'Tis the Season for Cookies: Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

Ok.  So I've been away for a while.  A real long while.  Life just completely got in the way of my little blog.  But one of the favorite things I have ever done on here was always the Christmas cookie challenges that we as groups would take on at Christmas!  A bunch of us decided to get together and do it again this year and I AM SO EXCITED!!!

This week's theme was fruit and/or nuts and I new that biscotti would be the perfect cookie for me to tackle!

This recipe came from one of our group member's book The Everything Cookies & Brownies Cookbook by Marye Audet-White at Restless Chipotle.  Thanks so much Marye for a simple and perfect recipe!

Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup cranberries
1 cup unsalted pistachios

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Mix oil and sugar until blended.  Add eggs, vanilla, and almond extract.  Stir dry ingredients together, whisk in.  Add cranberries and pistachios.
3. Divide dough in half; for each half into 12" X 2" rectangle on parchment.  Bake 35 minutes.
4. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes.
5. Reduce oven to 275 F.  Cut rectangles on an angle into 1/2" thick slices.  Lay cookies on parchment; return to oven.
6. Bake about 10 more minute.  Cool completely.

Be sure and check out the Pinterest board for the group for more great cookie recipes from the other participants. We'll be posting recipes each Monday for the next few weeks.

Also check out the other participants of 'Tis the Season for Cookies to see their fabulous cookie recipes as well!:

Diana Cannone at To Di for Bakery.
Judy Chiappini at No Fear Entertaining.
Mandee Racer Pogue at The Kitchen Wife.
Marye Audet-White at Restless Chipotle.
Renee Joslyn at Flamingo Musings.
Sandy Smith at Eat Real.
And Sherri Jo at The Adventures of Kitchen Girl Jo.

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars

So I have been kinda MIA for the month right?  Not going to bore you with the details but I have been busy.  Really, really busy.  But now my Mom is here.  For the winter.  And I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.  You know how we all wish for an extra set of hands to help out?  I finally have them!
Anyway, I have fallen in love with these granola bars and really needed to take a second to post them. 
My friend Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod posted these one morning a while back and I made them that same day…for the first time.  I have made them so often since then that I no longer need a recipe.  They are a hit and my kids love them!

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars (Two Peas and Their Pod)
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 by 8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set-you don’t want them to be under baked. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars. Remove from pan and let cool completely.
***I have changed nothing with this recipe except to add mini chocolate chips sometimes and to bake them a bit longer.  Maria has a new oven and I think it may work a bit better than mine…

Badly needed Energy Bars

I guess most of you, or at least anyone who follows me on Facebook and Twitter, know that I have taken up running.  It’s only been a couple of months but I am really loving it.  Now I am only running between 2-4 miles 3 or 4 days a week, but add that to the walking and weights I have been doing and I need some energy help during some workouts. 

You also know that we eat very few processed foods with granola bars and energy bars being the exception.  At least now you can buy them with no artificial sugars or dyes…anyway, I need something that I can grab at 5:00AM when I head out the door for my run and these are just about perfect.

Energy Bars Adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
• 1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup dried apples
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup pitted dried dates (I used ones with sugar but would like them without next time)
• 1/2 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.

Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly pressing in with your fingers. Bake until lightly browned and just done, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then cut into 24 squares.

These can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for about 3 days or wrap individually and freeze for up to  3 months.

***I really loved these and so did the family.  I think that this is a really versatile recipe and am looking forward to playing with the dried fruits and nuts used in it.  The recipe calls for almonds and apricots so I may try that with some cranberries thrown in…endless possibilities!

***WW points has it as a 3 point recipe but I think with all of the good fats and whole grains in it it is worth the splurge!

No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars

So this was my first attempt at homemade granola bars and I wasn’t even really sure what I was going for.  I guess now I know a little bit more clearly what I want and what I don’t want.  These are good.  I mean really, really good but I would almost hesitate to even call them granola bars.  Maybe I would call them peanut butter and oatmeal bars?

I think next time I would toast the oatmeal with the nuts in the oven for a bit.  Maybe use some crisped rice and less sugar?  Hard to really tell which way I am going to go but I bet the kiddos will love this first try anyway!

No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars (adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange blossom honey (or agave nectar)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
3 cups oatmeal
2 scoops chocolate protein powder
1/2 dried cherries (briefly rehydrated in hot water), chopped (can use any dried fruit you like)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 unsalted sunflower seeds

Directions:

Warm the honey, butter, olive oil, and peanut butter in a saucepan until ingredients are soft enough to combine easily when mixed.  remove from heat.

Add oatmeal and protein powder and mix well  Then, add dried fruits, almonds and seeds.  Mix well.

Press into 9-inch square pan.  Let cool in fridge and cut into squares.

***These are good.  Really, really good but not very diet friendly!  Based on cutting the 9-inch pan into little squares and ending up with about 29 of them it is still 4 WW points.  I think you can eliminate the olive oil and butter and that would help but still didn’t decrease the overall points.  The peanut butter just is too much.  Maybe use less peanut butter and add some whole wheat flour?  Need to play around with this a bit…

Chocolate Banana Brownies

 
Sorry for the quick hit here but I was tweeting about these brownies and how delicious they are so I needed to get it up quickly in my very limited time!
I took my favorite brownie recipe and replaced all of the fat from the butter with 1/2 cup of mashed ripe bananas and then placed slices on the top.  These turned out moist and cakey on the bottom and deliciously gooey on top…
I made these from the following recipe but when thinking about it I really want to try it with a boxed brownie mix.  It should work the same!  Replace the full 1/3 cup of oil with 1/3 cup mashed up banana and follow the rest of the instructions…

Chocolate Banana Brownies  adapted from Cooks.com
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour
2 eggs
Sliced bananas for topping
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
Mix banana with 3/4 cup of cocoa powder. Then add 2 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2/3 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix to combine.
Grease a 9X9 baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove from oven.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes and gently remove from pan to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

The Daring Bakers do Nanaimo Bars

And lucky me…I grew up eating these!!!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I almost missed making these.  Something about them having to be posted on the 27th of the month just messes me up bad but with bold determination and severely lacking eyesight I forged ahead and got these done!!!

I knew I had to make the graham crackers first.  I had already decided that as interesting as it would be to do them gluten free I really didn’t have the time or the money to be hunting down ingredients I would only be using once so I cheated and made them with Whole Wheat Graham Flour and they really are delicious!!!  I made these this morning and it went off without a hitch.  Had them out of the oven and I was on my way to the eye doctor.  Well. by the time I got home I couldn’t see a thing.  He had tricked me a dilated my eyes.  I was virtually blind, but the DB Challenge must go on!!!  I cut the recipe and copied it and then made it REALLY, REALLY BIG so that I could at least make out the measures.  The whole time I am kicking myself for leaving it til the very last minute…:-(

Anyway…these turned out beautifully despite all of my self inflicted challenges and it brought back a lot of great childhood memories for me!!!

 These were taken after my eyes were dilated by the stupid eye doctor.  I was lucky to find the camera!!!

Graham Cracker Recipe (that I used) by Cupcake Project

Ingredients:

4 T (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
6 T sugar
4 T honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
1/2 t baking soda
2 t water
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 C graham flour (If you can't get a hold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven't tested it and I make no promises.)
3/4 C all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
3. Stir in the honey and blend.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
5. Add the salt, graham flour, and all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too "tacky" add a little more graham flour.
6. Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. For convenience in handling, cut the rolled dough into three or four sections that will fit on your cookie sheet. (I am not good at rolling things out. It doesn't come up too often since I mostly make cupcakes. To make my life easier, I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper and rolled the dough directly on the cookie sheets. That way I didn't need to worry about the dough breaking when I lifted it onto a cookie sheet.)
7. With a knife, score the dough, without cutting through, into 2 1/2 inch squares. (Boring! Since your graham crackers are not store-bought, they don't have to be square. Use your cookie cutters to make them any shape you want!)
8. Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork. (I did this because those little pricks do make them look like graham crackers, whatever shape they are.)
9. Using a spatula, place the sections of scored cracker dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I didn't have to do this since I rolled right on the cookie sheet.)
10. Bake on the first side for 8 minutes, then turn the cracker over and bake for another 6 or 7 minutes. (Cheryl of Free Range Living said that she found that flipping wasn't necessary. I agree. I left out the flip step.)
11. Remove from the oven and cool on racks. (They weren't quite crispy when I removed them. However, they hardened up as soon as they cooled.)

Here how is the recipe as it should have been done for gluten free:

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Okay, I really loved these and despite all of my self inflicted trouble with them I would make them again and again!  Almost every family special occasion that we had we had the on the dessert table.  Such a treat to be able to make these myself.  Thanks Lauren for the opportunity and the reminder!

Pecan Pie Bars

 

These are soooooo good!  I would never lie to you about something so wonderfully ooey, gooey and somewhat in some places chewy!

My friend Marye Audet very generously sent me a copy of her new cookbook “The Everything Cookies and Brownies Cookbook”.  This book is part of the “The Everything” series of books.  And what a great addition to the series it is!

I love baking cookies and brownies so this one is right up my alley…it has frosted cookies, filled cookies (with ideas for fillings), brownies, bar cookies, drop cookies and get this…even some that are good for shipping.

If you are looking for a comprehensive, all in one spot cookie and brownie book this one is it.  This book even has a section for special needs, as in gluten free and egg/dairy free.

Love the book Marye and congrats on a job well done!  I can’t wait to try out the rest of the delicious recipes!!!

 

Pecan Pie Bars (from The Everything Cookies & Brownies Cookbook – recipe reprinted with Marye Audet’s permission)

Ingredients:

Crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter

Topping:

1-1/2 cups light corn syrup
4 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips, optional (I used 1/2 cup scattered on the crust of half of the jelly roll pan)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 10” x 15” jelly roll pan with parchment, allowing it to overhang sides and ends slightly.
• Stir together flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt.  Cut in 1 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press firmly into the pan.
• Bake 20 minutes.
• Mix together corn syrup, eggs, remaining sugars, 3 tablespoons of butter, and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Stir in pecans, pour over hot crust. If using the chocolate chips add them before you pour the topping on the crust.
• Bake 25 minutes or until set.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Round up of my 12 Days of Cookies, A Gourmet cookies extravaganza!!!

As of now anyone who has looked at my blog knows that I spent 12 days starting on the 1st of December and posted a new cookie everyday for 12 days. This event was called the 12 Days of Cookies, A Gourmet cookie extravaganza. I was invited to participate in this little event and jumped at the chance of doing it with some of my favorite bloggers (be sure to check them out!!!).

Jerry - Cooking...by the seat of my Pants
Sandy -At the Baker's Bench
Courtney - Coco Cooks
Kelly - Sass & Veracity
Claire - The Barefoot Kitchen
Andrea - Andreas Recipes

The event was coordinated by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. The idea behind it was that for each of the 12 days at the beginning of December we were to choose a cookie from Gourmet's online magazine and bake and post one for each day! Gourmet had decided that instead of doing a feature cookie recipe they were going to feature their best and favorite from all of the years leading up to 2008! The recipes started at the conception of the magazine in 1941 and went all the way through to 2008. The big thing was that we weren't suppose to tell each other what ones we were doing and to make the post a surprise. Some day's we posted the same cookies but this was all part of the fun!

I wanted to have one place on my blog that had all of these cookies so that if I was interested in revisiting one of them I would be able to find it easily and you wold be to!! I will be including some personal notes following each recipe!

Without further ado her is my 12 Days of Cookies!

Day 1: Lemon Thin (read my full post here!)

Lemon Thin was first published in Gourmet Magazine April 1976

My Verdict: These cookies were delicious and were everything I thought they would be. Light, crispy and full of flavor! I had some problem trying to get the size and the timing right. After my first batch I was on the right track.

Will I make these again? I most definitely will. They would be a great snack for a hot summer day around the pool!


Day 2: Jelly Centers (read my full post here!)


Jelly Centers - Gourmet Magazine June 1948

My Verdict: I loved the flavor of these cookies. Not too sweet. If I made these again I would definately fill them with a homemade jam or jelly. I think that would really add to these. For me though they were a little fussy to make and I found some of the (very short) directions a little confusing. There wasn't even a bake time in the original recipe.

Would I make these again? Probably not as they were a little fussy for me but they did look really elegant and I could see how they could have been a really popular cookie back in 1948!


Day 3: Cranberry Turtle Bars (read my full post here!)


Cranberry Turtle Bars - Gourmet Magazine November 2001

My Verdict: I love these bars. I love the tartness of the fresh cranberries mixed with the pecans. Just a wonderful flavor explosion. They also look so festive and seasonal.

Will I make these again? Oh yes without a doubt and I don't think I would change a thing! They are both tasty and pretty! These ones are being frozen and given as Christmas gifts!


Day 4: Mocha Cookies The Bakery (read my full post here!)

Mocha Cookies The Bakery - Gourmet Magazine October 1990

My Verdict: I did not like these cookies. I had more trouble with these than I have with any cookie recipe ever. Was it the way it was written or was it user error? Not sure. They never puffed up for me and I also waited for the top to become shiny and crack. As you can see that didn't happen for me. I think I ruined one of my favorite baking sheets as the batter oozed under the parchment and baked on tight! Oh well...

Will I make these again? No way! I didn't even finish baking these ones. Hope the rest of you faired better if you tried them!


Day 5: Mocha Toffee Bars (read my full post here!)

Mocha Toffee Bars - Gourmet Magazine December 1987

My Verdict: Mmmmm! These were really good! They taste very adult like with the espresso flavor coming through just enough to enhance the chocolate and the nuts...oh the nuts, the nice salty nuts with all that rich sweet chocolate!!! I am really liking the bar cookies of this series. Not only are they a bit less time consuming but I haven't really had too much trouble with them!

Would I make these again? Not sure. I liked them but there are a million more cookies that I want to try. I like these flavors together but maybe a cookie with all of them mixed together or a brownie?


Day 6: Biscotti di Regina (Queen's Biscuits) (read my full post here!)

Biscotti di Regina (Queen's Biscuits) - Gourmet Magazine November 1955

My Verdict: I LOVE these...now I'm not sure if it was them or the fact that I was sooooooo tired of mocha and coffee and chocolate! No really. I LOVED these. They are so Italian cookie tasting. I wanted to just drown it in an espresso but alas I only had hazelnut coffee!

They are sweet and cake like and covered with wonderful toasted sesame seeds and on top of all of that they are so easy to make. I made the dough the day before and then in the morning used the 450° oven to warm my kitchen and bake these little bits of goodness!

Would I make these again? OMG yes and maybe next week...


Day 7: Coconut Bars (read my full post here!)

Coconut Bars - Gourmet Magazine October 1953

My Verdict: Even once I got this all pressed into the pan and it was cooking, the timing was way off. I think I only cooked it about 15 minutes. Poured the topping on and cooked for another 15.

I only just now realized that I could have made my life easier by lining the pan with parchment and it says in the italics part of the description. What is with these recipes????

Cutting it was next to impossible. I had to wait until T. got home to cut it. He finally just lifted the whole thing out of the pan and cut it with the huge knife!!!

Would I make this again? Maybe. I think there are a lot of things that could be done better but overall everyone liked these. There was a yummy gooey layer between the crust and the top that was wonderful. Nice and sweet. my oldest daughter thought it was honey! Even T. who "hates" coconut was munching away on them!


Day 8: Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies) (read my full post here!)


Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies) - Gourmet Magazine April 1974

My Verdict: I hated this recipe. I almost quit baking cookies with this one. I swear I have never had a recipe for cookies (sugar people!!!!) turn out this bad. If not for the fact that I am incredibly stubborn and determined I would be hanging up my hat and baking no more of Gourmet's top pick of cookie recipes in the history of their magazine! WTH Gourmet- do you need recipe testers??? I'm pretty good at it by now!

Anyway, these turned out dry and incredibly flavorless. I am going to save then and try and make a tart crust with them or something. I took them with me and I met one of my girlfriend's and asked her to taste it. I thought she was going to gag. It was almost to dry to swallow!

Would I make these again? No way in Hell would I ever do this again! Feeling pretty strongly about this one. There are no redeeming qualities to these cookies. Please don't make them!!!!!

Day 9: Rugelach (read my full post here!)


Rugelach - Gourmet Magazine May 2004

My Verdict: I really liked these cookies. Their flavor reminded me of something from my childhood. It reminds me of our Christmas dinners at my Grandma's house but I can't quite put my finger on what it was. I don't think it was these exact cookies but...

They called for golden raisins and for some reason I could not find them so I used regular raisins. They probably are a bit stronger flavored but they were still delicious. T. does not like raisins so I made one log with just the nuts and the sugar. Those were good too.

Would I make these again? Probably but only for someone really special. Not that they were hard or anything but they seem really special for some reason. Could that just be the memory attached to it? Not sure.

Day 10: Dutch Caramel Cashew Cookies (read my full post here!)


Dutch Caramel Cashew Cookies - Gourmet Magazine March 1972

My Verdict: I really liked this cookie. The only thing that I was very sad about was that it only made about 18 cookies!!! Not nearly enough of a good thing!

Would I make these again? Oh yes and next time I would double or triple this to give me more!!! See how nice and gooey the praline is? This was after it was baked. Before it was just crisp and delicious! I LOVED these cookies!

Day 11: Spritz or Norwegian Butter Cookies (read my full post here!)


Spritz or Norwegian Butter Cookies - Gourmet Magazine March 1983

My Verdict: I truly love these cookies. They were my test to see if I could succeed at making a butter cookie after this disaster! Well I can and very well too! I wanted to dress them up a little so I sprinkled some red and green sprinkles on them and I think it made them look very festive. I wasn't going to try piping them as I was already a little gun shy after my last ones so they did get balled and flattened. I loved the way these tasted and so have the girl's. They love being able to take a different type of cookie to school with them each and every day!

Would I make these again? Most definitely. I think with the sprinkles they will be very good in cookies tins for gifts. These will be made again next week!

Day 12: Chocolate Wafers (read my full post here!)



Chocolate Wafers - Gourmet Magazine February 1950

My Verdict: My family made me make these! They wanted chocolate after all of the others that I have posted! I really liked these but mine are nothing like what the ones Gourmet magazine made. Somehow missed the part about the chilling time???? So I made my cookies and wanted to roll them out. The stuff was like glue and I knew this wasn't going to work for me. I rolled it into a log and set it in the freezer. I was short on time (can you tell). Pulled the log out and sliced it. Could I get it thin enough? No way, my dough was still too soft but I needed to get these in the oven! I rolled the edges in sugar and plopped them in. I knew my timing was going to off but I sure didn't mean to burn them!!!

I am really kind of sad that this event is coming to an end. At a crazy time of the year I didn't even have to think about what I was going to post on any given day and I got to bond with some wonderful people over our trials and tribulations of these recipes!!! Do I wish this last cookie had of turned out better? Oh yes, I would love to be going out with a blaze of glory but my timing was off and these are what I ended with!

Would I make these again? Probably not. Too many other great cookies out there that have decent directions attached to them!


I can't wait for next years cookie event!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This wonderful event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas Recipes. How I got asked to be involved with this incredible group is beyond me but all the thanks goes to Kelly of Sass & Veracity. There are 7 of us that have decided to do The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza. We will be choosing, baking, tasting, blogging and sharing with you a cookie a day for the next 12 days of December.

These cookies are coming from Gourmet's Favorite Cookie Recipes: 1941-2008. They’ve published a lot of cookie recipes in their 68-year history, many of them around the winter holidays. This season they decided to choose the very best from each year.

These are my partners in crime. We will all be choosing different cookies and surprising each other. How fun is that???? Be sure to check out their selections for the day!

Jerry - Cooking...by the seat of my Pants
Sandy -At the Baker's Bench
Courtney - Coco Cooks
Kelly - Sass & Veracity
Claire - The Barefoot Kitchen
Andrea - Andreas Recipes


Day 7 of the 12 Days of Cookies features Coconut Bars!

When Miss Hope Austin wrote in to request a recipe for cookies “made with coconut and sprinkled with powdered sugar that have cake-like bottoms and chewy tops,” Gourmet’s cooks responded with these very easy coconut bars. Studded with chopped walnuts and shredded coconut, they are like blondies with a tropical flair. Lining the pan with parchment or wax paper makes them easier to remove.- Gourmet

Coconut Bars - October 1953 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1- 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sifted flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut (tossed with 2 Tbsp flour)
pinch of salt
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

• Cream butter and gradually add 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and beat until smooth.
  
• Stir in flour and spread the batter in the bottom of an 8 " square pan. (this is when I knew it was going bad for me...see photo below!)
  
• Bake in a 375° oven for 20 minutes.
• Beat eggs and the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla, chopped walnuts and coconut (coconut tossed with flour) and a pinch of salt
• Spread the batter over the baked crust and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into bars
• Makes 24 cookies

So this is when I knew it was going poorly...they called for the bottom to be spread into the pan. No way that this was going to be spread.

Even once I got this all pressed into the pan and it was cooking, the timing was way off. I think I only cooked it about 15 minutes. Poured the topping on and cooked for another 15.

I only just now realized that I could have made my life easier by lining the pan with parchment and it says in the italics part of the description. What is with these recipes????

Cutting it was next to impossible. I had to wait until T. got home to cut it. He finally just lifted the whole thing out of the pan and cut it with the huge knife!!!

Would I make this again? Maybe. I think there are a lot of things that could be done better but overall everyone liked these. There was a yummy gooey layer between the crust and the top that was wonderful. Nice and sweet. my oldest daughter thought it was honey! Even T. who "hates" coconut was munching away on them!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars

Paula Deen's super moist Pumpkin Bar's with Cream Cheese Frosting!

On with my pumpkin recipes.

I've made them savory and I've made them sweet but by far this was the sweetest. Did you see Top Chef on Wednesday night when Padma used her napkin to spit out the super sweet lemon meringue martini? Well these aren't that sweet. Close, but no spitting was going on here. Just remember I warned you!

Before the recipe I wanted to do a couple of shout outs to some very kind people who have sent me a couple of things to try out...

Carr's cracker people contacted me a couple of weeks ago with some recipes that they thought I might be interested in (am and will show them later). They also asked me if they could send me some Carr's samples. Well seeing that they are my go to entertaining cracker I jumped at the chance to get some free. I thought maybe they would send me a box of crackers and that would be it. I was wrong...very wrong. The wonderful people at Carr's sent me an elegantly wrapped up basket with three boxes of crackers!!! Rosemary Crackers, Their classic Table Water Crackers w/ cracked black pepper and their Whole Wheat Crackers!!! Thanks Carr's

I was also contacted by the YouBar people. A few months back I was sent a couple of samples of their YouBars. Great idea but I am way too lazy to do it. You choose all of your ingredients in your bar and they send it to you labeled for you personally and all. Last week they contacted me and asked me if they could send me samples from their newest product line YouShake. Seeing as T. has a protein smoothie every morning I gladly accepted. So far he has only tried one but he did say that it was very, very good. It was a chocolate whey protein drink with banana. Sounded good to me. Thanks YouBar!!!

Pumpkin Bars (Food Network-Paula Deen)

Ingredients:

Bars:

• 4 eggs
  
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I changed this to 1 tsp cinnamon)
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves (I added)
  
• 1/4 tsp ginger (I added)
  
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (I added)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• I also added 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Pomegranate Lemon Bars

Pomegranate Lemon Bars - Sweet-tart and moist!

Okay, so about a week ago Jenn first announced that there was a POM Wonderful Featured Blogger Contest going on this month. If you have not heard about it, food bloggers can submit an original recipe featuring pomegranates and have a chance to win $5000 from POM Wonderful!

As an added incentive to Foodie Blogroll members, in conjunction with the lovely POM folks, they are giving away cases of POM Wonderful products for the next 2 weeks, while the contest is going on. For more details on how you can enter to win either of these contests, please check out the Foodie Blogroll/ Leftover Queen Forum!

I had every intention of entering this contest and maybe I still will, but I used up both of the pomegranates that I had bought!!! Guess I need to buy some more!!!

Pomegranate Lemon Bars (adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus a little more for greasing the pan
1-1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup AP Flour, plus 2 Tbsp
2 eggs
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking soda
grated or minced zest of 1 lemon
1/2 POM pomegranate seeds removed
Confectioners sugar

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan.
• Use an electric mixer to cream the butter with 1/4 cup of the sugar. Stir in 1 cup of flour. This mixture will be quite dry; press into the greased pan and bake for 15 minutes, no longer. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
• Beat together the eggs, lemon juice, baking soda, remaining 1 cup of sugar, 2 Tbsp of flour, and lemon zest. Stir in pomegranate. Pour mixture over the crust and bake until firm on the edges but still a little soft in the middle, another 20 minutes. Cool, then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Cut into squares and serve with some additional pomegranate seeds for garnish.
• Store covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Yum!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com