Holiday Morsels

[LdyNghtWng]

The combination of almond, vanilla, lemon, orange and chocolate extracts is amazing as a replacement for plain vanilla, of all things! It gives an aromatic, slightly citrus like flavour. The chocolate extract doesn''t really make it taste like chocolate, but gives it some depth. I don''t know how else to describe it, but this is a great addition to layer cakes, sugar cookies etc. You can also omit the choclate, if you don''t have it handy, vanilla-lemon-orange-almond extracts are also very nice together.

I get my chocolate extracts (there are several good ones out there) from Williams Sonoma, or
Baker''s Catalogue:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/list.jsp?pv=1165677982491&select=C162&byCategory=C309

or sweetcelebrations.com

The big bottle lasts forever. I use it to add extra kick to many chocolate recipes, 1-2 tsp., and especially when using cocoa. Cocoa can work much better than chocolate for many cakes and cookies, I found, but the cocoa processing seems to leave out something. The chocolate extract adds some missing notes!

I make the cookie logs rather small, so that they bake quickly and thoroughly, say, the size of the top two joints of my middle finger. They will expand a tad when baking. They should make a two-little-bite cookie! This is a somewhat sweet cookie, delicately flavoured, like shortbread but dense, not crispy.

I have also tried baking them until slightly golden, about 2 more minutes, and just dusting them with a little powdered sugar, for folks who don''t like a frosting type cookie.

 

[Ellen]

equestrienne, thanks for the recipe!

LNW, thanks so much for the info.

 

[KimberlyH]

I made these cookies for a Christmas party yesterday. I won the cookie contest with them and thought I'd share as they were apperantly really good, albeit time consuming. I don't like anise, which is why I made them...it meant I wouldn't snack on them!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25300,00.html?rsrc=search

I don't have a pasta maker so I rolled out the dough on parchment paper using a rolling pin and flour on and they turned out fine, it just took some time. I found this dough extremely easy to work with.

 

[LdyNghtWng]

Golden Fruit Cake (my version)

This is a fruit cake that everyone likes! REALLY!!!

Fruit Mixture:

(prepare the night before)
2 cups golden raisins
1 cup small chopped dried apricots
4 oz. box candied orange peel
1/4 cup brandy ( I use good cognac)
1/4 cup orange juice

Mix together in Tupperware container, and let sit over night
at room temperature, occasionally turning and shaking the
mixture

The Cake:

1 1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar

6 eggs separated
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup brandy
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. lemon extract

Fruit mixture
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Butter and flour two six cup molds or loaf pans. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Beat butter until light and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Beat egg yolks together lightly and add.

Combine milk, brandy and vanilla. Stir flour and salt together. Alternately add milk and flour mixtures to the creamed mixture. Fold in fruit and nuts.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff but not dry. Fold into butter mixture gently but thoroughly then pour into the cake molds. Bake at 275 degrees for 1 3/4 hours or until they test done. Cool and unmold.

Let sit a day or two, at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap before serving or freezing for later use.

 

[Ellen]

A fruitcake people really eat?? Oh surrrre.

Jus kiddin. If I get enough other stuff done, I may just try this. I know they DO exist, hubby had one given to him one year, and on a lark I tried it, instead of using it for a doorstop. It really was good! lol

 

[LdyNghtWng]

Two of my most requested cookie recipes!

Crescent Cookies

My Mom''s old recipe with some variations. This is my most often requested recipe. There are a many versions of this recipe around as there are cooks, but her recipe uses more nuts than usual.
Also called Mexican wedding cookies, Russian teacakes etc. I usually make then in the food processor, which goes very quickly.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
5 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbs. water
2 cups fine grated walnuts or pecans (or other nuts, see below)

Confectioner''s sugar for dusting


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease lightly cookie sheets.

Sift flour and salt together. Cream butter. Add sugar, vanilla and water. Blend in flour.
Mix in nuts thoroughly. (You can also use the food processor to make these cookies). Take small portions and roll into crescents. Place in refrigerator until firm, at least about `15 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until barely gold. Shake confectioner''s sugar over them.

(Note: don''t make too big cause they do expand when cooking. Also, bake on middle shelf, if you bake on lower shelf the bottoms brown a bit too much.)

These cookies are best aged a few days in an airtight container; the nut taste comes through that way!

Variations:

Some people like these with 1 tsp. cinnamon in the dough. You can use any nuts; hazelnuts are also nice. If you use hazelnuts, you can add 1 tbs. Frangelico instead of 1 tbs. water.

If I use almonds, I use ground blanched almonds, and add 1/2 -1 tsp. almond extract to the dough or use 1 tbs. Amaretto instead of 1 tbs. water. Then instead of using powdered sugar, I dip half of the cookie in chocolate and let set in refrigerator for ten minutes or until hardened.

Chocolate Dip:

3 sq. semi-sweet chocolate
1 tsp. vegetable shortening or butter

Melt together in microwave, 1 minute in high, then stir, then 30 seconds on high, and continue at 30 second intervals until melted which usually takes about 2 minutes.

Crescent Cookies, Cocoa

(I make these into little balls instead of crescents)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. chocolate extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 cups chopped or ground walnuts or pecans ( I usually use ground walnuts)

1/2 cup confectioner''s sugar for decoration

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Sift flour, salt and cocoa together. Stir into creamed mixture. Mix in nuts until well blended. (You can also use the food processor to make these cookies). If dough seems dry and doesn''t come together, you can add 1 tbs. water while beating. Cover the dough and chill at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll chilled dough into 1 inch balls or crescents. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15-18 minutes in pre heated oven. Cool and roll in powdered sugar when cooled.

These cookies are best aged a few days in an airtight container; the nut taste comes through that way!

Sometimes I add a tbs. strong coffee, along with the extracts, which brings out the chocolate taste, and/or 1 tsp. cinnamon mixed in with the flour.





Chocolate Bon Bon Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookie:

16 oz. candied cherries (the glacee''d kind in the plastic boxes, not maraschino)
1 cups butter
1/2 cup confectioner''s sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 eggs
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 (heaping) tsp. salt
3 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 tbs. milk, as needed

Glaze:

2 cups confectioner''s sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
6 tbs. milk, or as needed


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix flour and salt. Melt chocolate. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and
eggs. Blend in chocolate and whip until lightened and fluffy. Add dry ingredients. Add milk as needed to get dough to form a ball, but not be too dry.

Pat cookie dough into lump and use about 1/6 at a time, keeping the rest covered so it won''t dry out. Roll cookie dough around cherries. These work best with a relatively thin coat of dough around the cherries; the final cookies should be about an inch in diameter.

Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and refrigerate about 15 minutes until firm.
They don''t spread, so they can be baked close together. Bake in oven about 10 minutes, or until just firm. Don''t overbake.

Cool and dip into glaze, set on racks to set glaze for an hour or two, and then put in
airtight box to age a few days before eating to let the cherry syrup moisten the cookie.

Make Glaze:

Mix ingredients together, let sit 10 minutes covered with plastic wrap while the cookies are cooling, mix again, let sit and then ten minutes later mix again, and it should be very smooth. Test glaze on cookie. A thicker glaze will drip down sides a bit into a little snow cap. The glaze should be thin enough to sit on the top and drip down slowly over the sides and become somewhat transparent. Thin the glaze as needed with a little more milk, and finish glazing the cookies.

 

[Mara]

okay since i am on a mission to not make or eat too many full fat holiday cookies this season, i tried this recipe today from cooking light and the cookies are awesome!!! it has all my favorite elements. i love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and cranberries are yummy too. i have already eaten 3...lol! they are really small, though the recipe called for 54 and i made 36. and they are still really small cookies! but yummy. i used a tiny bit less butter and put in a tablespoon of flaxseed as well for some extra fiber.


Oatmeal-Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dried cranberries add sweet-tart notes. These drop cookies would make a nice holiday gift.

1 cup whole wheat flour (about 4 3/4 ounces)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
3/4 cup regular oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, oats, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Place sugar, butter, and sour cream in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until smooth. Add vanilla and egg whites; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until blended. Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until edges of cookies are browned. Cool on pan 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks.

Yield: 27 servings (serving size: 2 cookies)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 128(23% from fat); FAT 3.3g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 1.8g; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 21mg; SODIUM 114mg; FIBER 1g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.2g

Lia Huber
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2006

 

[Lynn B]

YUM, Mara! I made these cookies, too! And I also rolled some of the dough (into little ball shapes) and froze them in freezer ziplock bags. Now when I am having a cookie attack, I just pop one or 2 (OK, maybe 3!

) into the toaster oven... and a few minutes later, yuuuuum... *cookie heaven*!!!

 

[Ellen]

OK, this is not for the health concious.. But OMG, is it good!

Friend gave it to me, instant hit.

Chocolate Toffee Stuff


Club crackers
2 sticks butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 bag milk chocolate chips


Lay foil on a cookie sheet with sides. (PLEASE use a sheet big enough to accomodate crackers AND leave room for liquid to expand/bubble up during cooking) *picture house filled with smoke cuz friend forgot to mention this*

Lay out crackers on foil, side by side.

Heat butter and brown sugar until boiling.

Add baking soda, take off heat.

Spread over crackers.

Bake for 8 minutes at 350.

Immediately sprinkle chip over mixture, let sit a couple minutes, then spread with a spatula over all.

Put in fridge to harden.

Peel off foil, and break into pieces.

I''m storing mine in a tin in the fridge, as they were a little soft sitting at room temp.

 

[Mara]

yeah Lynn everyone I have given them to loves them. if I had candy canes i would have crushed some and put them in there too but i didn't have any this weekend. that's a great idea to save some of the dough for the future. i love that i can eat 2 of these for a snack in the afternoon and it's less calories and fat than a granola bar and obviously WAY more yummy.

it's funny because there are a ton of sweets at work right now, but i really don't have the urge to eat that many of them (i havent had any actually but i figure i'll capitulate at some point and eat one or two). even though vendors are sending us a ton of things...one of my faves is chocolate covered cherries but i haven't been hit by the 'must have' feeling. probably, because i have my other snacks with me and my own cookies and honestly i swear that less sugary stuff tastes better to me now. i wish that more people would pay attention to being at least a little more health conscious with sweets around the holiday season and not send us quite so much processed crap or unhealthy goodies. it doesn't have to be packed with fat to be yummy. oh but i do make the exception for sees candies.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Rum cake - I have been told this recipe is better than the rum cake you get in the Cayman Islands. I agree. It took me two years to track down this recipe and it was worth it.

Cake - Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease a bundt pan with butter or margarine. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of chopped pecans on the bottom up about 1/4 of the pan.

Cake: Mix one yellow cake mix
One package vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup water
Beat for two minutes and pour on top of pecans. Bake for one hour.

While cake is cooling, take a long skewer and make ''tons and tons" of holes in the cake at varying lengths.

Heat one stick butter, one cup sugar 1 1/2 ounces rum and 1/2 ounce water in a pan. Bring to boil being careful not to let it boil over. Cook for several minutes until grainyness in sugar goes away. Taste test but be sure to let it cool first. It will be WAY hot. After the grainyness goes away, pour atop the holes in the cake and let sit for about 10 minutes. Invert cake onto cake plate. You can serve it immediately but it is best the next day or two. It actually tastes better after some time.

 

[Ellen]

Allison, that sound yummy!

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 12/20/2006 6:52:17 PM
Author: Ellen
Allison, that sound yummy!

I just made one and it turned out the best it ever has. I backed off the oven temp by 12.5 degrees and I cooked it 55 minutes instead of a hour. ( I think my oven is slightly on the hot side).

 

[Ellen]

Date: 12/20/2006 8:56:41 PM
Author: Allisonfaye

Date: 12/20/2006 6:52:17 PM
Author: Ellen
Allison, that sound yummy!

I just made one and it turned out the best it ever has. I backed off the oven temp by 12.5 degrees and I cooked it 55 minutes instead of a hour. ( I think my oven is slightly on the hot side).

Mine is too.

Hubby likes Rum, I''m gonna have to try this.

 

[KimberlyH]

If you have kids or will have young guests for the holidays here''s a great, easy recipe that they will love:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35324,00.html?rsrc=search

I made them for cookie baskets and it took no time at all! My husband liked them so much he ate four the other night. I told him he''d better watch out or he''d start to look like Santa.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 12/21/2006 6:06:06 AM
Author: Ellen

Date: 12/20/2006 8:56:41 PM
Author: Allisonfaye

Date: 12/20/2006 6:52:17 PM
Author: Ellen
Allison, that sound yummy!

I just made one and it turned out the best it ever has. I backed off the oven temp by 12.5 degrees and I cooked it 55 minutes instead of a hour. ( I think my oven is slightly on the hot side).

Mine is too.

Hubby likes Rum, I''m gonna have to try this.

Even the kids like this one. I would have thought they wouldn''t.