There is a small Hispanic family that lives across the street from my now-former abode. The man was (and I'm sure still is) outside constantly. Whether he's doing lawn work, working on his truck, visiting with family members or just hanging out...he's always within view. This also meant he was always on the lookout for our block, which I was grateful for. He was never nosy and never encroached upon anyone's personal business. Just always the friendly neighbor you waved at coming and going.
In fact, the only time I've seen him do anything that could be considered encroaching was, he started parking his truck next door at this little, old lady's house. Her name is Ruby and she's super sweet. She made me a coconut cream pie one time, she's that sweet. I didn't think anything of this at the time, other than to think it was a little odd. But, then Ruby told me that he started doing that at her request. You see, she lives alone and she figured if some random person staking out the street saw two cars parked in her driveway, they wouldn't figure she was alone. It's a protective maneuver. His incentive for parking there? There's a carport, so his truck is protected from the weather. A true win/win situation. He also mows her lawn for her and does odd jobs around the house, which I think is very sweet. A great all-around guy.
What did this neighbor do for me? The main thing was, after trash pick-up he rolled my trash bins up to the house on I don't know how many occasions. There have been other little things like edging my yard without my asking and placing my newspapers/coupon bags (those Buyer's Edge thingies) on my porch (always behind potted plants). Basically, he's the epitome of the perfect neighbor. Very sweet, does things for you and never pries into your personal business. I will miss him and his sweet little family.
About a year ago one of his boys was playing ball with his friends outside. They accidentally broke one of the windows in the front of my house. Not a big one, just a little framing one on the picture window...if you look in my previous post, it's the top left little window. The boy felt awful and didn't want me to tell his parents, but the window needed to be fixed. This window was only broken for a total of...maybe...three hours. I don't know exactly what the boy's punishment ended up being (his scolding was spoken in rapid Spanish, which I only remember a snip-it from high school and college Spanish), but he helped his father go procure and replace the window.
Regardless, I wanted to thank the neighbor for all of his "good doings" and also provide a treat for the boys (to show there's still no hard feelings about the window). What better way to do this than whip up some tasty treats, shall we say cookies? I made these cookies a couple of Christmases ago and they received FAB reviews. They're a little unusual, but make for a yummy holiday treat. I clipped this recipe out of one of those Wal-Mart mini-booklets containing submitted recipes from Wal-Mart shoppers. I have no idea where you get these...I stole this one from my aunt...I might have mentioned that one time before...
Why I decided to make these now had more to do with the fact that there were 12+ apples in my crispier...that were purchased from Sam's and later rejected. You see...David doesn't really like apples...unless they taste juuuuuust right. He's what one might call an apple connoisseur. Or something. Anyway, these apples didn't taste right to him. He said they were mealy...whatever, I think they taste just fine. So, I decided to use them up in this recipe, plus one more that I'll share later this week. I could have gone his mother's route and made an apple pie...but, I didn't. I wanted to make cookies for my neighbor. And I did. These and another cookie recipe I will share with you this week! Yes, that's three whole recipes I'll be posting this week, I'm going to try and make up for lost time.
I forgot to get a pic of the finished product, but just imagine the cookies in the final shot drizzled with a creamy-looking mixture. Try these sometime, they're sure to please!
Glazed Apple Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 egg, beaten
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup milk
2 cups peeled and chopped apples
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1-2 tbsp. milk1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat softened butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add salt, cinnamon, cloves and egg, mixing well.
2. Sift together flour and baking soda, add to butter mixture with 1/4 cup milk, stirring well. Add apples, mixing well.
3. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes or until firm when touched (**be sure they're firm, you don't want mushy cookies!). Cool slightly on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack to cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, for glaze, combine powdered sugar, melted butter, 1-2 tablespoons milk and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Drizzle cooled cookies evenly with glaze.
Apples are my favorite! I would love these!!!
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