V is for Volunteer

Each June my family and I volunteer to serve cookies and milk after our church services in celebration of National Dairy Month. Here's the smiles that 21 dozen home baked cookies and 6 gallons of icy cold milk brings to our church family.

Another empty gallon!

Thanks to everyone for supporting the dairy industry by enjoying dairy!

F Is For Fun Facts

I'm taking you on a journey from A to Z throughout June Dairy Month.

So come on in...the barn doors are open!

  F Is For Fun Facts

In honor of June Dairy Month, Bremer Farms provides cookies and milk to our church friends after the Sunday morning services on the first Sunday of June each year. 

Since I love to talk about dairy farming, today was a perfect chance to have some great conversations and also quiz a few folks about their "cow knowledge."  Yep. I made some of my church friends earn their third, fourth, and fifth cookies! Can you pass my test?

How much water does a cow drink each day?

About a bathtub full.

How many stomachs does a cow have?

A cow has a single large stomach with four compartments.

How far away does a cow's sense of smell reach?

About 6 miles.

How many hours a day do cows typically chew their cud?

6-8 hours each day

So, how did you do? How many cookies did you earn? 

Porter is a little too young for icy cold milk and homemade cookies, but he sure thought the cow tasted good!

You may also want to read my previous years posts for June Dairy Month...

F Is For Fuel Up To Play 60 

and

F Is For Family 

It's National Cookie Day!

Christmas baking has always been a big part of our family holiday traditions. When Sara and Michael were very young, I was asked if I would be interested in selling home-baked Christmas cookies to my sister-in-laws co-workers. Making some extra holiday shopping dollars while doing something I enjoy seemed like a great opportunity. It became a whole-family activity. Sara became the expert at Russian Tea Cakes. Michael rolled the balls for the sugar cookies. John always helped with the date balls. My mom and I spent a day rolling the dough for the gingerbread people! The first year of cookie sales, we sold 79 dozen cookies, enough profit to buy a new front door for our house. Fifteen years later, we topped off our sales at 652 dozen (that's 7,824 cookies)! We no longer have our cookie business, but we will always have the "sweet" memories.

One of our favorite's is M&M Cookies. I use this recipe for many holidays, choosing the appropriate color M&M's to match the holiday. Thanks to Julie, a past co-worker for this recipe.

M&M Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 cups flour
2 cups M&M's ( reserve 1/2 cup)

Mix all ingredients. Add M&M's last. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet. Top each cookie with M&M. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Makes 8 dozen.

Looking for some more holiday cookie recipes? 

How about... 

 

Beyond Hot Dish And Jello 

 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 

Our Resident Foodie

 

 

C Is For Cookies And Milk

It's June Dairy Month! The barn doors are open, 

so join me on my daily A to Z journey 

to learn more about dairy. 

 C is for Cookies and Milk

 What could be a more perfect pairing than cookies and milk? 

In honor of June Dairy Month, Bremer Farms provides cookies and milk to our church friends after the Sunday morning services on the first Sunday of June. This has become an annual event and a fun way to share our dairy story. We provide recipes, coloring sheets for the kids, and every one goes home with an "I met a dairy farmer" sticker. 

Cookies paired with cold, refreshing milk. Yummy! 

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies
 

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Roll in 1" balls and press down with the bottom of a drinking glass that has been dipped in sugar.  Bake 6 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 8 dozen.

 

C Is For Cookie

I'm taking you on a journey from A to Z through the land of dairy! 

There's no need to pack your bags, just come along! 

 C Is For Cookie

In honor of June Dairy Month, Bremer Farms provides cookies and milk (of course) to our church friends after the Sunday morning services on the first Sunday of June. This has become an annual event and a fun way to share our dairy story. We provide recipe booklets, bookmarks, coloring sheets for the kids, and every one goes home with an "I met a dairy farmer" sticker. 

 Many folks share stories of growing up on a farm, or visiting Grandpa's farm for summer vacation. Others ask many questions about farming because they have never had a personal connection to farming. 

Either way, my hope is that everyone goes home with a little better understanding about dairy farming, dairy foods, and realizes how proud we are of what we do and that we love what we do, down on the farm.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients

•   1 cup butter, (of course!) softened
•   1 cup shortening
•   1 and 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
•   1 cup granulated sugar
•   2 eggs
•   2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•   4 cups all-purpose flour
•   2 teaspoon baking soda
•   1 teaspoon salt
•   4cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions 

Heat oven to 350°F.  Beat butter and shortening in large bowl until well blended. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar; beat thoroughly. Add egg and vanilla, beating until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 2 to 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Learn more at Dairy Makes Sense

I am making a commitment to share as much as I can with you each day this month, about the life of our dairy farm family including what we do, how we share our passion for dairy, and dairy foods we enjoy.

 See you here tomorrow...D is for Doo-Doo.

Our Resident Foodie

My daughter is our resident foodie. Sara loves watching cooking shows. She knows everything about Iron Chef, Cupcake Wars, Top Chef, and every Diner, Drive-Inn and Dive across America. She subscribes to Food Network magazine, which she reads cover-to-cover. She is one of the few people I know that actually enjoys grocery shopping. One of her favorite places to shop is kitchen stores. So I shouldn't be surprised when she came home last week with a Linzer Cookie Cutter. Linzer cookies are European inspired jam-filled cookies. They are quite time consuming, but full of delicious buttery goodness. Perhaps your resident foodie would like to try this recipe.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies

2 cups flour
2/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Confectioners sugar
In small bowl combine flour, almonds, and cinnamon. Set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix only until incorporated. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Press into small discs, about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On floured surface roll out one disc of dough 1/8 inch thick. Keep remaining dough chilled. Cut half the dough using the center cut-out (top cookie) and cut the remaining half with out the center cut-out. This will be the bottom cookie. Bake on parchment paper-lined baking sheets 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely. Spread bottom cookie with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon jam. Cover with top cookie which has been dusted with confectioners sugar.
(This recipe was printed on the Wilton Linzer Cookie Cutter package.)

Sara used our KitchenAid mixer to make these cookies. What? You don't have a KitchenAid mixer? You could! Check out Real Dairy Holidays Contest sponsored by Midwest Dairy to see how you could win one.

It's National Cookie Day!

Christmas baking has always been a big part of our family holiday traditions. When Sara and Michael were very young, I was asked if I would be interested in selling home-baked Christmas cookies to my sister-in-laws co-workers. Making some extra holiday shopping dollars while doing something I enjoy seemed like a great opportunity. It became a whole-family activity. Sara became the expert at Russian Tea Cakes. Michael rolled the balls for the sugar cookies. John always helped with the date balls. My mom and I spent a day rolling the dough for the gingerbread people! The first year of cookie sales, we sold 79 dozen cookies, enough profit to buy a new front door for our house. Fifteen years later, we topped off our sales at 652 dozen (that's 7,824 cookies)! We no longer have our cookie business, but we will always have the "sweet" memories.

One of our favorite's is M&M Cookies. I use this recipe for many holidays, choosing the appropriate color M&M's to match the holiday. Thanks to Julie, a past co-worker for this recipe.

M&M Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 cups flour
2 cups M&M's ( reserve 1/2 cup)

Mix all ingredients. Add M&M's last. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Top each cookie with M&M. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Makes 8 dozen.

Another favorite Christmas cookie recipe can be found on my June 10, 2012 post. I top them with red and green sugar for Christmas.

Two Kids In A Candy Store

 

I felt like a kid this week. I played hooky! I tossed my responsibilities aside for a day, kidnapped my Mom, and took her on a surprise adventure.

Our first destination was Bass Lake Cheese in Somerset, Wisconsin. Bass Lake Cheese is a family owned and family run award-winning cheese factory owned by "Master Cheesemaker" Scott Erickson and his wife Julie. Bass Lake Cheese has a fun display of old dairy memorabilia as well as a large window to watch cheese-making. Sadly, they were not making cheese the day we were there.  We will just have to visit again. Like two kids in a candy store, Mom and I studied all the cheese cases, sampling several varieties, trying to make a decision on what kinds to take home with us. I decided to buy provolone and green olive cheddar, but the cranberry cheddar was tempting too. 

Following our cheese excursion, we traveled on to River Falls, Wisconsin, home of the Best Maid Cookie Factory. I guess you could say this was our second "candy store." Along with the factory, Best Maid has a wonderful retail outlet store with delicious cookies, that we HAD to sample. Chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin, sugar cookies, the only thing missing was the cold glass of milk. Wow! Even while playing hooky I think about dairy. Once a farmer, always a farmer. 

After purchasing several cases of cookies, (Yes, I said cases. Hey, there was a sale!) we settled in for a good visit over lunch at a neighboring restaurant.  Mom and I had a great day. I never played hooky as a child. If this is what it's like, I might just do it again. What are you doing next Wednesday, Mom?

Beyond Hot Dish and Jello

 Perhaps it is because I live in Minnesota, but the long standing joke is that us Lutherans love our hot dishes and Jello salads. I am not here to debate this fact, since I have been to many amazing "potluck" dinners at my church, but today St. John's Lutheran Church proved that they love milk and cookies too. Bremer Farms served milk and cookies after each service today in celebration of June Dairy Month. After twenty-five dozen cookies and many gallons of milk, no one had to be convinced how tasty and refreshing a cold glass of milk is! 

My sugar cookies were a hit today, so I included the recipe for all of you to enjoy.

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Roll in 1" balls and press down with the bottom of a drinking glass that has been dipped in sugar.  Bake 6 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 8 dozen.

 

 There are more great recipes at Midwest Dairy