Smores Indoors

I don't know about you, but January brings a burning desire to escape to the outdoors and flee the cramped up and drab winter days. Being outdoors where we live isn't much of an option in January, so why not pitch a tent and roast some smores [in the oven]? That's just what we did to rid ourselves of the winter blues.

Ingredients:

6 graham crackers
6 large marshmallows
1 hershey's chocolate bar

Instructions:

Split graham crackers in half (two sections each). Place six (two-section) halves on cookie sheet and place 1 marshmallow on top of each graham-cracker half. Turn oven to broiling and place cookie sheet in the oven. It only takes a minute or less to brown the marshmallows so watch them closely.

Remove from oven.

Place three portions of chocolate bar on warm, melting marshmallow. Top with the other half of the graham cracker and enjoy.

These yummy treats keep nicely if you let cool and place in a air-tight container. Simply warm in the microwave for 10 seconds and enjoy while daydreaming of camping in July.

Mantecaditos con Guayaba / Butter Cookies with Guava

The Pioneer Woman pointed me to a site the other day that I have fallen in love with: The Noshery. This girl has a Puerto Rican background and lives in the south. So she's got some great culinary background and I'm dying to try so many of her recipes. The one I found her through were these Mantecaditos con Guayaba (Butter Cookies with Guava) - a latin twist on a quite popular Christmas Cookie. I had just happened to buy a whole tub of guava paste and after we'd eaten a quarter of it with saltine crackers, I was wondering what to do with the rest of it. And plop, this recipe just fell into my blog reader. Perfect.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup guava paste, diced

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar, shortening, and butter in a large bowl. Mix in egg yolk and almond extract. Blend in flour a little at a time until well combined and chunky. Shape a tablespoon of dough into a ball. Repeat with remaining dough. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet. Using your thumb, press down on the center of the cookie. Fill the dimple with about 1 teaspoon of guava paste.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack and enjoy a little tropical twist on your Christmas classic.

Orange Cookies

There's something about Christmas that reminds me of oranges. Perhaps it goes back to the visits from Santa Claus at our annual church Christmas party where he would make an appearance and bring a bag of goodies for all of the children. The contents were the same year after year: an orange, a handful of whole peanuts and old fashioned hard candy. The other day I was in a citrusy Christmas mood and decided to whip up a batch of my grandmother Leann's yummy orange cookies.

Cookie Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs. Stir in orange juice and rind. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in other mixture. Drop by teaspoon 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until delicately brown.

Orange Butter Icing:

2 1/2 tablespoons soft butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind

Mix all ingredients together and beat until well blended. Frost cookies while still warm.

Makes 4 dozen.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

This is an old favorite I dug out from the college cookbook archives. If my memory serves me correctly, my friend Kimberlee DeWitt gave me this recipe. She was the kind of neighbor that always had something homemade on her counter waiting for the next visitor. Let me tell you, this recipe was one worth knocking on her door for! They are soft, with a hearty oatmeal texture, the perfect amount of peanut butter and not too sweet.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c milk
2 1/2 cups flour
3 cups rolled oats or wheat
3/4 tsp baking soda

Cream together butters and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add gradually to wet ingredients. Drop mixture onto a greased and floured cookie sheet with sides:

Press onto the cookie sheet until all gaps are filled.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

While the bars are cooling make icing:

Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
milk to desired consistency

Stir together.

And stir a little more til it's creamy and smooth.

Drop onto bars. The original recipe says to let it cool. I personally like to drop it on while they are still warm.

Spread icing evenly.

And then try to eat only one.

Good luck!

Risa's Blonde Brownies

This is how behind I am in posting recipes. Over a year ago when Armando and Marcela went to Honduras, I whipped out a recipe book that my dear friend Lindy had given me of her favorite family recipes and made her mom's blonde brownies. They were delicious. I've made them a couple times since and never regret it (unless I eat the whole pan, which isn't hard to do!) This is my lazy way out of making chocolate chip cookies and they taste even better!

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 package chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift dry ingredients, add nuts and mix well. Melt butter, add sugar and cool slightly. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture, mixing well. Turn into buttered 9 x 9 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Thanks, Lindy, for sharing your family book with me!

Christmas Meltaways

This is one I'm definitely adding to my plate of goodies this year! A cookie that literally melts in your mouth. I first tasted it about 3 years ago - a coworker shared it with us and it was an office favorite.

Ingredients: 

½ lb butter, creamed

¾ C. cornstarch (yes, that is correct 3/4 cup!)

1/3 C powdered sugar

1 C flour

Mix together and beat until creamy. Roll (flour on hands helps) in round teaspoons. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Frost with:

1 tsp vanilla, 3 oz cream cheese (or substitute with butter), 1 c powdered sugar (add food coloring if desired). Dip top of cookies into frosting. Makes about 4 dozen.

You don't want to overcook these cookies - and they don't burn so pull them out as soon as the time is up. Also, I frost them when they are cool and using an icing bag might be the best trick because they are so fragile. Whenever I touch them to frost them, a few end up breaking, of course they go directly to my mouth, so I don't mind, but . . .

Snowball Cookies

I know most people love their chocolate chip cookies, but if I had to choose my favorite cookie, I honestly think this would be it! It's my grandmother Leann's snowball cookie recipe. Sometimes I've heard other people refer to them as Mexican Wedding Cookies. Either way, whatever you want to call them, they are DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup ground walnuts
a small bowl of powdered sugar

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla, flour, and walnuts. Roll into one inch balls and bake for 30 minutes at 300 F.

Roll in a bowl of powdered sugar when they are hot out of the oven.

After rolling all of the cookies, roll them in the sugar once again for a second coat.

Now, try to be a lady and refrain from eating the whole plate in one sitting. It's difficult!

Homemade Oreos

I stumbled across a recipe for homemade oreos this week and I had a dream about sinking my teeth into them a couple of nights ago, so I convinced my sister Makayla who's visiting this week to make them with me.

Homemade Oreos
Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 to 1½ cups sugar (I only used 1 cup because I liked the contrast of a less-sweet cookie with the sweet center filling)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.


3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.



4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

*A side note - I was disappointed when I tried the first one because they were a lot more firm (like an oreo) than I thought they would be. So I turned down the temperature, made them smaller, and cooked them for less time - for a softer cookie.

They'd also be delicious with ice cream centers!