Today’s Fortune: You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.

That is a very true fortune! Me and Puglet spent the whole day today inventing a new recipe, but we finally got it perfect, and I can share it with all my friends!

Today is New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow it will be a whole new year. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me in 2010! There will be fireworks at midnight tonight. Me and Puglet are ready. That is because we were careful planners, and we saved some of our fireworks from Independence Day. We have five boxes of Pop-Its so we can make lots of fun noise, and we have twelve Party Time Poppers. Those are filled with fun curly streamers. We are going to use those to celebrate with our friend KnittyMac, because she is retiring and moving to Ashevegas. We are going to go visit her this summer! Happy retirement, Auntie Mac!!!

Inventing a recipe is a lot of work. It helps if you are inspired. We wanted to make some cookies called Puggerhuggers. They are named after our friend Puggerhugger, who is my Auntie Jana. She lives in Ashevegas, too. These needed to be extraordinary cookes, because Auntie Jana is an extraordinary person. She is made of awesomesauce with cream cheese frosting and bacon crumbles, and so are these cookies!

When you are inventing a recipe, you have to get out a lot of stuff.  Some of it will work, and some of it will not. You do not have to get out all this stuff, because we have made the changes and settled satisfactorily already.

Here is what you will need to make Puggerhuggers: (If you decide to make Puggerhuggers you can print a copy of my recipe from this link…)

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of butter or margarine
• Awesomesauce (see recipe below)
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe below)
• 1/2 pound of bacon

Awesomesauce: (Reserve 3 tablespoons for frosting)

• 1/2 cup canned pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 heaping tablespoons of Smucker’s Apricot Simply Fruit
• 1 tablespoon of orange marmalade

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz. unsalted butter
• 3 Tablespoons of Awesomesauce
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 cups of powdered sugar

You will need mixing bowls, a mixer, cookie sheets, parchment paper, measuring cups and measuring spoons. Get those out. Be sure to get your Adult Supervision to help, too.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees so it will be ready when you need it.

When we went to the store to get ingredients, we figured out that they were out of a lot of stuff in the brands we usually buy, so we had to get some stuff we have not bought before.  Mom says this is the “store brand”, and it is just the same as the stuff we usually get.  It is called “Best Choice”.  It should be called “Only Choice,” because that is what it was.

First, you will mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together in a big bowl.  Here is a picture of the stuff to put in the first bowl:

In the next bowl, you will mix up the Awesomesauce.  Be sure to put three tablespoons of it into a smaller bowl and set it aside, because you will need it for your cream cheese frosting.  Here is the stuff for Awesomesauce:

Then, in the big mixing bowl of your mixer you will need to put in the butter and sugar.  Turn the mixer on and blend it until it is nice and smooth.  Add the egg and the vanilla and mix it some more.  Here is what you will need to start in the mixer bowl:

Add in the Awesomesauce and mix it well.  Then slowly mix in the flour mixture from the first bowl, and mix it until everything is blended.

We made big Puggerhuggers and we also made little cookies called Mini-Purls.  They are the same cookie, just different sizes.  Mini-Purl is Auntie Jana’s tiny pug, and we love her a lot, too.  She should also have a cookie named after her.

Put a sheet of parchment paper over your cookie sheet.  This will keep your Puggerhuggers from sticking.  If you are making the Puggerhugger size, scoop out the dough with a big ice cream scoop (ours is about 2″ across) and place them about 2″ apart on the cookie sheet.  You will bake them for 17 minutes.

Mini-Purls are scooped with a melon ball scoop, and baked for 15 minutes.  While you are cooking them, wash up your utensils and mixing bowl, because you will need them again.  Plus, you will want to cook again someday, and if you leave a great big mess, your Mom might not let you.

When the cookies are done, let them cool.  While they are cooling, you can make your frosting.   Put the cream cheese, unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons of Awesomesauce and the vanilla into the mixing bowl, and mix on medium speed until nice and creamy.  Slowly add in bits of the powdered sugar, until it is all mixed in.

Here is what you need for your frosting:

Now you can frost your Puggerhuggers!  If you use the back of a spoon dipped in hot water, your frosting will stick to the cookie and not to the spoon.  I learned that on the Food Network, which I watch a lot of.

Fry up the bacon until it is nice and crisp, and put it in the food processor.  Chop it until it is really tiny, and then sprinkle it on your frosted Puggerhuggers.  You might think bacon is a weird thing to put on cookies, but it is delicious.  The smoky flavor of the bacon balances the sweetness of the frosting, and makes these cookies taste better than any you’ve ever eaten!  Believe me… I have seen every episode of every season of Top Chef, and if there is one thing I know, it is that everything is better with bacon!!

Here is what your Puggerhuggers and Mini-Purls will look like when they are done.  Be sure to keep them in the refrigerator, because stuff like cream cheese and bacon need to be kept cool.

Maybe I can get me a show on the Food Network, now that I am an accomplished chef.  I would really enjoy doing an Iron Chef challenge.  Especially if the secret ingredient is Awesomesauce.

And if Bobby Flay ever knocks on my door, I am ready for a Puggerhugger throwdown!

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Store brand