Oatmeal Christmas Cookies

Becky brought these to the cookie exchange...yumm-o!!

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup Crisco

1 cup brown sugar firmly packed

1 egg

1 ½ cup flour

½ t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1 ½ cup oats

½ cup crushed peppermint candy

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 or 4 Tablespoons milk

¼ t. peppermint extract

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream Crisco and brown sugar together. Blend in egg. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and then mix well with Crisco mix. Stir in oats and peppermint. Shape dough to form 1 ½ inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheet; flatten with tines of fork. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool one minute before removing from cookie sheet.

For glaze, combine all ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over cooled cookies

Makes 2 ½ dozen

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

(recipe from my mother-in-law, Suzi Dayton)

1 c butter or crisco (I do 1/2 & 1/2)
2 1/2 c flour
1 c powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t almond extract
1 t vanilla
1 t salt
1/2 t red food coloring
1/2 c sugar & 1/2 c crushed peppermint for topping

Mix first seven ingredients, then divide dough in half. Tint half of dough w/ red food coloring. Allow dough to chill in fridge for an hour or two. Roll sections of red & white dough into long ropes on a well floured surface. Twist sections to form candy canes*. Bake 9 - 10 minutes at 375 degrees. While still hot, top with suger & crushed peppermint mixture.

*If you are making 6 dozen & don't want to pull your hair out, just mix some white & red dough into balls to form round cookies :)

Divinity candy

(*you will need a stand-mixer to make this & a candy thermometer)

Mix in a medium saucepan:

• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups sugar

-Cover pan and slowly bring mixture to a boil.

-Uncover and continue boiling without stirring until mixture reaches soft-ball stage (235 degrees). Remove from heat.

-In your stand mixing bowl, beat 2 egg whites till stiff. Gradually add half of the syrup mixture to egg whites, beating vigorously.

-Let mixture stand while you cook the rest of the syrup to hard-ball stage (250 degrees).

-Pour the rest of the mixture slowly over egg white mixture, beating continuously. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and beat until mixture is dull (not shiny...basically you are letting it beat in the bowl until the mixture has cooled and will hold its form when you drop it onto wax paper)

-Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper.

- Put walnut or pecan half in center of each candy.

- Let it stand & cool.

Tricolor Pinwheels

Don't you love the "Seventeen" 70's magazine photo?!? I love that my mom still had this...

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

7 to 8 drops red food coloring

7 to 8 drops green food coloring

Powdered sugar

Start these cookies early in the day. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. With a mixer beat at low speed for about 3 minutes until dough is smooth. Divide dough into three portions. Mix red food coloring into one third. Mix green coloring into another third. Leave the rest plain. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 2 hours. Divide each portion in half to make six portions. Sprinkle powdered sugar onto a sheet of waxed paper. With lightly sugared rolling pin, roll out a portion of green dough on the waxed paper to form a 10-by-six rectangle. On separate sheets of waxed paper do the same with one portion each of the red and the plain dough. Invert plain dough rectangle over green one. Peel off wax paper. repeat with red dough. Starting at the long side roll dough tightly, jelly-roll fashion, peeling back the waxed paper on the bottom while rolling. Wrap roll; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Rolled dough will keep in the refrigerator up to a week. Repeat the procedure with the other three dough. Preheat oven to 350. Slice each roll in 1/4 inch slices. Place slices on lightly greased cookie sheets one inch apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 60-80 cookies.

*Note to self: only use real stick butter!! (no butter tubs or margarine! :{ )

One more note to self: taking these out of the oven just slightly before they are done will make them softer!

Spiced Apple & Pomegranate Cider

Several have asked for the recipe of the Apple & Pomegranate cider I made at the Trunk Show. It is easy to double or even triple in a big pot if you’ve got a big group coming.

Servings: about 7 cups (10 6-ounce servings)

Prep: 10 mins

Total: 15 mins

Ingredients:

4 cups apple cider

2 1/2 cups pomegranate juice (I had to use cranberry-pomegranate juice and it was still good)

6 to 8 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/3 cup orange juice

2 3-inch cinnamon sticks

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan combine apple cider, pomegranate juice, brown sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. (For the party, I just left it on the cooktop on the lowest simmer setting for everyone to ladle into a mug.)

2. Discard cinnamon sticks. Serve warm. If desired, garnish with additional cinnamon sticks and pomegranates.

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Popcorn

Another hit from the other night was the White Chocolate Popcorn. It is also super easy to make.

Ingredients:

microwave popcorn

white chocolate squares (use the pre-cut 2 oz. squares found on baking aisle)

When it’s just me and Wade, I use a 100-calorie small popcorn packet and (1) 2 oz. square of chocolate. That’s a perfect amount for just us. Or you can use a regular size packet of popcorn and (2) 2 oz. squares, which will serve 4+ people.

Directions:

• Pop the popcorn according to directions.
• Melt the white chocolate square in the microwave 30 seconds at a time (usually 3 times). I also cut up the square before I put it in the microwave, so it melts easier and more even.
• Put half of popped popcorn in a plastic tub with lid.
• Pour half of melted chocolate over the popcorn.
• Pour rest of popcorn on top and remaining melted chocolate on top of that.
• Cover tub with lid and shake it up good to evenly distribute the chocolate.
• Pour all of it out and onto wax paper.
• Let sit for about 10 minutes to dry.
• Enjoy and be prepared to be addicted!

I used this as Halloween treats for Tate’s preschool teachers and will use them as little Christmas gifts for our neighbors. It’s easy to put in plastic goodie bags with a cute ribbon.