow it down.

Fast forward to this past weekend and my GRANDPA shares this one he uses. He knew it by memory! I changed it only slightly to add in some extra spice, but yah…here it is! They pretty scrumptious.

NOTE: This recipe yield A LOT. Like, over 10 dozen in the size I made, more if you roll out your dough and make smaller cookies. You could halve it or even third it and still get a substantial amount. I made the whole thing, split my dough in thirds and refrigerated it for another day. We have a lot of Christmas parties to go to, so I’m SURE it will be used up. Sharing is caring.

pdp1

Ingredients
1 teaspoon anise seed
3 cinnamon sticks

3 cups of sugar, separated (2c + 1c)
3 lbs vegetable shortening
5 lbs all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1 tablespoon, separated
1 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat your oven to 375F.

Place the cinnamon sticks and anise into 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Set aside to cool.

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Combine 2 cups of sugar and the shortening. Mix well.



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In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to your sugar mixture 1-2 cups at a time. This makes A LOT of dough and you may need to put it into a bigger bowl. It will slightly resemble pie crust dough.

Slowly add in the cinnamon anise tea (up to 1 cup). Mix it very well, getting the tea to permeate the entire dough.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. You can wrap two and put them in the fridge for later, or the next day. I’m also told you can freeze it, but I haven’t tried.

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Form into balls, using a cookie scoop to measure the size.

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I like to roll it and press it into a disk about 1.5″ wide and half an inch thick.

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Evenly space them on a cookie sheet (I could fit 15 on mine) and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they turn light brown on the edges. WATCH THEM!

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While the cookies are baking, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture. My ratio is 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon for every cup. You can add more/less cinnamon if you like. It’s up to you!

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While the cookies are still warm, gently toss them in the sugar mixture.

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Place them on a rack to finish cooling. They taste best the next morning. It’s a crumbly delightful cookie. Great with a hot cup of coffee or perhaps some Mexican hot chocolate?

Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 teaspoon anise seed
3 cinnamon sticks

3 cups of sugar, separated (2c + 1c)
3 lbs vegetable shortening
5 lbs all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1 tablespoon, separated
1 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat your oven to 375F.

Directions
Place the cinnamon sticks and anise into 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Set aside to cool.

Combine 2 cups of sugar and the shortening. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and cinnamon.

Add the flour mixture to your sugar mixture 1-2 cups at a time. [This makes A LOT of dough and you may need to put it into a bigger bowl.] It will slightly resemble pie crust dough.

Slowly add in the cinnamon anise tea (up to 1 cup). Mix it very well, getting the tea to permeate the entire dough.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. You can wrap two and put them in the fridge for later, or the next day. I’m also told you can freeze it, but I haven’t tried.

Form into balls, using a cookie scoop to measure the size. I like to roll it and press it into a disk about 1.5″ wide and half an inch thick.

Evenly space them on a cookie sheet (I could fit 15 on mine) and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they turn light brown on the edges. WATCH THEM!

While the cookies are baking, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture. My ratio is 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon for every cup. You can add more/less cinnamon if you like. It’s up to you! While the cookies are still warm, gently toss them in the sugar mixture.

Place them on a rack to finish cooling.

Our Christmas Card 2011

319.365: the hand printed card

It was last Christmas when I gifted myself a copy of Print Workshop and the basic tools of a block-printing kit. Over the past year, I’ve made quite a few stamps using my trusty lino cutter, including a crochet-inspired one that I’ve been using on the envelopes for my Lace Love orders. I’ll share that one with you soon, but today I want to talk about my Christmas card!

I doodled this tree, inspired by a drawing in a children’s book, several times and knew I wanted to incorporate it into our Christmas card somehow. I cut a small version on a scrap piece of Speedy Carve and liked it so much, I began drawing it larger. When I was finally satisfied, I drew it directly on a linoleum block and began carving. I found some metallic Speedball ink on clearance at Hobby Lobby one day and took it as a sign. THIS needed to be on the front of my card! I got to work immediately and had my 30 cards printed in a few short hours.

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Its metallic-y shiny goodness–which was surprisingly hard to capture in photos–is not the best part of the card. Nope. The BEST past of the card? The handsome little fellas on the inside:

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Thrifted blazers, vests, cardigans, lollipops. Informal to the max, but just our style.

You want to see outtakes, you say? But, of course!

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I took the outdoor photos first. There was more than one meltdown, I can promise you that. The black & white photo shows what a toddler looks like when his big brother tells him he WILL NOT hold his hand. Oh my word, the tears! I spared you the photo of them BOTH crying because I threaten their treat. When we finally came back in, they got their lollipop prize and were still so adorable, I HAD to take more photos. In our dining room. Lucky I did because I ended up loving one of those the most!

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Did YOU take your own Christmas card photo? How did it go?? How did you “dress it up” for your actual card? I want to know!

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p.s. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for 100 custom postcards I posted earlier today!

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p.p.s. I totally forgot to mention I’m linking up with The Paper Mama’s Holiday Photo challenge!
The Paper Mama

Make it: Hanging Card (& photo) Holder

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Are you receiving Christmas cards yet? We got our first a few days ago and it’s been hanging out on my shelf since then. This morning, I decided it needed a new home. I wanted something small, but still cute. ALSO, I wanted something I could hang on to past Christmas. Perhaps something to hang my Instax photos from? Mmmhmmm!

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Supplies:
random thin tree branch (this one is about 11″ long)
yarn (I used regular worsted weight for stick-wrapping and some fine weight cotton for hanging)
tiny clothespins
cards! and/or photos!
other: scissors, pin or nail to hang the holder from

01

1. Tie a knot and start wrapping up your branch.
2. After about an inch or so, tie on your second color and start wrapping.
3. Wrap the second color around your branch AND the first color’s tail.
4. Keep wrapping, alternating colors (OR keep it solid OR add more colors). When you get to the end, cut off about 2 feet of your last color and tie a knot on the branch.

02

5. Your excess yarn should be able to reach across to the other side of the stick. 2 feet is what I used for my 11″ branch.
6. Tie your yarn around the other end of the branch. Trim any excess.

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7. Grab your finer weight yarn and cut a piece about 18″ long. Tie a knot an inch from the end. Thread the yarn through the spring of your clothespin.
8. Tie another knot (large enough to not slip through the spring) and thread more pins. Leave about 4-5″ between each pin.
9. When you have about 4″ left, tie your string of pins around the branch.

Make another string of clothespins and tie around your branch as well. Hang and enjoy!

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Print it: Christmas “cross-stitched” signs

so this is christmas

so this is christmas v.2.0

Last year, I printed this Christmas sign on kraft card stock. I couldn’t find it in my box of Christmas stuff, so I can only assume I put it in the recycle bin after the holidays. This year I went with white cardstock and decorated it with reg gingham washi tape. I like the brightness! If you would like to print your own, click the image below (or right-click, save as…). Let me see where you put it!

sothisisxmas-xst

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merry christmas!

I used the same Photoshop “cross-stitching” technique for our Christmas card. I already had the word “Christmas” so adding the “merry” was simple and quick. I also used kraft card stock for that. I think it looked awesome! If you would like to print it out, click the link below. If you would like to use it on a card like I did, you’ll have to download it and use a photo editing program to arrange it properly for your printer.

merryxmas-xst






**These files are free for personal use only! Do not distribute without a link back to goodknits.com. Thank you!**

Print it: Christmas Gift tags

One of my favorite things about the holidays is gift wrapping. I like to add personal touches and combine colors and textures. I thought that since a lot of folks put up their Christmas trees and are probably beginning to put presents under them, I would offer these printable gift tags to you.

I have never offered any printables, so if you use them, do come back and tell me how you like them!

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The tags are available in 8 different shades. You can download each individual color using the links below, or click [HERE] to download them ALL in one single PDF. Each page has 9 tags on them. They’re pretty large files, so right-click and “Save as…”

{GOLD}
{MINT}
{TEAL}
{NAVY}
{PINK}
{RED}
{GRAY}
{BLACK}

I’m a fan of layers, so after cutting them out, I layered a paper doily over a piece of kraft paper and put the tag on top. A small piece of double-sided tape between the layers is all that’s needed. I left enough space on top of each tag for you to be able to use a standard hole-punch for threading ribbon or lace. I used some lace trim I had. I think it looks pretty lovely on a white box tied up with gold tinsel ribbon.

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I free-handed this Christmas tree a ton of times to get it perfect for my Christmas card. THEN, I got the idea to use Photoshop the design and use it as a gift tag. I’ll share my Christmas card soon! Hint: It involves gold speedball paint and my sons looking adorable in blazers…

lino love

**These tags are free for personal use only!**