Lets all go to the lobby!

My home is filled with the smell of cookies. Inside it's warm and inviting, outside its cold and wet. Its been raining now for 48 hours and I heard the weatherman say there's more on the way. Sure helps to make it feel more like Christmas....here in the desert Christmas is usually warm, dry, and brown. It's hard to feel cheery when it's 90* outside and you're sweating in your new Christmas sweater. But I digress.

Right now my house is full of my family, which includes 2 teens, 2 cats, a dog and my husband. Outside I hear the rain dropping on the roof and tink tinkling on the windows. Nearly ever surface of my kitchen is covered in flour, sugar, pot holders cookie racks and other assorted baking utensils. For many years now I've made a habit out of baking, especially in hard times. In my mind, hard times don't seem as hard when there's freshly baked bread or cookies . You might not know how you’ll pay the electric bill but damnit, there’s cookies! This may stem from seeing my mother scale a chest high chain link fence, wrestle the ham bone from the jaws of our neighbors dog and using it for soup that night. I didn't want my kids to ever know that bone chilling uncertainty so I just started baking. I found it put me in a grateful headspace. Some how the very act of creating something took me away from complaining and gave me enough of a reprieve that I could figure out the problem. I'm here to tell you my girth is proof of the many problems I figured out! =)

I just finished up the batch of cookies and thought it might be nice to share. There are festive actually and although they call for red jello, I'm willing to bet you could use just about any flavored jello you wanted. It's a fairly forgiving recipe that's easy to pull together and fun especially for little kids! To my brother and I these were hands down our most favorite. Perhaps it's because of the color, maybe because we got to help, maybe it's because they're fast! Whatever the reason I remember feeling safe and loved, as a child. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Crisp Pastel Cookies

¾ c.shortening (oil can be substituted)

½ c sugar

1 3oz pkg “RED” jello(not sugar-free!)

2 Egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cream together the first 5 ingredients. Sift together the remaining ingredients and mix well. You'll have a crumbly mess resembling play dough . Shape into balls approx. ¾ inch and place on a well greased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Lightly press the center of the cookie with your thumb or the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350* for 6-8 minutes.

The end result is a slightly sweet, slightly tart cookie. The more you press down the thinner they become and thus the “crisp” part. I prefer bigger thicker cookies so I don't press very much at all and 6-7 minutes works best. ENJOY!!!