Tis the Season to be Baking!

Here's a recipe for one of my favorite childhood cookies. These cookies bring back many memories...when I was really young, my mom would bake them and let me dip the cookie in chocolate and then nuts.  Even with that limited chore, I would make a mess! But it is so much fun for kids.

These cookies are not too large, so folks always have room for at least one! Starting in mid-December we serve Christmas cookies as our third course for breakfast at The Artist's Inn and Gallery.

Walnut Acorn Cookies

They will last for several weeks if stored in an air-tight container in a cool area. 

1 cup soft butter or margarine

3/4 brown sugar

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

16. oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter, add sugar and beat til fluffy.  Sift four with soda and blend into butter mixture.  Add vanilla and 3/4 cup of the nuts.  Shape cookies by pressing dough into a dessert spoon with fingertips.  Push dough from spoon with flat side down on ungreased sheet or silpat.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.  Melt chocolate, cool slightly.  Dip large end of “acorn” cookie in chocolate and then in the chopped nuts.  Makes six dozen.

It’s Snowing – Time to Head to the Kitchen!

I don’t know why, but something about a big winter storm makes me want to cocoon where it’s safe and warm. Something deep inside tells me that I need not only to stay safe, but to produce nourishment to weather the coming storm. And so I always seem to end up in the kitchen.

It’s been a long tradition that my mom would make cookies or cake (preferably chocolate) on a snow day from school.
I grew up in a Cleveland suburb, and you would think that we had plenty of snow days – not so! But the few we had seemed better than a gift at Christmas.

Years later I worked in downtown Cleveland. There were times when the wind came off Lake Erie so strong that you had to grab onto the ropes on the sides of buildings so that you didn’t fall – especially on icy days. Of course, we were young and would never wear hats or boots – we had to look good!

During one blizzard, my good friend and roommate, Paula, and I managed to get home after a long bus ride. We both headed to the kitchen where, typical twenty-somethings, we had just enough provisions to make one chocolate cake. And we proceeded to eat the entire thing for dinner.

Of course, as I grew older I became much more sensible. I now pull up my hood when I feel any little chill. I now own all sorts of sensible boots. And, being sensible, I first make some kind of soup or stew....then I make something with chocolate.

Some traditions are destined for eternity.

Here’s a great recipe to keep you busy during the next storm. Our snow is just starting and they are predicting 12 – 18 inches. WOOHOO.

I think that half the fun of a big snow is the anticipation. You can almost smell the snow in the air....or maybe that’s chocolate.....

This is a recipe we submitted from The Artist's Inn for Cinnamon Mornings and Chocolate Dreams by Pamela Lanier. Printed in 2003, it is probably still available from Lanier Publishing.

Chocolate Melt-Away Cookies

The thinner you can roll the dough, the better these cookies will taste.

3/4 cup soft butter
2 1/3 cup unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 6 oz. package (1 cup) semisweet chocolate pieces – preferably Wilbur
Powdered sugar

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter. Add half of the flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and almond extract. Beat thoroughly. Beat in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover, chill 1 hour or until firm. On a lightly floured surface roll half of the dough 1/8 inch thick. Keep remaining dough in fridge until ready to use. Cut into shapes with 1 ½ to 2” cookie cutter - stars, rounds, hearts. Place on ungreased cookie sheets (or use silpats). With small cookie cutter, cut out centers from half of the unbaked cookies. Bake in a 375 degree oven about 7 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very light brown. Cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Melt chocolate pieces in a microwave at half power for about two minutes. Spread chocolate on bottom of each cookie. Top with cookie half that has the center cut out of it. The chocolate will show through. When cool, dust with powdered sugar. Makes about 40 cookies.

Twas Three Weeks Before Christmas

It is December 6th and twelve kinds of cookies are made and packed away – we are about halfway through the Christmas Cookie Marathon. This is a special time in my kitchen shared with my husband. Though it is normally not his territory, he has honed his skills as dough-roller-outer extraordinaire. With Christmas tunes in the background and flour in the air, I’m a happy camper. It is a time to relax and work and share some laughter after a busy fall at the inn. And, since many of my cookies must be packed and shipped by December 15, we start baking the weekend after Thanksgiving.

I don’t know what it is about food, but some of my earliest memories are in the kitchen, helping Mom. Most center on the holidays – with the bustle of preparations for large crowds and the excitement of the coming gathering. She was always patient with me – for I was not, and probably will never be, a “tidy” cook or baker. We had an extensive family and, with three brothers, there was no meal too big, no desserts too rich, and certainly no such thing as too many cookies.
Ah, yes, the cookies - this yearly tradition of making cookies at Christmastime started a long time ago…
I always loved to give home-made gifts – sometimes it was crafts, sometimes chocolates (when I was in high school I enrolled my boyfriend and myself in a chocolate-making course). I was never sure if he was all that interested in the chocolate, but we had a lot of fun and he liked to eat the creations. Over time, I settled on just giving cookies every Christmas. I would stay up late many nights and lug in big platters of cookies to every job I ever had. It became my “thing” to do for the holidays.

Soon friends were sharing their family favorites. Over the years, I’ve compiled my tried-and-true recipes, but I always like to add a new cookie just to keep it interesting.

Two years ago I decided to try my hand at making marshmallows. Gourmet printed a recipe for Toasted-Coconut Marshmallow Squares – this seemed the perfect little stocking stuffer gift for my Mom – a real marshmallow lover.

I’ve adjusted the recipe slightly – doubling the amount of coconut. You’ll see why later.

I think this would be a great recipe to make with kids – especially the final process. This year I made the recipe with my mom. She pronounced it too “fussy” but I think it’s fun, and there’s no denying that these are not the boring white cubes that arrive in those plastic bags. You will need a candy thermometer and will have best results if you make these on a dry day.

Toasted-Coconut Marshmallow Squares

4 cups unsweetened dried coconut
3 (3/4 oz) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup water, divided
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350 and toast coconut in baking pan until golden – about 7 minutes. You’ll want to stir it frequently – it tends to brown around the edges first.

Spray a 9-inch baking pan or use a silicone one. I like the silicone – you can bend it to get the squares out. Sprinkle with ½ cup toasted coconut.

Sprinkle gelatin over ½ up cold water in mixer bowl – mix a little and let sit while you make the syrup.

Heat sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining ½ cup water in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium heat without stirring, washing any sugar crystals down the side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Ok, I don’t do the pastry brush thing – I just boil it. Put the thermometer in and boil until it registers 240. Remove pan from the heat and let stand until the bubbles dissipate.

This is when the recipe turns into a science experiment. With mixer at low speed, pour hot syrup into gelatin in a thin stream down the side of the bowl, increase speed to high and beat until very thick – about 15 minutes. Add vanilla and coconut extracts and beat 1 minute more.

Spoon marshmallows over toasted coconut in baking pan and press evenly with dampened fingertip to smooth top, then sprinkle with ½ cup toasted coconut and press in – I find that wearing food-grade gloves helps.

Let stand for 2 hours or until firm. This is a good time to get the kids – they’ll like this part.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and cut into the tiniest pieces you can. Put remaining toasted coconut in a bowl. Dredge the pieces in the coconut and watch them grow. This is why you want the pieces really tiny lest they become the blob that ate Lancaster County. The first year I could not believe that a small 9 x 9 pan would yield enough marshmallows for everyone in Terre Hill.

Even if you don’t like marshmallow, you owe it to yourself to try a small square. These are really heavenly.

Enjoy.