Cow + Pig = Sheep?

Although we haven't been around much, we have four good reasons for our extended absence: 

1. We moved!  

We bounced between various rental barns in Northern Virginia and the last place we were at was really difficult to cook and blog in (see terrible pictures in the hamburger cookie post). 

No matter how many extra lights we put in that tiny kitchen, we still couldn't get good pictures, and the lack of space made it hard to do anything complicated.  Finally, enough was enough! We packed our boxes and bought a beautiful (permanent) castle farm in PA.  

2. We made a giant kitchen! 

We loved everything about our new farm - except the kitchen.  So we changed it from this: 

to this: 

Well, we also added door handles and microwave, but I think you get the idea.

There is so much room for pigs and cows to frolic on the shiny new countertops!  Plus the white background and lights are very flattering to our figures.  Don't worry, we'll give you a full kitchen tour in the next post.

3. We got a fancy camera! 

It occurs to me now that this is not really an excuse for not blogging.  But it is still exciting.

We've always liked our trusty old point and shoot.  It's great for vacations and everyday use.  But for food photography it was a little lacking.  

After begging our humans, they finally caved and bought us a DSLR.  Our humans tell us they didn't buy it just for us though... it's because -

4.  We got a sheep! 

Cow + Pig = Sheep, right? I (Cornelius) thought it should be a Pow, but I was told that didn't make any sense.  So we call it a Sheep.  

Confused?  Our humans had a baby!  It looks like this: 

And sometimes it tries to eat us.  But we are hopeful that in the future it will be less bitey.

What's Next?

So now for the question that is on everyone's minds - since we have a house/kitchen/fancy camera/sheep assistant, will you start to see our cute faces more frequently?

We hope so!

We have a lot of big plans like relocating this blog to our own domain and expanding beyond just food (we are well-rounded animals after all).

But we just wanted to check in and say we haven't forgotten about you loyal readers!

Until then,

Pig, out.

Hamburger Cookies Recipe

Pigs and people are very different animals.

When people think about summer, you think about swimming pools, beaches, suntan lotion, and barbecues.

While pigs appreciate barbecues, there is really only one thing on the pig’s mind when summer is approaching.

No, it’s not mud!

Do you really think that’s all there is to pigs? Rolling around the mud? By now, you should really know we are much more sophisticated than that!

No, when summer is approaching, the one thing that pigs think about is hamburger cookies!

Nilla wafers smell like summer.

Back when we first started making hamburger cookies, they were in such high demand, that Cal and I had to restrict them to a seasonal treat. Otherwise, we think they might be demanded the entire year. 

Assorted hamburger cookie recipes are all over the internet, but this particular method is a Castle Farm special.  A full box of both cookies makes 40-something burgers (depending on how many broken ones there are).

Oh, and sorry these pictures are so bad.  We took them last year right after we moved into our new apartment.  Think of the moving boxes as scenic decor. 

Ingredients

• 1 box of Nilla Wafers
• 1 carton of Keeblers Grasshopper cookies (or Thin Mints)
• 1 can of yellow icing
• 1 can of red icing
• 1 egg white
• sesame seeds
• a handful of shredded coconut – dyed green

Instructions

1. Line up ½ the Nilla wafers facing up and ½ facing down. – all close together. 


2. Beat an egg white in a small bowl.  Brush the smooth rounded tops of 1/2 the cookies with eggwhites, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Make sure to sprinkle every 6-10 cookies, or the eggwhites will dry.


3. On the other half of the cookies, squeeze red icing around the edge of the flat side.  Press a grasshopper cookie on top. 


4. Squeeze yellow icing on top of the grasshopper cookie – around the edge and in the middle.


5. Sprinkle a very small amount of coconut on the edge of the yellow – making sure some of the green sticks out.  Cornelius’ tip: this is very important.  If you just pile the “lettuce” in the middle you won’t see it, and the bun top won’t stick.


6. Press the seeded bun on top of the cookie.

Total Time: 30 min

Yield: 40 cookies

That’s it! If you make these a few times, you’ll get the hang of how much icing you need and where to place it to get it all to stick together and to look the best. 

They may seem like a kinda weird combination of things, but they are the most glorious summer treat in all the land.  Be warned, when you bring these to a picnic, people will never allow you to bring anything else in the future.  That’s why we are strong advocates of having a firm hamburger cookie season that runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 

Happy Summer!

pig, out!

Cookie Extravaganza! Triple Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

Do you know what goes with peanut butter?

If you said 'jelly', you are wrong.

If you said 'pigs', you are close. And you get bonus points.

But the correct answer is MORE PEANUT BUTTER!!!!

The way to make standard peanut butter cookies more delicious is really quite simple.  Go to the store and buy everything that says 'Reeses' in the baking aisle.  Now put them all into the cookies.  

These are triple peanut butter cookies, but maybe you could make them into quadruple or quintuple peanut butter cookies if you can find even more things.  That would be amazing.

Cal, however, disagrees.  He doesn't like peanut butter cookies.  

Yeah, I don't understand either.

To make these cookies, we started with a basic peanut butter cookie recipe from our Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

Ingredients 

• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 c. natural creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 c peanut butter chips
• 1 c Reese's pieces 

Cornelius' tip: don't use the reduced fat stuff! or "peanut butter product" you really need  the good stuff

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line your cookie sheets with parchment.


2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.


3. In the electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars.  When its light and fluffy, add the peanut butter.  Add egg and vanilla.  Beat until combined. 


4. Add flour mixture and make sure it's all mixed up and blended.


5. Now put all of those glorious peanut butter bits and in and mix it by hand.  You can use the electric mixer if you want but you'll probably smash up the pieces.


6. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough, 2" apart, on the sheets.  With fork, press criss-cross pattern into cookies. Cornelius' question: why do we do this part?  is there a real baking reason why peanut butter cookies are criss-crossed or is it just expected at this point?


7. Bake until lightly browned, 15-20 min. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies, maybe more

Eat with plenty of milk! 

pig, out.

Penguin Sugar Cookies Recipe

As you may be aware, pigs and penguins are close allies.  

We are both highly stealthy and have many secret skills which we cannot tell you about. 


There is however one skill we can safely tell you about - that is our cookie baking prowess.


As part of the cookie extravaganza (still running since last December), we invited our penguin friend Skipper to help us with the sugar cookies.  

As you will see, Skipper did very little work.  Other than posing with the cookies.  He was very good at that.  I was in charge of all the decorating.  Cal helped some.

Once upon a time there was... Dipped Shortbread Cookies

I know these cookies seem a little untimely now that it's April... they made a lot more sense when we made them back in December.  


Despite the holiday sprinkles, this basic dipped shortbread recipe is good all year.  It's actually a very nice, light spring cookie!  


Maybe you'll want to find some sprinkles with bunnies or something on them instead, though.  Of course, if you have red and green sprinkles leftover still, we wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted Christmas cookies in the springtime - they would still be delicious.

Once upon a time there was.. French Butter Cookies

So.

We could make up some reasons we haven't been sharing our cute faces lately... like bluepigface disease or the whooping oink syndrome.... or we could pretend like our absence didn't happen and we have been blogging all of 2011.

We're going to go with the second choice.

Today, we present the fourth installment of our cookie extravaganza! French butter cookies.

For some reason, it never occurs to me that certain foods can be homemade.  Like circus peanuts.  

I only eat these wonderful cookies once a year, at Christmas time.  They come in a round tin and that is just how it is.  

So when I saw their recipe on Annie's Eats, my first reaction was confusion - it had really never occurred to me they could be made in a kitchen.  My second reaction, was, of course, I NEED TO MAKE THESE AND EAT THEM NOW.

If you are having the same train of thought, I recommend going with the second option. 

Cookie Extravaganza! Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

You didn't really think our cookie extravaganza was only two kinds of cookies did you?  After I posted that picture of us sitting on top of a giant mountain of ingredients but then only followed up with two blog posts, did you wonder if we just posed like that for fun? And to tease you with the possibility of cookies?  Well fear not, castle farm cookbook blog readers, we have more cookies up our sleeves (if we had sleeves there would ALWAYS be cookies in them). 

We found this recipe in Taste of Home Best Loved Cookies magazine.  They are a peanut butter cookie with a surprise inside as you might have guessed by the name "peanut butter surprise cookies".  Although we like to keep surprises secret, it would be difficult to tell you how to bake these without telling you the surprise.  We would have to come up with some sort of elaborate plan where you tell us you are baking them and we sneak to your kitchen and add in the surprise ourselves.  

But since we are but two small farm animals, it seems much easier to just give away the surprise.  As long as you promise not to tell other people before they eat it.  Then, wait for them to take a bite, and yell "surprise!".  

So, do you promise to do this?