My Worst Day as a Teacher and Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen's Crescent Cookies

As many of you know, I have been teaching a High School Medical class for almost 20 years.  I have honestly had only a few really bad days as a teacher.  Most of my days can be defined as good, productive, satisfying, uplifting, etc.  The bad days usually revolve around something not working like a piece of equipment, the Internet being down and I can't access that awesome video, I forgot to run off something for the class, and on rare occasions, a discipline or behavioral issue.  That sounded harsh didn't it?  How about someone was acting up in class!! That sounds better.

Let's roll back the calendar to a couple of weeks ago.   I was imparting all my vast knowledge about the autoclave and sterilization to the inquisitive young minds of my students.  As a part of the lesson, we talk about chemical disinfection and ultrasonic cleaning.  I had purchased an ultrasonic cleaner to show them how that worked.  While I was discussing this, I uttered the fateful statement "This is also what they use to clean jewelry!  Does anyone want me to clean your rings while I clean this set of dentures?"  By the way, so you are not grossed out, they were not my dentures!!  HAHA!!!  A couple of hands went up, and I had them drop their rings into the cleaner along with my wedding ring.  I proceeded to read the directions and turn the thing on for 20 minutes just like it said to do.  When the 20 minutes was up, I took off the top and peered in.  And there it was - the evidence of my most horrible day as a teacher.  That despicable horrid little machine turned the silver class ring of one of my students BLACK!!!  Thank goodness my back was to the students so that they could not see all the blood drain from my face.  I grabbed the ring out of the water, and immediately my hand turned black. This day was getting worse by the minute.  I start running it under water and rubbing it with a paper towel.   I begin muttering gibberish under my breath which amounted to  - "Oh no!  Oh no!  Oh no!"  I guess my anxiety transferred to the class because they started asking "What is wrong Mrs. Holland?"  I delicately stated "I don't know how to tell you all this so I am just going to say it!!  I have ruined someone's ring!"  They immediately jumped up and ran to the back.  It turned out to be So and So's class ring and thankfully, he was very very calm about the unfortunate situation.  I told him I would pay for it if it came down to that.  I asked him how much it cost, and he said $400.00.  I about threw up right there.   Some of the other students were sweet and tried to make us feel better.  They said "Oh So and So, it looks cool.  It is a one of a kind ring now.  It looks like it is really old pewter."  I told him to go home and show his parents and let me know what they said.  I was utterly mortified.

When I got home, Husband Fred asked how my day was.  I said "Do you really want to know?"  I proceeded to tell him and instead of consoling me, he dares to say "Angela, what possessed you to do something like that?"  First of all, he never uses my name except when he is irritated with me and second, nothing possessed me that I am aware of.  Grrr...... To make things even worse, I kept waking up during the night every 30 minutes thinking about that doggone silver ring that I had turned black!!!  It truly was the Horror of Horrors!!

The next day at school, students were coming up to me in the hall saying "Oh I heard you ruined So and So's class ring!  Way to go Mrs. Holland!"  When So and So came to class, I asked him what his parents said.  He said that they were mad at him!  YES!!  Not at me!!  Thank goodness!!  But to make both of us feel better, the ring was covered by a warranty, and he could get a brand new one.  So I ended the day by asking the students what they had learned this week.  They responded without too much thought -  "Don't ever let Mrs. Holland clean your rings!!"  I agreed wholeheartedly!!! 

Now on to the recipe.  I am still cooking out of Trisha Yearwood's cookbook.  The game finally chose something sweet.  I was beginning to wonder if I needed to change my method.  I do tend to start at the front of the book and play the game.  I think that is why I get all those chicken recipes!!  I will be making Crescent Cookies, and before Food Police gets her calorie counter out and starts clicking away, I will be taking these to my students to sample.  I will eat one maybe two however!!

You will need butter or margarine, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, salt and walnuts or pecans!

Add the butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla.

Cream all that goodness together!

It will look like this after a couple of minutes.

Beat in the flour and stir in the nuts by hand!

Roll into one inch balls and form a crescent.  Please do not judge me by the condition of my cookie sheets!!  Bake them for about 15 minutes at 325 degrees.

Take them out and cool on a rack.  Be gentle because, I with my heavy hand, broke a few!!  I took this picture with my I-Phone and did not know how to rotate it!!

Roll them in powdered sugar and enjoy!!  Same thing here - I took the picture with the phone and am too technologically inept to figure out the rotation thing!

Everyone that ate one of these absolutely loved them.  They are not overly sweet and remind me of the Sand Tarts my Bigmama used to make.  Husband Fred took some to a meeting and served them with coffee, and the People raved and cheered and stormed the streets for more.  I am kidding, but they did rave about them!!  I surprised my students with them, and they stood up and cheered and did a happy dance.  Again, I am joking, but they did tell me I was a good cook!!  That one made me smile.  I think they are manipulating me to get some more goodies!!  Hmmmm.........

Here is your recipe.....

Crescent Cookies

Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Trisha Yearwood

1 C of butter, softened

1 C confectioners' sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 tsps vanilla

2 1/4 C sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 C finely chopped pecans ( I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, cream together butter, 1/4 cup of sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Beat in the flour and then stir in the nuts.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls.  Form the ball into a crescent  Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown but the tops are still pale.  Transfer to a rack to cool.

Put the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a bowl.  Roll the cooled cookies in the sugar, coating liberally.  Store in an airtight container.

Now go have a great day...........