Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Left Behind - With Lemon Sugar Snap Cookies



This morning I awoke with a feeling of being left behind.
A dear friend is heading back home.
A young man is going to high school.
And here I am, in my little farmhouse, with the Italian Mobster roosters crowing, Phyllis clucking, and me, vacuuming.

Oh, don't get me wrong - it's all good.
It's all right, and the way life should be.
The reality of me with time on my hands is starting to sink in.
I like it.

I've always thought it easier to be the leaver instead of the leavee.
When you are the leaver, your mind is occupied with your trip ahead, you are busy thinking about all that needs to be done when you get home.
When you are the leavee - you are left with a bit of emptiness and forlornness that needs to be filled.

With Cookies.

Lemon Sugar Snaps

1 stick of soft butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t lemon peel
1 T lemon extract
3/4 cup of flour
1/4 t salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add egg yolk, zest and extract.
Mix well.
Add the flour and salt and blend on low speed until all ingredients are blended.

Place teaspoon size balls on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake until very lightly colored around the edges.
Cool five minutes on the sheet.
Eat.

I've not had luck doubling this recipe - it seems to lose 'something'.

38 comments:

  1. Sorry you are feeling left behind. :( This wasn't my first thought after reading your blog and looking at the picture of your cookies. My first thought was "YES! Her cookies touch the edges of each other, too!" I get too hurried at the end of baking them and I most always put too many on a sheet. I could never do like Martha Stewart where she literally puts like 6 cookies on a sheet at a time. It would take 2 or 3 hours to just bake one batch at that rate! And I always bake double batches at a minimum. If I am going to trouble of mixing them all together I might as well make a lot. :) Praying you have a good day today.

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  2. Mmmmmmm.... they look great! That means, I need to put lemon peel and lemon extract on my shopping list. Because, I can't make them... until I have all of the ingredients.

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  3. Ahhh, those cookies sound like the perfect remedy for forlornness. I'll have to try the recipe. I love lemon cookies, and so does my FIL.

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  4. Sorry you are so forlorn, but it looks like you found something useful to do with the time. It takes some time to get used to the quiet after a big change like yours. I know you will fill the void creatively.

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  5. You see it's all in how you look at it: FINALLY! They're gone. Thank goodness! Now I have the house to myself! No one but me, the animals, Mad Men and cookies!

    Scout was apparently coached by Buster and discovered a skunk last night right before bed. Not good.

    Your Friend,
    Deborah

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  6. I want to be the leavee where those cookies are concerned! Yum!!

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  7. Jayme, I know that feeling...it leaves one feeling a bit folorn and on unsure ground for a bit....until life settles around your shoulders and you feel connected again.

    I love your cookie recipe and will surely give it a try...

    Your dear heart just shines through your posts. Hugs- Diana

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  8. these look yummy..i love lemon anything homemade and i've never seen this recipe before!!!
    i bet they are perfect with tea or coffee for breakfast!!!
    it is the perfect way to keep your hands and mind busy too....
    parting is hard but time alone to bake and unwind is priceless.
    love your blog...

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  9. these look yummy..i love lemon anything homemade and i've never seen this recipe before!!!
    i bet they are perfect with tea or coffee for breakfast!!!
    it is the perfect way to keep your hands and mind busy too....
    parting is hard but time alone to bake and unwind is priceless.
    love your blog...

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  10. I will be making these TONIGHT! Been waiting for this recipe...

    Enjoy the day,
    Chris

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  11. That's exactly how I feel Jayme. The moment the kids and hubby walk out the door in the morning, I can hear my voice echoing throughout the house. Helllooooooo??? When life gives you lemons, make lemon cookies :) Thanks for being such a sweetie Jayme.

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  12. Per Fabio: "Mommy, is that Jayme's blog? Mommy, those honey cookies are good." Me: "I know." Fabio: "But do we have any more?"

    I'm feeling left behind, too. And cleaning up a mean streak. And tired. So very, very tired. And happy, most of all.

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  13. I love sugar cookies. Thanks.

    It was interesting to read about your feeling today about being the leaver and the one left behind.

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  14. Hey, if you have to get left behind cookies are the way to do it....

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  15. Yea!
    I've been waiting for this one. Even though I was trying NOT to bake anything GOOD this week, I am going to have to bake these. Then next week I will NOT bake anything good.
    Thank you!

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  16. Nothing like baking something delicious to keep our mind away from whatever ails us. The cookies are a must try.

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  17. Thank you, Jayme! They should be in the oven within half an hour! They sound scrumptious! Not too many for a small household, either. We don't always have to bake for the entire neighborhood! Nice. :)

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  18. In Denver, dreaming of honey cookies and honey sweet friends.
    Seriously. Dreaming of the cookies. FPFG and I shared the last one last night. Or maybe it was the night before.....it's all a big, fun blur.

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  19. I've been gone for a few days and just taking a few minutes after work to catch up a bit on my bloggy friends before heading out the clean the hen house. Have three of my friends come spend the night this weekend to do some sewing and crafting together. Cannot have a dirty hen house. Oh who am I kidding. By tomorrow no one will know it was just cleaned. My three daughters and I love lemon these will be baked here sometime in the future! Have a wonderful week Jayme!

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  20. Gotcha. I would definitely prefer to be the "leaver". When my kids take the grandkids home (and for one, "home" is 2000 miles away) I am lost.
    What to do. What to do.
    Now I know.
    Bake cookies.
    Thanks!

    Cindy

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  21. Well, I would happily share a lemon cookie with you any time. I kind of prefer being the leaver too. Maybe it's just because I've done so much of it in my life that I'm used to it.
    I'm excited to fill up some of that extra time you have on your hands.

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  22. P.S. They WERE scrumptious! Made 'em. Enjoyed 'em. Yum. :)

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  23. I like being the leavee. I do enjoy my solitude!
    Brenda

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  24. I would much rather be the doer too. Being the done to is much less engaging. Cookies! Since my oven is still kafooy I'm going to try out a fry pan skillet cookie recipe. Your cookies have inspired me to give it a go. I want a cookie!

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  25. You just KNEW everyone would want to double that recipe, LOL!

    How many cookies does one batch make?

    It's autumn, time to indulge. Baking. A book in the afternoon with a cuppa hot tea. Blankets on your lap. Hot bubble baths. Warm oatmeal breakfasts for the flock :-)

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  26. You know they will all be back on your doorstep in a few days, hungry for cookies...better figure out how to double this recipe girl!

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  27. Jayme, the cookies sound so good. I am goign to try them them for my road trip this weekend. As far as the leaver or the leavee...I totally agree it is harder to be the leavee. When my family or step-daughter come and leave, it's just so quiet and lonely for a while. I know that feeling. Thankfully, your critters can alway cheer you up :)
    Amy

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  28. I would much rather be the leaver than the leavee...but since you have the cookies...I'll take a cup of tea and draw up a chair and sit with thee!
    Hug you, Cheryl

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  29. If you have lots of time on your hands, Jayme, my kitchen could use a deep cleaning! BTW, my favorite part of the recipe is the last line!

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  30. In honor of friendship and this delicious cookie recipe, I have decided to have cookies for breakfast!! (I just paused and dunked another oatmeal yummy. Tried not to dribble on the keyboard)
    You've had more alone time, I've had more NOT alone time. It's all good really. My just mom moved in, and everything is just topsy turvey. I'm use to a little alone time...I guarded it...I savored it...I just need to readjust to these changes and all will be fine. Same with you, it'll all be fine. Let's have another cookie while we think about it. Mmmm! I feel much better! (I would totally not be a good diet buddy when the going got tough)

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  31. Its so wierd how we look at life through different eys.You see alone,but I see all of your comments and think you are not alone.I love your blog and it makes so many people feel alive not alone.

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  32. Thanks for recipes TWO DAYS IN A ROW!! Trying to watch the pounds, and you're not helping at all.

    For that left-behind-what-do-I-do-now feeling, get really sweaty and accomplish something. It helps. Really. Then take a shower, sit quietly, and hug something furry (or feathery). I'm using a kitten for this.

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  33. Those look dee-light-FULL! Yum... I agree... I don't like it when anyone leaves me. I keep wanting babies... because I know they will eventually leave me... but I'm no Michelle Dugger either... lol... guess I will just stick to three.... because always cookies to help.

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  34. I just spent the better half of the day reading all of your chicken posts and I have to say I am in love. I also had a Chicken Terror(AKA Brutus my own dog) attack earlier this year and lost 6 out of 8 birds(and they were merely teenagers!). And just recently found out Wilma is actually Wilmer. So I only have one hen! And she is not even laying, the lazy bugger. So, I have thoroughly enjoyed your chicken stories. Makes my life seem nearly normal. Look forward to more! Best wishes, Jessi

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  35. These look wonderful...and yes, I too am in a different season of life, yet good change in life...glad he is enjoying school, now enjoy your new journey!!!

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  36. Got a batch o'these here snaps up in the heat box.

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