Springerles

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps anise extract

In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar until fluffy-light and thick, about 5 minutes.

Stir in flour, soda, and anise extract, blending well to form a stiff dough.

Roll out, a half at a time, to about 1/4" (or less) thick. Cut with cookie cutter.

Bake on greased cookie sheet, 15 minutes in 300º oven. Immediately and carefully remove to racks to cool.

Notes: This is Grandma Boo's recipe, slightly amended. Hers were white, wonderful, and authentic, as she had a springerle rolling pin. Just as tasty, though, with dough colored according to one's whim and cut with cookie cutters of choice. These don't spread much on the sheet, tending to rise more than spreading. The thicker you roll your dough, the softer will be the cookies at the end of the baking time. A toothpick or blade can be used to mark unbaked cookies (veins on leaves, faces on people-shapes, feathers on turkeys), and markings will remain during baking.
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Oatmeal Cake

1½ cups water
1 cup quick oats
½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

In large saucepan, bring water to boil. Remove from heat. Add oats and butter. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour thin batter into greased and floured 9-cup bundt pan or 9" tube pan. Bake at 350º for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out on serving plate.

Prick hot cake with fork and pour hot topping (recipe follows) over cake. Serve hot or cold.

Topping: ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine all ingredients in small saucepan; heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Pour over hot cake.
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Cabbage Salad

1 bag shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix)
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered and sliced (opt)
1 tomato, diced (opt)
1 can corn, drained (opt)
3/4 cup (approx) bottled Italian salad dressing
1/3 cup (approx) granulated sugar

Mix and refrigerate; stir well and serve. The sugar will pull moisture, so the measure of "dressing" will increase. [We serve this salad in ramikens, so the dressing won't run all over our plates. ºÜº]

Since this came out of my head and into a bowl one day, I've never measured ingredients, and it should lend itself well to whatever additions, deletions, or adjustments may sound good to you and yours.
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Rat on a Stick

Marinate in teriyaki sauce for a few hours boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Thread each thigh lengthwise onto a water-soaked (so they won't catch fire), wooden skewer. Cook on the barbecue grill. Moist, tasty, tender and can be served and eaten on the skewer.

You can eliminate the skewers, in which case I guess they're just grilled rats.
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Taco Trick

If you'd like your taco meat to be like that of a Mexican fast food restaurant chain, after your meat is cooked and seasoned, run it through the food processor. Pulse until you get the consistency you want.

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Mother's Walnut Fudge Brownies

½ cup butter (1 stick)
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup broken walnuts
Fudge Frosting

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat; cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in 8" x 8" greased pan at 375º, 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.

Fudge Frosting: 3 cups powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, 4½ tbls each of cocoa, very soft butter, and warm, strong coffee. Mix well. Spread over brownies and top with ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Note: I double the brownie recipe and use one batch of frosting to frost both pans of brownies. There's plenty 'nough, and the brownies then aren't quite so gucky.

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Mock Mushrooms

1 sleeve saltines, coarsely crushed
1 can cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
2 beaten eggs
1 small can mushroom pieces, drained
1 stick butter, divided

Mix together crushed crackers, soup, eggs, and mushroom pieces. Melt half stick of butter in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drop mushroom mixture from well rounded tablespoon into skillet, spreading a tad to form patties. Brown on both sides. Remove. Wipe skillet with paper towel to remove remnant of butter and/or bits. Add other half stick of butter to skillet and repeat frying. (Or man two skillets at once. ºÜº)

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Cream Cheese Chicken

Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer to flatten.

Spread each breast piece with about 1½ tsps of softened butter and 2-3 tbls of softened cream cheese (enough to make a moderate coating on entire breast piece)

Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions or with onion powder.

Roll breast pieces like jelly roll, beginning, though, at narrow end; wrap/wind a slice of raw bacon around each roll; secure with toothpicks.

Place bacon-wrapped chicken rolls in baking dish and bake uncovered in 350º oven about 35-40 minutes, or until done.

Chicken and bacon will give up some juices/fats, and cream cheese and butter will melt forth a bit from the rolls. Pour these drippings into a bowl and offer at the table with the chicken rolls.

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Chicken Casserole

1 chicken
2 tbls chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1# Velveeta or 1 small jar Cheez Whiz
½ cup milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can mushrooms, drained (opt.)
1 small jar pimientos (opt.)
1 pkg. vermicelli or thin spaghetti, broken in thirds or fourths (bite-size pieces)

Boil chicken. Remove from water (do not dump water--leave in pot); debone; cut in bite-size pieces; set aside.

Melt butter in skillet. Add onions and green peppers; saute. Lower heat. Add cheese and milk to skillet and stir until cheese is melted and combined with milk. Add cream of mushroom soup. Stir to mix. (Opt.: Add drained mushrooms and pimientos.) Add chicken.

Leave over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Return to boil the water in which you cooked the chicken. Add broken vermicelli to boiling water. Cook; drain; return pasta to pot. Pour heated chicken-cheese sauce from skillet over pasta and stir to mix. Serve.

Note: Our family likes this dish prepared as above, however, you can increase milk and after all the ingredients are combined, bake it in a 350º oven in a casserole dish for 30 minutes if you like. In recent years, I've been making this casserole with American cheese and increasing the milk in a measure to create a creamy sauce. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave.

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Seafood Pasta Salad

½ cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
¼ cup ranch dressing
2 tbls parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 oz) rotini (corkscrew noodles)
1½ cups (8 oz) chopped imitation crabmeat
1 cup broccoli florets
½ cup chopped tomato
¼ cup green onion slices

Combine dressings and cheese; mix well. Cook broccoli in boiling water 3 minutes; drain and rinse in cold water to halt cooking. Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing.

Note: If salad seems too dry (pasta will absorb dressing), add more ranch dressing. I usually quadruple dressing, parmesan, broccoli; double rotini, crab, tomato, green onion. Make it to suit your taste.

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Dinner

"So what are you fixing for dinner tonight?" asked Mrs. Piecrust.

"Oh, I'm thinking about doing some lasagne sort of thing that isn't really lasagne."

"Ohh," she remarked, when I would have said something pretty offensive, like, "What!? What's that supposed to mean?" But Mrs. Piecrust has much better manners than I.

There's no recipe for the food items I slopped together ... mangled ... abused ... lovingly blended for dinner last night. Neither was there a good explanation for dinner being 45 minutes late (again).

Tip: When planning what time to begin preparing a meal, consider the bake time required after assembling ingredients. (I'm such a smart cook. I'm really on the ball in the kitchen.)

Before long, I'll be posting the recipe for Spasagne, which may help explain what happens in my kitchen. For now, I can tell you that last night's lasagne-sort-of-thing developed from a very large jar of Ragu that I'd opened and out of which I'd used what looked like maybe a cup of sauce? Hmm, I better be using the rest of that before it grows a salad in the jar or something.

So I browned some ground beef and glopped in a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. I emptied that huge jar of Ragu into the skillet and set the heat to low. I dumped a container of cottage cheese in a bowl, took the lid off the parmesan cheese and got sort of carried away, throwing it all over the bowl, then added a couple of eggs. Liar. I didn't add the eggs. Son4 added the eggs. But I snatched the errant piece of egg shell which was about to become lasagne surprise on someone's dinner plate. And I set a package of noodles a-boil: noodle noodles. You know, those thin, skinny, curvy little things about 2" long.

['Xcuse me here, while I have a little hysterical breakdown over what happens in my kitchen. Moments ago, as I sat typing, there came repeated knocking and thumping sounds from the vicinity of the kitchen. I finally decided I should investigate. Maybe the cat was closed in the abyss (don't even ask). Maybe he'd gotten into my closet (which is in the kitchen). Maybe the bread machine was walking off the counter as it kneaded. (We'll visit the bread machine again momentarily.) So I checked the abyss -- no cat. My closet -- no cat. Bread machine -- firmly planted on the countertop, and working like a dawg. I glanced around the kitchen and had a sudden, overwhelming fear that I'd closed the cat in the dishwasher...which was surely into the rinse cycle by now. I raced to the dishwasher, yanked open the door, and peered inside. Dishes. Lots and lots of dishes. No room for a fat cat. I don't know what was making the sounds, but it didn't matter after I was sure I hadn't killed the cat...and began laughing hysterically at myself.]

Where were we? We were throwing things into a bowl with cottage cheese. ...I thawed some spinach, then smashed the dickens out of it with paper towels. (What is dickens, and why would it be in spinach? -- I'm sure I got it out, so don't worry.) Threw the spinach in with the cottage cheese. Parsley is green, and spinach is green -- stay with me here.

Then I layered noodles, cottage cheese glop, many fistfuls of mozzarella cheese, and meat sauce into a very large baking pan. Twice.

Then Charles walked in the door, ready for dinner ... which I slid into the oven, hoping that action would go unnoticed. It didn't. Thank the Lord for a patient, understanding, LONGSUFFERING husband, who knows his wife utterly stinks at all things mathematic, including approximations and time management. That "E" (yes, I'm that old -- E, S, M, I, F) in algebra hasn't done diddly for me -- EVER. Pi never helped with a pie, and that's just not right.

So I was going to do better today. We managed to close the textbooks before 3:00 p.m., having begun our studies early and worked with only a lunch break. I set the bread machine on the counter at 2:48, knowing I could measure and toss ingredients inside of 12 minutes and have hot bread at 6:00. French bread. Nice, hot French bread with warmed, leftover lasagne-sort-of. White bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. Potato bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. Pumpernickel bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. French bread ... French bread ... is ready to eat in 3 hours and 40 minutes!? Could ya just spit? *thwphfiiiit*

"Hi Honey, are you home? Would you like a little appetizer before dinner? ... What was that? Potato chips aren't appetizers? Want a graham cracker? How about a fistful of Cap'n Crunch? Know what? I didn't kill the cat today."

Almond Puff

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 tbls water
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½ cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs
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glaze & sliced almonds, partly crushed

Cut ½ cup butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; mix with fork. Divide in half and use your hands to form cylindrical shapes with each half. On ungreased baking sheet, press and pat each half into a strip, 12" x 3". Strips should be about 3" apart on the baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350º.

In a medium saucepan, heat ½ cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time, until smooth. Divide in half; spread each half evenly over strips, covering completely.

Bake about 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Cool. Frost with glaze and sprinkle generously with part sliced and part crushed almonds. To serve, cut 1" slices and arrange on serving dish.

Glaze: Stir togeher 1½ cups powdered sugar, 2 tbls butter, softened, 1 to 1½ tsps almond extract, and 1 to 2 tbls warm water until smooth.

This presents well and is simpler to prepare than the directions might lead one to believe.

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Cranberry Relish

4 cups fresh cranberries
1 orange, with peel
2 cups sugar
¼ tsp salt

Grind cranberries and orange. Add sugar and salt. Refrigerate and allow to meld overnight. This keeps very well over time.

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Cranberry Salad

2 cups fresh cranberries, ground
3 cups miniature marshmallows
¾ cup sugar
2 cups diced apples, do not peel
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ tsp salt
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Combine cranberries, marshmallows, and sugar. Cover and chill overnight. To serve, add apples, walnuts, and salt. Fold in whipped cream.

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Transparency

It has occurred to me that I'd said over at NottaLotta Acres that I would launch this blog by first posting our Thanksgiving feast recipes, and while I made a respectable beginning with Cream Cheese Corn, I also wasted no time at all switching to desserts. Can you tell what foods I deem important, what came to mind first?

Yes, we do have the thusfar posted pies, pastries, cookies, and candies during our annual, several-day feast. We also, though, have a mealtime spread which includes foods that aren't screaming CARBOHYDRATE. We sneak a little protein onto the table with a honkin' big turkey (or two) and even flick a green veggie into the mix. Will I get to claim the apples and cranberries as fruits, even after I've mixed them with marshmallows, sugar, and whipped cream?

When I realized the sweets were stacking high in the sidebar, it mildly cracked me up. And I thought I should just go ahead and put my own words to the obvious: she's a carb junkie. There will, however, come recipes which can make a respectable stand on the dinner table. Don't be surprised, though, if the number of them pales in comparison with the sweets.

Cinnamon Popcorn

Pop 3 bags of microwave popcorn.

Put 12 ozs cinnamon imperials (little, round, red hot candies) in 2-cup measuring cup, and fill the rest with granulated sugar.*

Pour into saucepan with 2 sticks of butter and ½ cup light corn syrup. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring often until candies dissolve, then stir occasionally.

Remove from heat. Stir in ½ tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla.

Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake 1 hour at 250º, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

*The sugar measuring instructions do seem strange and imprecise, but this is another never-fail popcorn recipe. I pour the sugar over the candies to the 2-cup measure mark, give a very gentle shake, and add more sugar, if necessary, to reach the mark again. For years, I've not been able to find 12 oz packages of red hots, so I buy in whatever quantity they're packaged and divide bags. Most often, I've found them in 9 oz packages, so I use 1 bag + 1/3 of another.

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Caramel Popcorn

6 quarts popped corn (3 bags microwave)
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup corn syrup (light or dark)
1 tsp salt (omit with microwave popcorn)
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 250º. Butter bottom and sides of roasting pan or another type of pan with equal capacity. In a heavy saucepan, slowly melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring for five minutes. (Original recipe gives this no-stirring instruction, but I usually stir it at least 3 times during the 5-minute boil, feeling better assured it won't develop a burnt taste.)

Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Turn out onto waxed paper and shove it around to separate. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

This has been a never-fail, simple (no candy thermometer) recipe and creates a very crisp and tasty caramel corn.

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Apple Dumplings

2 cups water
1½ cups sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
8 drops red food coloring
¼ cup (half stick) butter
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2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup shortening
½ cup milk
6 small apples, peeled and cored

For syrup, mix first 5 ingredients; cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add butter.

Sift together dry ingredients; cut in shortening till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once; stir just till flour is moistened. On lightly floured surface, roll to 18" x 12" rectangle.

Cut into six squares. Place apple on each square. Sprinkle each apple generously with additional sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; dot each apple with butter. Moisten the edges of the pastry. Bring corners to the center and pinch edges together, sealing each apple within its pastry wrap. Place 1" apart in ungreased 13" x 9" baking pan. Pour syrup over dumplings. Bake at 375º for 35 to 40 minutes, when pastry is nicely browned and speckled as biscuits would be. Serve warm with cream. Serves 6.

Alternate Assembly: While the above assembly makes a lovely and impressive presentation, our family more often prefers a different method. I roll the pastry to the designated size and spread with a thin layer of butter. Chop the apples (6 small or 4 not-so-small) and distribute atop the buttered pastry. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Hereafter, work quickly, as the sugar begins immediately to draw moisture from the apples. Roll as one would cinnamon roll dough and cut into 12 equal pieces. This method is forgiving, so don't worry about holes or escaped apples. Just poke it back together any old way. Lay cut side up in pan like one would cinnamon rolls (4 rows of 3 rolls) and pour syrup over. Bake as directed.

This is actually easier than trying to fit the pastry squares around the six apples, unless the apples are particularly small. And we like the very even distribution of apples throughout the pastry. Serves 12.

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Pumpkin Bars

2 cups pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
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(frosting)
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
4 tbls butter
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and mix well. Spread in greased and floured jelly roll pan (12" x 18"). Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes. Frost when cool.

Frosting: Thoroughly mix cream cheese, 4 tbls butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Spread and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
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Pecan Tassies

Soften 3 ozs cream cheese and ½ cup butter; blend together. Stir in 1 cup flour. Chill 1 hour. Shape into 2 dozen 1" balls; place the balls in ungreased 1¾" (mini) muffin pans. Use thumb or mini tart press to press dough against bottom and sides, creating a shells.

Beat together 1 egg, ¾ cup brown sugar, 1 tbl softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and a dash of salt, just till smooth. Divide 1/3 cup coarsely broken pecans among all the tarts; add egg mixture to each. Top with 1/3 cup coarsely broken pecans. Bake at 325º for 25 minutes or till filling is set. Cool; remove from pans. Makes 2 dozen.

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Coconut Strawberries

14 oz pkg coconut
½ cup almonds
6 ozs strawberry gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
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red granulated sugar
green toothpicks, broken in half
construction paper leaves

[Place several drops of red liquid food coloring in about ½ cup sugar and stir until sugar is evenly colored deep pink. Break natural wood toothpicks in half and drop in bowl of shallow water which has been heavily colored with green liquid food coloring. Allow to stand 10-15 minutes; drain; place on paper towels to dry.]

Rough-chop coconut in food processor. Grind almonds in food processor. Combine all ingredients in a bowl;this is most easily, quickly, and thoroughly done with your hands.

Use approximately 1¼ tablespoons of mixture to make each strawberry. Form into a ball, then pinch one side to form the elongated part of the strawberry. Roll in red colored sugar.

Press the sharp end of a green half toothpick through the center of a green construction paper leaf. Press the toothpick-leaf combo into the bulbous end of the strawberry.

Note: While forming strawberries from coconut mixture, it's an enormous help to keep a damp paper towel at your side, wipe your hands after each strawberry, and rinse the paper towel as needed. Otherwise, you'll develop a build-up of the coconut mixture on the palms of your hands, and you won't be able to roll the balls.

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French Silk Pie

1½ sticks butter, softened
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
3 eggs
1 baked pie shell
1¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
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2 cups whipping cream, whipped and sweetened
chocolate shavings (sweetened chocolate, candy bar)

Beat butter with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and beat 2 minutes. Add melted chocolate and beat 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat 2 minutes after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Pour into baked pie shell. Cover with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate shavings.

Gain two pounds.

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Gourmet Salad Dressing

2 cups oil
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped

Place all ingredients in blender and blend.

Note: I recommend coconut or olive oil, the most healthful of available oils. If coconut oil is solid, it will need to be warmed in order to blend.

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Speedy Dinner Rolls

5-1/2 cups flour
2 cups warm milk (or water or combination)
2 pkgs yeast
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsps salt
1/3 cup shortening

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add sugar, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add shortening and beat 1 minute. Work in remaining flour and knead well.

Set in greased bowl and turn dough to grease the top. Cover and let rise 20 minutes, or until doubled.

Punch down. Shape into rolls by pinching pieces of dough to form approximate 2" balls; place on greased baking sheet. Cover with lightweight towel. Let rise again, then bake at 375º approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush tops with butter.

*Original recipe calls for water rather than milk. Most of the time, I use half water (1 cup), half milk (1 cup).

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Sugar Cookies

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
4 tsps baking powder
5½ cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla.

Mix all dry ingredients and add slowly to butter-cream mixture until incorporated. Roll to desired thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut cookies and place on cookie sheet at least 2" apart (cookies grow like crazy). Bake in 400º oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Should be light in color with light browning on the edges. Remove to cool; decorate with Sugar Cookie Icing.

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Sugar Cookie Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
4 tsps milk
4 tsps light corn syrup
½ tsp vanilla or almond extract
food coloring

Stir powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla or almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more corn syrup to thin, if necessary. Divide and color.

Options: Apply with paintbrush or small spatula. Apply with icing bag and tip(s). Pipe outlines, allow to harden some, then thin icing to flood outlined areas. Your imagination rules.

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Gingerbread Cookie Place Cards

6 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 tsps ginger
4 tsps cinnamon
1½ tsps cloves
1 tsp pepper
1½ tsps salt
2 eggs
1 cup molasses

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture; combine on low speed. Divide dough in thirds; wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour.

On a floured work surface, roll dough 1/8-inch thick. Cut with a knife into equal rectangles, using a template to cut strips, then cross-cut. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until crisp but not darkened. Immediately upon removal from the oven, use a straw to poke holes in two top corners of each cookie. Let cookies cool on wire racks.

Use Sugar Cookie Icing to pipe the names of your guests and decorative borders on half of the cookies; decorate the remaining rectangles as desired (borders, acorns, asters, leaves, turkeys, etc.), as these will be the backs of the place cards and seen by guests on opposing sides of the table.

Assembly: Cut approximately 6" - 7" pieces of thin, satin ribbon in a number to match your number of guests. Place one name cookie and one decorated cookie back-to-back, thread a ribbon through the holes you made with the straw in the top corners, and tie in a knot. (After tying, trim ribbon to even lengths.) This enables the cookies to stand on the table as an easel.

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