Holiday Tea Party

 So many cookies, and other goodies!

Beautiful Cookies: Pineapple Jam Tarts

Pineapple Tarts are a traditional Chinese New Year treat.  I made my own version based on a thumbprint cookie recipe.

2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
Filling: I used homemade pineapple lemon marmalade.

Mix until well blended.
Shape into walnut sized balls and press a deep indent into the middle (I used a wine cork to press holes).
Bake on parchment paper or lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 for 18 minutes.
Immediately when you remove cookies from oven, place a tsp of jam in the indent.  Transfer to rack to cool.

Beautiful Things: New Year's Meringues

I tried making peep chick shapes with some - it kind of worked.  I experimented with dusting them with red sugar - that worked great!  And I made some in discs with mini M&M centers.  Because M&Ms.

I used the quick and easy meringue recipe:

2 egg whites 
1/8 tsp salt 
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (this can be left out, but it helps the meringue hold together better and is worth adding if you can get it.) 
3/4 tsp vanilla 
3/4 cup sugar 

Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla together until smooth. Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Drop by teaspoonfulls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
Bake at 300 for 25 minutes.
Cool before eating.

Beautiful Cookies: Meringue Snowmen

These are going to the PA Farm Show this week!

I kind of feel bad for the melted one, though.

Beautiful Cookies: Ricotta Chocolate Chip

from a recipe given to me by a library coworker, on the event of my leaving the job.

 /
(The original recipe was bigger, I halved it.)
1/2 c butter
1 cup sugar
Cream together.
add:
1/2 lb whole milk ricotta
1 egg
1tsp vanilla.
Beat well.
Mix in 2 c flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt.
Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.
Drop by generous tsp fulls about 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned,

Beautiful Things: Chex crack

So, the original recipe was called "Honey Ginger Crunch" but anyone who has ever tasted it at Pendragon House has agreed that "Chex crack" is more descriptive.  This stuff is delicious.

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground ginger or cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 cups Rice Chex® cereal
2 cups bite-size pretzel twists
1 cup unblanched whole almonds (I used almond slices. It's fine.)
1 cup dried cranberries

1.Heat oven to 250°F. Line large roasting pan (or two 9x13 pans) with foil. Butter the foil. Twice. This stuff sticks.  Or just use parchment paper.  Parchment paper is awesome.

2.In 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter, honey, ginger and cinnamon to boiling.

Don't panic. It's sugar and sugar melts in water. The pan will clean.

Remove from heat; cool slightly. Into roasting pan measure cereal, pretzels, almonds. Stir in brown sugar mixture until evenly coated.

3.Bake 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper (or just pull out the foil) to cool, about 15 minutes.

Place in serving bowl; stir in cranberries. (Ok - I baked the cranberries in, cause I don't pay attention. It didn't hurt them. They came out fine.) Store in airtight container. 

Beautiful Cookies: Clove Snaps

From http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/clove-snaps.aspx
Tasty and strongly clove flavored!

• 6-3/4 oz. (1-1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. table salt
• 4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, completely softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. packed finely grated orange zest

In a bowl, mix together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and salt. In an electric mixer, cream the butter at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and blend just until combined, scraping the bowl well. Add the egg and orange zest and mix until well blended, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed just until the flour is absorbed and the dough starts to come together, about 30 seconds. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until the dough forms a smooth mass. Flatten into a disk that’s about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 375ºF. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough 1/8 inch thick, making sure that it isn’t sticking to the surface and that it rolls out evenly, lightly sprinkling flour under the dough if needed. With a 2-inch round (or similar size) cookie cutter, stamp out shapes. Reroll the scraps and stamp out more. Set the cookies 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges and on the bottoms, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets as needed for even baking.  Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets on racks.  Store in airtight containers.

Beautiful Cookies: Fudgy BonBons

These came from Kith's grandmother Phyllis.  They're particularly nice to make with kids as they're really easy and fun to make - sort of like playing with playdough.

Melt together one 10-12 oz package of chocolate chips and 4 tbsp butter.
Stir in one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk.
 Add 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds, but any will work) and 1 tsp vanilla.
Roll about a tbsp of dough around an unwrapped chocolate kiss (you'll use a bit less than one 12 oz bag of kisses)
Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes - the tops will just start to look dry.
Phyllis used to drizzle the tops with white chocolate, which is pretty but unnecessary.

Beautiful cookies: Nutmeg Logs

A log shaped cookie flavored with nutmeg and spiced rum; with a buttered rum frosting!

Beautiful Cookies: Oatmeal Krispie Chip

A new-to-me recipe from a blog: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/crispy-chocolate-oatmeal-cookies/

These cookies feature oatmeal, chocolate chips and rice krispies.  My cookies also have some rice chex (they were being stored with the krispies) and a few raisins.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a crispy surprise!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 1/4 cups Rice Krispies cereal (or other crispy cereal)
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Combine butter and sugars in your mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. On low, add in egg and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.

2. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, raisins and cereal. Don't over mix. You don't want to crush the cereal too much.

3. Scoop dough into Tbsp size balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute on the cookie sheet. Move to a cooling rack and enjoy.

Beautiful Cookies: Pizzelle

I don't own a pizzelle iron, so pizzelle is not usually a cookie in my house.  But today, I stumbled across a little Italian bakery in my travels and so, today's beautiful cookie is pizzelle.  It was delicious.

And a bonus Tiramisu.  Also delicious.

Beautiful Cookies: Spritz

In my Mom's family, these are called "Aunt Alice Cookies" because they were the ones that Mom's Great Aunt Alice always brought to family gatherings at Holiday Time.

Our recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar creamed together.  Add one egg and beat well.  Mix in 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 tsp of almond extract.  Add 2 and 1/2 cups of flour.
Press onto cookie sheets and bake at 400 for 8 minutes.

Beautiful cookies: muddy buddies

Chocolate and peanut butter and crunch! Yum!

http://www.chex.com/recipes/chex-muddy-buddies/

In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave 1 cup of semisweeet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/4 cup of butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla. Pour mixture over 9 cups of chex cereal, stirring until evenly coated. 
Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.  Add 1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Beautiful Cookies: Ginger Biscotti

For our holiday season this year, we are cutting back on some traditions that are just too hard to manage with a one year old.  But we are increasing our cookie output instead!  So, for many of the days between now and January, my beautiful thing is going to be a type of cookie.

Today, Ginger Biscotti from the Good Housekeeping Cookies! book.  It features chunks of crystalized ginger!

Beautiful things: Freshly baked cookies

Our house smells delicious.