Saltine Toffee

One more sweet treat for you. This would be a great treat to have out for your New Years party. This one is so fast to make and uses items that you already have in your pantry. Michael had a friend bring these to work a while back and he asked me to try them at home. I used a different cracker other than saltines and I didn't like the flavor at all.

I decided to try them again for friends for Christmas. I used the saltines this time. When they came out of the oven, I thought they were just ok, not my favorite candy. I put them in the fridge to munch on later. I took them out the next day and could not stop eating them. The butter and brown sugar create a wonderful toffee and when mixed with the chocolate, it is truly heaven! I urge to try these, you will not be disappointed. Enjoy!!

Saltine Toffee
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Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients

4 ounces saltine crackers (1 sleeve of saltine crackers)
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers in single layer.

In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over saltines and spread t cover crackers completely.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Cool completely and break into pieces.

Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and gets to spend quality time with family or friends. This month on What's Baking, the theme is holiday colors. When I think of Christmas colors, I think of red and white. I know green and red are considered the normal Christmas colors, but I think of green as the tree and red and white as the decorations. Living in the Midwest, we see plenty of white with all the snow, so I love red decorations to accent it and Santa's suit is red and white.

These Peppermint Chocolate Cookies are a wonderful minty cookie to serve at Christmas. Who doesn't love chocolate around the holidays. The peppermint candies add an unexpected zest to it. Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful holiday season. Enjoy!!

If you are looking for other cookies to leave our for Santa, these will be loved by the big man!

Christmas Cookies, Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies or Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

Source: Pennies on a Platter as seen on Every Day with Rachael Ray, Dec/Jan 2009

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1 1/2 stick (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 pinch salt

Two 3.5 -ounce bars dark chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

2/3 cup finely crushed peppermint candy canes or candies

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar until creamy, then beat in the egg. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt; add to the mixer about one-third at a time, beating at low speed until smooth.

Lay a 16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a work surface; turn out the dough onto the paper. Using your hands, shape the dough into a 12-inch-long cylinder; wrap tightly in the parchment and roll into a smooth, even log. Twist the ends to seal and refrigerate for 30 minutes; reshape the cylinder and refrigerate for 30 minutes more.

Preheat the oven to 350°; line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough; using a sharp knife, slice into 1/3-inch-thick rounds. Place about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets; bake until firm, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

In a bowl, combine two-thirds of the chopped chocolate with the oil; microwave for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth. (If needed, heat for additional 10-second intervals.) Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate until smooth.

Using an offset spatula, spread a scant teaspoon of melted chocolate on top of each cookie. Sprinkle the peppermints on top and let stand until set, 2 to 3 hours.

Peanut Brittle

As a kid, my grandmother would always make candies to have around when everyone would come over for Christmas. My favoite candies she made were the peanut brittle and Martha Washington Balls. My grandmother, or Meme as we called her, passed away when I was 15 years old. She was 91. She was the oldest of 9 children and took care of the younger children learning how to cook for the others. She was a wonderful cook and was very well known for that. People still tell me how much they loved coming to her house for dinner.

I found several of her peanut brittle recipes among my notebooks. She had three recipes, but one them she had written "best" at the top. I chose to make that one and I am so glad I did. She knew what she was talking about I am not a peanut brittle fan, but I could not stop eating this brittle!! It takes a little time to make the brittle. The temperature has to get to 300 degrees. Watch it carefully as the temperature tends to rise faster as it gets closer. I took pictures along the way to show what to expect. I truly love this recipe and plan to make more this week. Enjoy!!

Peanut Brittle
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Source: Adapted from my grandmother

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white Karo corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 cup raw peanuts
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix sugar, Karo, salt and water in a 2 quart saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add peanuts.



Cook stirring occasionally until a candy thermometer reached 300 degrees. Sugar mixture will be a light amber color. Remove from fire.



Add baking soda, vanilla and butter. Stir slightly.



Pour onto a butter jelly roll pan



Spread with a fork.



Break apart after cool.

Christmas Packages

I know this post is a little late, but maybe it will be information for next Christmas. This year I decided to ship some goodies to family and friends for Christmas presents. I chose the Christmas Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and Chocolate Covered Pretzels.


I have shipped several sugar cookies this year, the baby boy cookies and the Mickey Mouse cookies. I tend to over wrap and protect the cookies for shipment. I figure if I spend a lot of time making and decorating, I don't want to see them crushed in shipment. When I shipped the Christmas packages this year, I used two metal cookie tins. I placed tissue paper in the bottom of the tin and wrapped the cookies in bags putting each type of cookie in its own bag. This will ensure the cookies don't stick to a different type and smells and tastes don't meld together of different cookies. I was only able to put two or three types in each tin.


I purchased the boxes at the post office and picked the one that would make the tins the tightest in shipping. After packing the tins, I taped the lids on and wrapped the whole tin in bubble wrap. I made sure the post office put perishable on the packages. They arrived safe and sound and were enjoyed by all.

Spritz Cookies

I have been wanting to make Spritz Cookies for awhile now, but did not want to buy a press in case I didn't like them. A friend bought a press years ago and had never even taken it out of the box. She let me borrow it to make cookies and bring to the office.

I have always seen these cookies around the holidays and thought they would be the easiest things to make. After a learning curve, they are pretty easy. The dough is a regular butter cookie dough. After the dough is prepared, you push it into the tub of the press then put the press down on the cookie sheet and pull the trigger. The dough comes out and you move on to the next one. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of the press, but all in all, it was an easy cookie to make. They are more time consuming than you would think and other cookies but the cookie themselves melt in your mouth. They are full of butter flavor and are a great afternoon snack.

Be careful when baking these cookies. When I make cookies, I cook with two cookie sheets at a time and rotate them top to bottom, front to back, half way through baking. I did this to these cookies and they were fine half way through baking. I apparently left the first batch in to long at a to high temp and they burned. I have adjusted the recipe to lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Enjoy!

Butter Cookies

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Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least one hour. Chill cookie sheets.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Press dough out onto ungreased, chilled cookie sheets. (Note: I lowed the oven temp to 350 degrees)

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden at the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

When I was thinking of what cookies to send friends and family for Christmas, gingerbread came to mind. I had made the Ginger Cookies a few weeks ago and thought they would make a great addition to the packages. I love these cookies. They have a sweetness to them, but a spiciness that keeps you begging for more.

When making these cookies, the molasses has this outdoorsy smell to me. I absolutely love it! I had problems rolling these cookies out to make shapes with them. I seemed to not be able to keep the dough from sticking to my pin or to the counter. So instead of rolling them out and cutting cookies out with cutters, I rolled them into balls and flattened them with a glass and parchment paper. All of my circles came out the same size and still made a beautiful cookie.

After they had cooled, I decorated them with royal icing. I piped a snowflake on each one and sprinkled sugar on them. Don't worry about getting your snowflakes all perfect. No two snowflakes are alike anyway! I really do hope you enjoy this cookie. A friend that received them said they were the best cookies he had ever eaten! Enjoy.





Gingerbread Snowflakes
Printer friendly recipe
Source: Good Things Catered adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
1 egg
4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Stir in molasses and egg.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth.

Cover, and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line with parchment.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. -Let cool for 10 minutes on pan.

Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. -Frost or decorate when cool.