Where does the time go?  This entire summer seems to be a blur.  I can’t believe it is August let alone mid-August!! The past two weeks have been extremely busy.  Getting ready for the start of school, harvesting my abundant tomato crop, admiring the beautiful flowers that continue to flourish, and making cookies to enter in the State Fair.

This year I did not enter jelly, only cookies in the State Fair – Old-Fashioned Sugar, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, and Sugar Drops.  Every year I wonder why I enter the State Fair.  It does time a lot of time and energy to do all the baking, select 4 perfect cookies, type the recipes, attach the recipes to the entry tags, attach the entry tag and receipt to the paper plate, put everything in a Ziploc bag, and drive one hour and fifteen minutes to Springfield.  And all the way to Springfield I am thinking of everything that I did wrong while I was baking the cookies and that the 4 perfect cookies that I selected from each batch were not the ones that I should have chosen.  As I anxiously check the competition results and see the names of so many talented bakers and cooks from around the state, I think there is no way that I can compete with them.  And then I see my name –  3^rd Place – Sugar drop plain cookie!  I am so thrilled and proud whenever one of my entries places as the State Fair.  It makes all the work and anxiety worth it!!

And here are my winning cookies.  The recipe is below and is very similar to my favorite Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies.

Sugar Drops

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cup confectioners’ sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugars.  Beat in eggs until well blended.  Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; add to the creamed mixture, mixing well.

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined or ungreased baking sheet.  Sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes.

Although I doubt my cooking and baking skills every year, I do enjoy entering the State Fair.  I am already thinking ahead to next year.  For sure I will be entering my blackberry jelly and I am going to keep trying to master the best chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie!  Any good recipes out there?  And who knows, I might even get really brave and enter an apple pie!!!

Thanks for stopping by and happy baking!!  The subject of my next blog – tomato juice!!!

Until next time,

Pat