Molasses Sandwich Cookies

The fam enjoyed these Molasses Sandwich Cookies. I'm not a molasses lover, but even I thought these were good. The marshmallow filling really makes them. I used my regular-sized cookie scoop for these; next time I might use my smallest one, because these cookies turned out very tall and were super filling with regular-sized cookies! They're so good though. Using my medium scoop, I only got 13 cookies out of this recipe (so, 26 single cookies, sandwiched together to make 13).

Molasses Sandwich Cookies  

adapted from I Am Baker

Cookies:

2 ¼ cups (281 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks / 170 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
¼ cup (84 g) molasses
4 tablespoons granulated sugar, for rolling

Filling:

½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) butter, softened
teaspoon almond extract
pinch kosher salt
2 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme or fluff

Ginger Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture. Mix until fully combined. Shape the dough into 1-inch sized balls, rolling them into the granulated sugar. Place the cookies a couple of inches apart onto the lined baking sheet, flattening slightly. Bake for 8-10 minutes, letting them cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until the butter is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the almond extract and salt. Add in the confectioners' sugar, about ½ cup at a time. Once all the sugar is added, mix on high for 2-3 minutes. Once fully combined, fold the marshmallow creme into the frosting by hand with a silicone spatula. Spread the filling on the bottoms of half the cookies and top with the remaining cookies.

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Leftover Turkey Soup

I love this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I actually made it back in November to use up our Thanksgiving turkey. It would be great use of leftover Christmas turkey as well. If you want to make this and don't have leftover turkey, you could use leftover chicken or meat from a rotisserie chicken. 

Leftover Turkey Soup

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup finely chopped onion
¼ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh, chopped
¼ teaspoon crushed dried rosemary or 1 teaspoon fresh, chopped
6 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth/stock
½ to ¾ cup brown rice or brown rice blend 
2 teaspoons salt, like kosher salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 cup half and half
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
3 to 4 cups cooked, chopped leftover turkey (or chicken)

1.  In a 6-quart saucepan or pot, heat the butter and oil until hot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, thyme and rosemary and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are slightly tender, 3-4 minutes.

2.  Add the broth, rice, salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the rice is tender. The exact time will depend on variety of rice and package directions. For a brown and wild rice blend, the time will be about 30 minutes.

3.  Whisk together or blend the half and half and flour until smooth and there are no lumps. Stir the flour mixture into the soup, whisking quickly, and simmer gently until slightly thickened, 5-6 minutes.
Stir in the cooked turkey and heat through. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Serve.

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Molasses Cookies

Merry Christmas Eve! I've never made molasses cookies before, but I finally did because my husband likes them. This was a great recipe to try for the first time! They are easy to make, and have a wonderfully soft and chewy texture. You can taste the molasses, too. He took some to work to share and they enjoyed them there, too. 

Molasses Cookies 

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

4 cups (568 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 ½ cups (340 g) salted butter, softened
1 ½ cups (318 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup molasses
Sugar for rolling

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a couple large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.

3.  In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the butter and granulated sugar, 2-3 minutes, until light and creamy. Add the molasses and eggs and mix until well-combined, another 2-3 minutes. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

4.  The dough can be rolled and baked right away, but the cookies will be slightly thicker and chewier if refrigerated for a bit. If so, chill for 20-30 minutes (or up to several days) before rolling into balls.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (you can make them smaller or larger, too) and then roll the cookie dough balls into granulated sugar. Space the cookies an inch or so apart on the lined cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes (don’t over bake if you want a soft, chewy cookie). Adjust the baking time, more or less, if the cookies are overly small or large.

5.  Remove the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely. These cookies stay soft and chewy well-covered for several days at room temperature and the baked cookies also freeze very well.

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Maple Pralines

I made these a few weeks ago to use up some heavy cream from another recipe. They were fun and easy to make. I used my digital thermometer to make these. It's actually a meat thermometer, but it works perfectly for candy, too.  These were very sweet, but they are melt-in-your-mouth delicious with the maple flavor and crunch of the nuts. 

Maple Pralines

adapted from Taste of Home

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1. In a heavy 1-qt. saucepan, combine sugar, cream and syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, until a candy thermometer reads 234° F (soft-ball stage), stirring occasionally.

2. Remove from the heat. Add butter; do not stir. Cool, without stirring to 160° F. Stir in pecans. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture just begins to thicken but is still glossy. Quickly drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

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Kinderpunsch (Non-alcoholic German mulled punch)

This is a holiday beverage;  a non-alcoholic substitute for the traditional mulled wine popular at German Christmas markets (and other countries, too, including Italy).  This drink is popular with children or with anyone who does not want to drink alcohol.  I meant to post this before Christmas, but better late than never.  

Kinderpunsch 

adapted from German Girl in America

2 cups apple juice

2 cups orange juice

1/2 cup cherry juice

2 cups water

8 cloves

2 star anise (I didn't have this, so I omitted)

2 cinnamon sticks

4-5 bags hibiscus tea

honey, to taste

1.  In a medium-large pot, combine all the ingredients except for the tea bags.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce to low heat, and simmer 10 minutes.  Add the hibiscus tea bags, and let steep 7-10 minutes.  Sweeten with honey if desired.  

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Christmas Peanut Butter Balls

I have a few other Peanut Butter Ball recipes on my site, but I like this one with the use of crunchy cereal.  We didn't have Rice Krispies so we just crushed Rice Chex and used that. We made these on Christmas Eve.  I was so tired; I made the "dough" with my daughter, and then she and my husband dipped them in chocolate.  They turned out well, and of course are so tasty.  I didn't want to make them because we were making other things already, (fudge and caramels), but I'm glad we did.  They only lasted a few days too; they're gone now. Lol.  

Note: This calls for melting the pb and butter together first.  I did it, but I'm not sure it's necessary, and it made this recipe take forever to make since it had to then cool for a few hours in the fridge until we could even work with it.  Next time, I'd just use softened butter and mix with a mixer.  I can't think of any benefit of melting them together vs. mixing with a mixer.  

Christmas Peanut Butter Balls

adapted from Spend with Pennies

2 cups peanut butter creamy or chunky
½ cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups Rice Krispie cereal
⅓ cup graham crumbs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil

1.  Combine peanut butter and butter in a saucepan and melt over medium heat. (Note: if you do this, you'll have to let the mixture cool before forming balls.  I'd just let the butter soften and then mix from there.) 

2.  Stir in powdered sugar, Rice Krispies and graham crumbs.  Roll into 1" balls and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Before rolling, I had to refrigerate for 2 hours since the mixture was way too soft, then stuck in the fridge another few hours before dipping.) 

3.  Melt chocolate chips at 50% power in the microwave until almost smooth. Stir in coconut oil.  (I always use a double boiler to melt chocolate; I find this works better than microwaving.  Or, use a heavy saucepan over super low heat.)  Dip peanut butter balls into the chocolate mixture allowing excess to drip off. Place on a parchment lined pan and cool completely.

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Pistachio Fluff Salad

My mom made this often growing up, especially for holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Last time we were with my parents for Christmas, my mom made it and my kids really loved it.  I don't think I've ever made it myself, but I finally did a few days ago for Thanksgiving when my kids requested it.  It was gone too fast.  Most people use Cool Whip for this, but my mom just whips cream and it's so good that way.  I used 2 containers of European shelf-stable cream, which ends up being about 1.5 cups.  You can use just one cup or 1.5 cups.  It's good either way.  Also, it needs to be made the day before for best results, or the pudding mix doesn't seem to fully incorporate smoothly.  

Pistachio Fluff Salad

from my mom

2 boxes (3.4 oz each) Jell-O Instant Pistachio pudding mix
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple (in juice)
1 can (15 oz) mandarin oranges, drained
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (can use just 1 cup, can probably use 2 cups as well)

1.  Whip the heavy cream- I use a stand mixer but you can use a hand mixer, as well.  After it's whipped to soft peaks, fold in the dry pudding mix (do not add any milk).  Then, fold in the crushed pineapple (you can drain a bit of the juice, but leave some).  Fold in the drained mandarin oranges.  Transfer to an airtight container, cover, and refrigerate, overnight, if possible.  

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Peanut Butter Fudge

This fudge is so good.  It's such a simple recipe too.  You boil milk and sugar together, then add peanut butter and marshmallow creme.  I added a little salt and vanilla extract, too.  We stored this in the fridge at first, but it seemed a little dried-out even though it was in an airtight container.  Then I read on the original recipe that you don't have to store it in the fridge, so I took it out, and it is 100x better at room temp.  Creamy with a great texture.  I'm really glad I tried this one, although I didn't have time to make it before Christmas.

Peanut Butter Fudge
adapted from Love Bakes Good Cakes

Butter or cooking spray, for greasing the foil
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1-1/3 cups peanut butter
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
dash of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1.  Line an 8-in. square pan with foil and butter the foil well (or use cooking spray).  Set aside.

2.  In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk and sugar to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes. Add the peanut butter and marshmallow creme and mix well, then stir in the salt and vanilla. Quickly pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Chill until set. Cut into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.  

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Merry Christmas!

My daughter really wanted to make cut-out sugar cookies for Christmas, so we made these yesterday on Christmas Eve.  Then the whole fam got involved in frosting and decorating them.  It was a good time! This is a recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  I just used a regular buttercream for the frosting.  One thing Mel mentioned was to make sure you don't roll these out too thin or they won't be very good.  I rolled some out thicker than I thought I should and those were the best.  These are so good with frosting! It's been years since I made roll-out cookies but these weren't as hard as I thought they'd be. 

Roll-Out Sugar Cookies
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Makes: a lot!! 

Cookies:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks, 12 ounces) butter, softened to cool room temperature
1 1/2 cups (11.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (2 ounces) powdered sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
5 cups (25 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter

2 pounds powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

milk, to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees (if baking right away).  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and almond extract; mix. Add two cups flour, baking powder and salt. Mix. Add remaining flour and mix just until flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth and soft.

2.  The dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week or it can be rolled out right away (if it seems too sticky add another 1/4 cup flour or refrigerate for an hour or so-I opted to refrigerate). Dust a counter with powdered sugar or flour and roll the dough to desired thickness (1/4-inch, maybe even slightly thicker than that). Cut the dough into shapes. (Re-rolling the scraps is fine.) Place the cookies on a lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes.  The cookies won’t appear browned on top (or on bottom) when they are done baking so don’t let them overbake! If the first batch is even slightly browned on the top or bottom, decrease the bake time by 30-60 seconds. 

3.  Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack before frosting. The baked cookies (unfrosted) can be stored in a tupperware or ziploc bag in the freezer for up to a month. (There are more freezing instructions on the original recipe. I've never frozen these.)

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White Chocolate Buckeyes

These candies are controversial Buckeyes, I think.  Comments on the original recipe (which doesn't even use white chocolate) seemed mad that cream cheese and graham crackers crumbs were included in the sacred Buckeyes recipe.  But guess what? The cream cheese and graham crackers are wonderful in this; cutting the sweetness and adding something interesting.  So I'm proud to put these on here; they taste super amazing, still melt in your mouth, and aren't that hard to make, either.  I wanted to try white chocolate this time, and I loved that.....I realized it makes it even worse to Buckeye purists, but oh well.  I got two bars of Italian cooking white chocolate... it worked beautifully when melted in a double boiler with some coconut oil.  It was real white chocolate with cocoa butter and no hydrogenated oils.  I meant to post these before Christmas but I didn't get around to it, so here they are now.  (Regular buckeye recipe from the Joy the Baker is here.)

White Chocolate Buckeyes
adapted from the Kitchn

1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 and 3/4 cups)
1 (16.3-ounce) jar creamy peanut butter (not natural), such as Skippy (about 2 cups)
10 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (can use Neufchatel)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from about 8 graham crackers)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
12-16 ounces chopped good-quality white chocolate (not chocolate chips)
1 tablespoon refined coconut oil

1.  Place the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, cream cheese, graham cracker crumbs, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.)

2.  Beat on low speed until just combined, then increase speed to medium and beat, stopping often to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, until the mixture is smooth and holds together when squeezed in the palm of your hand, 2 to 3 minutes. (If using a stand mixer- pay attention to the bottom of the bowl.  There may be dry crumbs down there.  Use a rubber spatula to make sure everything is combined.)

3.  Form into balls- line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Form the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls (you should get about 72 (1/2-ounce) balls) and place in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until very cold and firm, at least 2 hours.

4.  Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil in a double boiler, stirring until smooth.  Let cool 5 minutes. (I didn't let it cool.... and it was fine.  Use your judgment.)

5.  Dip the balls- line a second rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer 12 of the chilled peanut butter balls onto it. (Keep the rest in the refrigerator to keep them chilled and firm.) Insert a toothpick into the center of one of the peanut butter balls (don’t let it poke all the way through) and dip it into the chocolate, leaving a small opening (about 1-inch across) at the top of the buckeye.

6.  Shake off the excess chocolate- lift the buckeye out of the chocolate and turn the toothpick horizontally so that you are holding it at a 90° angle to the bowl. Gently shake your hand up and down so that any excess chocolate drips off the buckeye and back into the bowl. (You want to remove as much excess chocolate as possible so that it doesn’t pool around the bottoms of the buckeyes.) When the dripping has stopped, twirl the toothpick so that that very last drip wraps around the buckeye and blends in with the rest of the chocolate. (I was tired and didn't dip them quite this well... but if you have a lot of patience this would be a good idea.  Lol.)

7.  Remove the toothpick- turn the buckeye upright and place back onto the baking sheet. Use your finger or a second toothpick to gently push the buckeye off the toothpick (you’ll cover up the hole it leaves later). Repeat dipping with the remaining buckeyes.  If, at any point, the peanut butter balls begin twirling around on the toothpick as you dip, making it difficult to control, return to the refrigerator until chilled.

8.  Smooth over the toothpick holes (optional... lol) -use your thumb and forefinger to gently pinch the peanut butter filling where the toothpick has left a hole, then use your finger to smooth it out. (You want to wait until the chocolate is set up enough to do this so the buckeye doesn’t slide around.)  Refrigerate until the chocolate is set. Refrigerate until the chocolate is hardened, at least 10 minutes.

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Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are a twist on the classic White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.  They're made with white chocolate and crushed peppermint candy (or candy canes) and don't contain any nuts.  The candy melts into the cookies and turns delicious.  Because the candy IS actually melting, it's important to use parchment paper with these cookies.  If you don't, the cookies will stick terribly and be almost impossible to remove from the cookie sheets.

I was lucky to have this bag of crushed candy canes left over in my pantry from last year.  They were still good, not stale or stuck together.  I LOVE these things.  No more unwrapping and crushing individual candy canes.  The color is not as brilliant red, but the convenience is worth it. 

Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Closet Cooking

1/2 cup butter room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup peppermint crushed candy cane

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.  Mix the butter and sugars in a bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until they are just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate and the peppermint candy cane.

2.  Chill the dough in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before placing it onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet one tablespoon at a time rolled up into balls, using a cookie scoop.

3.  Bake in preheated oven until just lightly golden brown around the edges, about 8-10 minutes.

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Overnight Eggnog French Toast

We had this for dinner on New Year's Day.  I knew we wouldn't be awake enough to have it for breakfast, and I was too tired New Year's Eve night to prepare it anyway.  (It should be refrigerated for 8 hours before baking.) It was a nice breakfast-for-dinner thing to do on New Year's.  We had so many appetizers the night before, nobody felt like a big fancy meal anyway.  This would make a great Christmas breakfast, too.

I loved the eggnog flavor of this! Eggnog is probably almost gone from stores by now, but this is a great send-off for it.  I hope everyone had wonderful holidays.

Note: I used Pandoro bread/cake for this.  It's like Panetonne but has no dried fruit inside, and it comes from Verona.  It was perfect for this.

Overnight Eggnog French Toast
adapted from The Kitchn

1 loaf challah, brioche, Portuguese Sweet bread, Panetonne or Pandoro (about 16 ounces), cut into 1-inch-thick slices
6 large eggs
3 cups eggnog
1 cup whole or 2% milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, and warm maple syrup, for serving

1.  Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Spread the bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast until dry and very lightly golden-brown, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. Grease a 3-quart or 9x13-inch baking dish.  Cut or tear the bread slices into roughly 1-inch pieces and place them in the prepared baking dish in an even layer.

3.  Whisk the eggnog, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour evenly over the bread cubes and gently press down with your hands to make sure all of the bread gets saturated. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate for a few hour or overnight.

4.  To bake, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F.

5.  Uncover the french toast. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the tips of the bread are lightly toasted, 45 to 50 minutes in a metal pan or up to 55 minutes in a glass or ceramic pan. If the crust seems like it's getting dark before the custard is done, tent the dish loosely with foil. (I left the foil on for the first 30 minutes and then uncovered it.  It worked very well.)

6.  Transfer the bread pudding to a wire rack and let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon and serve with warm maple syrup.

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Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate

Merry Christmas! We really enjoyed this super easy hot chocolate.  It was so easy to put together and I had everything on hand.  I've made a few white hot chocolate recipes in the crock pot before but never a "regular" one. This was nice, thick and rich.  It was a little too sweet, so I think I'd cut the sugar next time.  Maybe in half.  But one could always use half the sugar, then taste an hour before serving, and add more if needed.  We had leftovers and it was good the next day (just refrigerate and heat up later).

Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
adapted from Delish

1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (just use a regular-sized bag- can use milk choc. but don't add sugar)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar (try cutting in half, then tasting after cooking for a while)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
6 cups milk (I used 2%)

1.  Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Stir to combine.  Cook until everything is melted, stirring or whisking occasionally, 2 hours on LOW.

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