Chocolate Almond Roca Slice

Many years ago, a friend showed up at a Christmas party bearing a tray of these thin and tasty treats.  She explained that she had no Christmas baking in her freezer...but this was one recipe she could whip up and bring on the spur of the moment. The almond roca squares were soon gone and she went home with an empty tray...but she left the recipe behind.  I have made these many a Christmas since...though I am sure they would be good at any time of the year! 

• 1 package graham wafers
• 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 1 cup butter (the real thing)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Line 11 x 17 inch bar pan with parchment paper.
2. Lay graham wafers in bar pan, cutting crackers to fit snugly.
3. Sprinkle with almonds and set aside.
4. Put butter and brown sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil while stirring.
5. Pour carefully over the almond/wafer base.
6. Place in a 350° F oven for 8-10 minutes, or until bubbly all over.
7. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips.
8. Let sit for a minute to melt the chocolate. 
9. Then run tines of a fork through the chips to spread.
10. Cool to room temperature.
11. Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden chocolate topping.
12. Invert the pan onto a cutting board, and cut between wafers with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.  

Enjoy!

Christmas Fruit and Nut Wreath

Before Internet, we received small advertising brochures with recipes in the mail and the reason I tried this one is because the picture looked so beautiful! My husband always says “You know, this is the only thing you have to make for Christmas, don’t you?” (Too bad I love to bake!)
We also had a good laugh when our three-year-old grandson saw it on the counter and exclaimed. “That’s my best!!”

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• ½ cup cold water
• 3 - 3 1/2 cup flour, divided
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons quick rise yeast
• 1 egg

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup glace mix (finely chopped candied fruit)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Updated (alternate)  filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter for spreading
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup cranberries
• 1/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots
• 1/4 cup diced candied citrus peel 
• rind of one orange

Icing:

• 3/4 - 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 - 2 tablespoons milk 
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (stir until smooth)

1. Heat milk and butter until hot to touch. Cool somewhat with ½ cup cold water.
2. In mixing bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
3. Stir hot liquids into dry mixture. Mix in the egg, then 1 1/2 - 2 cups flour, to make a soft manageable dough that does not stick to sides of bowl.
4. Cover and rise 20 minutes.

5. Roll out on floured surface into 16 x 9 inch rectangle.
6. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon filling.
7. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Place seam down, shaping into a circle on greased or parchment paper lined pizza pan, folding ends one inside the other.
8. Cut 2/3 of the way into ring at 1 inch intervals. Turn each slice a little outward, on its side. Cover and rise about 45 min. Bake at 350° F, about 20 min. Slide off pan onto wire rack to cool.

9. Drizzle with icing.
10. Sprinkle with slivered toasted almonds.

Peppermint Pretties

This is one of those recipes that 'happened by mistake'...and has become an annual favorite.  We were served these tasty little peppermint morsels at a Christmas open-house many years ago.  The hostess kindly gave out the recipe. I thought I had copied it out wrong since the butter was missing...so I added half a cup of butter. The cookies were delightful and I have made them every Christmas since.  I later discovered that there really was no butter in the original version...but I'm sticking to my updated recipe.  Everything tastes better with butter.  Right?  These freeze well and taste great straight from the freezer.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Cream softened butter and sugar.
2. Add cream, egg and peppermint extract; beat until smooth.
3. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Chill dough for at least one hour.
5. Roll out to about 1/4" thick and cut with tiny cookie cutters.
6. Bake at 350°F for 5-6 or until bottoms begin to brown.
7. Drizzle with peppermint frosting. (For pale green icing add food colouring.)
8. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes, if desired.

 Peppermint Frosting:

• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1. Beat softened butter until smooth and creamy. 
2. Add powdered sugar, milk and peppermint extract. Beat until smooth.
3. Add a little more milk if necessary in order to drizzle the icing.

Yield: 10 dozen 1 1/2" cookies.

*Tip ~ Put icing into a Ziploc bag, snip the corner and drizzle over the cookies.

Have you done any Christmas baking yet? 

PS From all of us to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving today...Happy Thanksgiving!

Lebkuchen

These cookies have been a family tradition for Christmas as long as I can remember. They are my father's favorite and both my parents now make these cookies together. They are a long involved process but worth it in the end. Don't let the amount of ingredients scare you, or the fact that you are using Potash and Baking Ammonia for making these. You will likely find these ingredients at a German specialty shop. Don't bother explaining what you are looking for in your local grocers, they will think you are off your rocker wanting to cook with Potash and Ammonia. In Winnipeg where I live you can find it at Market Place on Henderson Highway, or the Bake Oven on Edison Ave. (Try to read the recipe with a German Accent ;o) it is written the way my mom told it to me).

• 5 teaspoons Potash/ dissolve in 3/4 cup of warm water
• 1 tablespoon of baking ammonia/ dissolve in 3/4 cup warm water, let both stand
• (I know I know, what is with more recipes with baking ammonia and now Potash too! I will get lots of questions regarding this but have never had them without the baking ammonia or Potash. If nothing else this recipe is posted for our family. So we have it documented for future generations. I have looked for recipes to compare it too with out and all of the traditional recipes include these ingredients :-)
• zest of 4 whole oranges
• zest of 1 whole lemon
• 3 cups of sugar
• 2-1/2 cups of liquid honey/ cook with the sugar and let cool
• 1 teaspoon of cloves
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 6 cups of flour/ mix with spices and zest
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 3 well beaten eggs

1. Mix all ingredients well with a wooden spoon.
2. Dough is very firm.
3. Add 4 -5 cups of flour again after dough is well mixed, total amount about 11 cups of flour.
4. Dough is now even firmer.
5. Let stand in refrigerator for 2 hours, knead well again.
6. Put in fridge over night.
7. Roll out on to floured counter and cut into circles.
8. Bake at 325 for 7-10 minutes.

Frosting:

• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1 egg white
• 3 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional)
• 1/8 of a teaspoon of cream of tar tar

1. Cook all ingredients including the egg white over a double boiler and beat for 5 - 7 minutes.
2. Icing it will be ready when it spins like a thread.

or alternate frosting

• 2 egg whites beaten stiff
• 2 tablespoon hot honey
• 1 1/2 cups of sifted icing sugar, don't cook and schmear over cookie.

Almond Jelly Cookies

These cookies taste like a tender shortbread with a nutty flavor. You can use any kind of jam or jelly but I prefer to use red and green, this time I used crab apple and mint. Another delightful cookie for the Christmas cookie tray.  Recipe, courtesy of Best of Country Cookies.

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Jelly or jam of your choice

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl

2. Add ground almonds, vanilla and mix well

3. Combine flour and salt and gradually add to creamed mixture

4. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours until easy to handle

5. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness

6. Cut half of the cookies with a round 2" cookie cutter and the other half with a donut cutter.

I used the 2" cutter for all of them and then used a little 'tree cutter' for half of the cookies.

7. Place 1" apart on a parchment lined cookie sheets

8. Bake in a 350º oven for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned

9. Remove to racks to cool. Once cooled spread 1/2 teaspoon jelly over the bottom of the solid cookie and place cookie with cutout centers over the jelly.

Yield: 31 'finished cookies'

Flash Back Friday ~ Brandy Snaps

I first posted these brandy snaps a few years ago but I recently made them gluten-free.

Brandy snaps are such a quick dessert to make that even when company pops in, you can quickly put these together and let the company help you roll them around a wooden spoon handle or a cone.  

Fill them with whipped cream and you have a quick dessert.  

  The top photo is the brandy snaps made with all-purpose flour and then wrapped around a wooden spoon handle. 

These two photos are the brandy snaps made with almond flour and wrapped around stainless steel cones. 

 

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons white corn syrup
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons brandy or alternately 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour or to make it gluten-free, use 1/4 cup almond flour

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Put the sugar, corn syrup and butter into a small saucepan and stir.
4. Stir continuously over medium heat until bubbly.
5. Beat in flour and flavorings until smooth.
6. You will only make 6 cookies per cookie sheet. One teaspoon of batter per cookie.
7. Watch the cookies closely because they will turn from caramel colored to dark brown very quickly. Aim to have them a nice caramel color, about 6 minutes.
8. Remove the pan from the oven, wait a few seconds and then roll one at a time over a wooden spoon handle and then remove to cool on a rack.
9. Repeat until they are all rolled. You will have to work quickly. If they become too hard, put them back in the oven for half a minute.
10. Once cool, use a pastry bag with a thick tip to fill with sweetened whipped cream that has been stabilized with whipping cream stabilizer and chill until serving. Don't fill more than an hour before serving. Preferably, have the cream in the pastry bag ready to fill them and do that just before serving
11. The remaining lacy shells or cookies keep well in an airtight container for several days.

Candied Yams

Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. There would be a revolt at my house if I forgot to make this dish for Thanksgiving. I have a very simplistic way of making it and never really use a recipe but here's one that will work if you've never made these.

6-8 yams or sweet potatoes

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

Enough marshmallows to cover

Boil your yams or sweet potatoes till they are soft. Remove peel. Slice into 1/4 inch round slices and place in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. I place the rounds side by side not flat. This way the brown sugar and butter coats the slices nicely. Melt the butter with the brown sugar and mix well. Pour this mixture evenly over the top of all the yams. Cover the top with marshmallows. I use the large marshmallows and cut them in half and place them on top. My kids love lots of marshmallows so I totally cover the yams. Place in 350 degree oven until the marshmallows start to brown nicely.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers in the U.S.A!

Psalm 79: 13 ~ But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Brown Sugar Cookies

This is a tried and true recipe from long ago.  My boys always enjoyed these cookies at their friends' home...and brought the recipe home for me one day. Though they are a year-round 'lunchbox' kind of cookie...I like to make them at Christmas-time as well.  Create patterns by pressing the dough flat with the bottom of a fancy glass (or a vase, in my case) dipped in sugar.  The sparkling sugar crystals add a festive touch!

Brown Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Combine melted butter and brown sugar.
2. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth.
3. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and stir until combined. Chill dough.
4. Form small balls of dough (3/4" diameter) and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Press down with bottom of fancy tumbler dipped in granulated sugar.
6. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven.  Leave on pans for several minutes; then transfer to wire rack to cool.
8. Yield: about 5 dozen cookies 

 

Christmas Cranberry Cookies

This recipe has been handed down from my husband's grandmother. It is a Christmas favorite!  I always bake the first batch when we have our first snowfall and that happened this weekend. I make these cookies fairly large then cut them in half to serve. Those instructions were also handed down as my mother in law used to say 'they taste the best when they are large.' Although the second batch I make are smaller. I make up cookie plates to give away at Christmas so all the cookies I bake for that have to be smaller or there wouldn't be room for variety! I've had many requests for this recipe.
And now it's time for coffee and a cookie...

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup lard
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 cups flour (plus flour for rolling)

Cranberry Filling:

• 3 cups cranberries (340 g/12 oz bag)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water

1. Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes, add cranberries and boil gently till cranberries pop, approx another 5 minutes. I cooked them a few minutes longer.
2.  This recipe can be found on the bag of cranberries, the only thing I change is the amount of water. You won't need all this filling for the cookies but I like to cook the whole amount at once and either use it up for other recipes or eat as a side with chicken or turkey. Keeps in the fridge for a few weeks.
3. In a medium sized bowl beat butter, lard, and sugar together until fluffy.
4. Add eggs and beat well, then blend in sour cream and finely grated zest of the lemon.
5. Add baking soda to the juice of the lemon and mix into dough. The juice will foam once the baking soda is mixed in.
6. Whisk together flour and baking powder and stir into the dough.
7. The dough will still be sticky but that is how it should be. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least one hour. You can refrigerate overnight if you wish.
8. Roll dough to approximately 1/8", cut with a 2 " round cookie cutter placing approximately a rounded teaspoon of cranberry filling in the middle of one round, place another cookie round on top and pinch the two together with your thumb and finger to seal in the filling.
9. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 375º for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden in color.
10. Allow to cool and ice cookies with almond flavored icing, then dip into angel flaked coconut.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

The other day I was having coffee with Terry's aunt Wendy and she told me about the cookies she had brought to her cookie exchange. . .I just had to try making some like them, they sounded like they would be as pretty as they would taste.

Chocolate Peppermint Drop Cookies

• 2/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 farm fresh egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup hot coffee. . or water
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons crushed candy canes

1. Cream the butter with the sugar.
2. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well.
3. In a small bowl, combine the hot coffee and the cocoa and stir until no lumps remain.
4. After it has completely cooled, add to the sugar mixture.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture.
6. Add the chocolate chips and the crushed candy canes.
7. Drop by a small ice cream scoop onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes for little cookies at 350. The shiny spot in the middle of the cookie should have gone dull. . .but don't wait longer than that to remove them from the oven.
9. Melt 1 cup each of chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.
10. Put the melted chocolate in a zip loc bag or cake decorating bag and cut a small hole in the corner to squeeze the chocolate onto the cookie as shown.
11. Sprinkle a little bit of crushed candy cane on top of each cookie while the chocolate is still melted.

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen small cookies