I know I promised a holiday treat post yesterday…but I’m just wiped. Whether it’s because of puppy or the Christmas Blues (seriously, Dean singing this makes me feel seen) – I’m just done in. Tomorrow is another day…
So instead of a full-blown recipe exchange post, I’m just going to post OpieJeanne’s Almond Tart recipe (below) and a link to all my favorite holiday treats, some of which I’m actually going to make as gifts later this week to deliver over the weekend.
Here is a link to these cookies and many more. Pictured above, clockwise: Dark chocolate chip cookies, spritz cookies and Pecan Balls.
Opiejeanne sent me this recipe and it sounds yummy!
Almond Tart
Pastry:
- 1 Cup flour
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp water (or more, if needed)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla (You can omit the almond extract and double the amount of vanilla)
Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Work in the water and extracts. Press mixture into a 9″ tart pan, chill for one hour. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. A food processor may be used for mixing but be careful not to overmix.
Filling:
- 1 Cup sliced almonds
- 3/4 Cup sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract (again, you may substitute same amount of vanilla for all of the almond extract)
- 3/4 Cup heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Grand Marnier (or orange Curacao, Hiram Walker Triple Sec, or another Orange flavored liqueur. World Market has airline size Grand Marnier so you don’t have to break the bank) I goofed one year and added a Tbsp, and it was very good.
Combine all filling ingredients. Let stand until sugar dissolves, at least 20 minutes. Pour into pre-baked shell*, return to oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes at 400 or until top is brown and the sugar has caramelized. Serve at room temperature.
Don’t panic if the filling leaks through the cookie crust. I highly recommend that you cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan, and the crust will release in one piece, as long as you are gentle. Without the parchment lining, the filling that leaks through the crust will glue it to the pan and you won’t get a clean release.
* I lick the spoon after pouring the filling into the crust, as consolation that I have to wait to have a bite of the tart.
And finally, since I feel badly about really coming up short on this post, here’s Trixie Belle’s 11-week photo from this afternoon (I tell you that, because 4 hours have passed, she’s probably bigger already)
She’s just the sweetest thing and doing so well on her training – walking on a leash like a star, crate training is coming along (Scout would really like earplugs) and potty training is doing okay, but she has seemed to regress the last couple of days, so we’ll be focused on that this week while I have some extra time with a light workload. More photos here if you need a fix.
Time to share your favorite sweet treats! Favorite pie? Are you a cake or cookie person? Chocolate or fruit desserts? Hit the comments.
TaMara (HFG)
I will check back in…but my plan for the next little bit is to snuggle down on the couch, watch a cheesy Christmas movie with the dogs on my lap and probably a cat or two just above my shoulders.
sab
Pecan balls! We make pecan fingers, same thing but different shape. A pain to make but absolutely love them.
I have put on thirty pounds since Covid, so hesitant to bake this year.
New Deal democrat
Here is a recipe I made for my neighbors at a (properly cautious!) party that they really enjoyed, and said “tasted like Christmas.”
So, without further adieu…
CHRISTMAS SPICED BOURBON
1 cup Knob Hill maple spiced bourbon (or regular bourbon + 1 tbsp. Maple syrup)
1/2 cup ginger beer
1/2 cup hard Apple cider
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp. Brown sugar
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Ginger
1/8 tsp. Cloves
Stir well. Also consider serving heated or with eggnog!
sab
Ponyo has also porked up a lot. Lots of dog walks in our future. When I worked full time I walked the legs of my dogs to prepare them for a day home alone. Since my retirement we all just sit around al day. Not healthy.
VeniceRiley
My sister and I used to help mom make coconut pecan balls covered in chocolate at Christmas and tin them up for gifts. So much fun to make treats with mom. They were yummy at the time, but I’m sure I’d find them too sweet now.
Thinking of reviving the tradition when I am a housewife next year for neighbors and my wife’s coworkers.
Scamp Dog
I will have to post my cinnamon roll recipe at some point, but I’m traveling today (probably a bad idea, I now realize) and it’s just not practical to do so now.
My grandmother made these fabulous cinnamon rolls, but nobody got the recipe from her. I’ve been working up a worthy successor, and have made some good progress. My brother and I agree that they’re good, but our memories of 35+ years ago aren’t good enough to figure out what changes I need to make. Still, the experiments are worth the effort, so I’ll keep at it.
Steeplejack
I like mincemeat pie, and I have not had any yet this holiday season. Feeling too lazy to make one, but I might have to bestir myself. I wish I would stumble across some great mincemeat tarts at a bakery. Hmm . . . there’s a couple of places I could check. ?
HumboldtBlue
Pomegranates are native to Iran and today I learned about the Persian celebration of Yalda, which aligns with the Dec. 20-25 solstice celebrations in cultures around the world.
dmsilev
Since it’s going to be another pandemic holiday season, I’m at least going to take advantage of cooking for just myself and will have a go at a chocolate lava cake. The recipe I’ll work from makes two servings, so hey dessert on the 26th is also covered…
dnfree
Pecan balls have many names. Two others that I know of are Mexican wedding cakes and Russian tea cakes. I think they’re all the same cookie, so I don’t know how they got so international.
dnfree
I am working on my grandmother’s anise cookie recipe tonight. It’s a two-day process. The recipe is at least 100 years old, because she made them growing up, and she was born in 1894. I made them with her when I was young. They were my dad’s favorites, and I was happy to make them for him almost every year until his death.
You make the dough at night (it’s stiff) and roll it out that night, make cutouts, put them on the cookie sheets, put them in a cool place overnight (we used to have a screened porch which was ideal in December, but now I put them in a bedroom, open a window, and shut the door). In the morning you bring them back to room temperature, bake and frost them. And IF everything goes well, they rise from the bottom up while they’re baking.
dnfree
This is the sugar cookie recipe I’ve been making for more than fifty years. The almond flavoring is subtle, and somehow the cream of tartar makes the cookie delicate and crisp. I’m sure it’s traditional in many families.
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/classic-christmas-sugar-cookie-cutouts/a1830449-487e-4c7f-882c-48ac06d83a91
Wapiti
@dmsilev: It took me a couple of years to make lava cakes after my spouse gave me some ramekins for the purpose. I was intimidated by the concept and never looked at a recipe. They’re really easy, but time sensitive (as in, don’t cook them too long).
sab
Old family cookie recipe. My grandmother grew up in one of the few English speaking families in a German town in Wisconsin. This is a recipe she learned from her German neighbors. It is very rich and not at all sweet.
My sister works for a Swiss pharmaceutical co. They sent her to Switzerland one year, and she learned that we had totally mistranslated the name. Eire is egg. But Kringel has nothing to do with Kris Kringel or Christmas. It means ring or circle. So now we make it shaped like pretzels instead of like reindeer. Make them small. They are very rich.
Also, James Beard said they need refrigeration. We never did and no one died, but my parents set the thermostat very very low.
Eire Kringel
1 c butter 3 c flour 3/4 c powderef sugar, 7 yolks hard boiled eggs seived 2 uncooked egg yolks 1 t vanilla. / Sugar mixed with chopped nuts. Save the egg whites.
Mix all the ingredients, except the egg whites and the chopped nuts w/ sugar. I use a pastry blender. Old recipe: Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with chopped nuts and sugar, then bake 350° until lightly browned. Who knows how long? Beats me. 19th century recipe: cook until done.
New version No cookie cutters. Shape into ring pretzel shapes instead. Then egg wash, sugar and nut sprinkles same as before.
BeautifulPlumage
Speaking of baking, I want to thank WaterGirl for the tip about Penzy’s sale yesterday. I restocked some items and have a couple of their box sets coming for post Xmas gifts.
I also now have a 16 # turkey in my fridge I brought home from work. A customer had extra from their give-away and forced it on one of the crew. No one else wanted to take it, so I’ll go to Tamara’s other post to get ideas. Lots of turkey soup in my future!
eclare
That almond tart sounds like a pecan pie (my fave) but with almonds!
Not planning to make or bake anything, but I do have my very favorite flavor of ice cream, which unfortunately is seasonal: peppermint. At some point this week I’ll go by the grocery store and see if they have more to stock up. The first time I looked they were out, the second time I got the last pint.
So I’m not the only one who loves this flavor.
dmsilev
@Wapiti: Yeah, that’s the sense I got after looking at recipes. Seemed straightforward enough, just twitchy with timing.
NotMax
Really wanna try my hand at this Greek cake but somehow have never gotten around to it.
As for what I churn out if planning to give cookies as gifts,
Pepparkakor (Swedish-style Ginger Snaps)
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup light molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger (or a skootch more to taste, for extra zing)
½ teaspoon black pepper (or a mini-skootch more, for added spiciness)
3½ cups sifted flour
Sugar for dipping
.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Thoroughly beat in molasses.
Sift together soda, salt, ginger, pepper and flour. Add to creamed mixture and beat to mix very well.
Chill dough until it is easy to handle.
Shape dough with hands into little balls about the size of large marbles. Dip each into sugar before baking.
Place 1½ inches apart, sugar dusted side up, on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 from 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned (if unsure about determining it by eyeballing the tops and edges, fold one up slightly with a spaula to check the bottom; they’re pliable enough to pat that one back down flat). Remove baking sheet and let cookies cool on it for about 1 minute, then transfer them to rack to cool completely.
Makes around 6 or 7 dozen.
.
opiejeanne
@dnfree: My grandmother made cookies that yours remind me of, but the recipe is lost.
My dad used to make gumdrop cookies when I was little, in the 1950s, and that recipe is also lost to time, along with his incredible recipe for fudge.
BeautifulPlumage
@dnfree: these were a favorite of my childhood. So much fun cutting out shapes & decorating them!
NotMax
@NotMax
Eyes bleary from a whole megillah late this afternoon (don’t ask).
spaula = spatula
Hellbastard
This recipe got me honorable mention in our office holiday baking contest:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/soft-molasses-cookies/
opiejeanne
@eclare: It’s not really like pecan pie at all, more like a cookie crust with crunchy almond toffee on top.
It’s a fairly easy recipe and is great to take to a party or dinner.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: I’m too tired tonight but I could post that recipe tomorrow. I also have a great fudge recipe that basically makes a half sheet pan and is very easy, from a coworker in the 1980s.
opiejeanne
@Hellbastard: Those look and sound great! I’m going to hang onto that recipe, maybe make some for Christmas. I’m planning to make Russian teacakes and the almond tart, because it’s Christmas. There will be 9 of us and I love making desserts.
(I’ve lost weight since Covid began. Didn’t realize how much we were eating out)
Comrade Colette
I’ve made hundreds of pies, and this is the best one:
Apple-cranberry tart with French crumble topping.
Another Scott
My father’s favorite cookie was Pecan Sandies (I don’t know if that’s the recipe he used – just an example). He loved them so much that he made them himself. I never understood why he loved them so much – the texture is all wrong for a good cookie!
My mother’s, and my, favorite cookies were Cowboy Cookies (that’s a good starting point – I usually double the chocolate chips). My mom had an old (’50s? ’60s?) newspaper clipping with the recipe, but she eventually lost it. But she made them so many times that she had the recipe memorized. When I make them, I make a double-batch of the dough and roll them into golf-ball sided balls to make roughly 5 dozen 3″ diameter cookies. They’re very sensitive to the oven temperature and work best (for me) on things like AirBake cookie sheets, but even then one has to be careful and not trust the oven setting.
I was quite upset when I read that Laura Bush made something she called “Cowboy Cookies” which are some abomination with cinnamon and coconut!!11ONE
Cheers,
Scott.
opiejeanne
@dnfree: Thank you. I used to have an easy fudge recipe that was really good, but I can’t put my hands on it right now.
Dad had a candy store when he was a young man, before WWII. His fudge wasn’t what I would call easy, but it was amazing. He had a recipe that he said was even better but he lost the notebook it was in when I was a kid, or maybe before I was born. I remember he took the house apart looking for it, but it never resurfaced. Our grandparents lived next door, his parents, and he searched for it there.
NotMax
@opiejeanne
It’s behind Mr. Cole’s mustard.
;)
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: We had a neighbor in the 1950s who was Dutch and her daughter handed me a wonderful chocolate cookie her mom had made. Called it a stomachache cookie. It was the biggest cookie I’d ever seen, close to 5″ in diameter. She said if you ate more than one you found out why it was named that. I couldn’t finish it, it was so big.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: Ha!
I’m sorry you’ve had a rough day. I hope someone here has told you what a treasure you are, because you are.
Benw
My wife makes the most delicious English Trifle every Christmas.
I’m 90% convinced that Tamara got that Panda to convince Trixie that she is small!
NotMax
@opejeanne
Lenny Bruce, Genie in the Candy Store.
:)
Another Scott
@opiejeanne: :-D
Reminds me of TheTrellis Death by Chocolate in Williamsburg, VA. Good stuff, but one can’t take too much!
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@Steeplejack: Mincemeat YES! And Figgy, or Christmas, Pudding, soaked in brandy for a week, lit on fire, served with Hard Sauce. A pain to make but it lasts for months.
KrackenJack
@HumboldtBlue:
Several rather large pomegranate trees in our neighborhood have dropped their leaves in past week revealing the cheerful fruit. I need to widen my culinary horizons to include them.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
I swear by these chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from smitten kitchen:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2020/09/whole-wheat-chocolate-oat-cookies
recipe is endlessly flexible — you can use any kind of flour, I usually add cranberries and use almond extract instead of vanilla, more oatmeal turns it into a granola bar, etc.
Dan B
@HumboldtBlue: Saw lots of Pomegranates in Northern India
.
NotMax
@opiejeanne
Aw shucks., now that was a sweet treat. Thanks.
Dan B
@New Deal democrat: I copied your recipe. Thanks!
mrmoshpotato
Haha, goofed! ???
Dan B
@eclare: I love peppermint ice cream. A fond memory is a visit to one of my mother’s friends. She made Baked Alaska but couldn’t find Neapolitan Ice Cream and used Peppermint Candy Ice Cream instead. When she sliced into it the fragrance filled the room.
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: I have that recipe in a cookbook entitled Death by Chocolate. The photos are gorgeous but I’ve only made one recipe from it. Too chicken.
opiejeanne
@Dan B: oh, that sounds amazing.
I love peppermint ice cream but I haven’t seen it yet. The store that usually has it doesn’t do Instacart and we’re trying to stay home as much as possible, again.
Jackie
@Another Scott: I have almost the same Cowboy cookies recipe from my ex-MiL’s church bazaar cookbook from the ’50s. It also includes oatmeal and walnuts. Always a family favorite! We called them breakfast cookies?
Barbara
@Dan B: I love peppermint ice cream but I also like baking peppermint chocolate cookies because of the way they make my kitchen smell.
sab
@Dan B: Mincemeat!
Mincemeat cookies version 1
1 c shortening. 1 t salt. T t vanilla 1 c bown sugar, firmly packed,n2 eggs well beaten, 1 2/3 flour, 3/4 t baking soda, 2 c rolled oats.
Jar of mincemeat.
Combine everything up to and including brown sugar. Cream well.
Add beaten eggs. Mix well.
Roll dough 1/8 in thick on floured board. Cut with small biscuit cutter. Put 1 t of mincemeat on cut dough and then cover with second cookie round. Press edges with a fork. Bake on a greased cookie sheet 10 to 15 minutes at 350°.
ETA This came from a cookbook my mother got as a wedding present in 1950. Best cookbook I have, and my non-cooking sisters do not have a clue what a treasure it is.
Connecticut Cookbook, put out when Greenwich was an artist colony , and not home to venture capitalists.
HumboldtBlue
@Comrade Colette:
Oh, man o Manischewitz, I can taste that.
HumboldtBlue
@dnfree:
They are still Russian tea cakes in our clan. One of the most popular.
sab
@Dan B: Akron Ohio I could buy Ponzu on our local ACME grocery chain. Who knew?
Feathers
I live alone and haven’t done much sweet baking, because the quantities are just too large. I do have a Small Batch Baking cookbook, but the recipes are super fussy with lots of ingredients, instead of being 5 cookie’s worth of simple basic recipe.
I am interested in trying the smitten Kitchen No Fuss Sugar Cookies. I like food processor baking, just super simple. https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/12/unfussy-sugar-cookies/
I have decided that for my solo Christmas this year I am having Calvin Trilling’s perfect Thanksgiving meal – Spaghetti Carbonara. I’ll use an old America’s Test Kitchen version that has no cream. Very tasty and easily scaled for one. Want more? Cook another batch.
eclare
@Dan B: Yum!
Sfinny
I got a gift box with many pears and needed to do something with the last two that were getting pretty ripe. So I made pear and blueberry crisp that came out great. Peeled and sliced the pears, added a cup of fresh blueberries. Sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.
Topping was a cup of oatmeal, 3/4 c flour, 2 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon. Dice 1/2 stick butter and use fork or fingers to mix into dry mixture. Add more butter, if necessary, to get a cohesive crumble.
Butter a dish, I used my corning ware but you can use a 9 x 9 cake pan, put on fruit mixture, crumble topping evenly, bake 45 minutes at 375. I cover with tin foil for 30 min, then remove to brown the topping.
Serve with vanilla ice cream and or whipped cream.
Another Scott
@Jackie: They’re good any time of day! :-)
A high-school friend told me a trick – put a slice of bread in with the cookies when you put them in a ziplock bag or a sealed bowl. The bread helps keep the cookies from getting hard (apparently by suppling a little moisture). Change the bread when it gets dry.
It seems to work, but I eat the cookies too quickly to know for sure. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@opiejeanne: Copied your almond tart recipe. There are only the two of us for the holidays but my guy likes sweets.
AlaskaReader
@Dan B: A week ago you asked about Wakefield.
It’s a tv series, psychiatric potboiler set in Blue Mountains Australia HBO
coin operated
@Another Scott:
I resemble this remark.
Mrs. Coin bakes 5-6 dozen gingerbread cookies this time of year. The recipe is called “The Perfect Man”…I’ve been told I’m a close 2nd ;-)
(edited…formatting)
Cowgirl in the Sandi
@Feathers:
If you’re baking for one, you might look up the Cup Cake book. I got it for my daughter at a gift store. The recipes are designed to be baked in a cup – thus the cup cake book. It came with a cute cup.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this is like the gardening threads in that I see you talented folks talking about this stuff and I think, “I could maybe do that, I should give it a shot”, but deep down knowing I would screw it up, with the added knowledge here that even having screwed it up I would be shoving gobs of malformed piles of (still warm) carbs, sugar and butter into my already fat face.
That said, opiejeanne’s almond tart and sab’s not-too-sweet German egg pastry twists highly intrigue me.
NotMax
@Cowgirl in the Sandi
Microwave chocolate cake in a mug.
;)
eclare
@NotMax: That looks really good! Bookmarked for future use. Have you made it?
NotMax
@eclare
Nope, have not had that pleasure.
Kattails
I used to do so many cookies I needed a spread sheet to keep track of ingredients. Then one year did 4 different kinds of thumbprint cookies, easy and versatile. got this recipe from somewhere on the web, can’t find attribution: Apricot-Cardamom thumbprints. The cookies are very pretty.
Cream 1 stick softened butter with 1/2 c. sugar until fluffy. Mix in 1 egg yolk (reserve white) + 1tsp vanilla. In separate bowl blend together 1 1/4c. flour, 1/4 tsp. finely crushed cardamom, dash cinnamon, 1/8 tsp salt, then mix into the butter/sugar. Refrigerate 2 hours.
Chop 1/2 c. shelled pistachios finely, add 2 Tbsp sugar. form the dough into 1″ balls, dip in the lightly beaten egg white, roll in pistachios. Make a dent with handle of wooden spoon, bake in 325º oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile cut 5 or 6 dried apricots into small pieces. Have jar of apricot jam ready. Take cookies out, remake dent, fill with dried apricot/jam mix, bake another 8-10 minutes. The cardamom smells amazing.
sab
@Kattails: Not making many cookies this year, but I am trying yours as a new recipe. Seem amazing. Thanks.
sab
@NotMax: Wow. I love ginger snaps!
Anyway
For a long time I traveled over Christmas and didn’t have any holiday baking traditions but in recent years have begun making Mexican wedding cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip and ginger snaps to share with friends and neighbors. Lost my mojo this year and wasn’t planning on making any but somehow invited the “bubble” neighbors ( all 5 boostered and WFH) for mulled wine and apps on Thursday. So plan to pull out the baking sheets after work today — have plenty of vacation days to use but there are deadlines and I need to work til noon at least.
Anyway
@Kattails:
Yum!
AlaskaReader
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Don’t let anyone fool you, shoving gobs of (still warm) carbs, sugar and butter into faces is exactly the point.
Rachel Bakes
Brian is making an angel food cake for Christmas Eve dessert which means we’ll have a dozen egg yolks…I think Crème Brûlée might be on the horizon to go with Christmas Day’s apple strudel.
Baked Kannelbullar yesterday. But I missed the timer so they are a bit overdone…aww shucks. I guess we have to eat most of them
Sanjuro58
Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie
Ingredients:
3 oz. Bourbon (I normally use Maker’s Mark, but its dealers choice.)
2 cups Chopped pecans
I break them up by hand into 3 or 4 pieces. There is less fine pecan dust that way.
After chopping the pecans, soak them in bourbon for a least 4 hours or even overnight.
3 Eggs
1 cup Light Karo corn syrup
3/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup Sugar
This is my current mix for the sugar
1/2 cup of pure cane sugar
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar (light or dark depending on your taste preference)
You can just use standard granulated white sugar as well.
1 stick Butter (melted)
(Salted or unsalted is fine.)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Unbaked pie shell (9 inch deep dish)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all the wet ingredients and then fold in all the dry ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell.
Place in oven and cook for 50 minutes without opening the oven. Check at 50 minutes and if the pie still shakes quite a bit then cook for another 5-10 minutes, but no longer than 60 minutes total. Pie will still be somewhat jiggly even after the additional cooking but will firm up nicely after cooling.
This recipe will actually make more than can be put into the one pie shell. You will have enough left for maybe 1 or 2 ramekin sized pies. So making two rounds with this recipe will actually net nearly three pies.
Sanjuro58
Candied Pecans
(aka Christmas Crack)
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs whole pecans
1.5 cups sugar
3 egg whites
7 tbsp salted butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (Use more or less depending on taste preference)
Directions:
Toast pecans at 275 degrees for approx. 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
Melt butter in a 9×13 pan.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiffly beaten.
(The egg whites should end up looking like shaving cream)
Add the sugar mix to the egg whites and hand fold until fully mixed.
Add the pecans to the mixture and evenly coat all of the pecans.
Spread the pecan mixture into the pan with the melted butter.
Total bake time for the pecans is 30 minutes.
Take pecans out of the oven and turn them in the pan every 10 minutes to allow butter to soak into the pecans.
Allow to cool and then break up into small pieces.
CookingNotes:
Toasting time for pecans may vary. You want them to be a slightly darkish brown in color but not burnt. Check at 15 minutes and then again at 20 minutes.
Line the cooking pan with heavy grade aluminum foil (I use grilling foil). This makes for easy pan cleanup and also easy removal of pecans after they have cooled.
30 minutes cooking is generally enough. However, if there is still visible butter in the bottom of the pan
after 30 minutes then turn them one more time and cook about 5 minutes more.
If you are planning on making several pounds of this then using liquid egg white is an option. However, I think using egg whites from fresh eggs makes a better coating.
I use Saigon cinnamon which is a little different than regular cinnamon. Saigon is a little stronger than regular cinnamon.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: Here is the fudge recipe. The original recipe calls for marshmallows. Because we have vegetarians in our family, I use a 7-oz. container of marshmallow fluff instead of the marshmallows and it works fine.
FANNIE MAY FUDGE (from work friend in early 1980’s—makes a huge batch and never fails)
4 c. sugar
1 c. milk
1 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
25 large marshmallows (or 7-oz. jar marshmallow fluff)
14 oz. milk chocolate bar
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 oz. Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
Mix first three ingredients in large saucepan (3 qt.), bring to boil, and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Turn off heat and add the rest of the ingredients, stirring until all are melted. Pour into 12” x 18” pan. Can add nuts to some of the fudge if desired. Put in cool place overnight.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: Here’s my grandmother’s recipe for anise cookies. I think anyone who likes licorice would like these cookies. I don’t like licorice, but I love the cookies anyway. Only use enough flour to make the dough stiff, not dry. I have never dared mess with the directions. It says beat for ten minutes, so I beat for ten minutes.
GRANDMA LORENA’S ANISE COOKIES
1 lb. (box) powdered sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. margarine
3-1/2 to 4 c. sifted flour (should be stiff but not dry)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. anise seed (or more)
Beat powdered sugar and eggs at least 10 minutes at high speed of mixer.
Melt margarine, let cool slightly, and add gradually to above mixing well.
Add remaining ingredients, stirring with spoon. Mixture should be very stiff.
Roll out right away, about ¼ in. thick, and cut into shapes. Put on greased cookie sheet and set in cool place overnight, covered with waxed paper.
Bring back into kitchen in the morning and let set at least two hours at room temperature (so cookies are dry on top) before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. When cool, frost with powdered sugar icing.
opiejeanne
@dnfree: Thank you for those two recipes! The easy fudge recipe with marshmallows is the one I remember making. Dad turned up his nose at it but I thought it was really good.
And the anise cookies are on my list for next year. I’m going to print out yours and a couple of the other recipes here and stick them in my notebook. I think my grandmother stuck the cookies in her refrigerator before baking, since we lived in LA county and it wasn’t usually very cold at Christmas.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: you’re welcome! The anise cookies rise like no other I’ve known. The visible cookie hardens, but when put in the oven the cookie rises from the bottom.