Almond Roca Cookies

I was in the search of the perfect cookie recipe to complete my holiday cookie tray this year, and I found something that sounded spectacular on Food Network. This cookie isn't a soft, chewy cookie so don't make this if that is what you are looking for. This cookie is more of a crisper cookie, but delicious nonetheless.

Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies
(Makes 3 Dozen)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 package toffee bits
• 1 cup coarsely ground almonds
• 4 ounces milk chocolate
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2) In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

3) Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart. Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

4) Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set.

Oreo Truffles

These delightful little bites of goodness have been called lots of things: Oreo Balls, Deer Poop, Etc. Not wanting to associate things that taste so good with Poop, I call them Oreo Truffles. I had these for the first time at a party and I found myself begging the maker of these for the recipe so I could feed my new found addiction.



Oreo Truffles

2 Packages (8 oz each) Cream Cheese, Softened
1 Package Oreo Cookies, finely crushed
2 Packages (16 Squares Total) Semi-Sweet Almond Bark, Melted

Instructions

1) Mix Crushed Cookies and Cream Cheese until well blended

2) Shape into 1-inch Balls (approximately 48). Refrigerate balls for 1 hour to harden

3) Dip in Melted Chocolate and place on waxed paper to harden.

4) Once hard, store in tightly covered container in refrigerator

Pierogi

Because I am sort of nuts and thought that I needed more to put on my plate (literally), I started doing cooking challenges as a member of an online cooking community. This was one of my first challenges, and while it was very time consuming - the results were amazing. This is comfort food at its finest. One note on the filling - the recipe I used made a lot more filling than I needed - but I just froze the leftovers and used them as mashed potatoes another night.

Homemade Potato-Cheese Pierogi


(The Dough)

8 C All Purpose Flour
4 Eggs
8oz Sour Cream
1/2 tsp Salt
Warm Water

1) In a Large Bowl, Beat together Eggs, Sour Cream, and Salt. Stir in Flour and Warm Water. Add the Water until the dough feels like velvet. Turn Out onto Floured board and Knead until smooth.

2) Roll Out to 1/8 to 1/4 Inch thickness. Cut into circles with a glass or biscuit cutter. Cover with Waxed Paper to prevent drying if not filling immediately.

3) Place 1-2 Tbspn of filling into the center of each circle of dough. Fold over, and seal by pressing edges together with a fork. Repeat until all ingredients are used.

4) Bring a large pot of water to boil. Immerse Pierogi and cook until they float to the surface.

(The Filling)

4 Pounds of Mashed Potatoes
1 Pound of Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1) In a large bowl mix mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Gingerbread Cookies

So many things can go wrong with Gingerbread Cookies. The dough can be overspiced, underspiced or dry with very little effort on the baker's part. I found the perfect gingerbread cookie recipe from Food Network. The cookies came out perfectly moist and chewy and had a wonderful ginger flavor without being overpowering. Alex Guarnascelli, the baker behind this recipe also offers a recipe for an orange frosting to use with this recipe, but I didn't make that. I instead just used standard white cookie icing on some and left some plain; both tasted great. Just as a general cookie baking suggestion - if you are baking several cookies in one day, don't leave this until the last recipe. Gingerbread cookies by nature are a very labor intensive cookie to make, so make it your first or only cookie when baking.

Gingerbread Cookies

1 1/2 Sticks Lightly Salted Butter, Softened
1 2/3 Cups Sugar
1 Orange, Zested
4 Cups All Purpose Flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 1/2 tspn Baking Powder
1/2 tspn Baking Soda
1 Tbspn Ground Ginger
1/2 tspn Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tspn Ground Allspice
2 tspns Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tspn Ground Cloves
1/2 tspn Kosher Salt
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Dark Molasses
1 Lemon, Juiced

1) In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, sugar and orange zest and beat until smooth - 5 to 8 minutes

2) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, dry ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Whisk to blend. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses and lemon juice.

3) Preheat Oven to 350
4) When the butter and sugar are integrated, lower the speed of the mixer and add the dry ingredients. Add the egg mixture and when blended, remove the bowl from the machine. Divide the cookie dough in half.

5) Press the first half of the dough in between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Repeat with the second half. This step will make it easier to finish rolling out the dough when it has chilled. It will also mean you only have half of the dough getting warm as you roll it.
6) Lightly flour a flat surface. Use a floured rolling pin to gently roll the first half of the dough about 1/2-inch thick. Lightly flour the cookie cutter(s) and cut the shapes, making as few scraps as possible. Use a metal spatula to gently transfer them, cookie by cookie, (the cookies should be similar size) to a baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough and transfer them to another baking sheet.
7) Bake until brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.

Eggnog

The holidays don't start for me until I have polished off my first glass of egg nog while admiring the shining lights of my Christmas tree. When I decided to have a holiday party, I decided that an extra special touch would be to serve homemade eggnog. I scoured my various recipe websites for a winning recipe and I found Amazingly Good Eggnog by Nataliesmom on AllRecipes. This recipe as an astounding 307 5 star recipes, so I figured that I couldn't go wrong with this one - and boy was I right. The eggnog was the first thing to go at my party and I got rave reviews about it.

Amazingly Good Eggnog
Makes about 1/2 gallon

4 Cups Milk
5 Whole Cloves
1/2 tspn Vanilla Extract
1 tspn Ground Cinnamon
12 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 1/2 Cups Light Rum
4 Cups Light Cream
2 tspn Vanilla Extract
1/2 tspn Ground Nutmeg

1) Combine milk, cloves, 1/2 tspn vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan, and heat over lowest setting for 5 minutes. Slowly bring milk mixture to a boil

2) In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until fluffy. Whisk hot milk mixture slowly into the eggs. Pour mixture into saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 3 minutes, or until thick. Do not allow mixture to boil. Strain to remove cloves and let cool for an hour.

3) Stir in rum, cream, 2 tspn vanilla, and nutmeg. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

I wanted to try an new cookie recipe for my annual cookie exchange and this one seemed to be one of the more popular cookies. It has a really unique flavor that is just like hot chocolate - perfect with a glass of milk. I got this recipe from Betty Crocker, and though I wasn't looking for a "shortcut cookie recipe" this one is, so it is perfect if you need a quick recipe or if you are making several cookies because this one saves you time by using a mix as the base.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
Makes: 48

1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Butter
1 19oz Package of Mexican Hot Chocolate Drink Mix
1 Pouch (1lb 1.5oz) Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 Egg
1 Cup Miniature Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1) Heat oven to 375

2) In a small bowl mix: sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter and hot chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly.

3) Place cookie mix into a large bowl. Stir in melted butter mixture and egg until soft dough forms (you may need to add a little water). Stir in chocolate chips.

4) Shape into balls, roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes

Almond Cream Spritz Cookies

December is the month for Christmas cookies and I love trying new recipes. Unfortunately, some of them don't always work out as planned - but this is one that I modified from the original. The recipe is for dough to be used in a cookie press, but when my Pampered Chef cookie press failed me I made this into a ball cookie instead and it worked perfectly. The next time I make these, I will also increase the amount of the almond extract too - they didn't have as strong of as almond flavor as I had hoped for.

Almond Cream Spritz
Makes: 60

1 Cup Butter, Softened
1 (3 oz) Package Cream Cheese, Softened
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
1/4 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
Finely Chopped Almonds

1) Preheat oven to 375

2) Beat butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add sugar, almond extract and vanilla. Beat until combined.

3) Stir in flour. Cover and chill dough for about 30 minutes or until easily worked but not too stiff. Pack dough into cookie press.

4) Force dough through press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with almonds

5) Bake 8-10 minutes or until endes of cookies are firm but not brown. Allow to cool on baking sheet one minute and them move to wire racks to cool completely.

Pumpkin Dip

'Tis the season for all things pumpkin - and I was introduced to a great dessert that will hit the spot that doesn't involve frozen pie crust or preheating your oven! I was having a chill night with some girls and one of them brought this amazing dip that it is nearly impossible to stop eating once you have started.

Pumpkin Dip

3 oz Cream Cheese Softened
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1 C Canned Pumpkin (1/2 Can)
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger
8oz Tub Cool Whip

1) Beat together Cream Cheese and Powdered Sugar

2) Add Pumpkin, Ground Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Stir Well

3) Fold in Cool Whip

4) Serve with Cookies, Graham Crackers, Apples or Vanilla Wafers...or just eat with a spoon :)