I reject your Monday and substitute it with my own.

What am I doing today? I am rejecting your Monday and substitute it with my own snow day. We will add in a sprinkling of chores, work and school. It will also be accompanied by a warm fire, fresh baked sugar/nutmeg cookies, Play-Doh, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Polly Pockets (the original ones you can swallow, of course!), Wartime Farm on youtube, a kid's movie production with friends and lots of hot chocolate and coffee.

My 3 littles enjoying the snow. Our last snow was in September!

Older 13-yr-old son cutting kindling in the garage.

Our Esse wood cookstove looking as handsome as ever.

11-yr-old son offered to bake cookies today rather than shoveling manure.

Mama's happy feet.

Checking on the cookies. Not sure why, but they seem to taste better when baked in the wood oven. I have learned that when the temperature gauge is pointing directly down at "hot" your oven is at a just right 350*. If it's hotter you can bake cookies in half the time. I have baked them perfectly before for only 2 minutes.

Cookies are done. Oldest daughter looking way too grown up and beautiful with out her braces.

My sweet "F" having frosting fun.

And just in case you can smell the cookies from here...you will definitely want the recipe. I think the magic to my grandmother's sugar cookies is the NUTMEG! They are so wonderful, soft, moist and delicious with or with out frosting.

Grandma Johnson's Sugar Cookies
2c sugar
1c shortening (you can use part butter, but shortening is nice in here)
2 eggs
-cream together these three first, then gradually add:
1 c buttermilk (I never have buttermilk so I always add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk)
Dry ingredients, sift these and add slowly while mixing:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
5 c flour (this can vary)

Refrigerate overnight or for 2-3 hours. This dough is very soft, you will want plenty of flour to roll them out and if there's not enough, you can always kneed in a bit more flour before rolling...best not to add extra if you can help it.

Bake @ 375* for 10 minutes. You want them just barely turning brown on the edges.They have a perfect crunchy bottom and moist middle and a nice top for decorating. My favorite is when they just come out of the oven with no frosting.

Both of my grandmothers raised their families on farms. I lived in Alaska growing up and they stayed on their farms in MI and VT and came to visit from time-to-time. When I make their recipes it makes me feel closer to them. The nutmeg smell always reminds me of these cookies and of her Long Johns; her famous doughnuts that were rectangle shaped and also contained nutmeg. She must have really loved nutmeg.

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