Monday, November 07, 2005

Hiking in Nashville

Some pictures from hiking around Radnor Lake. If you haven't been there and you live around here...you must go! The Ganier Ridge trail is my favorite. It turns into the Lake trail so you get to see Radnor Lake as well.

Tennessee is beautiful this time of year.







It's been hard...

...to think about something to blog about!

I think I will share with you what I made for the Halloween party at work.

I was a little nervous about making these...afraid that no one would eat them...BUT THEY DID! And people loved them. They were quite the hit, actually.


They are called Witch's Fingers and they are basically short-bread cookies with almond fingernails. I even made a sign for them!

If you would like to make them yourself, here is the recipe. They come highly recommended from the folks at work...PROMISE!




Witch Finger Cookies
* Make cookies smaller than you think is necessary, as they will widen in the oven

Yields 5 dozen cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2¾ cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
¾ cup whole blanched almonds
Red food coloring
1 tube red decorator gel

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Working with ¼ of the dough at a time, while keeping remaining dough refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoons of dough into a finger shape for each cookie. Press an almond firmly into one end for the nail. Squeeze in center to form a knuckle shape and use a paring knife to make slashes in several places to form knuckle. Dilute red food coloring and paint the nails.

Place cookies on cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden. Cool for three minutes. If desired, lift almond and squeeze red gel onto nail bed so it oozes from underneath.