Cookies! And...cake! And...candy! Holiday Goodies!

Ninibi · 12-14-2006, 06:52 PM

Post 'em & share! What sugary calorie laden treats do YOU foist off on skinny people during the holidays? ^^

Here's a couple I posted for the guild last Christmas (makin 'em again this year for the neighbors -they start asking where they are if I don't :D)

Quote:

White Chocolate/Peanut Butter chip cookies.

Preheat oven to 325 setting one rack in the middle and one on the bottom rung

Use a seperate bowl for wet ingredients, you'll add them to the dry later.

Bowl 1: dry
2 1/8 c all purpose flour (just eyeball a half 1/4 cup measure, a little over is fine)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Bowl 2: wet
12 tbsp (stick and a half) of butter, melted and cooled till warm
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla

3/4 c each white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. (I've always used Ghiardelli White Choc. & Reese's PB chips. Nestle's white chocolate is kinda off to my tastebuds).

Take the eggs out of the fridge and let them sit on the counter, melt the butter. While the eggs are coming to room temperature and the butter is cooling off, put flour, salt and baking soda in the dry bowl and mix until combined.

In the wet bowl, add the sugars and vanilla to butter, then add the eggs, mixing in well. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until just combined. Add chips, blend until just combined (you'll have several loose chips on the bottom. Those are tide-you-over snacks

).

Scoop out onto 2 cookie sheets in rough balls. You can either do halfsize (nearly 24 cookies) or large (12 big cookies - go big!).

Put one sheet on the middle rack and one on the bottom and bake 9 minutes. Switch them, and bake another 9 minutes.

LET COOL (these need to harden up a bit, they'll look a bit undercooked when you take them out, that's ok!)

enjoy.

Quote:

Butter Tarts - 2 different recipes, both are good. (canadian thingies - insanely sweet sugary goodness).

A tip for both of them: soak the raisins in the liquid ingredients (egg, vanilla, milk, etc) for a while... it plumps 'em up and they absorb more sugar. You could alternatively pour boiling water over the raisins but...ick.

Butter Tart recipe from the Five Roses (read: OLD) cookbook. May take some tinkering.

1 egg, beaten
1/3 c butter
1 c brown sugar
2 T milk
1/2 c golden raisins
1 tsp vanilla
15 tart shells

Mix first 6 ingredients, fill tart cups 2/3 full, bake @ 450 for 8 minutes, reduce to 350 for 15-20 minutes or until pastry is delicately brown.

I'd watch the times. I've made this recipe with good results, but it's been a while.

Second butter tart recipe, from Harrowsmith cookbook.

14—16 tart shells
1—1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1—2 tsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 c golden raisins
4 T milk
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Direct quote:

"Combine all ingredients except pastry and mix until just blended.

Line tart shells with pastry and fill 2/3 with mixture. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, until filling is firm."

I'd suggest walnuts are optional. I put up both recipes due to the differences. If you use black raisins, well...ew.

Calthine · 12-14-2006, 07:04 PM

I posted all my quick bread recipes on my blog the other day... sec...

Basicly, every few years I go on this mass baking spree and eveyrone, I mean everyone, gets some kind of quick bread for me. I increase these to make four loaves and freeze then (I start in October, usually).

Banana Bread
I've taken blue ribbons at the fair with this recipe. The trick: use bananas that are completely black and totally mushy. They have the most flavor and add moisture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift together:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend until creamy:
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind or lemon zest
1 beaten egg
1-2 cups ripe banana pulp (I never measure this. I use two average sized bananas or one really large one)

Add the dry ingredients to the wet gradually, beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in 1/2 cup chopped nuts or dates (Joy of Cooking also recommends dried apricots), if desired. Place in a greased bread pan. Bake for about one hour, or until done.

Banana Blueberry Bread:
Add 1/2 cup dried or frozen blueberries at the last step. If you use frozen, mix them in quickly; over mixing will cause them to 'bleed' and you get blue bread.

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Quick Add-Anything Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white or 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Beat together:
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring

Add the moist ingredients to the dry. Fold in
3/4 cup copped nuts, dates, dried berries, or another combination.

Place in a greased bread pan and bake about 40 minutes

List of additions:

Orange Cranberry Bread:
3/4 cup dried cranberries - reduce sugar to 1/4c white sugar and milk to 1/2 cup, and add 1/2 cup orange juice. Vanilla may be omitted.

Lemon Poppy-Seed Bread:
1/4-1/3 cup poppy seeds, 1 tablespoon lemon zest. Vanilla is optional. Don't use lemon juice, but you can substitute some lemonade as in the Cranberry bread.

Date-Nut Bread:
3/4 cup total chopped nuts and chopped dates

Fruit-Nut Bread:
3/4 cup total any combination of dried fruit and nuts. When making this for the holidays, I tend to use slivered almonds, not just for their toasty-creamy taste but because people with nut allergies often don't react to almonds.

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Easy Fruity Bread:

This differs from the Add-Anything Bread in that the bread will have fruit pulp baked in instead of dried fruit added, although you can also add dried fruit. A great use for applesauce!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Blend until creamy:
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Add:
3/4 cup unsweetened, cooked, mashed prune, apricot, cranberry pulp or applesauce
1/4 cup prune, apricot, cranberry or apple juice
Add the sifted ingredients alternately to the fruit mixture with:
1 cup buttermilk (you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp vinegar to a cup of milk)
Fold in:
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tablespoon orange zest (optional)

Place the dough in a greased loaf pan. Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, and let it cool in the pan.

Again, you can get creative with the nuts, substituting dried fruit or something else yummy.

Calthine · 12-14-2006, 07:06 PM

Haha, here's some non-bread ones. Also from my blog.

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Sauce

Raisins or dried cranberries could easily stand in for the dried tart cherries.

1 12-ounce container frozen cranberry juice cocktail, thawed
1 cup water
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 6-ounce package dried tart cherries
1 12-ounce bag cranberries

Bring first 5 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add cherries; cook 2 minutes. Add cranberries; cook until berries pop, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Cover; chill overnight. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep chilled.) Discard cinnamon. Serve cold or at room temperature. Makes about 4 cups.

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Chocolate Cookie Bark

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1 pkg. (6 squares) BAKER'S Premium White Baking Chocolate
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
10 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Placesemi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate in separate medium microwaveable bowls. Microwave until completely melted, following directions on package. Add peanut butter to white chocolate; stir until well blended. Crumble half the cookies over chocolate in each bowl; mix well.

Dropspoonfuls of the chocolate mixtures onto wax paper-covered baking sheet, alternating the colors of the chocolates. Cut through chocolate mixtures several times with knife for marble effect.

Refrigerateat least 1 hour or until firm. Break into 14 pieces. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.