Rugelach

This will surprise some of my friends, but I had never heard of rugelach until they made some a couple years ago. I did a little history search on it and found out it's a Jewish pastry. So when did my friends and I make some rugelach? For Christmas, of course. When else do you make Jewish pastries? :)

 Rugelach 

Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
2-1/4 cups flour
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 cup Solo brand raspberry cake & pastry filling

Beat cream cheese and butter on medium speed. Gradually add flour. Divide dough into four portions. Pat into 1-inch thick circle with flour hands and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.  

Mix walnuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 11-inch circle. Dough should be very thin by now. Spread each circle with a tablespoon of raspberry filling. Sprinkle with 1/4 of nut mixture. Using a pizza wheel, cut circle in 16 wedges. Roll up each wedge, starting from wide end. 

Place point side down on prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon and sugar. 

Bake 25 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to wire rack for cooling.   

Baked Stuffed Apples

Years ago, I watched a Rachel Ray episode where she made these baked apples. Since I love apple crisp, I quickly jotted down this recipe as best as I could remember it. The recipe has remained on a scrap of paper for years now. Every year I think, "I'm gonna make this!" Well, last night, I finally did.

According to my scribbled notes, it looks like Rachel Ray recommended using McIntosh apples or anything crisp. All I had at homes was a Braeburn apple and some Granny Smith apples. I'm saving the Granny Smith apples for my next recipe, so I used the Braeburn for this one.

The apple turned out fairly well, but I wonder if it would have been better with a different type of apple. Also, I must admit I prefer good old apple crisp to this. In fact, after I finished eating the baked apple, I was really in the mood for some apple crisp!

Baked Stuffed Apples

Ingredients:
4 apples
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts (I substituted pecans, and it turned out O.K.)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Trim the top of the apple. If the apple doesn't stand upright on its own, you can trim the bottom as well. Scoop out the center of the apple with a melonballer. (I don't own a melonballer, so I ended up using my grapefruit knife.)

Blend the remaining ingredients together with your hands. The mixture should become crumbly. Fill the cavity in each apple with the mixture.

Place the apples in a shallow pan. (I used a pie plate.) Add a little water to the bottom of the pan.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake

I made this for a party at work a couple weeks ago. It disappeared even faster than the Black Forest Gateau, even though it came out a little more "done" than I would have liked. If I make it again I'm going to watch the baking time very carefully.

Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons cold butter
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sour cream


Line the bottom of a 9-inch square pan with wax paper. Spray paper and sides with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, prepare the crumb filling and topping by mixing together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut 4 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces and then mix into sugar and cinnamon using a pastry blender. Add the walnuts. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Alternate adding flour mixture and sour cream to the butter, eggs, and sugar.

Pour half of butter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Top with remaining batter and then remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Bake 50-60 minutes. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Sugar Cream Pie

I found a recipe for "Indiana Sugar Cream Pie" in one of my mother's magazines. After reading through the ingredient list, I couldn't figure out how that could possibly make a pie, so I started doing some research on the internet. It turns out there are several variations on the sugar cream pie, but they all stick with the same key ingredients: sugar (brown, white, or both), cream (or half and half), and some spice on top (nutmeg, and/or cinnamon).

Here's the variation I came up with. It does make a rather low, dense, custard-type pie that is very sweet. I easily served ten people with this pie.

Sugar Cream Pie

Ingredients:
1 unbaked pie shell
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups half and half or light cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
ground nutmeg
cinnamon

If you are making your own pie crust, prepare it and crimp the edges. Do not bake it. If you're looking for a pie crust recipe, you might want to check out this blog entry.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, and salt. Spread this mixture evenly in the bottom of the pie crust.
In a medium bowl, mix together the half and half with the vanilla. Pour this over the sugar mixture in the pie crust.
Cut up the two tablespoons of butter into small pieces and distribute evenly over top. Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Cover edges of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning of crust. Bake in 350-degree oven to 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Top should be lightly browned and bubbly. Cool on wire rack. The pie will set as it cools. Within two hours, cover and store in refrigerator.

Pie is served cold.

Filled Football Cookies

I realize this cookie recipe will be posted too late for most people to make it for this year's Superbowl, but as we all know, what's put on the Internet, stays on the Internet. So this will be around for plenty of future tailgating parties. :)

If you're like me and don't have a football-shaped cookie cutter, you can improvise by making a pattern for yourself. Just cut a piece of cardboard in the shape of a football. Cover it with aluminum foil so that it won't stick to the dough. When you're ready to cut out your footballs, place the pattern on the dough and cut around it.

I've made these cookies in three different sizes. The first time I made a pattern that was 3 1/2 inches long. The cookies were too big. The second time I used a 2-inch pattern; this was better, but it took a long time to cut out these bite-size cookies. The third size I tried was 2 1/2 inches. If I make these cookies again, I think I'd use the 2 1/2-inch size.

In case you're wondering, the flavor is a nice mix of chocolate and cinnamon--kind of reminds me of Mexican hot chocolate.

Filled Football Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 or 2 batches of the Perfect Icing for Piping

In a small dish, microwave the butter for 30 seconds at 50% power to soften it.

In a mixer, cream together the softened butter and the brown sugar. Add the sugar and cinnamon. Beat until fluffy. On low speed, blend in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and almond extract.

Split dough in half. Wrap each half in waxed paper and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On surface dusted with flour, roll out dough to 1/8 inch. Cut out dough with cookie cuter and place on cookie sheet that has been greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.

When cookies have cooled, make at least one batch of my Perfect Icing for Piping (click here for the recipe). If you like lots of filling in your filled cookies, make two batches.

Pipe the filling onto the backside of one cookie. Top with another cookie. Use a small tip to pipe laces onto the top cookie.

King Cake

I made this for a New Year's Eve party, but many people make it for Three Kings' Day or Mardi Gras. From the research I did online, most people hide a plastic baby in the cake. Whoever finds the baby receives good luck, becomes king or queen for the day, and/or has to throw the next party.

I found the plastic baby in the baby shower department of a craft store. They come six in a pack, so I guess I can still make plenty of King Cakes.

King Cake

Ingredients for cake:
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 package active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
4 tablespoons white sugar (these two amounts are used separately)
1 egg
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 3/4 cups flour

Ingredients for filling:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup pecan chips (or chopped pecans)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Ingredients for icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons softened butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons milk

Heat the milk over medium-high heat until small bubbles form around the edge. Do not let it get to a full boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of butter. Set the mixture aside to cool to room temperature.

Warm 1/3 cup water to 110-115 degrees. If you get it too hot, just give it a minute to cool. Pour the water in a large bowl and dissolve the yeast with 1-1/2 teaspoons of white sugar. Let stand about ten minutes.

When the ten minutes are up, the yeast mixture should look dreamy and a little bubbly. Add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the egg. Stir in the 4 tablespoons of sugar, the salt, and the nutmeg.

Transfer this to a large mixer bowl and beat in the flour one cup at a time. When the dough is all combined, turn in out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl. Turn the dough over once so that is it coated in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for two hours. The dough should double in size.

After the two hours is over, punch the dough down. Then roll it out to a large rectangle, about 10 x 16 inches.

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling. Mixture should be rather crumbly. Sprinkle the filling over the rolled-out dough. Then roll like a jelly roll, starting at the wide side. Bring the ends together to form an oval shape.

Place the ring on a cookie sheet that has been greased or lined with parchment paper. Let is rise for 45 minutes.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. While the cake is baking, make the frosting by combining the ingredients listed above. After you take the cake out of the oven, push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm. Sprinkle with green, purple, and yellow sugar crystals for that Mardi Gras look.

Smiley Face Cookies

This recipe originally came from the book Peach Cobbler Murder. The book was written by Joanne Fluke and is part of a series of cozy murder mysteries about a coffeeshop owner that shares her recipes as she solves the murder. If you’re not familiar with the term “cozy murder mystery,” just think of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple or the TV show Murder She Wrote (as opposed to something “hard-boiled” like Law and Order or CSI). In fact, Joanne Fluke’s website is www.murdershebaked.com. Cute, huh?

In the book, the recipe is called Doll Face Cookies. I’ve changed it only slightly so that it makes fewer cookies and the faces actually smile. The original instructions call for three raisins (two eyes and a mouth). Instead of using a third raisin for a mouth, I replaced it with a quarter of a maraschino cherry. Now the faces can smile back at me. ☺ Besides, how can I pass up an excuse to use maraschino cherries?

Oh, and did I mention these cookies are egg-free?

Smiley Face Cookies

Ingredients:
¼ cup melted butter (1/2 stick)
¼ cup molasses
½ cup tightly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon lemon juice
¼ cup milk
1 ¼ cups flour
about 50 raisins
6-8 maraschino cherries (quartered)

Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Let the butter cool to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a measuring cup with nonstick cooking spray and measure out ¼ cup molasses. Add the molasses and the brown sugar to the melted butter. Next, stir in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice.

Add the flour and milk slowly, mixing as you go. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated thoroughly.

Use a small cookie scooper or rounded teaspoons to drop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Put two raisins on top for eyes and a quarter of a maraschino cherry for the mouth.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Let the cookies cool for two minutes on the sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields: about two dozen

If I ever meet Joanne Fluke, I’d love to know how she gets these cookies off her cookie sheet. I must confess that I have problems doing it without the “face” getting stretched or pushed into another shape. Sometimes my cookies turn out more like Edvard Munch’s painting Scream.








And other times, they look more like Jack-o-lanterns.
Oh, well. They always taste yummy.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Happy Halloween!

I looked at many pumpkin cookie recipes online before settling on this one. I found many of them had comments by “reviewers” who tinkered with the recipe this way and that until my head was spinning about which way was best. All I wanted was a simple recipe for a great pumpkin cookie.

This one came straight from the Libby pumpkin people on the verybestbaking.com website. I didn’t mess with it at all, and I think the cookies turned out great.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients for cookies:
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat sugar and softened butter in large mixer bowl until blended. Then add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Gradually add in the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Drop by rounded tablespoon (or my favorite—small cookie scoop) onto greased baking sheets.

Bake for 15-16 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for two minutes before removing to wire racks.


Ingredients for glaze:
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine ingredients for glaze in a small bowl. Then drizzle over cookies. I snipped the end of a decorating bag to make the drizzling a little easier. I also put waxed paper under the cooling rack to catch any glaze that dripped.

Yields: about 3 dozen cookies

Carol's Apple Crisp

The title for this recipe may have some of you scratching your heads and thinking, "Who's Carol?" Well, the truth is, that I have no idea who Carol is!

The recipe came from a Pfaltzgraff calendar my mother gave me. Each month features a new recipe baked or served on some kind of Pfaltzgraff dish. "Carol's Apple Crisp" is the dish for September. It was quite a hit at Sunday dinner. Enjoy!

Carol's Apple Crisp

6-8 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
¼ cup butter, softened
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into bowl. Add 1 egg. Mix well until crumbly.

Place apples in 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle crumbs over apples. Dot with butter and sprinkle with plenty of cinnamon. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Sticky Buns

This isn't really a cookie or a cake, but a lot of people have asked for this recipe. I got it from a co-worker who makes it every Christmas. She prepares it at night, lets it refrigerate overnight, and then puts it in the oven in the morning. It smells really good while baking!

Sticky Buns

Ingredients:
2 loaves of frozen Rhodes bread (Packages come with three loaves)
1 stick of butter
2 tablespoons milk
1 large package vanilla pudding
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Thaw two loaves of frozen Rhodes bread. (I put the two loaves on a plate in the fridge for six hours). After thawing, cut up the loaves with scissors into walnut-sized pieces. Put pieces in a large bowl.

Melt the stick of butter. Add milk and stir. Pour over bread and stir.

In a smaller bowl, mix vanilla pudding, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add mixture to bread and stir until bread is fairly well coated.

Put in a 9 X 12 inch pan. Cover with saran wrap and put in refrigerator overnight.

Heat oven to 350 and bake for thirty minutes until golden brown.

Mix some powdered sugar with water or a little milk to make a frosting and pour over warm rolls.