Reindeer Cookies

So easy, so cute, a great way to get kids involved in baking. My little one loved pressing in the red smarties on the cookies to make Rudolf's nose and chocolate chips for eyes. The pretzels were a little more complicated so I took care of that part.

Just use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with the chocolate chips omitted, or a peanut butter cookie recipe if you prefer.

TWD Café Volcano Cookie failure & Turtle Shortbread Bars

I don't know what went wrong with these but they are my first (and hopefully my last) Dorie recipe failure. They didn't stick together and they stuck badly to the pan. Judging from other TWD bloggers they were quite tasty! Maybe I will try them again the next time I'm feeling adventurous.

To make up for my Café volcano cookie failure, I made these decadent turtle shortbread bars. They have a shortbread base covered in a sticky yet soft caramel and topped with pecans and chocolate. They look fabulous on a cookie tray and they cut beautifully (after they have cooled fully). To make them even more tempting, they are super easy and quick to make. The recipe is from one of Robert Rose's publications. It is called Bars and Squares by Jill Snider and is surprisingly full of great recipes that use ordinary ingredients without reliance on cake mixes or pre-made doughs (although a few recipes in the book do use these convenience items). Lately I've been really into Robert Rose books as they are often specific to a type of method or item such as "125 Best Cheesecake Recipes" by George Greary or "250 Best Muffin Recipes" by Esther Brody. Both the aforementioned books have some real gems in them.

Turtle Shortbread Bars
Makes 9 x 13 inch pan

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened

1 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor or mixer, combine flour, brown sugar and butter mixing until it is crumbly. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan. (I like the glass ones for more even baking and removal of bars). Bake for 10-15 until it begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with pecans.
2. While base is baking, melt together butter and brown sugar in a saucepan, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil, bubbles should appear all over the surface. It will be quite a thin/runny consistency. That's OK! Pour it evenly over the pecans in the baking pan. Return to oven for 10-15 minutes, until it looks almost set.
3. When done, remove from oven and sprinkle immediately with chocolate chips. Let stand for 3 minutes then gently drag the tip of a knife over the chocolate to swirl slightly. Leave the majority of chocolate chips whole/unswirled. Cool fully in pan before cutting.

Raspberry Jam Breakfast Bars

It's fortunate that this recipe makes a lot of bars because they are so addictive. Nancy Silverton describes these as "the single most addictive pastry" that they sell in her bakery. The recipe comes from: Pastries from La Brea. I don't know why this book only got 4/5 stars on Amazon. I loved it and thought it was a real gem! The only negative I can see is that some recipes are more involved and require some advance prep for chilling/rising times, but the results are always stellar.

Don't be put off by the 1 lb of butter called for in this recipe. It makes a lot of bars - a whole jelly-roll pan full!!! With a food processor they come together in minutes (but require 1+ hrs to chill before baking). These sturdy jam bars travel well and unlike other crumble topped bars the topping actually stays on instead of falling off when you pick them up!

Raspberry Jam Breakfast Bars
Nancy Silverton | 10"x16" tray

crust
4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups butter, chilled and cubed

2 cups raspberry jam

streusel
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
10 tbsp butter, cubed
1 egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS:
1. For crust, combine all dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until dough begins to come together. Turn onto floured surface and roll into a 10x16 inch rectangle. Place on jelly roll pan lined with parchment or silicone liner. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
2. Prepare the topping. Combine all streusel ingredients in a food processor except butter and egg. Add butter and pulse until resembles coarse meal. Transfer to a bowl and add beaten egg, tossing with your hands. It should be crumbly and uneven. Chill until ready to use.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake crust for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden. Spread raspberry jam over the crust, leaving 1/4 inch uncovered around the edges. Cover with steusel topping and bake for another 40 minutes, until golden. Cool thoroughly before cutting into bars.

Bendy PB Chocolate Cookies

These were supposed to be individual cookies but they spread so much they ended up being one giant cookie which I cut into fingers with a pizza wheel. Appearance-wise, not so pretty. Tastewise, heavenly! These cookies are thin, flat and very bendy. Not crisp, not puffy, not crunchy, not cakey, not fudgey. Just thin and bendy. Does that make sense?

This is the kind of recipe thas is destined to make soft cookies.... ie. it would be really hard to make a crispy cookie from this recipe even if overbaked. Don't ask me about the recipe science behind that statement, that's just my observation :)

Even if you don't like peanut butter much, still give these a try. They're not too peanut buttery, but having the pb in there helps give them their awesome texture.

Bendy PB Chocolate Cookies
Makes 24 - 2" cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (honey roasted is nice)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Combine fully.
3. Stir together all dry ingredients including chips and nuts in a separate bowl then dump into butter mixture. Combine fully using a wooden spoon.
4. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased pan. Leave space - they spread! Flatten with a fork dipped in sugar. Bake 10-15 mins until edges are golden brown.

Starbucks' Cranberry Bliss Bars

It's funny how well Starbucks has got us trained...
Frappuccinos = Summer
Pumpkin Spice Lattes = Thanksgiving
Cranberry Bliss Bars = Christmas!!!

Well, this recipe brings some of that holiday cheer into your very own home from your very own oven. Adapted from Recipezaar (#341328).

For those of you who haven't tried them in store, they are similar to a ginger-spiced blondie packed with craisins and white chocolate and covered in a dreamy slightly tangy cream cheese frosting. The bright red dried cranberries provides an eye catching contrast to the stark white frosting - excellent presentation and addition to your holiday spread.



Starbucks' Cranberry Bliss Bars
9x13 pan

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
6 ounces white chocolate, small chunks
1/3 cup candied ginger, finely chopped

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
1/4 cup white chocolate, melted for drizzling

Bars: Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper. (You could use a 10"x15" jelly roll pan for thinner bars, just watch baking time).

Cream butter and brown sugar in electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, but do not over mix. Add dry ingredients in small amounts, scraping down the mixer bowl occasionally. Fold in cranberries, chocolate, and candied ginger.

Spread batter over parchment on pan and bake for 30 minutes or until bars are lightly pulling away from sides of pan and are slightly firm to the touch. Cool.

Frosting: In another electric mixer, blend softened cream cheese with powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, orange juice and orange zest. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When bars are cool, spread frosting evenly on top and sprinkle with chopped dried cranberries. Drizzle with melted white chocolate and return to refrigerator or freezer to set. To serve, cut into triangle shaped pieces. Store in the refrigerator.

TWD: Sables

Barbara of Bungalow Barbara picked Sablés, pages 131-133, for this week's Dorie recipe. Thank you Barbara!!! These are perfect for the holidays and my son gobbled up 3 cookies the moment they were cool enough to pick up off the pan.



Dorie says that in France the sable cookie is so common it is viewed the way we do our chocolate chip cookie. Well, I better move to France then, 'cause I could eat these little rounds every day. The buttery flavor really sings and they are tender yet flaky all at once.

While these were nice for a change, I think I will still stick to my regular tried-and-true shortbread from Nancy Silverton's La Brea recipe book.

Deep Fried Wontons

I used my new deep fryer for the first time! I have a Presto 1L deep fryer which I bought on Black Friday. I feel kinda trashy saying that I bought a deep fryer! LOL -

These days with everyone being health-conscious and intently watching their food intakes I feel guilty for indulging in the act of deep-frying. But, truth be told, I am in love. I'm keenly on the lookout for deep fried food recipes since all I can think about is using it again and swooning about the goodies I can make with my new favorite appliance.

I made deep fried wontons last night and they turned out so crispy and perfect that I just had to blog about them (even though they are not a dessert and this blog was meant to be mainly for sweets). These wontons would be great as an appetizer too. Heated up in the toaster oven the second day they are just as crisp and delicious. Surprisingly, they were not too time consuming to make and wrap and since you can prep them ahead of time and freeze them, they could even become part of a quick and easy weeknight menu!



Fried Wontons
Makes approx. 50 | Adapted from Joy of Cooking

1 pound ground pork or chicken
4 stalks scallion, finely minced
2 tbsp corn starch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped (or celery)
4 tbsp minced carrot

1 pkg wonton wrappers, covered with a damp towel (I used about 50 pcs)
1 egg, beaten

Combine all ingredients except for wonton wrappers and egg.
Working in batches of 10, place a teaspoon of filling in th emiddle of each wonton skin. Moisten edges of wrapper with beateh egg and fold the corners together to form a little pouch. Place in a large bowl while you fill the rest of them. (At this point they can be frozen and cooked at a later date).
To fry: Heat oil to 375 degrees F and place wontons in for about 4-5 minutes per batch or until cooked through. They will be a dark golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towel.
***Alternatively, for a healthier meal, you could make wonton soup. Boil these instead in chicken stock until they are cooked.

Multi-Grain Bread with Sesame, Flax and Poppy Seeds

If you want a hearty, filling bread that is just perfect for the cold and icky weather outside, this is the loaf for you. Goes great with turkey soup and lots of butter!

Despite all the grains this loaf still rose nice and high with a perfectly moist crumb and great texture. I expected it to be a little on the heavy side but it was not at all. I also threw in some sunflower seeds - about 1/4 cup.

Multi-Grain Bread with Sesame, Flax and Poppy Seeds
1 loaf | Bon Appétit, February 1995

1/2 cup unsweetened multi-grain cereal (such as 7-grain)
2 cups boiling water
1 envelope dry yeast
4 1/3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons flax seeds
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 cups water

Place cereal in large bowl. Pour 2 cups boiling water over. Let stand until mixture cools to between 105°F. and 115°F., about 20 minutes.
Sprinkle yeast over cereal. Add 1 cup bread flour, oil, sugar and salt and stir until smooth. Gradually mix in enough remaining bread flour to form dough. Cover dough; let rest 15 minutes.

Turn out dough onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 10 minutes. Oil large bowl. Add dough to bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 hour.

Mix all seeds in bowl. Punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly oiled surface. Knead briefly. Shape into 12x4-inch loaf.Sprinkle baking sheet with 2 teaspoons seeds. Place loaf atop seeds. Cover with towel. Let rise in warm area until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

Position 1 oven rack in center and 1 just below center in oven. Place baking pan on lower rack and preheat oven to 425°F. Brush loaf with water. Sprinkle with remaining seed mixture. Using sharp knife, cut 3 diagonal slashes in surface of loaf. Place baking sheet with loaf in oven. Immediately pour 2 cups water into hot pan on lower rack in oven (water will steam).

Bake loaf until golden and crusty and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.(Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic; store at room temperature.)

Cinnamon Bun Cookies

December is definitely moving along quickly!!! We put up our tree but haven't done gingerbread houses or gone to see Santa yet. The nice thing is that I've done most of my Christmas shopping. I hate wrapping gifts though and usually procrastinate giftwrapping as long as I can. I'm kind of a tree hugger so I think that passive-aggressively comes into play. I hate all that wrapping paper being wasted and would honestly rather receive a gift wrapped in newspaper/old magazines.

To make these cookies I used a Recipezaar cookie dough for Cream Cheese Cut-Outs. Next I rolled it out, sprinkled a white sugar-cinnamon mixture on it, chilled it, sliced and baked at 375 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. When they were cool I made sandwich cookies filled with a thick, cream cheese frosting. I think sugar cookie dough would work equally well here although the cream cheese gives a nice tang to the dough to offset the cinnamon sugar sweetness.

Magnolia's Raspberry Cream Cheese Buns

I, a little Canadian girl, survived Black Friday. LOL. I was feeling brave and adventurous last week so my mom, sis and I went down to Seattle on Thursday after work and shopped till we dropped. I could not believe the line ups at Target even just to pay. But, I got a $3 crock pot and a $20 deep fryer, so it's worth it. One line up I wouldn't stand in is at Coach. I couldn't believe it - 2x around the block! It was super fun and your adrenaline gets going and you forget you're even tired in the first place. I wish I were American, cause Black Friday rocks!

Things I want to make with my new deep fryer: donut holes, samosas, spring rolls, churros, apple or banana fritters, deep fried mars bars (do I dare?!)

OK... on to the real yummy stuff.



These are from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and are wonderfully fluffy and moist, not too sweet or heavy. The cookbook has some good recipes but a lot of duplication of recipes between this and other Magnolia recipe books. This is one of those books I'd recommend checking out of the library instead of buying. A lot of Magnolia recipes are also online. The Magnolia Bakery has 3 locations in New York. Dammit, I want to go to NY - all the good food is there!!! Junior's Cheesecake and Magnolia plus more! I just wonder why they call them buns and not muffins because they sure look like muffins to me! Either way, they're well worth the 5 minutes it takes to throw them together.

The book writes:
These buns have been our most popular breakfast item at the bakery since the first day we opened our doors. The flavors of the cream cheese and the preserves work really well together.

Magnolia's Raspberry Cream Cheese Buns
Makes 12

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
one 8-oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Drop 3 small dollops (about a teaspoonful each) of raspberry preserves onto the top of each bun and, using the tip of a sharp knife, swirl the preserves into the batter, forming a decorative pattern. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the bun comes out clean. Allow the buns to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.