Iris' Butter Cookies
Ingredients & Directions 3/4 c Butter; plus 2 tb Butter – (14 tbspns); -softened 5 tb Granulated sugar 2 c All-purpose flour 1 pn Salt 1 tb Vanilla 3 tb Water 1 c Chopped pecans Powdered Sugar Frosting; -(see recipe) Or jam Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add flour, salt, vanilla and water; mix well. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate dough 15 to 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls on ungreased baking sheets; press center of each ball with back side of floured 1/4-teaspoon measuring spoon. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until set and slightly brown around edges. When cool, filled centers with red or green frosting or jam. Yields about 7 dozen 1-inch cookies. Tester’s notes: outstanding recipe for flavor and appearance. Refrigerated dough is slightly sticky when shaping into balls. I would suggest freezing the cookies without the frosting; add the frosting a day or so before serving. Store in an airtight container. Yields 84 servings
Shortbread
Ingredients & Directions 2 1/2 c Flour, all purpose 1/2 c Fruit sugar 1/2 lb Butter Mix flour and sugar. Rub in butter, soft but not oily. Gather into a ball, roll out 1/4 – 1/2 in. 300F oven, 25-35 minutes. Yields 40 servings
Settin' 'round Bread
Ingredients & Directions 1/4 C Water 1 1/2 t Honey -(at 105 degrees) 1/8 t Cinnamon, ground 1/3 C Turbinado sugar 1/2 C Rolled oats -(most any sugar will 1/2 C Cornmeal -do, though) 1/4 C Bran 2 pk Yeast (dry), active 1/4 C Cracked wheat 1/4 C Butter 1/4 C Buckwheat 1/4 C Shortening 1/2 C Soy flour 1 1/2 C Water 1 C Rye flour 1/2 C Milk 2 1/2 C Whole wheat flour 1 lg Egg 3 C White flour 1 C Dry milk, non-fat Butter 1 1/2 t Salt Melt the shortening and the butter. Let them cool a bit, so as not to kill the yeast when they are added to the dough. If you want to scald the milk, do so, and also let it cool (it is common practice to scald milk before baking with it, though I never do.) Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the 1/4 cup of lukewarm water. Mix the cinnamon, oats, corn meal, bran, cracked wheat, buckwheat, soy flour and rye flour. Add the rest of the water, the milk, butter, shortening, egg and honey, and mix well. Stir in the dissolved yeast mixture. Mix in the salt and the whole wheat flour. Stir in the white flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until the mixture is stiff enough to knead. You’ll probably have about half of it left. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, onto a floured surface. Knead the dough, adding more white flour as necessary to keep the dough workable. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about ten minutes. It’s okay if you end up using less than or more than the three cups of white flour; just use whatever it takes. Put the dough back into a bowl that’s been very lightly greased. Let it rise, covered, in a still, warm place (around 85 degrees F. is best, though room temperature will work) for 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in bulk. Punch the dough down, divide in half, shape into loaves and place each half into a loaf pan which has been very lightly greased. Let rise again, for another 45 minutes, in a still, warm place, until the loaves have about doubled in bulk. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. as the bread finishes rising. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the loaf pans and rub the top of the loaves with some butter to give them a nice, soft, chewy crust. NOTES: * A 7-grain bread for toasting or eating plain — This bread was first made from whatever was settin’ ’round the kitchen when I started baking. It has a wonderful texture and flavor. Yield: 2 large loaves. : Difficulty: moderate. : Time: about 3 hours (half of it rising time). : Precision: approximate measurement OK. : Alan M. Marcum : Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, California : sun!nescorna!marcum : Yields 2 loaves
Ginger Cake With Ginger Cream
Ingredients & Directions ———————-ESSENCE OF EMERIL #EE2188———————- 4 Eggs, separated 3/4 c Plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 ts Vanilla 1 pn Salt 3/4 c Flour 1 ts Powdered ginger 4 tb (2 ounces) unsalted butter, Melted and cooled to room Temperature -GINGER SYRUP- 1 c Sugar 1 1/4 c Water 1 oz Ginger root stem, peeled and Rough chopped -GINGER CREAM- 1 c Heavy cream 1/4 c Sugar 2 tb Finely chopped candied Ginger 8 Mint sprigs, for garnish 8 sm Pieces of candied ginger, For garnish Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. Combine the egg yolks and 3/4 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl, and whisk until thick and light in color. Stir in the vanilla. Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat until glossy, 15 to 20 seconds more. Incorporate 1/3 of the whites into the egg mixture. Combine the flour and the ginger, mix well. Then sift 1/4 cup of flour mixture over the egg mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula. Repeat, folding in whites and flour mixture until the last of the batch of flour is nearly incorporated. Then fold in the melted butter. Pout the batter into the prepared pan, and bake just until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and remove from the pan. Whip the sugar and cream until soft peaks form. Remove the cake from the pan, and place on a pretty plate. Using a pastry brush, moisten the cake with the ginger syrup. Fold the finely chopped ginger into the whipped cream, and ice the cake with the cream. Decorate with candied ginger and mint. Dust with powdered sugar. Ginger syrup: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool and use the syrup to moisten cakes, sweeten tea, or over your ice cream. Nutritional information per serving: xx calories, xx gm protein, xxx mg cholesterol, xx gm carbohydrate, xxx mg sodium, x gm fiber, xx gm fat (x gm sat, x gm mono, x gm poly), x mg iron, xx mg calcium, xx% of calories from fat. Brought to you by MMCONV and Sylvia Steiger, SylviaRN (at) compuserve (dot) com (change characters as needed, this is to prevent bulk E-mailers from capturing my address), moderator of GT Cookbook and FringeNet Lowfat & Luscious echoes, creator of Frazzled Cook breadmachine mixes, homepage Yields 1 servings
White Chocolate Cheesecake
Ingredients & Directions Crust—– 1 1/2 c Chocolate Cookie Crumbs 3 tb Butter — melted Filling—– 24 oz Cream Cheese — softened 1/2 c Sugar 1/2 ts Vanilla 3 Eggs 1/2 lb White Chocolate — melted heat oven to 350F. Mix crumbs and butter and press onto bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla at medium until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in the white chocolate. Pour over crust. Bake for 35 minutes and turn oven off and let cool in oven for at least an hour. Loosen cake from rim of pan and continue cooling. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (best if over night). I like to garnish this with dollops of whipped cream and a sprinkling of crushed chcoclate cookies. Yields 1 Servings
Homemade Slice And Bake Chocolate Wafer Cookies
Ingredients & Directions 2 c Butter or margarine 2 1/2 c Granulated sugar 3 Eggs 2 ts Vanilla extract 5 c Unbleached flour 1 ts Baking soda 1 1/4 c Unsweetened cocoa powder Cut four 14″ x 12″ pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Set aside. In a bowl, cream butter or margarine with the sugar. Beat in vanilla extract and eggs until light and fluffy. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cocoa. Stir flour mixture into egg and butter mixture; blend well. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into an 8″ – 10″ roll. Wrap rolls in waxed paper. Place the rolls in a rectangular freezer container with a tight fitting lid, or into a large freezer zip-lock bag, or wrap well in a piece of heavy duty To prepare cookies: Slightly thaw one roll of chocolate wafer cookie dough. Preheat oven to 350?. Cut the dough into 1/4″ thick slices. Arrange cut pieces on lightly greased cookie sheets, placing about 1/2″ apart. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or unt Makes 4 rolls of cookie dough, or enough for about 12 dozen cookies. Yields 4 Servings
Passion Fruit Tarts
Ingredients & Directions FILLING 1/2 c Unsalted butter; melted 3/4 c Sugar 2 lg Eggs; lightly beaten 1/2 c Passion fruit juice; (see -Note) -CRUST- 2 1/4 c All-purpose flour 3/4 ts Salt 1/2 c Lard; cut into eight pieces 1/4 c Unsalted butter; cut into 4 -pieces 3 tb Ice water 1/2 c Coarsely chopped pistachio -nuts; for garnish TOO HOT TAMALES SHOW #TH6215 For the filling: In the top of a double boiler, whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, and passion fruit juice until the mixture is thick and will hold a line, about 12 minutes. Transfer the double boiler insert to a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water, and stir occasionally until cool. The mixture will be quite thick. For the crust: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, the salt, lard, and butter and rub together with the tips of your fingertips until the mixture resembles small peas. Add the remaining 1/4 cup flour and bring together into a rough mass. Add the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time and press into the mixture with a fork or your fingertips just until the mixture adheres into a dough. You may not need all the ice water. Press the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 2 hours. To assemble the tarts: Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick and, using a small plate or a cardboard template, cut the dough into six 4 1/2 inch diameter rounds. Transfer the rounds to 2 baking sheets, prick all over with a fork, and freeze for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake the tart bases for 12 to 15 minutes, until slightly golden. Using a large heavy spatula, transfer them to a rack (they crumble easily) and, when cool, spread with a nice thick layer of the passionfruit curd almost out to the edges of the pastry. Scatter the pistachio nuts around the very edges of the tarts and serve. Yield: 6 servings Note: Unsweetened passion fruit juice, which is very sour, is sometimes available frozen. Or, in season scoop out and, if desired (it is not necessary), strain the pulp of 1 passion fruit for each 2 tablespoons juice required. If you use regular store-bought passion fruit juice, which has been sweetened, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for each 1/2 cup of the juice. Yields 1 Servings
