Not too pretty but oh so delicious!

Tomorrow is our school Christmas or Holiday dinner. I need to bring something so I figure I‘ll be safe with some type of dessert. I don’t feel that great today, in fact I could use about 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, so I decided to bake a bar cookie (I won’t have to stand around and make cookies one by one.) I made Over the Top Cookies which is really a bar cookie with a brown sugary topping that gets crisp as it bakes. I added Christmas M&Ms for the fun of it and also for the taste. They didn’t come out as pretty as I’d like them to be but they certainly are just as delicious.  Below is a picture of them when I added a layer of chocolate chips just, well just because I wanted to. That’s the great part of following recipes, they don’t have to be followed completely. Enjoy!

Add some M & Ms for a little color!

Over the Top Squares (Brown Sugar Squares)

1/2 cup butter                 
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar                    
1 tsp. baking powder
2 egg yolks
pinch salt
1 egg white
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add well-beaten egg yolks and 1 egg white.
2. Sift flour and baking powder and salt. Then add vanilla. Spread this mixture
into an 8 X 8 pan. I covered this layer with chocolate chips. MMM.
3. Beat remaining egg white til stiff and add 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, &
1/2 cup chopped walnuts. (Chocolate chips or butterscotch chips work great too!)
Spread on top and bake 30 minutes at 350.

Whoopie Pies

Mix and cool: ½ c. cocoa & ½ c. hot water
Mix with the following ingredients until creamy:
1 ½ cups sugar
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. bak. soda
½ c. sour milk
1 tsp. bak. powder
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ¾ c. flour
½ c. shortening
Bake on greased cookie sheet 15 min @ 350˚.

Filling
Thicken over low heat and cool:3 tbsps. flour,¾ c. milk, pinch salt
Cream: ¾ c. sugar, ¾ c. shortening, 1 tsp. vanilla
Add to flour mixture and beat until fluffy. Spread between 2 cookies.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 cups butter
12 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cups sugar
8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
2 ½ cups oatmeal
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cups chopped nuts

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Chocolate Mint Bars

Bottom Layer:
1 C. Flour
½ t. Salt
1 C. Sugar
½ c. egg substitute
¼ C. Butter, melted
2 T Water
1 t. Vanilla
2 Large Eggs, beaten
16 oz. Chocolate Syrup
Cooking Spray

Mint Layer:
2 C. Powdered Sugar
¼ C. Butter, melted
2 tbsps. Skim Milk
½ tsp. Peppermint Extract
2 Drops Food Coloring (optional)

Icing:
¾ C. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
3 T Butter

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Combine flour and salt. Stir with a whisk. In another bowl, combine remaining bottom layer ingredients. Stir until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix well. Pour batter into a 13×9 pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Combine mint layer ingredients in mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Icing: Combine chocolate chips and butter and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave another 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted. Let stand for 2 minutes. Spread over mint layer.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

** Use Raspberry Extract and Red food coloring. (Christmas Colors) Also very good.

** These bars get better after a day or so in the fridge so they are great to make a day ahead of time. Serve chilled.

Chocolate Spritz Cookies

½ c. shortening
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
2 squares unsweetened chocolate-melted and cooled
2 tbsps. milk

Cream shortening. Add sugar and cream thoroughly. Add unbeaten egg. Alternately add milk and flour that has been sifted with salt. Mix in the cooled chocolate. Fill a cookie press. Form cookies on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with nonpareils and bake in 400º oven for 8-10 minutes.

Pistachio Pineapple Pie (EASY)

1 box pistachio instant pudding

1 12-oz can crushed pineapple (drain juice)

1/2 of a 9-oz. container of Cool Whip

1 chocolate cookie crumb pie shell

Mix all these ingredients together and put into the crust. Top with the remaining

Cool Whip.

Cracker Cookies (sound weird but are incredible!)

Heat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

1 1/2 sticks butter

1/2 cup sugar

Unsalted Saltines (go figure on that one)

12 oz package chocolate chips

1 cup slivered almonds or some other nut

Boil butter and sugar and pour over saltines.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return to the oven for 10 seconds to soften.

Spread like frosting.

Sprinkle liberally with nuts.

Cool, score them, (make lines with a knife), chill, and then break into chunks.

Can be frozen.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Cake

3-4 packages ladyfingers

1 can of raspberry pie filling

11 oz. cream cheese (1 large & 1 small package)

3/4 sugar

1 pint of heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Mix cream cheese & 3/4 cup sugar.

2. Whip heavy cream with 2 tbsps. sugar and vanilla

3. Add both 1 and 2 mixtures together

Layer lady fingers, puffy side out around a springform pan. They should be standing up.

Line the bottom of the pan with the ladyfingers, then cream cheese mix, and continue til you reach the top of the pan. Spread the top with the raspberry pie filling

Time to add some Christmas spirit to CookWomanFood! One real surefire way to do this is by baking Christmas cookies.  All kinds. This is the time of year to not say goodbye to the diet but rather a more see ya later. A couple weeks of nibbling on some delectable morsels will not expand the thighs and hips to the point of no return, hopefully, (unless addiction is an issue, then I suppose it would be best to click here and get it over with fast.)  So my Christmas gift to all of you is an assortment of my favorite cookies. I hope you can integrate them into your celebrations! If you are a die-hard, hard-core, no sweets for me, then get in the spirit, bake them up, and give them away. Bring them to work, you’ll be the hero of the office. Just make sure to use quality ingredients. Forget about the low fat, sugar substitutes, and cheaper brands. Use butter, sugar, brown sugar, quality cocoa, and Crisco or top name vegetable oil. Make sure the flour, baking powder, and baking soda are fresh and the vanilla is pure, not the imitation. Use these ingredients and it will be evident that these recipes are truly a gift.

Butter Spritz

1 cup butter                              ½ cup sugar

2 ¼ cups flour                           ¼ tsp. salt

1 jumbo egg, 2 small                  ¼ tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. nutmeg                            (2 squares melted chocolate can be added)

Heat oven to 400º. Beat sugar and butter. Stir in rest of ingredients.

Place mixture in cookie press and decorate.

Bake 5-8 minutes til set.

Italian Cookies

3 eggs                                      ¾ – 1 cup sugar

½ cup oil or butter                    4 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder                 ½ cup milk

½ of 1 oz. bottle anise extract

Oil hands to handle dough. Roll into balls. Bake in 350º oven on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes. 

When cooled, frost with icing and add nonpareils.

Frosting: 1 box powdered sugar, milk, and 1-2 drops anise.

Nut Balls

1 cup butter, softened              ½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla                              2 ¼ cup flour

¼ tsp. salt                                 ¾ cup chopped nuts

Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add in flour, salt and nuts. Chill dough, roll into 1 inch balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets in 400ºoven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven, roll in powdered sugar. Cool and then re-roll in sugar.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

2 cups sugar                             ¾ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup cocoa                              4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla                             2 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder                 ½ salt

powder sugar

 Stir sugar and oil. Add cocoa. Blend well. Add in eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to cocoa mixture. Refrigerate for 5 hours.  Roll into 1 inch balls and then in powdered sugar. Bake 12-14 minutes, 2 inches apart, and bake on greased cookie sheets in a 350º oven.

Cocoa Kiss Cookies

1 cup butter                              2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla                              1 2/3 cup flour

¼ cup cocoa                              1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)

1 bag Hershey Kisses                powdered sugar

 Beat butter, sugar, vanilla til creamy. Stir together flour and cocoa and add to butter mixture. Beat until well blended.  Add nuts if desired and refrigerate 1 hour. Shape dough, about a tablespoon, around a kiss. Shape into a ball. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet, 10-12 minutes in a 375ºoven. Roll in powdered sugar when cool.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1 ¾ cup flour                             ½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar                    1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt                                 ½ cup butter

½ cup peanut butter                  2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla                              1 egg

sugar for rolling                       Hershey Kisses

 Mix all ingredients. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 375ºoven. Immediately press Kiss into cookie and remove from sheet.