Friday, July 29, 2011

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.