Putting on the Spritz

One would think that the prospect of 20 relatives descending on my house tomorrow would send me into a fit of cleaning and preparing. Not so! I decided we need cookies tomorrow, and my son and I made Spritz holiday cookies with the 'cooky press.' Yes, that's 'cooky.' From the 1963 famous Betty Crocker 'Cooky Book.' My library actually has a copy of this in the reference section. Most recipes I see in magazines now are based on ones from this book. I even saw one of these recipes win an award in a newspaper contest last year - I couldn't believe it!

Last night, I was reading Good Housekeeping (But Amy, you ask, what about the 8 mysteries you need to read and review by Friday?) and Kelly Ripa in an interview mentioned that she made like 640 cookies last year with the press. So we decided to beat her. Just kidding! My insanity does, surprisingly, have some bounds.

We actually made about 6 dozen from one batch.

Spritz
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. flavoring - I used Vanilla
2 1/4 cups Flour, not self-rising

Heat oven to 400. Mix butter, sugar, egg, salt and flavoring thoroughly. Work in flour. Put dough through cooky press on ungreased baking sheet in desired shapes. Bake 6 - 9 minutes, or until set but not brown.

We made red pointsettias, green trees, yellow stars and blue snowmen.
And then we cleaned like crazy around the house. Good thing I ordered the meal already done from a local specialty food store for tomorrow. Oh yes, and I read 1.5 mysteries today. More on these soon.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Corn-i-hopia

This is my Corn=i=HOPE-ia, as I always hope it will turn out. I also hope 20 people in my little house will get along and enjoy themselves at our Thanksgiving event. I make this with Pillsbury Crescent rolls over a folk cornicopia shape sprayed with Pam. When it's really hard by Thursday I will carefully remove the foil, put it on a plate, put cut veggies in it and use it for an appetizer platter. While my sister always manages to break some off and eat it, it is supposed to be decorative.
I had leftover crescent rolls I baked around the horn, as you can see.
My son asked why we can't just serve popcorn, jelly beans, pretzels and toast. This is a good question.

Triple Fudge Brownies

No, this is not the Triple Fudge Brownies. Can you guess? This is like an edible psychological inkblot test...

My sister gave my son some colored dough and while I was busy making wreaths and snowmen, he made these. There were a few like this. When they came out of the oven, he asked to eat his rainbow dinosaur. Clearly he's a Picasso in the making.

I whipped up some Triple Fudge Brownies yesterday for my niece's birthday at school, as my sister had no time with a brand new baby in the house. These are from the Recipe Hall of Fame Quick and Easy Cookbook, 2001.

1 (3.9) package instant chocolate pudding mix (good luck finding it at the grocery store at this time of year, though)

1 (18.25 oz.) package chocolate cake mix

2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Confectioners' sugar

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Whisk in cake mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased 10x15x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Yields 4 dozen.

Now, I brought chocolate frosting, birthday sprinkles, and pink aerosol decorator spray for my niece to decorate as she chooses, instead of using the powdered sugar. This was fast and easy, as the book promises.

I read Nancy Werlin's Rules of Survival this morning while my son watched the Cars movie for the 18th time. I expected it to be a mystery as that is what she is known for, and while it was suspenseful, it was not a mystery. It is a story of two teens and how they try to protect their younger sister from their crazy, abusive mother. It was a finalist for the National Book Awards this year. Werlin's characters are always flawed yet powerful. But I still have to read and review 6 - 8 mysteries by Friday...

Chip Candy

I put in my catering order yesterday for Thanksgiving, but I'm still looking for pumpkin pies. Dare I try them? I think I'd better order some. I will make a great yams and apple dish that my family has been using for years, though.
I am calling these Chip Candy. I pulled a recipe called "Butterfinger Mounds" off of Anna Ginsberg's site from March. Anna is the 2006 Pillsbury Bake-Off winner - and she bakes EVERY DAY. She had adapted the recipe from a book "Cookies by the Dozen", and I am changing it again. I am getting ready for some holiday cookie exchanges as I mentioned here.

My friend Kim sent me some wonderful recipes that she says people fight over when she makes them. They are somewhat elaborate, and I am proud that Kim thinks I can pull them off!
In the meantime, here is Chip Candy:
4 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups corn flakes (I used Total honey flakes as that's what I had)

Place butter, sugar and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 and a half minutes. Stir to dissolve sugar. Stir in chips until melted. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Chill until firm.

This is a great one to do with an enthusiastic preschooler. At the adoption auction last night I was chagrined to see lots of "mother and daughter" and "father and son" matching aprons. My husband offered to bid on the father and son ones which were cute, but I think I can do better. If baking pans had been included in the lots, that would have been something else all together.

I am going to use holiday sprinkles on this cookie/candy before my party. These made about 28 - I increased the recipe because if I'm going to dirty and clean pots, measuring stuff, etc. - I need more than a dozen...

I'm reading the Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. It's time for my mystery column for Crimespree to be due again, so it's mystery city here. Suddenly I'm looking for clues everywhere. I was dusting yesterday and was wondering if any fingerprints would show up.

Book Business

I forgot to mention that I have a new book out. I wrote up many of the programs I have done with teens at my library and Kim Patton, a dynamo librarian from Lawrence Kansas, did the same. She's also a very good cook!

There are actually many easy food programs in here, that even I could not mess up... One of my teen board members is on his way to becoming a chef or a food scientist, and has placed in several food contests. I showed him some of my pumpkin pie pictures lately and he just smiled and shook his head.

Did I mention I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my family?

Back To Baking

I am hosting a holiday charity cookie exchange in a few weeks. How it works is that everyone brings cookies to exchange, along with copies of the recipes. Every person pays $1 or less to each recipe they want and the food goes to a food pantry. I also provide other foods, a hot drink bar, etc.

I also like to show off by making lots of types of cookies. I pulled out several specific holiday and cookie cookbooks today, and even a few specific Christmas Cookie books. None of them appealed, or I have done them before.


I pulled out my faithful Farm Journal's Country Cookbook again. While this turned out more cake-like than a cookie, it is delicious. I don't think I'll use it for the party though as I want actual holiday cookies.

Apple Fudge Squares
2 1oz. squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2/3 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped pecans (I skipped these, my life is nutty enough.)

Melt together chocolate and shortening. Blend in sugar, eggs, applesauce and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt; stir into chocolate mixture. Stir in nuts. (or not) Spread in greased 8X8X2" pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 35 to 40 minutes. Makes 16 (2") squares.

Waffling

I came home from an especially long day to find that my husband had picked up food for the three of us at BK. This is how he arranged my son's plate - mine was also in a similar style with my chicken. The 'eyes' are apples with pickle slices.

For National Adoption Month, the agency we worked with to adopt our son holds a major auction/gala thing. I brought our donations for the auction today. My husband again showed his artistic side bey designing a Thomas train set with multicultural kids on the cars and a station with Sunny Ridge painted on it. www.Sunnyridge.org I made a black and gold ribbon scarf with tiny little sequins periodically woven into it, knit mainly last night. My son came with me to deliver these items, and he asked if we were going to bring home 'his new baby.' Er, no.

I made waffles and Cheese waffles from the Southern Heritage Southern Living Breakfast and Brunch book. Like lots of the southern fare, these were very dense and heavy. However, that kind of texture works very well with cheese. I would suggest only the cheese variation. The book also suggests a ham or gingerbread version. The ham one sounds gross.
2 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Combine eggs, milk and oil in a medium bowl; mix well.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt: add to egg mixture, stirring well.

Spoon batter into a pre-heated, lightly oiled waffle iron, following manufacturer's directions. Cook 5 minutes or until brown and crisp. Remove waffle: keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup.

Cheese Waffles: Add 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese to batter before baking.

I'm on the hunt for the rest of the cookbooks in this series - I have 6 out of 19. Also, my husband and I had a date day antiquing last weekend and I got about 20 new cookbooks all under $4. One, "Kitchen Kookery" is from my local Catholic parish, but gives no year. I hunted up the contributors in an obit. directory database at the library and am guessing this cookbook is from the late 60's early 70's. Actually, Kitchen Kookery would be a good name for this blog...

I'm reading "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green. He is so funny. I have been asked to talk about teen books on a local TV station next week in terms of holiday shopping. I'm putting several favorites on that list, like Here There Be Dragons by Owen that I've mentioned here, and the O'Connell Princes girl series, but I am open to suggestions on this. Anyone have a can't miss title from this year that would be a good gift?

Vampire Cupcakes

This week was crazy, but I did manage to bake some cupcakes for my son and his little friends on Halloween. I had the idea to make them look like vampires from a magazine. These were a big hit with preschoolers and adults alike.

Sad week when a colleague died suddenly. She was getting interested in young adult literature and was signed up to take one of my workshops soon, too. What the staff at my library are now doing is letting each other know how much we value each other. I hope this spirit lasts.

I did read Last Shot by John Feinstein on the train going downtown to a publishing summit yesterday. Excellent mystery. This has garnered some awards and I'm going to review it for Crimespree magazine later this month. Last Shot was set at the Final Four and two eighth graders uncover a blackmail scheme with the games. It is from last year and Feinstein has a new one, so I'll be reading that one too.

A few weeks ago I ordered The Soul of Southern Cooking by Kathy Starr from Interlibrary Loan. I figured if that great Jelly Cake came from there, it would have other good stuff. The first sign that this book is unusual came when it had to arrive from a library clear on the other end of Illinois. This book covers all history of Southern food and African-American traditions, including how to kill and separate a hog. It also has squirrel and coon recipes. I quickly moved on to the desserts, and there are great variations on the Jelly Cake. I was dreaming last night of a pink coconut cake so I will adapt something from the book and try this. Then I was somewhat intrigued by the historical remedies listed in the back of the book:

"When a child got sore throat or thrush, the older folks believed that rinsing the throat with one's own urine healed the sore throat or thrush."

Now - ok, but perhaps that created a host of new issues... Also, can you imagine the testing process for this? How did they think of it?

Tonight is the staff fundraising mystery dinner. I wrote the script with advice from the cast, but it never goes as planned. However, it's always fun!