Relief Society Cookie Exchange

My little boys were thrilled when they learned that I had signed up to host the Relief Society cooking club's Christmas Cookie Exchange.  We had over 20 women and about 25 different recipes of cookies at our house.  Can you tell why the boys were excited?  When they asked if they could come, I told them they had to make a cookie to contribute.  Logan, J.B. and Soren worked together on gingerbread boys, but mostly Soren made them.  When he introduced them to the ladies at cooking club, they gave him a thunderous applause.

Ever since our mom's close call, I've been wanting to honor her and remember her by making all of the Christmas cookie recipes that she used to make when we were growing up.  I always make gingerbread men and sugar cookies just like she did, but I don't usually make a lot of the others that she made.  I remember her making jam filled lattice bar cookies, raisin filled cookies (which were dad's favorites for a long time), and almond flavored cookies with chocolate chunks in them.
I'd love to hear what other cookie recipes you remember our mom (or your mom) making.

Also, please share your own favorite Christmas cookie recipies.

For some reason chocolate and peppermint were really on a lot of our brains.  There were probably 6 different varieties of chocolate-peppermint cookies.

I brought the cookies pictured above to the left.  They are from the Land O' Lakes box, but I'll call them Cherie's cookies because she was the one that gave the recipe to my mom.  Here is the recipe:

DOUBLE MINT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

From CHERIE’

2 cups sugar

1 cup cocoa

1 cup butter

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup water

2 eggs

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp peppermint extract

Combine at low speed scraping bowl often until well mixed.

Stir in:

4 cups flour

Beat 3-4 minutes

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough on greased cookie sheets.  Bake 7-9 minutes at 400 degrees.  Top of cookie should spring back when touched lightly.  Remove and cool.

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp salt

2 T. milk

2 tsp vanilla

½ tsp peppermint or mint extract

(May add ½ cup cocoa and reduce sugar somewhat)

Mix all together and beat until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Spread ½ Tablespoonful on each cookie.  Sprinkle with ½ cup crushed peppermint candy if desired.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Baby Shower menu

Despite all the crap I got from the Relief Society presidency - I threw a baby shower for a girl who just moved into our ward (first baby, just married a year...she totally needed a baby shower).

I thought it would be cheaper if I made invitations than buying them (turned out it wouldn't have been...printing was just as much). I got this homemade, sort of retro, vintage example from this blog. Then I made my own version - I wanted to center the whole shower around the theme of "advice." I did a M+M game where for each color of candy someone had to give a piece of advice (red = feeding/breastfeeding, blue = sleeping, etc), then a journal where people could write advice (no one did) and scrapbook pages that people could create (no one did that either...) But although my "games" were a dud - it was really successful shower, the food was loved and everyone gave lots of advice. Here is the menu:

Caprese Pizza:
Pizza dough
mozzarella cheese/Parmesan cheese
tomatoes
basil
olive oil

Roll out pizza dough and cut into three strips. Brush with oil sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes according to package directions until slightly browned. Add the mozzarella cheese and tomato slices and a layered pattern - bake until cheese is melted. Bush with olive oil and sprinkle with basil. Cut into slices. (Best if served warm).

Cucumber Sandwiches: (ultimate shower food - TRY these at your next party - these were devoured and EVERYONE asked for the recipe).
Slices of baguettes (you can buy them already sliced at Walmart or Albertsons)
8 oz Cream cheese
1/3 cup of mayonnaise
package of Italian salad dressing mix
cucumbers
dried dill

Cream cream cheese, mayonnaise and Italian salad dressing mix. Put on baguettes, add cucumber slices and a sprinkle of dill.

Chocolate Fondue:
Milk chocolate
1/2 and 1/2

Put in crock pot on low for 2 hours - stirring every 30 minutes. Serve with bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, chocolate brownie bites and white cake bites (I just made brownie mix and white cake mix and cooked them in the mini-cupcake pans).

I also threw together a veggie plate with ranch dressing (store bought) and some cucumber water.

The food was a total success...and if you take anything from this post - totally make the cucumber sandwhiches.

Tomato Vegetable Soup

I made tomato soup yesterday--I had extra tomatoes on Saturday that I had peeled, so I put them in the blender, then refrigerated the resulting juice until I had assembled the rest of the vegetables. The basic ingredients are onions, carrots, celery, and bell peppers. This year we also added corn and green beans. I like to chop them by hand so I get uniform sized pieces. I've tried them in the cuisinart, but they are so ragged and not at all uniform. It took me about 2 hours to do all this chopping. All the vegetables were from our garden except the celery. I ended up with 10 quarts.

It's a rather inexact science to decide on proportions, you can vary depending on what you like--but approximately---
5-6 quarts tomato juice
5 onions
10-12 carrots
one bunch celery
5-6 green peppers
Other vegetables are optional--we added
4-5 ears corn (blanched before cutting off the cob)
a couple of cups of green beans---cut to the right size
(Then I added a quart of whole tomatoes that hadn't sealed the other day)
2 Tablespoons salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix together and heat to boiling. Pack into clean bottles, seal with new flats and old rings. You could also put it into freezer containers and freeze at this point. Because of the low acid vegetables this must be processed in a pressure cooker--following the directions on your cooker--process at 10 pounds pressure (12-13 for my altitude) for 45 minutes.

This soup is delicious in the winter--you can add some ground beef or shredded chicken, pasta, herbs etc and cook together before serving--or just eat it as it is. (I have made it with alphabet pasta, but the process of pressuring makes the noodles overdone--it's better to add them later.)

PEACHES AND CREAM CAKE ROLL, COMPLETED

After the cake is cool, unroll, get rid of the towel. Spread it with sweetened whipped cream. (1 cup whipping cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla)





Then top with sliced peaches. The ones I used were small and it took about 8. With larger peaches it woudl take fewer.











Re roll and put it in the fridge for two hours or more. I didn't have along enough plate, so I cut it in half, and put it on two plates.
Garnish with more powdered sugar and peach slices, if desired. Slice to serve. Makes about 10-12 slices.

Here is the list of ingredients:
3 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp almond flavoring
3/4 cup prepared pancake mix
powdered sugar
fresh peaches
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla



If you don't have pancake or bisquick mix around you could use any standard jelly roll recipe adding almond flavoring, and following the same procedure.

PEACHES AND CREAM CAKE ROLL, CONTINUED

Add 1/4 tsp almond flavoring and 3/4 cup pancake mix and fold together. Spread in the prepared pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes.

While it is baking dust a clean tea towel with powdered sugar. Turn the hot, cooked cake onto the towel, remove the foil, and roll it up, towel and all. Starting on the long end.

To be continued...

PEACHES AND CREAM CAKE ROLL

One of our favorite desserts with peaches is Peaches and Cream Cake Roll.
















First thing to do is grease the bottom and sides of a cookie sheet, line the bottom only with foil, then grease and flour the foil.


















Beat three eggs with 1/4 tsp salt until thick.


















Add 3/4 cup sugar gradually while continuing to beat.

PEACHES!!!

It's the most glorious time of the year! The peaches are ripe! They are so good just eaten out of hand, on cereal, ice cream, with a little cream or in so many other ways that you don't need to have a lot of recipes of ways to fix them. But, of course, there are some delicious things to do with them. One of our favorites has been peach, or nectarine, ice cream. We don't make it much anymore, but some of you may want to give it a try. This recipe is for a 5-6 quart freezer so you will have to make some adjustments if your freezer is smaller.

PEACH ICE CREAM
5 eggs, separated
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt
5-6 cups cream, lightly whipped
milk as needed
4-5 peaches or nectarines peeled and pureed (don't need to peel nectarines) about 2 cups

Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar and continue beating until stiff. Beat egg yolks slightly (I usually put them in the ice cream freezer bucket and stir them a bit then add the other things to them in there.) Add salt, vanilla, and fruit puree. Gently conbine with egg whites and then whipped cream. Pour into 5-6 quart freezer can. Add milk if desired (I never have). You fill the freezer quite full as this ice cream won't expand much since the eggs and cream have been whipped. Insert dasher, cover, pack with ice and salt and freeze until firm. Ripen 2-3 hours. Garnish with fresh peaches.
Can be used with other fruits--strawberries are very good too.

Granola

I often make granola so I have something better to eat than expensive, sugar loaded cold cereals. All granola starts with rolled oats and then can contain any nuts, seeds and grains that you desire. Usually almonds and coconut are included. The one above is oatmeal, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, flax seed meal, ribbon coconut--almonds will be added in a minute. Other nuts can also be used--when I was at Rebecca's the other day fresh, local pecans were available--so I added some of those. If I have Macademia nuts they are a great addition too. My local grocery store sometimes has unsweetened ribbon coconut, so I use that when I can, but if not then regular baking coconut is OK.

Here is the recipe:

In a very large baking dish mix the following:

5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup shelled sunflower seeds (I prefer raw ones, but roasted and salted are OK too)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup flax seeds (cracked or milled) (optional)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
1 cup coconut
2 cups almonds

Mix together and drizzle 1/4 cup cooking oil over the top. Drizzle 1/2 cup honey over that. (You can use more oil and honey--the official recipe uses double that amount, but this suits my taste, Dad adds artificial sweetener to get it to his taste.)

Bake in 300 degree oven for 15 minutes, stir. Bake another 15 minutes and stir again. Bake another 10-15 minutes, (depending on how brown it is getting), stir again, let cool, store and enjoy!

Cantelope with Ice Cream and Berries

This is a very delicious and simple dessert this time of the year. Be sure to get really good, fresh picked cantalopes. Top a half or quarter with a good vanilla ice cream (Blue Bunny is our favorite, but Coney's custard would also work). It is great just like that, but if you want to kick it up a notch, top it with sweetened blackberries (we crushed them up a bit.)

Another Chocolate Chip Cookie

America's Test Kitchen came up with a response to the New York Times "Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever." Unlike the New York Times recipe you can mix, bake and eat them right away rather than storing the batter three days in the fridge before baking.

Their "secret" is melting some of the butter before mixing.

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ozs) flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 Tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed (5 1/4 ozs) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ozs) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 3/4 cups (7 1/2 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (preferrably Ghiradelli 60% Cocao bittersweet)
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional, could be toasted)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and adjust rack to middle. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or silpat.

Whisk flour and baking soda together, set aside

Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until the butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma--1-3 minutes.

Transfer the browned butter to a large heatproof bowl. Add the remaining 4 Tablespoons butter and stir until completely melted.

Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla to the melted butter, whisk until fully incorporated. Add the egg and egg yolk, whisk until the mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.

LET THE MIXTURE STAND FOR 3 MINUTES, THEN WHISK FOR 30 SECONDS. REPEAT THE PROCESS OF RESTING AND WHISKING TWO MORE TIMES UNTIL THE MIXTURE IS THICK, SMOOTH AND SHINY. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving the dough a final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain.

Divide the dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons, Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.

Bake one sheet at a time, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking time, until the cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and the edges have begun to set, but the centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes. Trnasfer the baking sheet to a wire rack, cool to room temperature.

(The part in capitol letters is the thing that is unique to this recipe--of course, you can use light brown sugar, but the taste will be lighter, and you can use whatever kind of chocolate chips you like--that is just the kind they like best. If you use salted butter, cut down on the salt in the recipe.)

They were very good, and didn't last long--of course it didn't make many. I overcooked them just a little bit. They have two variations in their recipe book--a thick and chewy, and a thin and crispy--I will try those sometime, and report back.

Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas

This turned out to be surprisingly easy--we made then the day the Stanley's arrived for their summer visit. Bananas were on sale so I bought a lot.

We cut them in thirds, inserted Popsicle sticks, or skewers and froze them on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet.

After a couple of hours we melted 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 3 Tbs. butter. The recipe says to melt them in a double boiler or over low heat in a saucepan, stirring frequently. I did it in the microwave--very carefully, stirring often. In the meantime we prepared chopped peanuts and coconut to roll them in.

Roxcy, Jonah and Colin all helped dip them in the chocolate (sometimes we spooned the chocolate over them) and rolled them in the nuts--some we left plain.

Another hour or so in the freezer and they were ready to eat!

Lemonade

I've never really known how to make lemonade properly--it was always hit and miss. But I followed a recipe this summer and have enjoyed several wonderful glasses of this treat.

For a quart:
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 cups cold water
3/4 cup sugar
Mix together and stir until the sugar dissolves. Chill, serve over ice.
I like to add a handful of fresh or frozen raspberries.

For one glass:
Juice of one lemon
1-2 Tbs sugar
Water and ice and raspberries to fill the glass.

One day Susan Brodine gave me some lemons from her mother's tree in California--they made two extra special glasses of lemonade because those lemons are sweet and juicy--much better than the store bought kind.

June Salads in July

So our lettuce just came due for a picking - so I want to jump on the bandwagon of Heather's theme of June salads.

I know that she mentioned that she likes Mom's taco salad. I was wondering what that entailed? I can't honestly remember. But I have been making a taco salad that a lady from work brought in lately that I love...I have to wonder if it is one in the same? Here is what I do - and let me know if that is Mom's version as well:

Salad: (mix in a big bowl)
Lettuce
Green onions or sweet onions
Green peppers or red peppers
tomatoes
olives (if you are not married to Matt)
cheese (grated or I did cubed pepper-jack and that was really good)
Tortilla chips or Fritos or other types of corn chips - broken into bite size pieces
Ground beef or turkey - seasoned with taco seasoning
I am sure some black beans and any other veggies you have on had will work too.

Dressing:
1/2 sour cream, 1/2 salsa - mix together and then add to salad and toss to combine.

And here is Matt's favorite version of Taco salad that his grandma Campbell makes at least once a week:

1 can of chili
1 can of pork and beans
Combine and warm up in a sauce pan.

Then have on the table Fritos, lettuce, cheese, olives, peppers, onions, tomatoes, sour cream, etc - and then let everyone make their own version of taco salad on their plates with the bean/chili mixture.

Father's Day Cake

I made this cake for Father's Day for Matt. Lets just say that I was totally the favorite wife for the day.

I just made a double chocolate cake- frosted it with chocolate frosting - surrounded it with Kit-Kats and then put lots of fresh berries on top (ok, I'm cheap, I used frozen berries - but it is still good). I then warmed up apricot perserves and brushed it on top to get the shinny look.

It seriously looked this good and tasted great!

June Salads

I love summer time for salad season. I do not like cooking in the summer in our hot and humid home so I try to make salads all summer long. We have a few that we really love. One is mom's taco salad. We make chef salad about once a week where I just buy deli meats and cheeses and the kids can put whatever they'd like on their greens with other veggies.

I have been growing my own lettuce this spring. Here is a photo of it. It is tasting really good! I love any salad with goat cheese on it I think it makes almost any salad very flavorful. What do you put on your salads? Any good dressings you love? I would love some more salad recipes to go into my repertoire.
Heather

Black Bean and Mango Salad with Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette

In answer to your question about summer foods, Liz, I love doing bright colorful summer salads as the main dish. Here is one we tried this week and really liked:

from the cookbook, "Getting Thin and Loving Food" by Kathleen Daelemans

Black Bean and Mango Salad with Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette
Serves 4

For the Vinaigrette
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Coarse-grained salt and cracked black pepper
1 cup loosely packed, coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

For the Salad
1 head leafy green lettuce, coarsely chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
4 carrots, peeled and julienned or thinly sliced
1/2 large red onion, thinly slice
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 small beets, peeled, and julienned or cut into thin strips
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

To make the vinaigrette:
In a large salad bowl, whisk together lime juice, vinegar, honey jalapeno and cumin until smooth. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Season with alt and pepper. Stir in cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings.

To make the salad:
Add lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onion, mango, beets and beans to bowl with dressing. Toss to coat evenly and serve.

*the red onion, carrots and beets can be sliced on a v-slicer or a mandoline. Megan's note: I recommend this--it makes them seem more restaurant quality than simply grating them.
**To morph this into a sauteed shrimp salad, place 12 to 15 large peeled and deveined shrimp (about 3/4 pound) in a medium bowl. Pour about half of the lime-cumin vinaigrette over the shrimp. Cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes. In a saute' pan over high heat, toss shrimp with salt and pepper for 2 to 3 minutes or until the tails turn bright pink. Serve over the salad and drizzle on remaining lime-cumin vinaigrette. You could also add some cooked or deli turkey or chicken to this salad for a protein component.

Sliders

I've fallen in love with diminutive foods. These sliders and mini-dogs are so popular at our house that the kids ask for them every week.

For the buns, I just make a regular hamburger/hotdog bun recipe, but I create 24 bun shapes rather than 12. I'll include the recipe at the end.

Here they are before they rise. They don't look like anything spectacular now, but the rising will help make them more beautiful.

Here they are all cooked and toasty.

For the hotdogs, I like to buy the Kayem Skinnies, Junior Hot Dogs (Smaller than your average dog) They still stick out a bit on the ends, but the kids think that they are b-awesome.

This kids love to eat left over buns the next day filled with luncheon meat and cheeses.

Make some mini-patties. I have been cooking them in a frying pan so far, because it's been a little early in the season for me to think bbq. Also, they are so small, I'm afraid they'd fall through the grill.

1 mushroom, sauteed makes a perfect topping.

1 slice of plum tomato, 1 wee bit o lettuce, and you have yourself a yummy slider. You almost can't tell from this picture how tiny they are!

Bun Recipe:

This is originally from the Better Homes Cookbook, Dinner Rolls recipe. I've made a few changes to the original recipe:

Ingredients:

4 1/4 to 4 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 package active dry yeast

1/3 cup powdered milk plus 1 cup water (*If you don't have powdered milk, you can use regular milk and omit the water).

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening, margarine, or butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

Sprinkle the yeast over 1 cup hot tap water. (If you're using regular milk, get it hot 120 to 130 degrees and sprinkle the yeast on it). Sprinkle the sugar atop. Let sit for 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, shortening, salt, eggs, powdered milk. Mix with the bread hook for a few minutes. When the yeast is bubbly, add it to the mixing bowl.

While mixing, slowly add flour up to 2 1/4 cups more, just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Mix on medium speed for 8 minutes. Add more flour if needed to keep it smooth and elastic (not too sticky).

Divide the dough into 24 portions. For hamburger buns shape each portion into an even circle, folding edges under. Press flat between your hands. Place on a greased baking sheet. For hot dog buns, shape each portion into a roll, tapering ends. flatten with hands. Place on a greased baking sheet (or use silpats and no grease).

Let buns rise until doubled in size 45-minutes to 1 hour)

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or till golden brown. Makes 24 slider and mini-dog buns.

Summer means....

When Mom came and visited we realized it Heather's turn to come up with a cooking challenge. But I guess this is the busy time of year - school ending - good weather - and all that other stuff that comes with life. But I still hope to see some type of cooking challenge soon :)

But I was thinking in the meantime - what favorite recipes do you all pull out when Summer comes?

One of my favorites is fruit pizza. I learned to make it in 8th grade cooking class - but have probably changed it over the years as I have read different recipes.

Here is what I do:

Crust: Sugar cookie made into a pizza shape and baked.
"sauce" (or more accurate - the frosting): Whip 2/3 cup of whipping cream. Set aside. Beat 8 oz cream cheese, 1 Tb of grated orange peel, 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix this with the whipped cream and spread over cooled cookie.
Toppings: I added pears, frozen blueberries (because I am cheap), canned madrine oranges, bananas, and fresh strawberries (because they are on sale).
Glaze: Mix 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/4 cup of lemon juice Ii think I did less), 2 TB of cornstarch and another 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan until sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens. Brush the glaze over the fruit so it wont turn brown and it makes it shinny and pretty (this step I sometimes skip because It adds an additional tart flavor and you dont taste the fresh fruit as much - however, it sure makes it stay pretty longer).

So what do you like about summer?

Sourdough Pancakes

I was making sourdough pancake batter for our annual ward breakfast Saturday (enought to serve 250) and thought you all might like a quick review of how to make them. When you all were home we had them nearly every Saturday morning for breakfast--and when we got into ballooning they were a popular part of balloonist breakfasts. I don't make them very often now, but they are sure a hit at the ward breakfast!

The first thing you need is a "Starter." You can get one from someone who already has one--they often come with great stories attached. Or you can make your own.
To make a starter: mix 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water in a bowl or bottle and leave it out on the cupboard. Cover it loosely so the top doesn't dry out, but not so tight that the yeasts from the air can't get to it. After 2 or 3 days it will be bubbly and have a sweet yeasty smell. You can hurry it along a bit by stirring in 1/2 tsp dry yeast. Always mix sourdough in glass or plastic, never metal. Once your starter is active you can store it in the fridge--tightly covered. It will probably separate, but just stir it up and it will be fine.
Every time you use it you are feeding it and keeping it active--the more often the better, but it's OK if it isn't that often.





SOURDOUGH PANCAKES
The night before you plan to serve the pancakes: Mix 4 cups flour and 4 cups warm water in a large bowl , stir in the starter. Cover loosely and leave in a warm place overnight.
In the morning: Return 1 cup of the batter to your starter bottle and return it to the fridge. To the rest of the batter add:
4 or 5 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
Mix well
Add 2 tsp soda and stir well (if your soda is lumpy sift it so you won't have spots of soda in the finished pancakes)
When the soda is mixed in the batter expands--so be sure you are using a large bowl!
(You could half this recipe--it serves all our family, or a few balloonists with the addition of bacon, sausage and eggs.)





Cook on a hot griddle. Traditionally sourdough pancakes are small--some recipes say dollar sized. When bubbles begin to pop around the edges turn them over.
They are delicious with maple or fruit syrups such as huckleberry or choke cherry, or with jam.