Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

   Peanut Butter cookies were invented in the United States and can be traced back to the early 1900s.  The waffle pattern on the top of the cookies seems to have followed quickly and was mentioned as soon as 1932 in a recipe in The Schenectady Gazette, though no reason was ever given for the pattern.  I'm guessing it was and is to ensure that the cookies were flattened before baking.  All that peanut butter would make it difficult to cook evenly if they were in round balls. 

 
   This is my grandmother's recipe and it is delicious.  So full of peanut butter and chewy.  The whole house smells good when you bake these and I just can't stop eating them from the second they come out of the oven.  I have burnt my mouth and fingers on many of these because I can't wait those 5 minutes it takes for them to cool enough to eat.

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups of flour



     Cream the first 5 ingredients together.  Add the eggs and mix.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.


    




Drop batter by small teaspoons onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet.  Press down with a fork, creating a waffle pattern, until each one is round and firm.

     Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 375 degrees. 

Southwestern Beans and Rice

     It was a cold and rainy day.  My furnace stopped working...again, so I thought a warm dish of beans seemed appropriate.  Now, just to be fair, I have no idea if this is what real southwestern beans and rice taste like, as I've never been in that part of the country, but if I was to go there, I think they would taste just as good there as they did in my chilly kitchen when I first made them...and every time since then.

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 can of kidney beans, drained, liquid reserved
1 beef bouillon cube
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 half cup of frozen corn
1/4 cup of sour cream

Hot Cooked Rice (2 cups should be enough)

Add the olive oil to a soup pot and heat over medium heat for a couple of minutes.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  In the meantime, add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to your minced garlic. 

When onions are cooked, smash the garlic with the side of a knife to form a paste and add them to the onions. Turn the heat down.  Cook for about 3 minutes, on low heat.

Add the drained kidney beans. Keeping the heat low, cook the bean mixture for  10 minutes, stirring occassionally.  If the mixture gets too dry, add some of the reserved liquid so the beans don't stick.

Measure the remaining reserved liquid to 1/2 cup (add water, if necessary).  Pour the 1/2 cup of liquid in the mixture along with 1 beef bouillon cube and chili powder.   Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes on very low heat, stirring often to prevent sticking.

 

Add frozen corn and simmer a couple of minutes to warm the corn.  Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Springerle

  If you like anise (black licorice) you will love springerle cookies.  They are traditional German Christmas cookies and I remember having them every year since I was very young.  This wasn't exactly my choice of cookies since I don't like anise, but I make them anyway because my mother loves them and it seems like the thing to do at Christmas.  People say they are good, but I'll have to take their word for it.  This is the only recipe I absolutely will not, under any circumstances, taste.  But...enjoy!

3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon of anise oil, or 1 Tablespoon of anise seed, or both
1/4 teaspoon of lemon oil, or the zest of one lemon
3 1/2 half cups flour
more anise seed


Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, salt, confectioner's sugar and flavorings for 5 minutes.  Gradually beat in the flour to form a very stiff dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead into a smooth ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Now you are ready to shape the cookies.  Tradition calls for a spingerle rolling pin but alternative directions are below.  Dust the work surface lightly with flour and divide the dough into thirds, working with one third at a time.  Use a regular rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 1/4 of an inch rectangle the size of your springerle pin.  Roll the springerle pin over the dough, pressing down hard so you leave an impression.  Cut the cookies apart at the lines.

(If you don't have a springerle pin, roll out as above with a regular pin then, using a mold, press down on the dough to create the cookies, cutting with a knife around the edges as needed.)

Sprinkle a generous amount of anise seed on the cookie sheets and transfer the cookies to them.  This will give them extra flavor and help raise them off the sheet to dry.  Set the unbaked cookies aside to dry at room temperature for 24 hours.

The next day:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and bake the cookies for 35 to 40 minutes.  They should be firm, but not brown.  Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.



These should be stored in an airtight container.  If they become too hard to eat, put a piece of bread in the container with them to soften them up a bit.

Sugar Plums

     I've always wondered what Sugar Plums were and so I decided to make them.  Now I know why they've been dancing in everyone's head.  How delicious! 

 For a non-alcoholic version, just omit the brandy.  You can change the fruit to your liking and even add a 1/2 cup of your favorite nuts.  Try some crystallized ginger or orange zest. These are so versatile, it's easy to change the ingredients to suit.  Here's how I did it:


1/2 cup dried figs, stems removed
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of cardamom
2 teaspoons of brandy, (omit for non-alcoholic version, add more for a really alcoholic version)
1 Tablespoon of confectioners' sugar
3 Tablespoons honey
Sugar for decorating

Put the figs and apricots into a food processor and pulse until they are very coarsely chopped into big pieces.  Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom (and a 1/2 cup of nuts if you want them).  Pulse about 10 times.  Add the brandy, confectioners' sugar and honey and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Don't let the mixture turn into a paste.

Turn out on to a non-stick surface (wax paper, non-stick aluminum foil, etc).  Using a small baller, make balls about 1" wide by rolling them in the palm of your hands
 
Spread a thin layer of sugar on a place and roll the balls in it. 


 

Place them in foil lined cup or on a single layer serving plate.  

Easy Filled Cookies

     I can't take any credit for these cookies.  This is a recipe from the mother of a close friend and has been in the family for many years.  He was kind enough to not only share the recipe, but also the cookies.  The cookie is so good, I could have eaten it without the cherries.  That being said, make sure you add the cherries.  It's...well...the cherry on the cookie.

1 cup of shortening
2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of buttermilk or thick sour cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 can of cherry pie filling

 Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. 

In another mixing bowl mix together shortening, sugar and eggs until fluffy.  

Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. 

 
To the batter, mix in sifted ingredients until combined.


Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.  Place batter 1 Tablespoon at a time onto the cookie sheet 3" apart.  These cookies are going to spread ALOT.  That's the way it should be but just be aware you need room to let this happen.  

 
Place a teaspoon of cherry pie filling on top of each mound of dough.  Top with 1/2 Tablespoon of dough (see pictures).  


Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden.  Watch these carefully, they go from golden to black quickly.


Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.  

Cheeseburger Pie

     

     This recipe looks good, and sounds good, but it tastes better than I can even describe.  It must be the combination of all those flavors.  

     Really, how can you go wrong with beef, cheese and all that good stuff poured into a pie crust?  




1 1/2 pounds of ground beef or venison
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup 
1 package of refrigerated biscuits
1 package of refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup of your favorite cheeses shredded or broken into small pieces 
                     (I used a mixture of cheddar, goat, blue, and pecorino)
1 tomato, sliced thick
ketchup
mustard
3 hot to mild peppers, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped coarsely

Cook the beef in a 10 inch skillet until almost brown.  Add the hot peppers and cook until meat is completely brown and peppers are soft.  Pour off fat.  Stir in soup and mix thoroughly.

Spray a 9" pie pan with non-stick spray.  Open your package of biscuits and put one in the middle of the pan and place the rest of the biscuits around the middle one to form a circle.  Press the dough on the bottom and up the sides of the pan joining the biscuits to form the bottom crust.

Add 1/4 of the beef mixture then add 1/4 of your cheese.  Add another 1/4 of the meat, 1/4 of the cheese and the onions to the next layer.  Then add 1/4 of meat and 1/4 of cheese.  Finally, add the rest of the meat, a few lines of ketchup and mustard to taste, the tomato slices (seeded and most of the juice removed) and the last 1/4 of your cheese.

Unroll the crescent dough and place over the filling pressing the edges to seal and rearranging the triangles if necessary so that the entire top is covered. 

Bake at 350 degrees until the dough is a light brown - about 20 minutes, but check after 15.  

Cool for ten minutes before cutting.

Gingerbread Cookies

     I love ginger in almost anything, but gingerbread is my favorite and ginger snaps are my second favorite.  This is a nice combination of both.

2 1/4 cups of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of margarine, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
extra sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the first 6 ingredients and set aside.

Cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the egg and water and molasses.  Slowly, add the flour mixture to this and stir until mixed.  Don't overmix but make sure the dry ingredients are all incorporated into the wet.

Shape into balls about the size of a small meatball and roll in the extra sugar (you'll need about 1/4 cup) and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Flatten them slightly.  The light color baking sheets work better for some reason.  If you have dark pans watch to make sure the bottom of the cookies don't burn. 

Bake 10-15 minutes and cool on tray for about 5 minutes then eat one then move the rest to a rack to cool.  Then eat another one.  Store in an airtight container but make it small enough that you can eat a few to make them fit.

Tuscan Beans with Greens

This recipe reminds me so much of the beans that I had in Tuscany, that I just had to name them after that area.  They don't exactly duplicate those wonderful Tuscan flavors because I think the Tuscan women have a way of making their beans taste so rich that it would be impossible to imitate without spending time with them in the kitchen - but this is very close. 


2 Tablespoons of very good extra virgin olive oil
8 small, tender kale leaves
1/2 of a white onion chopped into 1" or larger pieces
1 can of kidney beans and the liquid
raisins (optional)
salt and pepper

The Tuscans make their own olive oil.  Since I do not have an olive tree, I used the best olive oil I could find and put it in a hot pan.  Add the kale and onions and cook until the kale starts to wilt. 

Drain kidney beans, reserving their liquid.  Set aside the kidney beans.  Add the liquid from the beans and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the kidney beans to the mixture and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, covered.  If you are adding raisins, add them now and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. 

That's it!  I put it in my salad for lunch....

...and with rice for dinner. 

I think it would also be delicious with cooked sausage mixed in.