Trip to England Part IV

This will be the last group of photos I post from my trip to England - thanks for all your lovely comments.  My husband and I ended the week with a 3-day stay at an 18th Century Edwardian Manor nestled amid 12 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens.  Despite no internet service and a last minute childcare emergency 4000+ miles away in Virginia, it was the prefect end to a great vacation.  

Massive Cedar of Lebanon Tree with 4 meter diameter trunk - ButterYum

Sorry for the bad pic - it got distorted when I rotated it.  I wish I would have gotten a photo of someone standing in front of that massive tree - you just can't imagine how large it is by looking at the photo.  At the base, the trunk is wider than the length of a car.

This adorable little guy followed me around the gardens.  I'm not familiar with this bird species - does anyone out there know?

This 2nd story corner room was the restroom in our suite.  Notice the windows - the mirrored portions were not visible inside the room because they had been plastered over.  I like the way they were mirrored on outside to maintain the building's appearance.

Breakfast on the terrace overlooking the garden.  Did you catch the palm trees - I was really surprised to see palms growing in England, but I actually saw quite a few of them during our stay.

A life-size game of chess anyone?

I wonder how many people have traveled this staircase over the past 3 centuries.  I love all the moss and lichen on the steps.

Thanks for letting me share my photos!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Little ButterYum made these tender and tasty powdered sugar covered cookies for a school function recently, and there wasn't a single cookie left to bring home at the end of the evening.  Kept in an airtight container, these cookies can be made weeks ahead of time.  The recipe contains no eggs and goes together very easily using a food processor.  Alternately, the dough can be mixed together by hand if you have finely ground nuts already on hand.  Plan ahead - the dough needs to chill for about an hour before baking.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

makes 2 dozen cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup toasted nuts, finely chopped (1.75 ounces or 50 grams)

• 1 cup powdered sugar (4 ounces or 115 grams)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (8 ounces or 227 grams)

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/8 teaspoon fine salt

• 1 3/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour (8.75 ounces or 250 grams)

• additional powdered sugar for dredging

Directions

1. To chop the nuts, place them in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, along with 1 cup powdered sugar; pulse until nuts are finely ground.

2. Add butter, vanilla, and salt; process until smooth, scraping the sides of the work bowl as needed.

3. Add flour and pulse until dough clumps together in a ball. Alternately, you can combine all the ingredients by hand, or using a stand mixer.

4. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1-3 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 350F.

6. Divide dough into 24 equal portions and roll each into a ball.

7. Place on silpat lined cookie sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart and bake for 20 minutes until the edges just start to brown.

8. Remove sheet pan from oven and let cookies rest for 3 minutes before dredging in powdered sugar (do this while the cookies are still warm).

9. After dredging, allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack and dredge in powdered sugar a second time.

10. Store cookies in an airtight covered container at room temperature for up to a month (they'll never last that long once you taste them!). Enjoy!

adapted from Rose's Christmas Cookies