Almond lace cookies

Whoa Momma! I made these cookies on Saturday and, using a teaspoon measure this recipe made about 6 dozen cookies (and I think when my cousin April and her hubby were over they ate half of them, ROFL!!) they're really, really good!

Almond Lace Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped Almonds
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place half the oatmeal and almonds in bowl of food processor and grind until almonds are finely ground, pour into mixing bowl.
   
2. Melt margarine and pour over oat and almond mixture.
3. Sift dry ingredients together.
4. Mix dry ingredients in with margarine and oats.
5. Beat eggs and vanilla together.
6. Blend this in the oats mixture.
7. Cover cookie sheets with foil.
8. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet.
9. Do not preheat oven.
10. Bake at 325 F.
11. for 8-11 minutes.
12. Allow to cool before removing from foil.

I didn't get a camera for Christmas, but I will get one soon.. I promise :D

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

And now, my #1 favorite cookie.. EVER

Rainbow cookies (or Venetians as they are sometimes called) are my #1 favorite cookie Ever.. and after the first time I made them I understood why they are $7.99 a pound at the bakery. They are a LOT of work.. but the results are always so amazing that it is so worth the effort :)

Rainbow cookies


Ingredients:
7 ounces almond paste
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup margarine or butter, room temp
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour, Sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 drops green food coloring
15 drops red food coloring
2/3 cup apricot preserves (pressed into a coarse sieve to remove any large pieces of fruit)
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease 3 8"x8" metal baking pans. After greasing, line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper, smoothing the paper down onto the pan. Grease the tops of the parchment paper and then flour the pans. Put aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, Beat together on medium-high speed the Almond Paste, Sugar, Almond Extract and butter until well blended. (there might be some small lumps of Almond Paste remaining and that's fine.).

4. Reduce speed to medium and beat in the eggs one at a time until blended.

5. Reduce speed to low and then add the flour and salt slowly to the mixture until combined.

6. Take two small bowls and add 1 rounded cup of batter into each bowl. (there should be another rounded cup of batter still in the original mixing bowl.).

7. Add 15 drops of red food color to one bowl and 15 drops of green food color to the other. Stir each bowl until evenly blended with color.

8. Spoon the untinted batter into one pan. With metal spatula spread batter evenly (layer will be about 1/4 inch thick). Repeat with red batter in second pan and green batter in remaining pan.

9. Bake until set and toothpick inserted in center of layers comes out clean. 10-12 minutes.

10. Cool in pans on wire rack about ½ hour. Cake should be cool to the touch.

11. Run tip of knife around side of pans to loosen layers.

12. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a flat surface that will be able to fit in refrigerator.

13. Take the green layer and flip over pan onto parchment paper. Gently pull off the parchment paper. Spread 1/3 cup of apricot preserves onto the green layer.

14. Take the untinted layer and remove from pan. Place it onto the green layer with the wax paper side up. Press down gently and then remove the parchment paper.

15. Spread remaining 1/3 cup of Apricot preserves onto the untinted layer.

16. take the remaining red layer and remove from pan and place upon the white layer again with the parchment side up. Press down gently and remove the parchment.

17. In a 1 quart saucepan, heat chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted.

18. Spread melted chocolate mixture on top of the red layer evenly. Do not put mixture on sides.

19. refrigerate until chocolate is firm, at least 1 hour. (at this point, if you want, you can cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before serving).

To serve, with a large sharp knife, trim about 1/4 inch from the edges. Cut the stacked layers into 6 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces. You will get 36 square cookies from this.

Place the cookies in a single layer in a waxed paper lined container. They can be refrigerated for up to one week or freeze up to 3 months. These cookies must be kept in the fridge.

We’ll start with the Appetizers

The first cookbook I ever got was from my mom, she knew that I loved to experiment in the kitchen and I was always going over to cook with my Gram. I absolutely love this cookbook and in it is the most amazing recipe for stuffed mushrooms and whenever I make then everyone raves about how amazing they are. The second appetizer that I make is one that is The Kid’s absolute favorite! They are Salami cornucopia’s with a horseradish and cream cheese filling. I got this recipe in a packet when I was in college from one of the Chef’s and I’ve made it every year since. It’s very simple, but it makes a really nice presentation on a platter with other things and people always ask what it is. The horseradish and cream cheese mixture is very pleasant and the creaminess of the cream cheese takes a lot of the bite out of the horseradish and you can use store bought or fresh horseradish for this one (of course in school we used the fresh one)


Salami Cornucopia’s with Horseradish cream cheese

Ingredients:

1 lb. Genoa Salami, thinly sliced, cut into halves
1 8oz package cream cheese (whatever kind you like), softened
1 Tbs. Fresh lemon juice
2-3 Tbs Horseradish
1Tbs dried parsley (for this I prefer dried, if you use fresh you have to wash it and squeeze it out in a piece of cheesecloth to remove some of the green color, otherwise it will turn your cream cheese green *yuck*)

Directions

1. Stack your salami nice and neat and cut the circles in half, place in a piece of plastic wrap or a zipper bag and put back in to the refrigerator for now.
2. In a bowl mix together Cream cheese and lemon juice until creamy.
3. Add horseradish, being careful not to add too much of the liquid if you are using jarred.
4. Once it is all combined stir in the parsley.
5. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator about 30 minutes or until firm.
6. Take the salami out of the fridge and on a platter or a piece of parchment paper start rolling up the salami half-circles by taking one corner and turning it towards the center and wrapping the other end around, like a paper cone, setting them seam side down.
7. Remove the cream cheese mixture from the fridge and with a rubber spatula carefully put into a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip. I usually squeeze about a tablespoon of the mix into each salami and it’s perfect.

The Kid will happily eat this spread with salami on bread as a sandwich (Like I’ve said before, he’s not like any other 12 year old I’ve ever known, he is not picky about what he eats and likes things pretty much no other kid I knows likes to eat.)

Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

These are, in my opinion The best Stuffed mushrooms in the world!

Ingredients:
1 lb medium mushrooms
1/4 cup Finely chopped green onions
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. parsley
1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°f

Remove stems from mushrooms and chop finely. Cook and stir mushroom stems, green onions and garlic in margarine over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat & stir in remaining ingredients.

Fill mushroom caps with stuffing mixture. Place mushrooms, stuffing side up, in greased baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes, serve hot.

And today.. Cookies

So I finally got around to baking some cookies today. I made some almond cookies and a HUGE batch of Mexican chocolate cherry cookies (which are my #2 favorite cookies in the world!) This makes 5 dozen cookies alone, but I just made one batch of these guys today (cause I've been craving them for Weeks!)

Mexican Chocolate Cherry Rounds

2¾ hours | 2½ hours prep

SERVES 30 , 2 cookies

Ingredients:

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup powdered sugar
60 candied cherries, halved

Directions:

1. Stir chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water until smooth; cool.
2. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients in medium bowl.
3. Using electric mixer, beat 1 3/4 cups sugar and butter in large bowl until light.
4. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla and chocolate.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating just until combined.
6. Chill dough until firm, about 2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F.
8. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets.
9. Place powdered sugar in shallow pan.
10. Form dough into 1-inch balls.
11. Roll each ball in sugar to coat; shake off excess sugar.
12. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.
13. Press 1 cherry half into center of each cookie.
14. Bake until cookies puff and crack but are still soft, about 10 minutes.
15. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
16. (Cookies can be prepared ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week, or freeze up to 1 month.).

I'll be doing more baking on Wednesday, and I'll be sure to post some about that. In the meantime I've gotta get these cookies put away and find some time to wrap some presents.

Ciao!