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.