Ribbon Jewel Cakes

These cookies are a pain to make, because of the multiple layers and because of the way the cake layers are baked - you turn a 13 x 9 cake pan upside and spread the somewhat sticky batter on that. It helps to have a good icing spatula that you can use to spread the batter and to spread the fillings. They are worth the trouble, though, because they look nice on the tray and they are yummy!

RIBBON JEWEL CAKES

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted flour
1 cup dairy sour cream
1/2  cup red raspberry preserves
1/2 cup apricot preserves

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Bring eggs to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350. Separate eggs, placing whites into a medium bowl. Beat until stiff. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks all at once; beat well. Stir in flour then fold in egg whites. Butter and lightly flour an inverted 13 x 9 baking pan. Measure 2/3 cup batter, spread with a spatula almost to the edge of the pan (a long icing spatula like the one pictured here works best). Bake for 7 - 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove layer from pan to wire rack and cool (the icing spatula can slide under the layer, loosening it to slide it onto the wire rack). Repeat this baking process 4 more times. Assemble the cooled layers as shown in the illustration (beige = cake, white = sour cream, pink = raspberry and orange = apricot). Once the layers are assembled, cover the top layer with a sheet of waxed paper, then place the cake pan, right side up, on top of the pile. Put something heavy, like a large book or two bricks, into the pan and let it press the layers together for about an hour. Using a serrated knife, gently trim the edges into a smooth rectangle, then ice with confectioners sugar icing, using food coloring to make it pink. Let the icing set up for about 1/2 hour, then score the icing on the diagonal in both directions. Use these lines as your guide to cut the cake in even pieces. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Chocolate-Covered Oreos

This recipe requires no baking, little prep time and just a few ingredients. They are one of the first cookies to be snatched from the cookie tray. By adding seasonal sprinkles, you can decorate them in about 30 seconds! If you keep Oreos and chocolate chips on hand. these are a quick dessert to take to a potluck or to serve with an after-dinner cup of coffee. The only way I can keep Oreos in this house is to hide them, and even then I don't always succeed in foiling the cookie thieves!

CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

1 bag of Oreo Double-Stuf or Vanilla Oreo cookies
1-1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips or white chocolate chips
1-1/2 TBS. solid shortening.
Seasonal or varied-color sprinkles (optional)

In a microwave-safe bowl with steep sides (the Pampered Chef batter bowls are perfect for this) melt the chips, stirring often. Add shortening (the bars of Crisco make it easy to measure amounts) and stir until it's completely melted into the chocolate, microwaving for short periods if necessary. Use a fork to drop one Oreo at a time into the melted chocolate, and turn to coat the entire cookie. Use the fork to remove the cookie, scraping the bottom of the fork across the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place cookies on waxed paper to dry. If you use sprinkles, stop after every dozen or so cookies and sprinkle them on. If the coating in the bowl starts to harden, microwave it briefly.  The cookies take a while to solidify; allow them to set up for at least 3 hours before packing into an airtight container. Cookies can be frozen up to 3 months.

NOTES:

1.) Chocolate and water don't mix. Chocolate that has been exposed to water will show "bloom", a whitish cast that spoils the look of the cookie, although it will taste fine and is completely safe to eat. I ruined one batch this weekend. They developed whitish pockmarks, and it took me a while to track down the cause - the steam from the dishwasher had wafted over them while the dishes dried. I made another batch, and the family made short work of the" ugly ones".

2.) You can very easily adjust the recipe to make a larger or smaller batch of the coating. Just keep the number of cups of chips is equal to the number of tablespoons of shortening.

3.) Be especially careful with white chips, stirring often. The white chocolate seems to have a very thin line between 'melted' and 'hardened'!

What's on My Cookie Tray?

Here's an updated list of the cookies I have made so far. Recipes for the ones marked with an asterisk can be found in this blog.

Raspberry Vinegar Cookies*
Lemon Gems*
Mini Fruitcake*
Coffee Snaps*
Chocolate Euphoria Bars*
Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
Apricot Jam-filled Bars
Peppermint Meltaways*
Forgotten Cookies*
Peanut Butter Blossoms*
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies*
Chocolate-Covered Double-Stuf Oreos*
White Chocolate-Covered Vanilla Oreos*
Thumbprints*
Orange Cookies
Chocolate-dipped Coconut Macaroons*
Mini Cheesecakes*
Baklava*
Chocolate Mint Dreams*
Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate-Covered Raisin Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprises*
Ribbon Jewel Cakes*

Coffee Snaps

Coffee Snaps are the cookie that inspired me to experiment with getting sliced cookies to hold a nice round shape when cut, instead of flattening on the bottom as the knife is pressed through. I determined that freezing works best - firmer than refrigerated dough, but still not impossible to cut. I also tried mixing the coffee granules in differently. The original recipe calls for dissolving 4 teaspoons of instant coffee powder in 1 teaspoon of hot water; this makes a thick, sticky paste that doesn't want to mix with the rest of the ingredients. Adding the vanilla to the hot water before mixing in the coffee powder helps. Finally, a tip on the butter: let it soften completely! I tried to rush things, and ended up with a speckled appearance to the dough. They still taste good, but well mixed ones look like the one at left.

COFFEE SNAPS

4 tsp. instant coffee powder
1 tsp. hot water
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Mini M&Ms, optional

In a bowl, dissolve coffee powder in hot water and vanilla. Add egg and beat into other ingredients, omitting M&Ms. Shape into two logs, about 1-1/2 inches on diameter (about the diameter of a 50 cent piece) and put in freezer until firm, 2 or more hours. Slice across log in 1/4" sections to make cookies. Place on an ungreased baking sheet; decorate with M&Ms. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes, until edges are slightly golden. Cool 5 minutes on sheet then transfer to racks. Store airtight for up to 2 weeks or frozen for 2 months.
 

Triple Layer Brownies

Last night I made a double batch of Triple Layer Brownies, one batch with Creme de Menthe flavoring in the center and the other with Triple Sec. You can make a non-alcoholic version using a drop or two of peppermint extract or orange extract in their place. I tint the icing to "match" the flavor (althought if you use green Creme de Menthe, the alcohol with take care of the coloring too.) You can use just about any flavorful alcohol in the middle layer - Kirshwasser (red tint), Chambord (pink/purple). I haven't tried coconut or coffee flavors yet, but I plan to try them. Really - what doesn't go with chocolate?

 TRIPLE LAYER BROWNIES

Brownie Layer

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup. sugar

1 cup flour

1-16 oz. can of Hershey's syrup (NOT the kind in the squeeze bottle)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix in the order given. Line a 13" x 9" pan with foil, preferably non-stick and pour in batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. When the brownie is cool, remove it from the pan , keeping it on the foil.

Filling Layer

2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 TBS. Creme de Menthe or other flavored liqueur

1/2 cup butter, softened

Food dye (optional; gel types work best)

Mix thoroughly and spread evenly on the cooled brownie

Topping Layer

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bits

6 TBS. butter

Microwave until melted, stirring every 30 seconds (chips hold their shape and can look deceptively firm when they are actually melted). Pour the topping evenly over the filling and cool.

The chocolate sets up about as firmly as a ganache, so it's difficult to cut this into bars that will look nice. I score the topping layer first, then cut one row at a time with a non-serrated knife, wiping the blade clean after cutting each row. Try to press through the cookie, rather than sawing or dragging, which will pull the topping along with the blade. 

 

Thumbprints

Here it's time to really get moving on the Christmas cookie baking, and I haven't posted since September! I have been busy baking cookies, though. So far:

Raspberry Vinegar Cookies*
Lemon Gems*
Mini Fruitcake*
Coffee Snaps
Chocolate Euphoria Bars*
Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
Apricot Jam-filled Bars
Peppermint Meltaways*
Forgotten Cookies*
Peanut Butter Blossoms*
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies*
Chocolate-Covered Double-Stuf Oreos
White Chocolate-Covered Vanilla Oreos
Thumbprints
Orange Cookies
Chocolate-dipped Coconut Macaroons*
Mini Cheesecakes*
The ones with an asterisk are recipes that are already on the blog. There are at least 5 more kinds I would like to make before Christmas!

The recipe for today comes straight out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook, one of my favorites for finding good, basic recipes. I've used the Quiche Lorraine recipe so often that the book falls open to that page! The Thumbprints can be made using either jelly or confectioners sugar icing to fill the dent; I prefer the icing because I think it stays in place better once it sets up, and you can go a little crazy with the colors like the blue frosting with the iridescent pink/blue/purple sprinkles (and, yes, I know I need to do a better job with the photos). I like to roll the edge of the cookie in sprinkles to add some color, though the one pictured above overdosed on the sprinkles - from which I learned to ignore the part of the recipe that suggests you roll the balls in egg whites before cooking - they get too sticky and pick up a massive amount of sprinkles. This cookie has a better proportion of visible cookie to sprinkles:

THUMBPRINT COOKIES

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. Work in flour and salt until dough holds together. Shape dough by teaspoonfuls into one inch balls. Beat egg whites slightly. Dip each ball into egg white; roll in nuts. [Do not use the egg white if you are substituting sprinkles for the nuts!] Press thumb deeply into the center of each. [If the dough is too cold, the edges of the cookie will split. If you have longer nails, using your thumb doesn't work too well. I use a plastic wine cork, dipping it into flour every other cookie or so to keep it from sticking.] Bake about ten minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet; cool. Fill cooled cookies with jelly or icing.

EASY CONFECTIONERS' SUGAR ICING
Mix two cups confectioners' sugar with 2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon of milk until smooth. Add food coloring if desired.

Chocolate Euphoria Bars

I made these for the first time today and apparently they live up to their name. They are an expensive cookie to make, so I'm glad we weren't disappointed! With Oreos, marshmallows, Coco Puffs and 3 kinds of chocolate, they are really rich. I can't eat chocolate, so I have no first-hand knowledge, but Casey tells me that they are not like anything else he's ever eaten - and also that they are now his second-favorite dessert ever (nothing will ever come before his favorite carrot cake!) This recipe is another one from The Devil's Food Cake Murder, by Joanna Fluke.According to her website, she plans to publish a cookbook compiling of all the recipes from her books sometime this fall. Maybe I'll find a copy in my Christmas stocking (hint, hint).

CHOCOLATE EUPHORIA BARS

1/2 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 cups of Oreo or chocolate wafer crumbs (I recommend using a food processor to get them fine enough to spread across the entire pan)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows
14-oz. sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 cup white chocolate chips
2 cups CocoPuffs or other crunchy chocolate cereal
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter. Spread evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly over the crumb layer, then spread the marshmallows evenly over the chips. Pour sweetened condensed milk over marshmallows, as evenly as possible. Spread the white chips over the existing layers, then spread the CocoPuffs on top of that. Sprinkle milk chocolate chips over all. Push down firmly with at wide spatula; don't be concerned if the cereal gets a bit crunched. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. When the pan comes to room temperature, cut the cookies into brownie-sized pieces,while they are still in the pan. Refrigerate to set firmly, Makes 2 dozen bar cookies.

Fruitcake Yes, you read that right - I said Fruitcake

Fruitcake is possibly the most maligned edible in the U.S., and definitely so around the Christmas holiday. I love fruitcake. I firmly believe that most people who think they hate fruitcake have never tasted a decent fruitcake. I know that no commercially-produced fruitcake I have eaten comes anywhere close to the subtle flavor of this fruitcake recipe. In fact, most of them taste like citron held together with library paste (for those of you who are too young to have experienced library paste, think Elmer's thickened to the consistancy of the margarine that comes in a tub). If you only count commercially-produced fruitcake, well then, I hate fruitcake too. But this fruitcake is an entirely different animal - the candied fruit is held together by a batter that tastes like a rich spice cake. This recipe makes a very large fruitcake, about the size of a bundt cake. So why am I including it as a cookie recipe? Since it freezes very well, I've started to bake mine in muffin and tassie pans. The tassie-sized fruitcakes are just the right size for adding to a cookie tray. The muffin-sized fruitcakes let me dole out the goodies in limited portions, so I'm not tempted to eat more than I should!

MOM'S FRUITCAKE

Melt 3/4 cup butter; cool. Sift together into a large bowl:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Add 2-1/2 cups of chopped candied fruit (mixed), 1/2 cup candied pineapple, chopped fine, 1-1/4 cups whole candied cherries, 1 lb. raisins, 2 cups pecans, 1-1/4 cups chopped dates.   (I use only the candied fruit, raisins, and whole cherries, upping the quantity of candied fruit a bit). Mix to coat with dry ingredients.Beat 4 eggs until foamy. Gradually add 1-3/4 cup packed brown sugar to the eggs. Mix well. Blend in 1 cup milk or juice (I use OJ). 1/4 cup molasses, and the melted butter. Add liquids to the flour mixture. Grease one 10" tube pan, or two 9x5x3 loaf pans, or 4 1-lb. coffee cans well and line with wax paper (I use cupcake tins and tassie pans, spraying them well with Pam, no wax paper). Fill the selected container(s) 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake in a slow oven (275 degrees) for 2-1/2 to 3 hours, or until a toohpick inserted into the cake comes out dry. (Cupcake pans take about 45 minutes, tassie pans even less).

Chocolate Mint Dreams

This cookie is another find from the Taste of Home magazines I've scavenged. If you make cookie trays that include these or the Mint Meltaways, be careful where you position them and don't put them on the tray until you are serving. Otherwise their potent mint flavor will envelop every cookie they touch, making for some odd tastes (mint-flavored pecan tassie, anyone?)

CHOCOLATE MINT DREAMS

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1-oz. squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Icing
2 TBS. butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 to 2 drops green food coloring
1 to 2 TBS. milk

Drizzle
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. shortening

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in chocolate and extract. Gradually add in flour and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. (Dough will be soft.) Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet [or cover the baking sheet with parchment paper]. Bake at 375 degrees for 6 - 8 minutes, or until firm. Cool for 2 minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely. Meanwhile, combine icing ingredients and spread over cooled cookies, [I use a pastry bag to pipe icing on top of the cookie] Let set. In microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening and stir until smooth. [Stir frequently while melting - the chips will hold their shape even when melted and are easy to overcook] Drizzle over cookies. [I dip a fork into the melted chocolate then wave it back and forth over the cookie] Yield: 4 dozen

Baklava

Baklava is a two-person job. Without someone to hold each of the 35 sheets of phyllo dough in place while they are buttered, you have a slippin' slidin' mess. The back-up brain comes in handy, too, when you forget if this is sheet seven or nine of the phyllo. I had to make myself a little chart to keep track of the layers (N = nuts):

I've been asked if this is the "real" recipe, because it uses simple syrup rather than honey. I think it is - it's a family recipe from the kitchen of a Greek Orthodox priest.

GREEK BAKLAVA

4 cups walnuts, ground
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1 lb package of phyllo dough (I use Filo brand)
1 lb. butter, melted
Syrup: 3 cups sugar, 1 TBS. lemon juice, 1-1/2 cups water. Combine in saucepan and heat to boiling. Cool to 120 degrees and cover.
 Open phyllo and cut sheets to fit in a 9 x 13 pan. Cover dough lightly with a damp (not wet!) cloth. Combine nuts, sugar and spices and blend well. Brush bottom of pan with melted butter. Lay down one sheet of phyllo, and brush with butter. Continue, brushing each sheet with butter, until you have laid down 10 sheets. Top the 10th sheet with about a third of the nut mixture. Cover with another sheet of phyllo and butter. Add 4 more sheets, then add another layer of nuts. Repeat once more. Top the final layer of nuts with 10 sheets of phyllo, buttering each. Carefully cut baklava into diamond shapes with a very sharp knife, by cutting on the diagonal. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake 45 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from oven and re-cut, then pour cooled syrup over the hot baklava. Let it sit for a few hours to allow the syrup to be absorbed before eating.

Raspberry Vinegar Cookies

Yep, vinegar! This is another new recipe - once I saw the name, I had to try it. And contrary to what you might think, they taste nothing like vinegar. They're more like a cross between a buttery shortbread and a sugar cookie. I made a 1/2 recipe to try it, and that made about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR COOKIES

1 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. raspberry vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. rum extract
1-1/2 cup of flour, PACKED
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vinegar, baking soda and vanilla, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour and mix thoroughly; add nuts, if desired. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper instead). Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until tops are lightly golden. Cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

This recipe was taken from Devil's Food Cake Murder, a novel in the Hannah Swenson series by Joanna Fluke (Hannah is a bake shop owner who spends remarkably little time in her busy bakery.)

Peppermint Meltaways

What's wrong with this picture? In one word: pink. These cookies looked very pretty, with their pink icing and pearlized sprinkles, but that proved to be a problem. I quickly learned how conditioned we are to think that mint = green. People were stunned to find themselves eating a mint cookie when they were expecting strawberry or raspberry or just plain sour cream. Believe me - it's important to go with green icing, or to sprinkle the top with crushed candy canes! This is another recipe I found in a Taste of Home magazine, and they do live up to their name, melting in your mouth. Not everyone likes that sensation, but those who do will love this cookie!

PEPPERMINT MELTAWAYS

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

Frosting:

2 TBS. butter, softened

1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 TBS. milk

1/4 tsp.peppermint extract

2-3 drops green food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in.balls. Place 2-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, extract and food coloring; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in an air-tight container.

Butterscotch Cashew Bars

As part of my ongoing search for interesting recipes, every time I go to the ReUzit thrift shop I look for back issues of Taste of Home magazine. Investing a dime or even a quarter, I grab up any I haven't already read. It's amazing how many people apparently hoarded away Taste of Home magazines in the 90's; the thrift shop seems to have an unending supply! All that is prelude to saying that this recipe is one that I discovered in one of the old Taste of Home magazines. Since my husband, Casey, loves cashews, I thought I'd give it a try. He liked it - but my son, Max, loved it. Even though he picked off all the cashews. He said that if I would replace the cashews with peanuts, or leave the nuts off altogether, this would not just be a new favorite, but his favorite cookie in the entire world! High praise indeed. Test it out and see if you agree.

 BUTTERSCOTCH CASHEW BARS

1 cup plus 2 TBS. butter, softened
3/4 cup plus 2 TBS. packed brown sugar
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4 tsp. salt

Topping
1 package (10-11 oz.)butterscotch chips (I used Nestle's)
1/2 cup plus 2 TSB. light corn syrup
3 TBS. butter
2 tsp. water
2-1/2 cups salted cashew halves

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Combine the flour and salt; add to creamed mixture just until combined. Press into a greased 15-in.x10-in.x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, combine butterscotch chips, corn syrup, butter and water in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until butter and chips are melted. Spread over cooked crust. Sprinkle with cashews, press down lightly. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.
I made a half-recipe in a 9x9 pan for my first batch, and the proportions seemed to work well.

Butterscotch Nests

Instead of a make-ahead cookie, today I'm featuring a make-at-the-last-minute cookie. Butterscotch Nests are easy enough that a 2 year-old can help, and they're not just for Christmas. For Halloween, you can use black jelly beans or brown M&Ms to make a vulture's nest. Have the kids color a small picture of a turkey and perch it on top to make turkeys-in-the-straw for Thanksgiving. For Easter, use pastel blue jelly beans to make a robin's nest. At Christmas, I use red and green M&Ms to add some color, but even without any extra touches these sweet, crunchy cookies appeal to kids.

BUTTERSCOTCH NESTS

11-oz. bag of Nestle's Butterscotch Morsels

Large can LaChoy chow mein noodles

Jelly beans or M&Ms (optional)

Microwave the butterscotch morsels in a large bowl, stirring often (morsels can hold their shape even when completely melted). Stir chow mien noodles into melted morsels. Using two spoons, quickly drop mixture in clumps onto a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper. If you plan to add the candy "eggs", press down the center of each clump. Before cookies set, press "eggs" firmly into each clump. Let cool at room temperature before storing or freezing in a tightly covered container.  NOTE: These cookies set up very quickly. If you are adding the jelly beans or M&Ms, it's very helpful to have two people working together, one dropping and the other pressing in the decorations. 

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut macaroons are another good 'make-it-early' selection. They freeze great, and thaw really fast. Dipping the base of the cookie in dark chocolate adds to the taste, dresses it up a bit, and helps hold the coconut part together.

COCONUT MACAROONS

3 cups shredded coconut
1-1/2 TBS. cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. of bittersweet chocolate (morsels or a bar broken into pieces)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix coconut, cornstarch, sugar, egg whites and vanilla in heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water (or use a double boiler). Heat, stirring until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper; spoon macaroons onto paper, about 1 TBS. for each. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes - until slightly golden but still soft and chewy. Slide parchment and cookies onto a cooling rack.
Place chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for one minute. Stir until smooth, micowaving additional time if needed. [If you haven't used the microwave to melt chocolate before - the chocolate can be melted, but still hold its shape. Be sure to stir before continuing to microwave.] Dip bottoms of cookies in chocolate, allowing excess to drip back into bowl. Place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet in the refrigerator to set. Makes 2-1/2 dozen.

Forgotten Cookies

Forgotten cookies never seem to be forgotten around our house. Invariably, I end up making a second batch just before Christmas to replace the cookies that have mysteriously disappeared. The combination of the sweet meringue and the slightly bitter chocolate seems to tempt everyone. Since I don't have much use for the yolks that are left behind, I have been using powdered egg whites instead of the real thing and they have worked quite well.  I used to be able to find coffee-flavored meringues at a local grocery, but they no longer carry them. I found that adding 1 tsp. of instant coffee dissolved in 1 tsp. of vanilla to the recipe and leaving out the chocolate chips makes a good coffee meringue.

FORGOTTEN COOKIES

2 egg whites

3/4 cup granulated sugar

16 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whip egg whites in a deep bowl at high speed. When soft peaks form, gradually add the sugar, then gently fold in the chips. You can add a few drops of red or green food coloring if you want. Drop by heaping spoonful on greased or parchment paper-covered cookie sheets. Place in a preheated 375 (F) oven and turn off heat. Let sit until oven is cold.
WARNING: Don't actually forget the cookies! You will be very disappointed when you preheat the oven for something else and open the oven door to find your meringues have been baked again. The results aren't pretty!

Lemon Gems

I like these cookies not just because it tastes good, but because the sprinkles around the edge give a more festive look to your cookie tray.This is another cookie you can make early since they freeze well. They are slightly dry cookie that goes well with a cup of coffee or cocoa.

LEMON GEMS

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 TBS. plus 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup colored nonpareils

In a small mixing bowl. cream butter and confectioners sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cronstarch, then gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until easy to handle. Shape into a 1-3/4" roll, roll in non-pareils. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 -3hours until firm. Unwrap and cut in 1/4 inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes or until edges are set and lightly browned. Cool for one minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

LEMON ICING (optional)
1-1/3 cup confectioners sugar
2 TBS. plus 2 tsp. lemon juice
2/3 tsp. grated lemon peel.
In a small bowl, combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies.

Yield: 36 cookies

Pea-nut, Peanut Butter - and Cookies!

Peanut Butter Blossoms are your basic peanut butter cookie, with a Hershey's Kiss pressed into the warm cookie and baked again, just enough to glue them together. I usually make a double batch of the Blossoms, and use half in the traditional way and half to make Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. For PB Cup Cookies, instead of placing the balls of dough on a baking sheet, put them into the cups of a tassie pan. When they are baked and ready for the addition of candy, push a mini peanut butter cup down into the dough instead of a Kiss. Yum - Casey's favorite!

PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS

Sift together:
1 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)

Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 TBS. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend with dry ingredients. Shape dough into balls the size of a walnut, then roll in sugar and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, unwrap kisses. Remove cookies from oven and quickly top each with the candy. Return to oven for two to three minutes.

P.S. - If you make Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, use milk chocolate cups. The dark chocolate doesn't seem to melt as well.

Say Cheese...cake!

I am a big fan of cheesecake, as long as the baker doesn't sneak nuts into it. I can't eat either nuts or chocolate (don't feel sorry for me - that's another ten pounds I haven't gained). Chocolate is usually easy to spot, but nuts can be trickier, especially if they're hidden in the crust. This recipe skips the nut question entirely, since it uses a vanilla wafer as the crust of the petite cheesescake.

You can either use a regular cupcake pan and regular size vanilla wafers, or a tassie pan with mini vanilla wafers.  The minis will cook much faster, so keep an eye on them!

INDIVIDUAL CHEESECAKES

Put 24 cup cake liners in cupcake pans or 48 mini cupcake liners in tassie pans. Place one vanilla wafer of the appropriate size in each cup. Put 1 TBS. of filling on each cookie, or 1 tsp. on each mini-cookie. 
Filling: Mix 2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened, with 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 TBS. lemon juice and 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat until creamy, then put on cookies. Bake 10 minutes at 375 degrees (F) Cool, then place in an airtight contaner and freeze. Top each cake with a dab of cherry or blueberry pie filling or with 1/2 a maraschino cherry to serve. The original recipe suggests removing the papers before serving, but I think they make it ieasier to handle the cookie with getting sticky fingers.

Let's Start Cookin'!

Every Christmas, I continue a tradition of my mother's - making delicious cookie trays to share with friends and family. I have worked my way up to preparing about 20 different types of cookies, and I only stop then because I have generally run out of both freezer space and time. My husband, Casey, has been urging me for a while to counter the bad recipes I share at frightening-food.blogspot.com with some of the goodies you will see on my cookie trays. So, here we go!

If you intend to build toward a Christmas tray, plan ahead! Unless you have absolutely nothing else to do with your days, you will need to start in October to get so many types of cookies prepared. And you will need plenty of freezer space. Of course, you can just make a batch of any of these cookies without the excuse of a holiday - you really should test them first, right?

I'll start with a recipe that is easy to make and that holds up well for a long time in the freezer. It's also a good recipe for cooking with kids, who seem to enjoy the job of using their [clean, we hope] hands to squish all the ingedients together. Ohioans call these cookies Buckeyes, but in Pittsburgh, we call them:

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER SURPRISES

2 sticks margarine
1 c. flaked, sweetened coconut (optional)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Melt margarine and add all other ingredients. Mix with hands. Roll into walnut-size balls and coat with chocolate glaze.

Glaze: 1/2 bar paraffin wax, 1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can use white chocolate chips, if you prefer, but white chocolate is more difficult to keep smooth and liquid. The paraffin is needed to give the chocolate a gloss and to help it set up firmly.

Melt chocolate and wax together in the top of a double boiler, or microwave by first melting wax and then adding chips. If you microwave, two cautions: 1) it takes a while for the wax to melt, and the container you are melting it in may get very hot, and 2) the chocolate chips melt quickly, but retain their shape, so stir frequently to avoid overcooking. Dip the balls in the melted chocolate glaze, re-warming periodically if the chocolate begins to stiffen. I put my chocolate in a deep, narrow bowl, because it is easier to coat the cookies when they are completely covered just by dropping them into the chocolate. Remove the cookies using a fork, allowing excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl, then place on wax paper to cool and harden. Allow at least 4 hours for the glaze to set up before packaging the cookies for freezing.