Biscotti

This is one of my husband's favorite cookie

It is good either plain or dipped in chocolate.

You do have to carve out some time to make it since you are baking it twice.

This recipe comes from the Pamper Chef cookbook Doris Christopher's Stoneware Sensations. Although it has pecans in the title, it is great with toasted walnuts or almonds also.

Cinnamon Pecan Biscotti

1/2 cup chopped, pecans-toasted

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

6 tablespoons of butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla 

Topping: 

2 teaspoons of sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl-mix flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to the butter mixture and then add the pecans. Divide dough in half and form each into a 10 x 1 1/2 inch log. Bake several inches apart on a greased or parchment lined large cookie sheet. Sprinkle the sugar on the top of the logs. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes. Cut logs diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. I lay the biscotti on one side and bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn over onto the other side and bake another 10-15 minutes. Cool. They will crisp up even more once cooled, but we start eating them as soon as they get out of the oven. I use Baker's semi sweet chocolate melted with a little shortening if I dip the biscotti.

Bailey's Shortbread Cookies

If you like Bailey's, you will like these! I am not much of a drinker, but a little Bailey's Irish Cream in my coffee on a cold weekend morning is a nice treat. You definitely can taste the alcohol in these, especially in the icing. The longer they sit, the better the flavor.


Bailey's Shortbread Cookies  From: samanthamenzies.com

Cookies:
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Bailey's

Mix flour through salt in a separate bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add Bailey's. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Roll into tablespoon sized balls and flatten with a glass. Bake on parchment lined cookie sheets at 350 degrees for  about 12 minutes until lightly golden. Cool completely.

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of butter, softened
4 1/2 teaspoons of Bailey's

Mix powdered sugar and butter together, slowly add the Bailey's, stirring until smooth. Spread on cooled cookies. Allow the icing to set.


Hmmm..... I just realized I added 4 1/2 tablespoons of booze to the icing. I am sure I added more powdered sugar to make up for the added liquid. Oh, well. Use what works for you. They would be good either way.

Enjoy!

Wishing Cookies

Wishing Cookies

This recipe calls for the dough to be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters. I don't think I have ever done that and I have been making these for over 10 years. The recipe came from a Crafting Traditions magazine from 1995. Is that magazine still around? If you like molasses, cinnamon, ginger and orange peel, you will like these cookies.

Wishing Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1  1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons of molasses

1 tablespoon of water

1 teaspoon of grated orange peel

3  1/4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and sugar together. Add molasses through orange peel. Mix the dry ingredients together separately and then add that to the wet mixture Cover  and chill the dough at least 2 hours. I chill the dough at least overnight because I think it gets the flavors to meld together more. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place 2 inched apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingers. They will spread out when they bake. Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. Bottoms will be slightly golden. Let the cookies rest on the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to cool. After the cookies have cooled, mix the icing ingredients together and spread on the top of each cookie. Allow to dry at least one hour. I layer wax paper between the cookies when I store them. This make 6 dozen cookies. Maybe next year I will try them as cutout cookies.

Enjoy!

Russian Tea Cakes

Russian Tea Cakes

These cookies are one of my husband's favorites. I have even made these in the middle of the hot summer even though I consider them a holiday cookie. I got this recipe from my home economics class during my senior year, so I have had it over 20 years. Man, I am getting old!

Russian Tea Cakes

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2  1/4 cups of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup of finely chopped pecans (toasted would be good)
1-2 cups extra powdered sugar for rolling cookies in

Mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour and salt and once thoroughly combined, add the pecans. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden. While warm, roll in powdered sugar. Cool and then roll a second time. This make 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Baked Egg Rolls

Baked Egg Rolls

These are so much better than deep fried eggs rolls and a lot less fattening I am sure. I got this recipe years ago from  a Taste of Home magazine. I have changed the ingredients some to reflect the kind of vegetables I like in them the most.

Baked Egg Rolls

3 cups cabbages, cut into strips
1 cup shredded carrots
4 chopped green onions
1-2 cloves of garlic minced
2 cups of cooked, diced chicken or cooked and crumbled spicy sausage
4 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of canola oil
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Package of egg roll wrappers
Cooking spray

In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, saute the cabbage through the garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the meat if using. In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch, water, soy sauce, oil, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper together. Keeping the heat on low, slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture and stir it in quickly. This will thicken up fast. Remove from heat.  Put 2 heaping tablespoons of filling in each wrapper and roll up egg roll style. Place on 2 baking sheets and spray each egg roll lightly with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. This makes about 16 egg rolls. Served with rice.  It easily feeds this family of 4.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Cranberry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

These turned out to be a good Christmas cookies that we ate and didn't share with anyone! The recipe came out of the coupon pages of the Sunday paper from: RecipeForTogetherness.com They have them as Cherry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. I use cranberries because I really like them and they are cheaper than dried cherries. Check out this site. They have some tasty looking recipes! This made about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Cranberry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries (or dried cherries)

1 oz semisweet chocolate, grated

For drizzling or dipping cookies in chocolate: 

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped 

1 teaspoon of shortening

With a mixer,combine the butter, sugar and extract. Add the flour and cornstarch. Stir in the chocolate and cranberries. Roll into 1 in. balls (I used my cookie scoop). Place on parchment lined cookies sheets and flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Mine took about 25 minutes, but start watching them at 20 minutes. You want them just lightly browned. Cool cookies. Melt the chocolate and  shortening together in the microwave and half dip the cookies or drizzle the tops with the melted chocolate. Dry on waxed paper.

Enjoy!

Walnut Cream Pie

Walnut Cream Pie

My supervisor told me about this pie that she had a restaurant and loved. She looked it up and found a recipe she thought was very similar. I, of course, volunteered to make it and bring it to the office so we could all try it. The recipe comes from Cooks.com. The only thing I changed was that I used a baked pie crust instead of the suggested graham cracker crust. I guess the restaurant uses a baked pie shell also. I'm not really crazy about graham cracker crust anyway.

Walnut Cream Pie:  From Cooks.com (submitted by D. McDonald)

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup of cold water
4 ounce package of vanilla pudding
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of chopped walnuts, toasted (divided)
1 graham cracker or baked pastry pie crust

Mix cream cheese until smooth, slowly add in condensed milk. Add the water and pudding mix. Beat until smooth. In a separate bowl (with clean beaters) beat the whipping cream until you get soft peaks. Fold that into the cream cheese mixture, then add 3/4 cup of the walnuts. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and sprinkle with the rest of the walnuts. Chill for at least 2 hours. Overnight is even better.

Enjoy!