Christmas Cookie Swap

Here ya go.

oldbroad said:

My contribution: Rum Balls. A Christmas favorite which delightfully combines chocolate and liquor, what more can you ask for?

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<hic> These sound good! Too bad I drank all my rum. I wonder if I could make them with Ouzo. Oh wait, I'm out of that too.

Fruited Fondant Rolls:
My mom made these when I was a kid. I make them every year now. You will not be*lieve* the sugar buzz you get off these things - they're basically solid frosting.

1/3 C soft oleo (my mom's recipe...oleo was popular then! I prefer butter.)
1/3 C white corn syrup
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 lb sifted powdered sugar (do not be tempted to skip the sifting)
1/2 C candied diced mixed fruits & peels (you can also use those red & green cherries)
Stuff to roll the finished rolls in

Combine first four ingredients & blend well.
Add powdered sugar & fruit all at once to liquid ingredients.
Knead by hand until smooth.
Shape into 3 one-inch diameter rolls about 8" long. (Ok, who's going to be the first to take *that* bait)
Roll in: fine chopped nuts, chocolate sprinkles, colored sugar, coconut, "use your imagination!" (Direct quote from my mom.)
Wrap & chill until firm.
Slice to serve.
These will keep for several weeks uncut in the fridge. (You know it's good if mold is afraid to grow on it!)

Happy Winter,
gabrielle

This is great, but I hate to cook! I like to make these ..." Turkey Balls " ... and they are most potent if eaten in the the first few days.

Ground or crush:
Nilla Waffers
Crushed Nuts of your choice ( gotta love this part! )

In seperate bowl:
Corn syrup
Wild Turkey
powdered sugar
cocoa powder

Pour ground waffer mixture into syrup mixtre. Form into balls and roll in sugar. Voila ! no cooking and very tasty. Makes great and easy gift for the liquor enthusiast. Plenty of time to still get out for a ride!!!

pixy

Tomnoddies

1-¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick margarine, softened (butter's fine, but margarine actually performs better in this recipe)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg

1 cup coconut
1 cup pecan halves
½ cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat margarine, brown sugar, granulated sugar and both extracts in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in coconut, nuts, milk and white chocolate chips. (The batter is very stiff.) Using a melon-baller or teaspoon, drop into small balls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown, cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes and finish cooking outside the oven (which prevents those nasty over-browned bottoms). Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 27 cookies.

Trollhouse anyone?

Oh goody! I love cookie swaps. I'm actually hosting one this year.

I thought the infamous Ogre's Trollhouse Cookies would be perfect as there the most popular trail cookie by anyone who knows the Ogre.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray baking sheets.

Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in mixing bowl. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, cream butter. Add sugars and vanilla. One at a time add in eggs. Slowly add in flour mixture. Blend until smooth. (If you like choclate cookie dough, add 1/3 cup cocoa powder to flour mixture before adding to butter mixture.)

Now's the fun part. You'll need 2 - 3 cups total of "add-ins". Some suggestions are: assorted baking chips, chopped nuts, mini peanut butter cups, chopped up candy bars, toffee bits, a drizzle of Hershey's syrup, brownie crumbs, crushed candy canes... You get the picture? Mix into dough.

After everything is well-blended, drop dough by large spoonfuls about 3 - 4 inches apart depending how big your spoon is. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. Cool on racks. And enjoy on your next winter bike outing!!!

Not Cookies, but really good this time of year....

Irish Cream Cheese Cake

Crust:
1 3/4 cups finely crushed vanilla wafer crumbs
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake goodness:
2 lbs cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, room temp
1 cup sour cream, room temp
1 cup Irish Cream Liqueur
1 cup miniature semisweet choc chips, divided

Make Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and position rack in center of oven. Remove side from a 10x3 in round springform pan. Trim a 10 in cardboard circle so it fits snugly within the curved lip of the bottom of the pan. Cover the top of the cardboard lined bottom with aluminum foil, and attach the side of the pan. Lightly butter the bottom.

2. In a medium bowl mix the crumbs and the butter. Press the mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan, and one inch up the sides. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, or until it just begins to brown.

The goodness:
1. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer on med-high speed, beat cream cheese with sugar for 2-3 minutes, until smooth. Gradually beat in eggs & yolks scraping the bowl frequently. Add sour cream and Irish cream until smooth. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.

2. Pour batter into the pan, smoothing the surface. Sprinkle the remaining chips over the top, and bake for 60-75 minutes, or until cake has risen evenly around the edge of the pan, and slightly rounded. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to release it from the side. Let it cool completely

3. Remove the side of the pan, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 8 hours.
4. Eat.

My favourite are sugar cookies, you can eat them straight out of the freezer!

Sugar Cookies (Approximately 6 dozen)<O</O<O</O

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-1/2 cups white all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk <O</O

Cream the butter in a bowl and then mix in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the mixture. Mix the flour and baking soda together in a separate bowl. Add the milk and flour to the mixture. When adding the flour, start with 3-1/2 cups of flour at first and slowly add flour until the dough has the correct consistency.<O</O

Lightly dust the countertop with flour. Roll the dough to 3/16" thick. Cut cookies. <O</O

Bake at 350ºF for 8 minutes or until the bottom cookie edges start to brown. <O</O

Icing<O</O

1-1/2 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp milk
icing sugar
food coloring<O</O

Mix the margarine and milk in a bowl. Add icing sugar until mixture is the correct consistency. Add food coloring to icing.<O</O

Pecan Pralines: a microwave family tradition

So much easier to make candy in the microwave. I made 6 batches of these today for my clients and have the recipe memorized now. These pralines are a tradition in my Texas family (since the advent of microwaves, at least ;-)

2 c pecans
2 c sugar
3/4 c buttermilk
2 tblsp butter
1/4 tsp salt

Mix above ingredients and microwave on high for 12-14 minutes. Stir every 4 minutes or so. Mixture should get really hot and boil.

Add to above ingredients and stir to foam:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Microwave for 1-2 more minutes to darken.

Stir mixture for a couple of minutes till it starts to dull and turn thick. spoon onto wax paper and chill. eat.

Candy troubleshooting: microwave power varies, if you have to stir for 10 minutes or if the candy never hardens, you aren't getting it hot enough. Cook a bit longer. If the candy gets grainy before you can get it onto the paper, then you are probably cooking too long. Shorten by a minute or so next batch.

Cheers,
C

formica said:

first, on the Tea Cakes, I just use regular flour and don't sift.

I am looking for some recipes for a gingerbread or ginger cookies.

I would like something that is like a soft drop cookie, like a molasses cookie, or something that you could roll and cut that doesn't taste like cardboard, more like a molasses or gingerbread sugar cookie.

thanks. Now I'll have to go dig out a recipe to post.

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I don't have a molasses cookie recipe, but this one has molasses and is pretty good! Definitely one of my favorites. This one's for Formica:

Giant Ginger Cookies

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 cup coarse sugar or granulated sugar

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat shortening until sofened. Gradually add the 2 cups granulated sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs and molasses; beat well. Add half of flour mixture; beat until combined. Stir remaining flour in with a wooden spoon.
Using a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop, shape dogh into 2-inch balls. Roll in the coarse or granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 1/2 inces apart.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookis are light brown and puffed. (Do not overbake or cookies will not be chewy.) Let stand for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool. Makes 25 4-inch cookies.

Note: I like to chill the cookie dough before shaping it. I usually just put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes.

Here's my other contribution. My husband loves these chocolate chip cookies:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1+ cups chopped nuts (I mix pecans & walnuts)
2+ cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla and the egg. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and add to the other ingredients and mix untill the dough is stiff.

3. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, form the cookies with 2 spoons (I use a cookie dough scoop), and place them 2 inces apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until light brown, for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

Snowmen - no baking required!

A picture is worth a thousand words....