Tuesday, December 21, 2010

From our house to yours - Recipes for yummy cookies

These are some of our favourite cookies because they not only taste yummy, they look good on a plate. The round balls are Chocolate Carousels, a peanut butter ball full of fruit and nuts topped with chocolate. No baking and simple enough for kids to make. The white looking Lemon Squares are a shortbread base with a lemon topping that can be thrown in the blender whirred and poured over the crust. I keep a bottle of lemon juice on hand so I can whip these up whenever necessary. The pretty mincemeat poinsettias, are a twist on the usual mincemeat tarts that make a festive addition to a cookie plate.

Chocolate Carousels

1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon soft butter
I cup icing sugar
1/2 cup (scant) chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped pecans or filberts (filberts were used)
1/2 cup drained maraschino cherries chopped
Cream together the peanut butter, butter and icing
sugar and fruit and nuts and form into 1 inch balls.
Melt 4oz of semi sweet chocolate and drip over balls.

Lemon Squares

Base
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup powdered icing sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
Cream butter and sugar together then add flour until
thoroughly mixed and press into a 13x9 inch pan.
Bake at 350 F 20-25 minutes until just starting to
brown as it will be returned to the oven when the
topping is added.

Topping
Beat together
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled), if using fresh
add the grated lemon zest for extra flavour.
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup all purpose flour
I do the topping in the blender adding the ingredients
one at a time as it's running, finishing with the lemon
juice as the blender starts to have difficulty working.
Return to the over for another 25 minutes or more
until the top is set. I time it for 25 minutes and start
watching until the centre is set and firm to the touch.
Sprinkle with icing sugar, cool and cut.

Mincemeat Poinsettias

1 cup margarine
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
bottle of mincemeat
maraschino cherry pieces
Cream together butter and cheese. Beat in eggs and
vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder. Stir into
mixture. Form a stiff dough. cover and chill. Roll out
half of mixture into 1/8 thick rectangle. Cut into 3 inch
squares, slit from corners. Put a dollop of mincemeat
in centre, and fold down alternate corners and press
a cherry in centre. Return excess dough to
refrigerator. Repeat with second half.
Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.

Guaranteed to add on pounds, but it's a celebration and now and then, we're allowed to splurge. By the way, the holly in the corner of the placemat is a larger variation of the pattern for the skates done in size 10 thread.

3 comments:

Ladytats said...

yum! thank you Sharon, I have copied the Lemon Squares, I love lemon bars, but your recipe is easier then the one I have used.

ancolie said...

Thank you for your recipes, Sharon
and
Merry Christmas !
ancolie (France)

Kathy Niklewicz said...

Dropping by this Christmas Day to wish you and your husband a Happy Holiday Season!

It did not go unnoticed that you spent a good portion of the day updating the 25-Motif! I'm amazed how many photos you upload. I have trouble just putting in four! I'm also amazed that the 25-Motif site always loads quickly and works efficiently. When some websites are slow to load, I check the 25 site for comparison. Then I know if it's the website or my computer, and usually it's the other website.

Also, that was so nice of you to share the cookie recipes AND the pattern for the adorable ice skates. And your tatted lace candy box was gorgeous!

Thanks again for all your hard work.