This week: Christmas Cookies!
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-JT
My kids actually prefer them frozen. The cookies.
A big favorite in this house:
Trillian’s Dark Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies
Ingredients:
2- 1/4 cups of unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup of peanut butter, crunchy
1 cup of dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2/3 cup of chopped pecans
2 cups of dark chocolate (I use Ghiradelli or Dove) cut into chunks
Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cream together butter, peanut butter and brown sugar in kitchenaid stand mixer using flat beater. Add egg and vanilla until well blended. Sift together flour and baking soda and blend into rest of mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks and pecans by hand.
Using a 1 inch mini ice cream scoop, place 1 inch dough scoops onto parchment paper 2 inches apart. Using your fingers flatten dough into circles.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until completely cooked through.
Take out of oven and let rest 1 minute. Then cool completely on racks.
That is, I bought a piece of metal duct tubing, and was able to fashion it enough to pass for two "tins".
She was able to doubly one-up her sister on both taste and style, so it was worth it.
I made steak au pouivre tonight from the 2 for $5 bacon wrapped steaks from Aldi. They went well with the leftover garlic mashed potatoes.
Cookies are one of my favorite thins on earth. Those sprinkled sugar cookies are one of my favorite kinds! My husband has been getting bags of Pepperidge Farm sugar sprinkled gingerbread men. I have zero will power around those babies ;)
My mom used to make apricot meringue bars which were always a big hit but aren't particularly Christmassy. And there is no substitute for Peanut Blossoms.
I used to look forward to buying Maurice Lennel's spritz with a dollop of red raspberry pasty something. Also their powdered sugar almond crescents. And always looked forward to Archway's Pfefferneuse which most people probably don't like, developed a taste for it.
Our stores don't have them any more. Lennel's out of Chicago went out of business and I don't know what became of Archway. The replacements on the shelves are substandard imo. Bakery cookies are good sometimes but expensive and not as good as homemade.
Would love to find out what the cookies in your picture are.........they look wonderful
I’m not much into cookies; they’re too sweet for me, but Finnish Christmas cookies are delicious! I have a Finnish friend who’s been giving me her cookies for Christmas almost every year. This year I plan to make them myself. Here are some recipes. Yum!
http://cakecrumbsbeachsand.com/2011/08/joulutorttu-finnish-christmas-jam-tarts/
https://www.yummly.com/recipes/finnish-cookies
Just a small ball about 1" or less, covered in powdered sugar. Would just melt in your mouth in a fine burst of dough.
Very light, but full of calories. for sure.
I make these every year. Also a hit!
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/334/LauraBushsCowboyCookies65123.shtml
A friend sent a batch of these-they were really good and disappeared very quickly. I am going to make another batch of them.
This is the closest recipe I have found that resembles the date squares my Mom made every Christmas. She made dozens of them and handed them out as gifts.
https://www.rockrecipes.com/newfoundland-date-crumbles/
Here is the lady who developed these bars as a signature dessert for her catering company. I took several classes from her when I lived in Vancouver BC.
ht.com/food/639276/lazy-gourmet-shares-easy-nanaimo-bar-recipe-mothers-day
I make these up and freeze the dough until ready to bake. Nice with a good glass of port, fruit compote and ice cream.
https://www.davidlebovitz.com/zaletti-italian-cornmeal-cookie-recipe/
bttt
Thanks for the heads up! I just bought the book for my Kindle. I've recently started collecting cookbooks on my Kindle, and I'm always looking out for bargains like this one. I'm a cookbook junkie, and buying them for the Kindle helps me to indulge my habit without adding to the clutter in my house. At 99 cents, how could I refuse?
CRANBERRY ORANGE CHARLOTTE
PREP Cook on med 2-3 min 2/3 c cranberries, 3 tb oj, ¼ cup vanilla sugar (cranberries start to pop). Cool offheat to room temp; blender/puree smooth.
BAVARIAN CREAM In separate metal or glass bowl, add 2 egg yolks, ¼ c vanilla sugar, pureed cranberry mixture. Whisk/combine. Whisk over simmering water til thickened and hot 3-5 min depends on bowl. Set bowl in bowl of ice cubes to cool down. While still warm, sprinkle 2 tsp gelatin over evenly. Whisk/incorporate. Keep whisking to room temp--don’t let gelatin set.
FINAL Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into chilled cranberry mixture.Whip 1/2 c whipping cream stiff; gently fold into cranberry mixture.
EGG WHITES elec/mixer egg whites frothy on high. Slowly sprinkle in 2 tb superfine sugar; whip til peaking.
ASSEMBLY Set ladyfingers into Charlotte mold. Pour in Bavarian, careful to not cover up the ladyfingers. Refrigerate 4 hours. Unmold.
SERVE chilled topped w/ caramel sauce, garnish of whole cranberries.
"ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Students in Round Rock are taking their lessons from the classroom to the kitchen this week. Both the culinary and Spanish classes came together for a tamalada — a tamale-making party. The Cedar Ridge High School students gathered to make pork, chicken and raja tamales. The process isn’t fast — so they started work Wednesday and were expected to finish after working all day Thursday as well."
