Berry Cream Cookie Snaps

My sister hosted a Christmas Cookie Swap Party, where we all make and bring 2 dozen cookies, try other cookies, and take home new cookies and recipes. I loved getting to try all the cookies, it was fantastic. These cookies are what I brought, and they taste amazing (not because of me...it's a great recipe). It took me a few pans to get them right, but luckily you only cook 4 at a time (don't worry, it doesn't take long). 

Ingredients

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons seedless strawberry jam (I used raspberry)
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
• 1 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
• 
  BATTER:
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries (I used raspberries that I bought frozen)
• Additional sugar

Something round, like a wooden clothespin

Directions

1. For filling, in a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and jam until blended. Fold in whipped cream and food coloring if desired. Chill.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, egg whites, vanilla and salt until smooth. Whisk in butter until blended.
3. The recipe says to line baking sheets with parchment paper, and I did, but the cookies wouldn't come off the parchment at all (hence the 4 ruined pans of cookies). I just sprayed the cookie pans with Pam and that worked much better. 
4. Preparing four cookies at a time, drop batter by 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls 4 in. apart onto prepared pan. Bake at 400° for 5-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
5. Immediately remove one cookie at a time from pan and form into a tube around a greased clean round wooden clothespin. Press lightly to seal; hold until set, about 20 seconds.
6. Remove cookie from clothespin; place on waxed paper to cool. 
7. Continue with remaining cookies. If cookies become too cool to shape, return to oven for 1 minute to soften. Repeat with remaining batter.
8. Just before serving, pipe or spoon filling into cookie shells. 
9. Dip end of cookie into strawberries and additional sugar. Refrigerate leftovers. 
   Yield: about 2 dozen.
   
   
   I don't know why this is doing all caps, it won't let me not do all caps...so you get a yelling recipe...but it's that good. :)

Bangers and Fried (by Nate)

This is a traditional british dish called bangers and mash. It is often served in bars an falls under the "pub food" category. It's usually done with mashed potatoes but hash browns seemed to go better with the sausages. So my version is called bangers and fried.

regular bratwursts

horseradish sauce

deli mustard

onions

bell peppers

potatoes

tomatoes

Dice the potatoes and fry them on medium heat in either butter or vegetable oil. Fry them until the outsides are crispy, golden brown. This can take around 15 to 20 minutes. Put the sausages on the grill or in the oven with medium heat (around 325-350). It’s important to keep the temp low enough that the sausages won’t burst or leak. The juice is the flavor. Cook them about 10 minutes on both sides. Sauté the onions, tomatoes, peppers in the same pan as the potatoes. Put the vegetables on top of the sausages and the fried potatoes on the side. Then for the secret sauce. Mix equal parts horseradish sauce and deli mustard. This dilutes the sharp edges of both flavors and enhances the sausages.

Lemon Crackle

This is a really yummy dessert that is unlike anything you've ever had. It's a lemon pie, and a fruit crisp all at the same time. It sounds weird, but if you like lemon, you'll love this. The combination of tastes and textures is really fun!What you need:
Crust:
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup finely crushed saltines (about 10 crackers)
Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 TBS cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
6 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 egg yolks, beaten
whipped topping (Optional, we never used any of this and it was still great)

What you do:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Combine flour and soda; add to creamed mixture with coconut and cracker crumbs. Toss with a fork until crumbly. Press half into greased 11in x 7in x 2in baking dish.
In a sauce pan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water and lemon juice until smooth. Add butter and egg yolks. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; pour over crust. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares, and serve with whipped topping if desired.
Store in the refrigerator.
Makes 12-16 servings.

Hot Cocoa Stirring Spoons

I saw these on Pinterest and knew I had to make them. They are so easy and fun!! 

Ingredients:

• Spoons
• Candy Coating (like Almond Bark which you can find in the baking aisle, or melting chips which you can find in the cake decorating aisle by the crafts--if your walmart is organized the same as ours)
• Decorations (sprinkles, candy canes, sugar pearls, mini M&M's, caramel bits, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc.)

Pretty much you just melt the chocolate according to package directions (you don't need to melt the whole pack at once, just a small portion) and then scoop it into the spoon (using another spoon) and decorate before it cools. Easy, fast, and fun! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sweeties

These were sooooo yummy! They're definitly going on my list of goodies for Christmas this year! And they're super easy.
What you need:
1 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Butter(no substitutes)
3 cups powdered sugar
5 dozen mini pretzels
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 TBS vegetable oil

What you do:
In a mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and butter until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar until combined. Shape into 1 in. balls (I made mine a little too big. It's best if they're small enough that you can pop the whole thing into your mouth in one bite.); press onto a pretzel. Place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate until peanut butter is firm(I put mine in the freezer for around 20 minutes and that worked fine). In a microwave-safe bowl or heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips and oil. Dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate and return to baking sheet pretzel side down. Refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes before serving. Store in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin Pie Pops

I wanted to have a gluten free alternative to the cake pops at our Halloween Party, so I played around and came up with pumpkin pie pops. They weren't as good as I had imagined, but they were still pretty yummy. I'm going to work on perfecting these, but this recipe still is pretty good. 

I used my pumpkin pie recipe that I've been using for a while now. I had pumpkin goop in the freezer that I pulled out and made these from scratch.

I mixed the pumpkin pie filling as normal, then I poured it into a pan I bought at WalMart for making brownie pops. Once they were baked, I put them in the freezer. After they were frozen I pulled them out, stabbed them with sticks, dipped the in chocolate and decorated them. Wahla! Gluten free pumpkin pie pops.

Cake Pops

I tried my hand at this popular dessert for our Halloween party. They aren't as smooth as I would have liked, but they were a big hit and tasted great (and I'd rather have them taste great and look not as pretty than to look pretty and taste horrible). They were pretty easy and a lot of fun. 

Ingredients:
1 cake mix
1 can of frosting
1 pkg cream cheese
dipping chocolate (I got my orange chocolate in the cake aisle next to the scrapbooking stuff in walmart)
candy sticks (I used wood craft sticks because they were cheaper and walmart was out of candy sticks)
sprinkles

Method:
1. Make the cake like normal, then let it cool completely.
2. Crumble the cake into a large bowl.
3. Add frosting and cream cheese. Mix well (by hand or electric mixer).
4. Roll into balls and freeze (freeze solid).
5. When frozen, melt the chocolate (as directed on chocolate package).
6. Insert the candy stick all the way into the cake ball, then dip in the chocolate. I would put the ball in the chocolate, roll it around to coat it, then tap the stick on the side of the bowl to get rid of tons of extra melted chocolate and it smoothed out the more bumpy chocolate.
7. Roll in sprinkles and set upright to set up (I bought a stand for $3 for this).
8. Eat!

Bacon-Cheese Topped Chicken

This is a new favorite. I almost always get chicken too dry, but this was perfect and it tastes sooo good. I made this as the main part of our Autumnal Equinox dinner that we did last night (even though the Equinox is today). 

Ingredients:

1/4 c. dijon mustard
1/4 c. honey
2 1/4 tsp olive oil (divided)
1/3 tsp. lemon juice
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper
Dash paprika
1 c. sliced fresh mushrooms (we used one small can of cut mushrooms)
1 T. butter
1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 c. shredded Cheddar Cheese
4 bacon strips, partially cooked (we usually only use ends and pieces because it's cheaper and works better in soups and gravy and stuff, so we just cut of a chunk and spread the pieces)
1 tsp minced fresh parsley (I was going to use dried parsley, but I completely forgot to add it in)

Method:
1. In a bowl, combine the mustard, honey, 3/4 tsp oil and lemon juice.
2. Pour 1/4 c. into a large resealable plastic bag; add the chicken.
3. Seal the bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Cover and refrigerate the remaining marinade.
5. After 2 hours, drain and discard marinade from chicken.
6. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in remaining oil on all sides. You're not cooking the chicken all the way, just browning the outside.
7. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.
8. Transfer to a greased backing dish.
9. In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in butter until tender.
10. Spoon reserved marinade over chicken.
11. Top with cheeses and mushrooms. Place bacon strips in a criss-cross pattern over chicken.
12. Bake, uncovered, @ 375 for 20-25 minutes.
13. Sprinkle with parsley.

Gandolfos Potato Salad

This is the best potato salad ever! My old roommate use to work at Gandolfos and made it in bulk, that's why the recipe is so huge. I halved it and it still made tons! She made it for a pot luck once and I heard about it like a year later from the bishopric. I hadn't ever eaten it, but it's fame has spread abroad. I knew if called for red potatoes, so when my visiting teaching partner gave me red potatoes, I asked my old roommate for the recipe and tried it out. The result was amazing! Nate LOVES this recipe :)

(oh, and please excuse the crude photo, I took it with my phone because my camera is at work)

Ingredients
35 Medium Red potatoes (diced w/ skins)
2 cup mayo
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbs salt
8 green onion stalks, chopped (garnish)
2 tsp black pepper
1 tbs dill weed
1.4 cup parsley
5 strips crumbled bacon

Instructions
Boil the Potatoes for 30 min. Drain. Make cause by combining all ingredients, combine with potatoes. Top with garnish.

Cordon Bleu Bake

I pulled this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine when we were first married, but I hadn't ever made it. We liked it. It's quick, easy, and yummy yummy yummy. Here's my picture, and then the picture from the website (it's the picture that was in my book too). We ended up having to use more stuffing than the recipe called for because I did 1 c. water instead of 1/2 c. by accident. And I didn't want to figure out how to use the leftover cream of mushroom soup, so I used the whole can and I should have stuck to the recipe (not that it was bad, there was just too much cream of mushroom soup). It probably would have tasted  better with cream of chicken soup too. Those are things to try out next time. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 cup stuffing mix 
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 2/3 cup condensed cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup, undiluted, divided
• 3/4 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
• 2 ounces (that's 1/8 lb.) thinly sliced deli ham, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Directions 

 

In a small saucepan, bring water and 1 tablespoon butter to a boil. Stir in stuffing mix. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. 

 

Meanwhile, in a shallow 1-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray, combine vegetables with 1/3 cup soup. 

 

Combine the chicken with remaining soup; spoon over vegetables. 

 

Layer with ham and cheese. 

 

Fluff stuffing with a fork; spoon over cheese. 

 

Melt remaining butter; drizzle over stuffing. 

 

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. 

 

Yield: 2 servings.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Hunks

These cookies came into creation in 2005. My roommate Olivia and I decided we wanted to see if we could substitute peanut butter for regular butter (or margarine) in cookies and the result was the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Hunks. These cookies stay gooey and soft and they taste amazing. It was fun to make them last night and remember creating these and to go through roommate memories. Thanks Olivia! 

Ingredients:
1/2 c. + 1 TBS Peanut Butter
7 TBS margarine (or butter) (that's 1/2 c. minus 1 TBS)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 c. + 4 TBS flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Hershey bars cut/broken into chunks (or 2 Hershey bars and 3 peanut butter cups)
Chocolate Syrup

1. Cream together the butters and the sugars.
2. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chunks, mix well.
4. Squirt chocolate syrup over dough and mix in. I don't normally mix in the syrup all the way to try and get a marbled look. The dough will be slightly sticky.
5. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a greased baking sheet.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes (or until cooked through). The cookies will appear slightly underdone.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Haha! (written with a french pirate accent). 
I get post #100. 


Wow, we're already at 100 posts on here, that's so awesome!

Anyway, enough with the French Pirate. Here's an awesome recipe for...

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These are so moist and yummy! I made them before church and we forgot to cover them before we left and they were still just moist and yummy when we got home. So so so so so good. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 TBS poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup lemon flavored yogurt (that's just under 3 of the small individual sized yogurt cups...about 16 oz. total)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 TBS lemon extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly grease a muffin tin.
2. Combine the flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, yogurt, vegetable oil and lemon zest. Blend well and pour over the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Do no overmix!
4. Spoon batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 minutes.
5. Combine the lemon juice, lemon extract and the remaining 3 tablespoons white sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves.
6. Once the muffins are baked pierce the tops several times with a toothpick. Slowly pour about 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and sugar mixture over the tops of each muffin. Let muffins cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing them from the tin.

You'll love these. Cameron does, see? 

Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients

2-4 chicken breasts

1 cube butter

1 pkg Good Seasoning Italian Dressing, dry (I used Montreal chicken seasonings instead)

8 oz cream cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 can water or milk

pasta or rice.

Instructions

Place the chicken, butter, and dry italian dressing in crock pot. Cook 3-4 hours on low.

Take chicken out and shred it

Add cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, and water or milk.

whisk together until most of the lumps are gone. Put chicken back in for about an hour. Serve over pasta or rice.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 apples

1/3 vine of grapes

4 celery sticks

1/3 cup diced walnuts or pecans

miracle whip or mayo

cooked bacon (optional)

salt & pepper

Instructions

Boil the chicken until cooked. Dice up all ingredients and put them into a big bowl. Mix in miracle whip until there’s just enough to make ingredients start to stick together. Serve immediately or refrigerate until you’re ready to eat it! (great for planning ahead and leftovers). Serve sandwiched in bread or rolls.

Notes:

These measurements are estimated. Paralee Richins and Diedre made them and just told me what she put in them and I just made up how much of what goes in and they turned out great. Use however much of each ingredient you want according to what you like. This just gives you a feeling for about how much I used.

Aunt Dove’s Rolls

Ingredients

3 cup water

3 eggs (either warm them under warm water or set them out the night before)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBS salt

3 cups flour

1 cup flour

2 TBS fresh instant yeast

3 cups flour

1/2 cup melted butter

Instructions

Put all of ingredients in the first section into a Bosch mixer and whip them up

Mix the 1c flour with yeast, add the the mixture and whip until spongy (at least 2 min).

Add flour until dough barely starts to come away from edges (about 3 cups)

Let dough rest and rise until very light

Roll dough and cut into circles, dip melted butter and fold over, put in pan. Let it rise

Bake for 10-12 min at 400 degrees. serve hot.

The ones in the picture are made with wheat flour. They taste better with white.

Cinnamon Rolls - Shaw Family Recipe

Everyone I shared these with kept telling me they were so good and unlike other cinnamon rolls, which was weird to me because I grew up with this kind so it's the normal kind to me. The difference is a sticky syrup you add in the middle. It's dang good!

Ingredients

1 TBS sugar

1 1/2 TBS Yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 egg (beaten)

1 can evaporated milk

1 can hot water

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

1TBS salt

3 cups flour

4-5 cups flour

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 can of Cream cheese frosting (optional)

Instructions

Put sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Pour warm water on top and set aside.

Mix all the 2nd set of ingredients in a mixer such as a bosh or kitchen aid with a dough hook, or mix by hand in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add the yeast mixture and 4-5 more cups of flour until dough is just stiff enough to be handled. Beat until smooth and glossy. Let raise until double (about 1 hour).

Heat Karo syrup, butter, & brown sugar until boiling in a sauce pan on stove

Roll out dough to a large rectangle. Cover with a coat of butter then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Use above mixture to dribble over the dough and to partially cover the baking pans. Roll the dough and cut with dental floss or thread. Arrange in pans and let raise 1/2-1 hour. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 min. That way the caramel stays soft and pliable.

Add frosting if you wish