Rolled Ginger Cookies

Made by Jennifer Johnson

The girls LOVED these.  It may have to do with just how cute they are, don't ya think?

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 T vinegar
4 cups flour 
1 1/2 t soda
1/2 t salt
2-3 t ground ginger (I only used 1 t for my taste...)
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground cloves (I only put in 1/4 t)

Cream shortening and sugar.  Beat in egg, molasses, and vinegar.  Sift together dry ingredients;  blend in.  Chill 3 hours.

Roll dough 1/8" thick on lightly floured surface.  Cut in shapes.  Place 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet.  


Bake at 375 for 5-6 minutes.  Makes about 5 dozen.

Elegant Toffee

Made by Jenny Balmforth

I love toffee!  

With this easy & delicious recipe, I'll be making this every year!

 
1 Cup unblanched whole almonds
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 12 oz pkg real milk chocolate pieces
1/2 pound walnuts (2 cups finely ground)
 
On a foil lined baking sheet, arrange the almonds in a single layer over an area measuring 12 x 7 in; set aside.

In a heavy 2 quart saucepan combine butter. sugar, vanilla and salt. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly with a clean, dry, wooden spoon till butter is melted. Continue cooking and stirring for 5 to 7 minutes or till candy is the color of unblanched almonds.

Immediately pour candy, without scraping pan, over almonds, covering all nuts. Use a spatula to help the toffee cover all the almonds. Immediately sprinkle milk chocolate chips over toffee while still hot. Wait for them to melt, then spread with spatula or flat side of knife to cover surface of toffee.

Sprinkle 3 chopped walnuts on top of chocolate. Cool completely. (To speed cooling process, put in fridge for 15-30 minutes) You will know they have cooled when the chocolate hardens. Using a knife, chop toffee into 1 inch pieces.

Mint Capped Brownie Cookie Cups

Made by Ruth Gough

These taste as good as they look!

36 Hershey Kisses Brand Mint Truffles

2/3 cup butter softened

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 T water

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour 

1/2 cup dutch process cocoa

1/2 t salt

1/4 t baking soda

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 36 small muffin cups with mini muffin liners. Remove wrappers from chocolates. Cream butter, sugar, water, and vanilla. Add eggs and beat until combined. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add to creamed mixture, beating on low just until combined. Shape dough into one inch balls and place in prepared uffin tins. 

Bake 11-13 minuted until cookie surface is set. Cookies will appear soft and moist. Do not over bake. Cool about 5 minutes on wire rack. Press kisses into the surface of each cookie cup. Cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle each cookie with powdered sugar. Yield- 3 dozen cookies. 

Oreo Truffles

By Jamie Lott & Leah Tobey

Anyone who is an Oreo lover will want to make these!

Trevor devoured them.

8 oz. cream cheese

1 pound Oreos
1 pound milk or dark chocolate
1/2 pound white chocolate

Grind Oreos to find powder in food processor. With a mixer, blend cookie powder and cream cheese until thoroughly mixed (there should be no white traces of cream cheese). Roll into small or large balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheet. Chill 45 minutes.

Line two cookie sheets with wax paper. In double-boiler, melt milk or dark chocolate. Dip balls and coat thoroughly. With slotted spoon or fork, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

In separate double boiler, melt white chocolate. Using a fork, drizzle white chocolate over balls. Let cool.
Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

Caramel Puffcorn

Made by Leah Tobey

I couldn't stop nibbling on these at our cookie exchange.

These are a must for anyone who loves caramel corn but hates the hulls!

This is carefree munching at it's finest!

1 (8 ounce) bag puff corn (hull-less, like Cheetos without the cheese)
1 cup butter (do not substitute)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Place puff corn in a large roaster pan.
2.  In 2 quart sauce pan bring the butter, sugar & corn syrup to bring to boil, then cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Add the baking soda - this will cause the caramel mixture to foam up.
4. Stir well and remove from heat.
5. Pour over puff corn in roaster and bake in 250* oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, spread out onto wax paper to cool.

EXCELLENT fresh from the oven!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I got this recipe from my friend Evelyn. I knew they were a keeper when I couldn't stop eating these mini delights! I love the Costco jumbo sized muffins and these are an easy, healthy (from the pumpkin), mini replica.

It also makes a great food storage dessert recipe too since all 3 ingredients can be easily found in your pantry. And don't worry, they don't taste anything like pumpkin after they've been baked. Just chocolate goodness!

-1 box Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe) believe me, it has to be this cake mix, the other chocolate cake mixes don't produce the same rich taste to really pull this recipe off.

-1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, regular size or mini (I usually use a little less than a bag. It can't be milk chocolate, won't taste right)

-1 can (14.5oz) canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie)

Using an electric mixer combine cake mix and pumpkin together in a large bowl until creamy. Do NOT add any ingredients for making a cake as found on the box. Then stir in chocolate chips.

Using cookie scoop, add the batter to the greased mini muffin pan. The secret to a nice looking muffin is the cookie scoop as this batter tends to stay in the same shape/form when baked as the original dough.

Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 F degrees, or until done when tested with a toothpick.

Yield: 48 mini muffins

Christmas Almonds

Nutty delight recipe from Parenting magazine December/January 2004

Goody bag mix-ins by Jennie (moi)

Making these yummy nuts has been our little tradition for the past 4 years! We love to put them into goody bags for Christmas each year. We always have so much fun delivering them to friends and family!

Christmas Almonds
1 package (16oz) whole almonds, raw
Butter (to grease pans)
1 egg white
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread almonds in a single layer in baking pan. Bake 8-10 minutes, until lightly roasted. Remove from oven and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 F degrees.

Generously grease 2 large baking pans with butter. DO NOT use spray, it will taste funky!

In a large bowl, whisk egg white until foamy.

Whisk in sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in almonds; toss until well coated.

Spread half of the nut mixture onto a baking pan, spreading them out in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and stir. (Nuts will be very sticky now but will become crisp as they cool.) Return pan to oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, until nuts are a pale golden brown and appear dry. Remove from oven and let sit for 3-5 minutes.

When nuts begin to harden, quickly loosen them from the pan with a metal spatula and spread onto waxed paper to finish cooling. Separate into individual pieces or small clusters now, otherwise they will be too hard to do later.

Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Makes 5 ½ cups

*To stretch the goodness even further, mix nuts with mini pretzels and M&M’s in a goody bag. Place 2 large handfuls of pretzels, 1 handful nuts, and 1-2 handfuls of M&M’s in a bag. Putting the M&M’s in last will make them fall through the nuts and pretzels so you won’t need to shake your bag to mix them!

We usually double the almond recipe, use 2 bags (16oz) pretzels, and 2 bags (16oz) Holiday colored M&M’s. This will make 20 goody bags!

Pretzel Wreath

These are yummy just as a treat, but they can also be an edible ornament! This idea came from The Pampered Chef. Lydia came over and we made them together. Brynlee was great at dipping the pretzels!

Sweet & Salty

need I say more?

1 bag Mini Pretzels

1 pkg Almond Bark

Colored Sprinkles

Yield 26 wreaths

Break almond bark into chunks and put into a small deep bowl. Melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted completely. Make sure your stirring utensil is completely dry, even one drop of water can ruin the consistency of the chocolate.

Dip the bottom half of each pretzel into the chocolate mixture. Place coated pretzel onto a piece of wax paper. Arrange 5 coated pretzels into a circle, with the chocolate touching each other in the center. Repeat this again for the second layer on top. Sprinkle toppings as desired. Let cool, about 15 minutes.

*Helpful Tips*

-Don't use any other type of chocolate except the almond bark or candy melts (candy that is designed for melting). These have certain fats that have great melting qualities, whereas they are removed for chocolate chips.

-If the almond bark starts getting stiff and cold, melt it again in the microwave.

-Don't have any sprinkles? No problem. Just use one drop of food coloring to 1/2 cup of regular sugar and stir! Get a variety of colored sprinkles for a fraction of the cost of the bottled stuff! Store the remaining sprinkles in an air tight container for future use.