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Cream Cheese Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, soft
8 oz cream cheese, soft
2 tbsp sour cream
32 oz powdered sugar + extra for coating cookies (1-2 cups)
3 eggs
1 tbsp each vanilla extract, lemon extract, orange extract
1-1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
9 c AP flour
Cream together cream cheese and butter.
Cream in sour cream and extracts.
Add powdered sugar, mix slowly at first and then on higher speed to fully blend
Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding next.
Sift together dry ingredients and add to icing mixture 1/2 at a time.
Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
Scoop using small scooper onto parchment lined baking sheets (12-15 per sheet).
Roll scoops of dough between hands to form balls.
Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.
Move immediately to racks and cool completely.
Coat in powdered sugar
Makes 7 doz.
Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients:
8 cups sweetened flake coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 lg egg whites whipped to soft peaks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°. Combine coconut, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, stirring to evenly coat coconut with flour. In a separate bowl, blend together sweetened condensed milk and extracts. Gently fold whipped egg whites into milk mixture. Pour milk-egg white mixture over coconut and stir to combine. Drop in desired size onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake on middle rack of oven until golden browned around edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheets and cool completely.
Store in airtight container up to 10 days.
No Fail Sugar Cookies – NFSC
Ingredients
6 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (white granulated)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. salt
Instructions
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours. Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.
Ice with royal icing thinned with corn syrup or with fondant, decorate with royal icing.
Petite Galettes des Rois (Mini King Cakes)
Ingredients
1/4 cup almond paste
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
2 packages frozen puff pastry, thawed (4 sheets total)
1 egg, beaten with 2 tbsp water (for an egg wash)
2-3 tbsp turbinado sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the almond paste into a food processor with about half of the sugar, and process until well blended. Add the butter and remaining sugar; process until smooth. Blend in one egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, flour and salt. Set filling aside.
Roll out one sheet of the puff pastry into an 11-inch square, keeping the pastry cool, do not knead or stretch. Dock the dough with a fork. Using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can from the sheet and lay them on the prepared baking sheet. Do not twist the cutter as you punch through the dough.
Mound a bit of almond filling (about a scant teaspoon) in the middle of each round, leaving about half an inch all around it (filling can be placed into a piping bag fitted with a number 10 or 12 round tip and piped onto each pastry round). Roll out a second sheet of the puff pastry and repeat the cutouts, but this time place them on top of the ones with filling. Press down the edges to seal and use a fork to press down the sides to ensure that they are sealed. Brush the top of the galettes with the egg was and then sprinkle the tops with the turbinado sugar.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until puffy and golden on the sides and top. Try to avoid opening the oven during baking (ideally an oven with a window works best) to ensure that the pastry puffs nicely. Cool completely before removing from baking sheets.
Store in airtight container for 3 days.
Makes about 48 mini galettes, when using a 2” cookie cutter.
Ooey-Gooey Bars
Ingredients:
1 stick melted unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
Heavy pinch salt
6 oz chocolate chips
6 oz peanut butter OR butterscotch chips
6 oz white (vanilla) baking chips
1 c sweetened flake coconut
1 c chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, or almonds)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment, with extra length hanging over short ends. In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter, cracker crumbs, and salt and press firmly along bottom of pan to form crust. Layer three types of chips, then coconut, then nuts, and then pour sweetened condensed milk over the layered ingredients. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and cutting into bars.
Pecan Tassies
Ingredients:
For the dough (all ingredients at room temp):
12 oz regular cream cheese (brick, not tub)
1-1/2 c unsalted butter
3 c all-purpose flour (bleached or unbleached)
Heavy pinch of salt (kosher or table)
For the filling:
3 large eggs
2-1/4 c light brown sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple flavoring
Pinch of salt (kosher or table)
6 to 8 oz pecans, toasted and chopped
Special equipment:
6 12-well or 3 24-well mini-muffin tins
Directions:
Make the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese, unsalted butter, and the salt until thoroughly combined. Add in the flour, one cup at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and wrap each portion in two layers of plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least one hour (can be made ahead of time and stored in refrigerator up to one week).
Make the filling:
In a medium mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together all of the filling ingredients, except the pecans, on medium speed until smooth. Do not beat on high speed or too much air will be incorporated into the filling.
Mold the shells:
Divide each portion of dough into 12 balls, about the size of a large gumball or quarter. Place each ball into the well of a mini-muffin pan and using your fingers and thumb, press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the well. The top of the dough should be just above the rim of the well, to form a crust, like on a pie shell.
Fill the shells:
Once all of the shells are molded, put ½ tsp of the pecans into the bottom of each shell. Top with 1 tbsp of the filling and then 1 tsp of the pecans. The filling should not come to the top of the shell. Do not over-fill as the filling will expand and rise during cooking.
Bake and cool:
Bake the prepared pans in a preheated 325° oven for 25 minutes. Cool baked tassies in the pans placed on cooling racks at least 10 minutes before removing. A butter knife may need to be used to help pop the tassies out.
Store in an air-tight container, with layers of tassies separated by wax paper, up to 10 days.
Tassies may be frozen up to 3 months.
Makes 72 cookies.
Meatless Mincemeat
Mincemeat
1 lb dried cherries
1 lb raisins
1 lb golden raisins
1 lb zante currents
1 lb dried cranberries
1/2 lb dried blueberries
1/2 lb chopped dried apricots
1/2 lb chopped pitted prunes
1/2 lb chopped dried figs
1/2 lb chopped dried dates
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
zest and juice of 2 lemons
4 oz chopped crystalized ginger
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground allspice
1 tbsp ground cloves
1/2 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
4 lbs apples (mixture of Granny Smith, Pippin, and McIntosh, peeled, cored and chopped)
6 oz unsalted butter
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup dark rum
Combine dried fruits, spices, and citrus zests and juices in a large, non-reactive stockpot.
Add just enough water to cover the fruit.
Bring to a boil and then add remaining ingrients.
Return to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes.
Portion into quart sized sterilized canning jars and process for 30 minutes.
Makes 8 quarts
Jane Herr Bars
Makes 12-20 bars, depending on how you cut them
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temp
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated (white) sugar
1 egg
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Blend butter and sugars together until fluffy
Beat in egg and extract
Add salt, flour, and oats and mix until thoroughly incorporated
Bake in a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray for 25-35 minutes
Cool completely and then ice
For the icing, blend together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons soft butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract OR place Hershey’s bars over the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven and return the pan to the oven until the bars are melted and then spread the melted chocolate to evenly cover the cookies.
Sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts over the icing
Cut into bars
Store in airtight container up to a week, may be frozen
Orange-Cardamom Cookies
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tbsp orange zest
1-1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 c sugar
1-1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
Chill dough
Roll out 1/4" thick
Cut and sprinkle w/ raw sugar
Bake at 375 10 min.
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