Baking

The wintery weather has been perfect for baking.  Fortunately the church is providing a meal for a group this week.

So I can bake to my heart's content and send it all off for the benefit of some one else. 

Party Prep: Almond Cherry Chews

 Technically Cherry Almond Bars. This recipe is extremely simple.  I was startled by the 2 cups of brown sugar but went ahead with it.  It is probably possible to cut back on that.  I didn't have any almond flavoring.  Orange, wintergreen, maple, cinnamon, watermelon, lemon, rootbeer... but no almond.  So I used vanilla.  It would probably be better with the almond but they are quite tasty the way they are.  I ended up using quick oats instead of rolled oats.  Again, it worked well but would probably be better with the rolled oats.  The dough wasn't very crumbly.  It was easy to press into the pan but didn't crumble nicely across the top.  I probably should have added some extra oats to it before that step.  I did sprinkle some extra almonds on top before baking.  When looking for the cherry preserves, I had the choice between an smaller bottle of all fruit or slightly larger bottle of preserves.  I think I would go with the slightly larger bottle next time.  These have enough jam but would benefit from more.  All in all a pretty tasty recipe. 

Party Prep: The Dread Chocolate Ravioli

Spud one always requests these, mostly because of how much I 'mutter' while making them.  These are the dread Chocolate Ravioli.  I don't actually think they are worth the effort.  They taste just fine but the dough is impossible to work with.  It crumbles, breaks and tears if you look at it.  I finally (after heaven knows how many years) figured out that I could patch the covering however I need and then flip them smooth side up on the baking sheet.  They turn out pretty well that way. 

Party Prep: Tea cakes and Peanut Butter Blossoms

Baking is starting in earnest now.  Standard Hershey's peanut butter blossoms.

A batch of tea cakes.  I forgot to take the picture until they were already packed up for storage. 

12th Night Prep: Nanaimo Bars

Ooops.  Put these in the freezer before I took a picture.  These are the one cookie I can't resist.  I first had them at my great aunt's house at the holiday party.  Of course.  They were actually brought to her attention by a cousin who had traveled through Canada and brought the recipe back as her vacation souvenir.  All of the recipes are essentially the same.  I looked at this one this time. 

These bars freeze well.  Cut them VERY small.  They are extremely rich and you really can't eat more than about two bites at a time. 

Intensely Flavored Raspberry Cookies

These cookies are a last minute addition to the menu. The original recipe was on the Smuckers site. Of course I didn't follow the directions....

1 package angel food cake mix
3/4 cup raspberry fruit preserves
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix the preserves and the cake mix until it is well blended. This takes a while and seems like it won't work, but it does eventually. Beat for a couple more minutes. The dough is very shiny and sticky. Fold in the chocolate chips. (I was going to use regular sized chips, but I didn't. The big ones would overwhelm the cookies. The minis are perfect.)

Spoon on to cookies sheets sprayed with cooking spray. Well sprayed. Bake at 325 degrees F for 12 minutes.

Next time I will probably add a bit of red food coloring. These are incredibly tasty but the pale pink color is a little bit to subtle to hold up to the lightly browned surface. They are very sticky. We will see if they store for a day. I'll let you know.

Toffee Grahams

The following recipe is from Cooks.com. It is one of the easiest cookie/candy/confections you can make. I've pasted it verbatim below so that I can keep track of the recipe. As usual, my notes follow.

24 graham cracker sqs.
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
Dash of salt
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. chopped pecans

Line a 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan with foil. Arrange graham crackers close together in a single layer. Combine butter, brown sugar, and salt in small saucepan; cook until mixture is blended, stirring, for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add pecans; spread mixture over graham crackers. Bake in 350 degree oven 10 minutes or until bubbly; cool 10 minutes. Cut each graham cracker in half and remove to a cooling rack. Serve cold.


Do not skip lining the pan with foil. Use easy release foil or oil your foil. This is STICKY and it won't come out of the pan if you don't line it. Set the graham cracker squares on the foil before you start the rest. Have the pecans measured and ready to go.

I made sure that I brought the sugar and butter to a boil. That eliminates some of the liquid from the butter and blends both of them together better. Boiling it does make it a little harder to spread over the crackers. I use a silicon spatula and move it around.

The next time I make this, I may add cinnamon to the sugar/butter mixture. Another option might be to sprinkle chocolate chips on the warm cookies and spread them out after they melt. I think that there are a lot of possibilities for changing this up. Leave a comment below if you have a favorite version.


I'm showing my age today. As I was typing Toffee Graham, I kept imagining that very old Saturday Night Live skit with the Candy Graham delivering land shark. I think these bars might just be as lethal.

Grandma's Recipes: Crunchy Fudge Sandwiches

Today's recipe is a newspaper clipping. It was published in The Blade Sunday Magazine on March 8, 1970. There is a copyright date of 1969 for the Kellogg Company. It is clearly part of an advertisement for Nestle morsels and Rice Krispies.

1 6-oz. pkg. (1 cup) Nestle's Butterscotch Morsels
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal
1 tablespoon water
1 6-oz. pkg. (1 cup) Nestle's Semi-sweet Morsels
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons soft butter or margarine

1. Met butterscotch Morsels with peanut butter in heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring until well blended. Remove from heat.
2. Add rice Krispies cereal; stir until well coated with butterscotch mixture. Press half of cereal mixture into a buttered 8x8x2 inch pan. Chill in refrigerator while preparing fudge mixture. Set remaining cereal mixture aside.
3. Combine chocolate Morsels, sugar, butter and water in top of double boiler; place over hot water and stir until chocolate melts and mixture is well blended. Spread over chilled cereal mixture. Spread remaining cereal mixture evenly over top. Press in gently. Chill. remove from refrigerator for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Yield: about 25 1 1/2 inch squares.

Translation: Nothing to change here. I would make them as written. I do remember Grandma making these for almost every potluck and occasion. She always packed them in a round tupperware dish. I rescued that dish and gave it to my cousin for Christmas one year. I put in a bag of marshmallows because I also had the handwritten Rice Krispies treats recipe. My cousin let me know that no marshmallows ever entered Grandma's Rice Krispies cookies. Now is know what she meant. I will have to send her this one.

Art Fare

Re-posted here as part of my effort to collect my recipes scattered hither and yon across the interwebs into one place.

A lovely friend hosted an after the Art Fair party and asked allowed us to bring dessert. What could be more fitting than a session of playing with your food?

Calder Cookies

one recipe sugar cookie dough. Use your favorite. I usually use the Betty Crocker version with vanilla instead of almond flavoring.

Divide into thirds before chilling. Color one third red, one third yellow, and one third blue. Use a professional grade color such as this kit from Ateco. The liquid stuff you buy in the store will produce pastel colors and you are going for as dark as you can get. Chill each color separately. Roll chilled dough. Cut with a sharp knife into random geometric shapes ala Alexander Calder. Use a straw to punch out a hole in each cookie. Bake as instructed.

Provide guests with a tray of cookies, string and assorted skewers and toothpicks. Have them string them together into a mobile. You can use shoestring licorice and pretzel rods but you will need bigger holes in the cookies.

Admire your creations and then eat them. You can always try to eat the hanging cookies but you probably want to put down a washable rug or go outside.

Jackson Pollock Cake

1 pound cake (purchased or your own recipe)
Assorted toppings and sauces in squeeze bottles

Slice cake and arrange on a clean new paint pallet. Have guests take a slice and put on a plain plate. Guests then squeeze ‘paint’ syrup over the cake canvas ala Jackson Pollock. admire your artistic creation then eat it.

Raspberry Sauce

1 package unsweetened frozen raspberries (While fresh raspberries would probably taste better I find they are too expensive to mash up and prefer t o eat them whole.)
Sugar to taste

Thaw berries and put in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve pressing on the solids to force as much through while leaving the seeds behind. Add sugar to taste. You want it to be slightly sweet. I usually end up with around a 1/4 cup but you need to add about a tablespoon at a time. Give it whirl and taste. It will be a terrible trial to taste I am sure but taste it you must. Just be sure to leave some for the dessert.

While I will claim credit for thinking up the Calder Cookies I read about the Jackson Pollock cake in a magazine years ago. I have no idea what it was. I will keep looking for it. If you know, let me know and I will gladly attribute it properly.

* Variations with frosting seem to be all over the internet these days. This version was most likely found in an old issue of Bon Apetit.

Z's Favorite Cookie

Z has a few recipes that are uniquely his own. His cookie recipe is Sierra Nugget cookies. He starts with this version found on Cooks.com. I've listed it below but have added his modifications.

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs *add one more egg
1 c. crumbled crushed corn flakes
3 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mace
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
4 oz. coconut If you must.
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate white Chocolate chips
1 c. walnuts, peanuts or pine nuts, chopped Skip the nuts and add another cup of white chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together until smooth the butter, brown and white sugar. Add milk and vanilla. Beat and add in eggs. Stir in corn flakes and oatmeal.

Sift together and add flour, baking soda, salt, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Stir in coconut, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop batter by well rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

As you can see it is pretty much the same recipe he has modified around the edges. I'll post a picture when they start to come out of the oven.

* Z made them today. He decided that he needs to add at least one more egg next time.