Friday, June 22, 2012

Lemon Cookies and Life Updates

As I'm on my one week break between summer classes I pulled out the good ole Kitchen Aid and got to work on a new cookie recipe I found from a fellow blogger. I was feeling adventurous and decided to try something with fresh fruit (I'm working my way up to making that homemade jam at some point)! Needless to say these blueberry lemon cookies sounded delectable, and boy were they! Here's the recipe and the link to her blog in case you would like some pictures to help with the baking process...

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 cup flour
1 cup blueberries
1/2 pkg cream cheese, cut into 1 tsp cubes

In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Blend in the lemon zest, juice and eggs. Make sure to scrape off any bits of zest that stick to the mixer paddle.
In a separate bowl whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour then mix it into the wet ingredients. Gently fold in the blueberries so as not to burst any. Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 20 minutes to make it stiff enough to roll.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tbsp of dough into a ball then flatten it slightly into a disc shape. Place a 1 tsp cream cheese cube into the center and form the dough around it creating a ball again. Bake them for about 10 - 14 minutes until the edges brown slightly. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!
*Remember to refrigerate left over cookies as they have fresh fruit and cream cheese in them! It actually makes them taste even better ;)
On another note, as we head into the last week of June here soon... Mitchell will be tracking on the 28th! Many of you may have no idea what this means if you aren't among those of us entrenched in the UPT world, but basically it means that we will find out which type of plane he may potentially fly. If he goes T-38's he could be on a path to flying fighters (although that is by no means guaranteed) and if he goes T-1's he will be on the path of definitely flying some sort of heavy. Thoughts and prayers would certainly be appreciated as we head into this next week. This is a huge milestone for both of us and we can't wait to see what happens :) After Phase II is over this coming Thursday Mitchell will only have one final phase to complete before UPT is over!


Finally, my sweet friend Elyssa will be making the long journey home soon from India where she has been serving as a faithful servant of the Lord for the past 6 months! I know she has been such a blessing to the children she has been working with and they will be sad to see her leave. Any prayers that could be sent her way would be deeply appreciated as she heads home! I can't wait to be reunited with one of my dearest friends in a few weeks!
I can't believe he's less than a week away
from being done with T-6's!

I couldn't be a more proud wife ;)
Love,
The Etheridges