Christmas Cookies...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Loud House and make no profit from this story. All recipes below are from the Taste of Home magazine.
...With Ronnie Anne Santiago and Rosa Casagrande
Ronnie Anne peeked around the corner, checking to see if the coast was clear. Seeing nobody else, she tip-toed her way into the kitchen and over to the cupboards. Pulling a chair up, she stood on it and reached into the cupboard nearest the fridge, taking a large cookie jar from the top shelf. She set it down and removed the lid, reaching inside to grab...nothing.
"What the?"
She looked into the jar and found it completely empty. A frown came to her face as she put the lid back on and pushed it away.
"Dang it, Carlino!" She griped. "I can't believe he ate them all, again!"
Letting out a sigh, she put the jar and the chair back were they belonged and went to leave the kitchen. But before she could get too far, she found her path blocked by her grandmother. The woman noticed the look on Ronnie Anne's face and she cupped the girl's chin, gently tilting it upwards a little.
"Ronalda, what is the matter? Why do you look so sad?"
"I'm not sad, Grandma Rosa. I'm just a little upset because someone ate all of those lemon cookies I like." Ronnie Anne said before adding under her breath. "For the third time this month."
Rosa smiled and patted Ronnie Anne's head. "Is that all? Well that's nothing to be worried about. It will be easy to make more!"
"What? You don't have to go through the trouble, Grandma. Really! You've been cooking like crazy all month long. I don't want to ask you to go out of your way just for me."
The grandmother smiled at the girl, taking out what she needed from the cupboards. As she set them down on the counter she reached over to pinch Ronnie's cheek.
"It's no trouble at all. I am always happy to cook for my beautiful family. And besides, I don't need to do it all by myself. Not with my darling little nieta here to lend me a hand."
Ronnie Anne looked around, as though there was someone else in the room to whom her grandmother was referring. But when she saw nobody else around, she pointed to herself in confusion.
"Who, me?"
"Yes, you. You silly girl! You love those lemon snowflake cookies so much, how would you like to learn how to make them for yourself? That way you can have them any time you like!"
"That's actually a really cool idea!" Ronnie said, a smile coming to her face. "I can't believe that I hadn't thought of that before! Count me in!"
"Wonderful!" Rosa said, clasping her hands together. "However, I would like to ask you to help me with something in return."
"Okay, sure. What is it?"
"I'm about to also make your grandfather's favorite cookies. But they require lots of ingredients. It would be so nice of you to help me with them, Ronalda."
Rosa held out a large bowl and spoon for the girl. She took them with no hesitation at all and gave her grandmother a confidant smile.
"So, how do we make Grandpa's cookies?"
"No, no. His can wait." Rosa said with a chuckle. "He already eats enough sweets as it is, we don't need to give him the ones he eats by the dozen. Let's make yours first. Then you can enjoy them sooner." She leaned over a little to whisper into Ronnie's ear. "And, you can take a dozen of them back to your room to hide away someplace. Grandma won't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret. Okay?"
Ronnie Anne nodded ecstatically, practically beaming at the idea of having her own little stash of cookies. She washed her hands and removed her hoodie to avoid getting it dirty while she helped prepare the cookies. Then she stood by the counter, eagerly awating instructions.
"Here you go, Ronalda. This is everything you need to mix together. Then we roll it into some confectioners' sugar and they are ready to bake!" Rosa said, handing Ronnie a single large egg, a container of whipped topping and a package of lemon cake mix.
"Wow, that's all?" the girl asked. "I could have learned how to do this ages ago!"
Ronnie Anne opened the cake mix and poured it into the bowl. Then she cracked the egg over the bowl and added in the required amount of whipped topping. She blended them together, but slowed to a stop and looked up at her grandmother with a slightly worried look on her face.
"Um, Grandma Rosa? Is it supposed to be so...sticky?"
"Yes, Ronalda. That is exactly how it should be! Now we take a teaspoon full at a time and just roll it in the sugar."
She set down a shallow bowl of confectioners' sugar in front of Ronnie Anne. Then she took a spoon and scooped out a little of the dough and plopped it right in, rolling it until it was evenly coated. From there she picked it up and placed it onto a baking sheet. Ronnie Anne followed suit, starting to fill the baking sheet with more little scoops of the lemon flavored dough. The two soon filled up enough baking sheets to put into the oven, with some cookie dough left over for later.
"That was pretty fun." Ronnie Anne said. "Thanks for showing me how to make them, Grandma Rosa."
"You are very welcome, my dear. It has been a pleasure to have you helping me in the kitchen. I just wish we had been able to cook together sooner. Your mama tells me that you used to do it often for her back in Royal Woods."
Ronnie Anne blushed. "Yeah, well, that's because she was always so busy. And Bobby isn't exactly good at handling the stove by himself."
"She also told me that you want to be a chef when your all grown up. And that you've even cooked for that boyfriend of yours."
The blush on Ronnie's face grew, the girl beginning to twirl the tip of her pony tail with her fingers. "H-he did my a favor with a school project so I did something nice to thank him. That's all. And the whole chef thing is just in case my Pro-Skateboarding career doesn't kick off." She said, a nervous giggle escaping her. "So, anyway, Grandpa's cookies. What do we need to do for those ones?"
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot! How silly of me!" Rosa said with a laugh. "Here, you start with mixing some softened butter with a cup of sugar and a little bit of brown sugar too. I'll start to shred up the sweet potato."
"Sweet potato? For cookies?" Ronnie Anne asked incredulously.
Rosa nodded. "That's right. Just one of the many ingredients that these cookies need. Trust me when I say that they are very good!"
Ronnie shrugged. "If you say so. But I'm not really crazy about sweet potatoes, so sorry in advance if I don't like them."
"As long as you give them a try first, I won't mind one bit. Now, after you make the mixture nice and fluffy, you can add one egg to it and beat it in. I should have the sweet potato all ready by then."
The grandmother began to peel the tuber so she could afterwards shred it with a grater. Meanwhile, Ronnie Anne began to mix the ingredients as she had been told. Once the shredded sweet potato was added in, she was surprised to see her grandmother also adding some orange juice to the mixture. She chose not to question it and simply continued to follow instructions as they were given.
"Once you finish mixing this in..." Rosa said, carefully pouring in a dry mix of flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to Ronnie's bowl. "we just need to add oats, coconut, pecans and butterscotch chips. Then they can be baked. After we finish your cookies first, of course."
"Wow, there sure is a lot of different things you need to make these. And Grandpa really likes them?"
"No, Ronalda. He loves them! It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were all gone before next week. And this recipe allows us to make lots of them!"
"How many is 'lots of them'?" Ronnie asked.
"Seven dozen."
Ronnie Anne let out a low whistle. "Wow, and I thought we were able to make a lot of my cookies. If Grandpa Hector likes them that much then they have to be good. He won't mind if there's only one missing, right?"
"Of course not, Ronalda! In fact, if you do like them, then you can take a dozen of them back to your room too. Your grandpa can settle for only six dozen this time." Rosa joked. "But if he does happen to have any problems with it, then he can answer to me. So don't you worry your pretty head over it, okay?"
Rosa began adding the final ingredients while Ronnie Anne continued to mix it all up. Then the two set up the remaining lemon cookie dough onto two clean baking sheets and awaited for the ones in the oven to finish. Ronnie Anne took out the hot cookies and quickly put in the unbaked ones, shutting the oven door again. Rosa placed the cookies fresh from the oven onto wire racks to cool and then set the baking sheets aside to give them a quick wash when they had also cooled down.
A short while later, the two bakers removed the rest of the lemon cookies and set them aside to cool off. Rosa checked on the first batch and deemed them cool enough for Ronnie Anne to eat. The girl happily took one, the treat still nice and warm. Unable to restrain herself, she shoved the entire thing into her mouth and sighed in contentment as the flavor tantalized her taste buds. A second cookie soon followed, although this time Ronnie chose to take it more slowly and bit off a modest portion.
"Do you want help washing the dishes, Grandma?" She offered, seeing Rosa cleaning the used baking sheets in the sink.
"That would be very nice. I will wash and you can dry. Thank you Ronalda."
"Thank you for teaching how to make my favorite cookies." Ronnie Anne said, finishing her treat and joining her grandmother. "To be honest, I really liked being able to work with you in the kitchen. Do you think I can do it more often?"
Rosa nearly dropped the baking sheet she had been scrubbing. She looked down at Ronnie Anne, a loving smile on her face.
"That would make me a very happy woman, Ronalda. I would love to be able to keep cooking with my sweet, little nieta as often as possible."
"Cool. Because I'll need to if I want to get as good as you are at cooking. I think that maybe, I might want to make being a chef my first choice for a career when I get older after all."
"Well, I think that's a fine idea." Rosa told her granddaughter. "And if you ask me, you are already well on your way!"
Ronnie Anne blushed a little. "Thanks Grandma. So, when we're done baking Grandpa's cookies, what do we get to make next?"
"Anything you want, Ronalda." Rosa said with a warm chuckle. "Anything you want."
End of Part 5)
Well, that's pretty much the end of it. But there will be a little epilogue in the next day or two just to wrap things up. But for now, here are the recipes for any who wish to give them a shot. Thanks for reading!
Sweet Potato Spice Cookies (Makes 7 dozen)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup finely shredded uncooked sweet potato
3 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 and 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1) In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, sweet potato and orange juice concentrate. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in another bowl; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
2) Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool. Enjoy!
Lemon Snowflake Cookies (Makes 5 and 1/2 dozen)
Ingredients:
1 package lemon cake mix (regular size)
2 and 1/4 cups whipped topping
1 large egg
confectioners' sugar
1) In a large bowl, combine the lemon cake mix, whipped topping and egg until well blended. The batter will be very sticky.
2) Drop by the teaspoonful into the confectioners' sugar; roll lightly to coat. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned and tops are cracked. Remove to wire racks to cool. Enjoy!