Cranberry Walnut Swirls

I tore this recipe out of a Ladies Home Journal magazine back in 1983 and it's become a family favorite. It's no wonder, it was a First Prize winner in the LHJ Christmas cookie contest that year.

Pastry ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling ingredients:

(if you have a food processor, it works best for this)

1/2 cup finely ground cranberries

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons milk

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix just until combined. Wrap and refrigerate dought about 1 hour for easier handling.

In a small bowl combine cranberries, walnuts, and orange peel; set aside. Combine brown sugar and milk (add more milk if you need to, the mixture should be easy to spread).

On lightly floured board roll dough to a 10" square. Spread with sugared milk, then sprinkle with cranberry mixture, leaving about 1/2" edge at two opposite sides of the dough. Roll up tightly, jelly-roll fashion, beginning at one of the unspread sides. Wrap in wax paper and freeze until firm, several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut roll into 1/4" slices. Bake on top rack of oven for about 15 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Pork Marsala

This recipe is from the National Pork Board; they published it in a magazine ad in 1988 as part of their "The Other White Meat" campaign. This is one of those recipes that's very easy, but when you serve it to company they think you did something special.

1lb pork tenderloin

1T each olive oil and butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1T tomato paste

1/2 cup dry red marsala

1/2 cup red wine

8oz fresh mushroom caps

1t chopped parsley

Cut tenderloin diagonally into cutlets. Pound to 1/4" thickness. Heat oil and butter in heavy frying pan. Brown cutlets on both sides, then remove from pan. Add garlic to pan and saute briefly. Mix tomato paste with wines, then add to pan with mushrooms. Stir to blend with pan juices. Simmer 3-5 minutes. Return cutlets to pan and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Chicken Tacos

I don't use exact amounts when I cook, so this recipe is purely what ever I have and adjusted accordingly. Add more if you have it and like it, add less if you don't.

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3-4 cans of fat free & low sodium chicken broth, have a few cans on reserve if needed
1 white or yellow onion diced large
1 small can chopped green chili (or 3-4 fresh roasted, peeled and seeded)
4-5 tomatillos, peeled of the paper skin and washed, left whole
1-2 tbs chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
fresh chopped cilantro

you can cook this on the stove top in a covered pot or in a slow cooker. Put all ingredients (except the cilantro) in the pot, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a slow simmer and cover. cook over a low heat until the chicken is fork tender and falls apart on it's own. Make sure you always have enough liquid in the pot to cover the chicken so it stays moist. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, it should fall apart easily and be moist. Fork shred as needed. Use a slotted spoon and remove the onion, chili, garlic and place with the chicken. The tomatillos usually fall apart in the cooking process but if they don't, mash them with a potato masher and add that to the chicken as well. Mix. Add a bit of the cooking liquid to make the chicken wet, but not too runny. You be the judge.

Use in your favorite corn or flour tortilla and your favorite toppings. I like sour cream, salsa, lettuce and tomato with mine. My favorite shell for this chicken is very easy and is below:

soft corn tortillas
vegetable oil
frying pan

heat pan with just enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. once hot, place a corn tortilla in pan and left soften, flip and cook the other side. you can leave them a very soft cook or let them get slightly "crispy" for a soft taco. if you do them very soft, you will most likely need two tortillas on top of each other for each taco. for chicken taco's i prefer soft so i can easily fold them, but slightly crispy for a bit of "light crunch".

Knock-off Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

BARS

1 cup butter, soften at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg
2 teaspoons orange extract (or vanilla)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

FROSTING

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons orange extract (or vanilla)


TOPPING

1/3 cup craisins, chopped
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1/3 cup white chocolate chips, chopped course
1/2 teaspoon canola oil


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for a glass or dark pan). Prepare a 9x13 pan (or 10x15 pan) by lining it with parchment paper or use a non-stick spray.


Bars:

With an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugars until fluffy; add eggs and orange extract and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and ginger and beat briefly. Add the cranberries and chips, stirring just to blend and being careful not to over mix.

Spread thick batter in prepared pan and bake 350 (23-25 minutes for 10x15, 27-30 minutes for 9x13), until the edges are light brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Cool completely.

Frosting:

Blend cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add orange extract and confectioner’s sugar and beat until frosting is fluffy and spreadable (adding 1 tsp of milk if needed). Spread evenly over cooled bars.

Garnish:

Combine orange zest and craisins and sprinkle over frosted bars. Mix white chocolate and oil in a glass measuring cup. Microwave 60% power for 1 minute; stir. Repeat 1 more minute at 60% power; stir. Use a fork to drizzle the white chocolate in thin diagonal strips across the bars.

Allow one hour for the white chocolate to set before cutting.

Cut into Starbuck triangles by cutting jelly roll pan into 20 large squares (5 cuts by 4 cuts with the knife). Then cut each square in half diagonally.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

[adapted from Serendipity 3's in NYC]

6 half-ounce pieces of a variety of your favorite chocolates (as top quality as you are able]
2 teaspoons of store-bought hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups of cups of ice
Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Add the hot chocolate mix and sugar. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and slowly add ½ cup of milk until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the room-temperature chocolate mixture and the ice. Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Pour into a goblet and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Pecan Sand Tart Cookies

[adapted from Serendipity 3's in NYC]

1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed and free of lumps
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature

white sugar in a bowl

powdered sugar and sifter

--------

Finely chop the pecans (I put mine in a ziplock and crush with the bottom of a glass). Set aside. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a mixer, combine the butter and both sugars, beat until light and fluffy for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping the bowl once or twice with rubber spatula.

Add the vanilla extract and egg and beat 30 seconds longer.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Stir in the chopped pecans and mix well. Stir in the flour and mix only until blended.

Gather the dough into a ball in the center of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a baking sheet.

Using level tablespoons of batter for each cookie, shape the dough into bars about 3/4 to 1 inch wide and 2 1/2 inches long, patting into shape with your fingers. Dip each dough bar into the white sugar to coat. Place the bars on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press the back of a table knife into the length of each bar three times to give it a few ridges (this will later help hold the powdered sugar).

Set the pan of cookies in the center of the preheated oven on the middle shelf and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. Cookies should be light brown on the bottom and cooked in the center of the cookie. Oven times vary.

*I have found that the key to making them crispy like the originals, you will need to cook them the full baking time -adjusting for your own oven- until they are fully cooked in the center of the cookies and then let them set overnight.

Remove the cookies from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 or 3 minutes, and then remove from the pan with a metal spatula, let cool a 1 minute and sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar then cool completely on the rack.

Bake the remaining cookies, one pan at a time, in the same way.

These are both good while warm and the next day when they are left to harden slightly.

Buttery Soft Pretzels

If you make the dough in the morning, it is a great afternoon activity for the kids. We get some pretty funky looking pretzels around here.

4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. white sugar
1 1/4 C. warm water (110 degrees)
4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1/2 C. baking soda
4 C. hot water
1/4 C. kosher salt for topping


In a small bowl dissolve yeast and 1 tsp. white sugar in warm water until creamy, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl mix together flour, 1/2 C. sugar and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. Knead until smooth, about 7-8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place dough in bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled. I find that the oven with the light turned on is a great place for dough to rise. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In another large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. When the dough has risen, turn out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all the dough is shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda water and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Bake in a preheated oven for 8 minutes, or until browned.

For a special treat, after they come out of the oven, brush them with butter and put them in a bag full of cinnamon sugar and shake. Just as good as the mall pretzels!