Sweetheart Jamwiches
February 10, 2012 By 2 Comments
Sweetheart Jamwiches
Makes 23
1 (15 Ounce) Package Refrigerated Piecrusts
1 Egg White, Lightly Beaten
2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 (3 Ounce) Package Cream Cheese, Softened
¼ Cup Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
½ Teaspoon Almond Extract
½ (10 Ounce) Jar Seedless Raspberry Preserves or Strawberry Jam
½ Cup White Chocolate Morsels
Red Sparkling Sugar, Optional
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Unfold piecrusts on a lightly floured surface and roll to press out fold lines. Cut with a 2-inch, heartshaped cookie cutter. Reroll remaining dough and repeat procedure. (There should be a total of 46 pastry hearts.) Brush one side of each pastry heart with egg white and sprinkle evenly with granulated sugar. Place pastry hearts on two ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookies to wire racks and let cool. Stir together cream cheese, powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and almond extract until blended.
- Spread cream-cheese mixture evenly over unsuguared side of half of the heart cookies, followed by about ½ teaspoon preserves. Top with remaining hearts, unsugared sides down.
- Microwave white morsels and 1 tablespoon butter in a glass bowl on high for 1 minute or until melted. Stir mixture until smooth; seal in a small, heavy-duty zip-top bag. Snip a tiny hole in one corner, then drizzle mixture over tarts. Cool completely; sprinkle with red sugar and place in candy boxes, if desired.
Source: MyRecipes.com
Chocolate Meringue Kisses
February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Chocolate Meringue Kisses
Makes 4 Dozen
4 Large Egg Whites, At Room Temperature
¼ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Confectioners’ Sugar
¼ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
- Preheat oven to 225ºF. Line 2 large rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, increase speed to high and whip until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add granulated sugar and continue beating until whites are stiff and shiny.
- In a separate bowl, sift confectioners’ sugar with cocoa to blend. Working in thirds, sprinkle cocoa mixture over egg whites and gently fold in until thoroughly incorporated. Transfer to a large Ziplock bag. Seal bag, pinching out excess air. Snip off a small piece of one bottom corner of bag. Pipe out meringues through hole onto cookie sheets, forming small “kisses,” about 2 inches in diameter. Bake for 1 hour, until meringues are firm and dry. Turn oven off and let meringues sit in oven for 15 minutes.
- Let meringues cool on sheets on wire racks, then gently peel kisses off parchment paper. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Source: MyRecipes.com
Heart-Shaped Spice Cookies
February 7, 2012 By 2 Comments
Heart-Shaped Spice Cookies
Makes 7 Dozen
2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
⅛ Teaspoon Salt
16 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
1 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- In a large bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, and beat until mixture forms a stiff yet pliable dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment. Roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place cookies about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake until cookies are firm in center, about 10 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
Source: MyRecipes.com
Lite N’ Easy Crustless Pumpkin Pie
December 18, 2011 By 8 Comments
Lite N’ Easy Crustless Pumpkin Pie
Serves 8
2 Tablespoons Water
2 Envelopes (7 Grams Each) Unflavored Gelatin
2 ¼ Cups Nestle Carnation Evaporated Lowfat Milk, Divided
1 ¾ Cups (15-Ounce Can) Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
½ Cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar or Low Calorie Sweetener Equivalent
2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Coat 9-inch deep-dish pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place water in medium bowl; sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes or until softened. Bring 1 cup evaporated milk just to a boil in small saucepan. Slowly stir hot evaporated milk into gelatin. Stir in remaining evaporated milk, pumpkin, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture into prepared pie plate. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
Recipe Credit: Nestle Toll-House All-Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes
Photo Credit: Very Best Baking
Pumpkin Cheese-Swirled Pie
December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Pumpkin Cheese-Swirled Pie
Serves 8
1 Unbaked 9-inch (4-Cup Volume) Deep-Dish Pie Shell
1 Package (3 Ounces) Cream Cheese, Softened
½ Cup Light Corn Syrup, Divided
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract (Optional)
1 Cup Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
½ Cup Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
¼ Teaspoon Salt
- Beat cream cheese in small mixer bowl until fluffy. Gradually add ¼ cup corn syrup and, if desired, vanilla extract; beat until smooth.
- Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, remaining corn syrup, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt in medium bowl. Pour into pie shell. Drop cream cheese mixture by rounded tablespoon onto pumpkin filling. Swirl mixture with spoon, pulling pumpkin mixture up to surface.
- Bake in preheated 325ºF oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
Recipe Credit: Nestle Toll-House All-Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes
Photo Credit: Meals.com
Cranberry Chocolate Crunch Bark
December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Cranberry Chocolate Crunch Bark
Serves 32
1 Package (20 Ounces) Vanilla- or Chocolate-Flavored Almond Bark, Coarsely Chopped
¾ Cup Almonds
¾ Cup Sweetened Dried Cranberries
2 Cups Crisp Rice Cereal
- Place a bar pan (either glass, aluminum, or stoneware) into the freezer for at least 1 hour. (If there is no room in the freezer and it’s cold outside, place the bar pan outside or in the garage.)
- Cover a large cutting board with a sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper.
- Place almond bark into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave bark 2-3 minutes or just until melted, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, coarsely chop nuts.
- Coat a small frying pan with cooking spray and toast nuts at a medium low temperature until golden brown. Keep an eye on the nuts so they don’t burn.
- Remove from heat and add cranberries to the pan. Stir until combined.
- Stir cereal and half of the nut mixture into melted bark.
- Pour bark mixture onto parchment, spreading evenly. Immediately sprinkle with remaining nut m
ixture and press lightly onto surface of bark. - Remove bar pan from freezer. Slide parchment onto baking stone and let stand 7-10 minutes or until bark is set.
- Bring edges of parchment up over bark and break into pieces.
Recipe Credit: Mom Central
Pumpkin Chip Cream Pie
December 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
PumpkinChip Cream Pie
Serves8
¾ Cup Cold 2% Milk
1 Package (3.4 Ounces) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
2/3 Cup Miniature Semisweet Chocolate Chips
½ Cup Canned Pumpkin
¾ Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Carton (8 Ounces) Frozen Whipped Topping, Thawed, Divided
1 Graham Cracker Crust (9 Inches)
Slivered Almonds and Chocolate Curls, Optional
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In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Stir in the chocolate chips, pumpkin pie and pie spice. Fold in 2 cups whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
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Spread with remaining whipped topping; garnish with almonds and chocolate curls if desired.
Recipe & Photo Credit: Taste of Home: Simple & Delicious Magazine
Chocolate Reindeer Cookies
December 7, 2011 By 1 Comment
ChocolateReindeer Cookies
Makes5 Dozen
1 ½ Cups Packed Brown Sugar
¾ Cup Butter, Cubed
2 Tablespoons Water
2 Cups (12 Ounces) SemisweetChocolate Chips
2 Eggs
½ Teaspoon Almond Extract
2 ¾ Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 ¼ Teaspoons Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
Miniature Pretzels
Red Shoestring Licorice, Cut Into1-Inch Pieces
1 Can Chocolate Frosting (16Ounces)
M&M;’s Miniature Baking Bits,Cherry Sour Balls, and Nonpareil-Coated Chocolate Candies
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In a large saucepan over low heat, cook the brown sugar, butter and water until butter is melted. Remove from the heat; stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Cool for 5 minutes. Stir in eggs and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; fold into chocolate mixture.
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Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets; cover and freeze until firm. Transfer frozen cookie dough balls to a large resealable plastic freezer bag. May be frozen for up to 3 months.
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To use frozen cookie dough: Place dough balls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350ºF for 13-15 minutes or until surface cracks. Remove to wire racks to cool.
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Meanwhile, cut rounded sides from each pretzel. Make a 3/4-inch cut in each licorice piece.
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Working with a few cookies at a time, frost cookie and position pretzels for antlers, M&M;’s for eyes and a sour ball for the nose. Shape licorice for the mouth; place on cookie. Add nonpareil candies for a collar.
Recipe & Photo Credit: Taste of Home
