We were among the lucky ones this Christmas: no nightmare travel stories to relate. It's all I have been hearing about from friends and family. My daughter arrived from New York City in between storms and was only a couple hours late.

Did you happen to see these on the last page of Martha Stewart's Living December issue? That magazine always has a fun holiday recipe like this...last year I made those white chocolate covered mint cookies. This year, these adorable peppermint cups. Let me be honest here: I'm not the least bit adept with a pastry bag so really wasn't certain I could manage these little melt-in-your-mouth gems. And when I referred back to the photo in the magazine, I noticed theirs were less red than mine. So if you're going to try them, don't paint your red line in the pastry bag as thickly as I did. Unless you like them with as much red as this.

All in all, these were wonderful. The peppermint taste is just right, the ganache perfect and they are the perfect holiday treat to pop in your mouth. Such fun!

Mini Peppermint-Meringue Cups with Ganache
From Martha Stewart Living Magazine, December 2010

Ingredients:
vegetable oil cooking spray
3 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
red gel-paste food coloring
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
garnish: 1 candy cane, crushed

Method:
Preheat oven to 175° . (Mine registers no lower than 200°, but it worked fine.)Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment paper, using a 1 and 3/4 inch round cookie cutter, spacing about 2 inches apart. Coat 2 baking pans with the cooking spray and top each with the parchment paper, traced side down.

Heat the egg whites and the sugar in a mixer bowl over simmering water until sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm to the touch, about 3 minutes.
Transfer bowl to mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in the peppermint extract.

Using a small food-safe paint brush, paint three stripes of the red food coloring on the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch plain round tip.

Transfer the meringue to the pastry bag and pipe coils to fill the traced circle. The pipe in the sides to create a 3/4 to 1 inch cup.

Bake until meringue cups are crisp but not browned, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Put the chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer and add to the chocolate. Allow to stand for a couple minutes, then stir to dissolve the chocolate. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap, cut a small slit in the top and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour to one hour and 15 minutes. (I got side-tracked and left mine too long, but microwaved it until it softened enough to put in the pastry bag.

Stir the ganache, fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch open star tip. Pipe ganache into the meringue cups. Garnish with the crushed peppermint stick.
Makes 32.

When I hear anyone say fruit cake I practically run screaming from the room. I cringe with embarrassment when I remember how many I made for the kids' teachers years ago.  No doubt I was the brunt of many fruit cake jokes in the teacher's lounge...all of them trying to figure out how to dump them tactfully. I never liked fruitcake anyway but my mother, bless her heart, thought it was delicious- so she pried a secret family recipe out of her friend Martha Kirby and passed it on to me. I could have told her not to bother but by then she had the recipe and insisted I make it. Let me be blunt: candied fruit now makes my stomach turn over. (That fruitcake recipe's only saving grace: they were soaked in brandy.) Somebody must still make them because candied fruit takes pride of place in the supermarket- starting pretty much now.

On the other hand these dried fruit cookies are wonderful. They're nothing like fruit cake and to remove even the slightest suggestion, I don't use candied cherries, I use dried cherries. The problem with my substitution is you don't get that little bit of vivid red in your cookie. So if you want, replace my dried red cherries with candied red cherries. Won't bother me and that's what was in the original recipe. Keep in mind the dried fruit must soak overnight so plan to make these a day ahead.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies; you roll it into a log and you can keep it in the fridge, slice and bake them as you want. I don't know why you couldn't freeze the dough for maybe up to a month. Then thaw in the fridge overnight before baking. They travel (and ship) really well and keep for quite a while. They're kind of like peanuts though, nibble, nibble all day long.

Dried Fruit Cookies
(Adapted from Ina Garten)


Ingredients:

1/2 pound dried figs
1/4 pound raisins
2 ounces dried red cherries
2 ounces dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 ounces chopped pecans
Kosher salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 1 extra-large egg
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Method:

Cut off the hard stems of the figs with scissors  and coarsely chop the figs. Combine the figs, raisins, cherries, apricots, honey, sherry, lemon juice, pecans, and a pinch of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight at room temperature.


In an electric mixer cream the butter, cloves, superfine sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and mix until incorporated. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt just until combined. 
Add the fruits and nuts, including any liquid in the bowl. Divide the dough in half and place each half on the long edge of a 12 by 18-inch piece of parchment or waxed paper. Roll each half into a log, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4-inch thick, making an 18-inch-long roll. Refrigerate the dough for several hours, or until firm.


Preheat the oven to 350°.
With a small, sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place the slices 1/2-inch apart on ungreased sheet pans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden.

We all met in new York City last week for my daughter's birthday. There is nothing quite like the Big Apple in November. It snowed the morning we left to come home, a treat for a Florida transplanted Michigander. Of course, I do remember this: there are only two times snow is beautiful: the first snow, when it really doesn't stick, and the first really heavy snow which makes everything clean and fresh. The rest of the time, yuk, no thank you. Slush, black ice, salted roads leaving you with dirty cars, treacherous driving, layered clothing and cold houses.

But right now, the trees are golden yellow and the air is brisk, making window shopping a treat. Someone ought to tell everyone up there that the economy is bad! The city was packed, the restaurants were jammed and everywhere we went people were shopping and carrying a multitude of shopping bags. In Florida, the malls are empty and you have no problem getting reservations at restaurants. That might change when the snowbirds arrive, but I doubt it. My daughter said: "These are probably not New Yorkers, they are visitors- coming to do their Christmas shopping." She may be right, but the economy is bad everywhere. It was a puzzle. The last hurrah?

Getting there was not easy either. Spirit canceled my son's flight from Detroit for some unknown reason and they had to hustle to find another, making them waste an entire day when they only had two days to begin with. It was their daughter's first trip to NYC. What a shame; she really missed some important landmarks in the city, but we crammed in as much as we could. They had actually boarded and were told to get off. The pilots marched off too. And our flight from Florida was delayed by 2 hours, making us arrive midway through the first family "reunion" dinner. Something about the FAA delaying flights so too many aren't landing at the same time. It's no fun to fly anymore.

My Michigan family is to coming to Florida for Thanksgiving this weekend. (I am keeping my fingers crossed because they booked on Spirit again- many months ago.) They always insist upon having Denison Chocolate Squares in the freezer for snacks. These are bar cookies I named after my good friend Mary Denison; we both enjoyed cooking and took some fun classes together at what was then the Wilson estate- Meadow Brook Hall- in Rochester, Michigan.

An interesting story worth telling, Meadow Brook Hall actually is the fourth largest historic house museum in the United States and is renowned for its superb craftsmanship and architectural detailing. It was built between 1926 and 1929 as the residence of Matilda Dodge Wilson (widow of auto pioneer John Dodge) and her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson. The 110-room, Tudor-revival style mansion is complete with vast collections of original art and furnishings. In 1957, the Wilsons donated their residence, its collections, the estate's 1,500 acres and $2 million to found what would become Oakland University.

The kitchens of Meadow Brook Hall were old world charming. A fun and perfect setting for a series of cooking lessons! This little gem was one of two recipes given to us during a session on bar cookies. No baking, kids would love to help make them and they freeze beautifully.

Denison Chocolate Squares

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons good quality cocoa
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

Method:
Melt the butter and add the sugar, cocoa, egg and vanilla. Cook over medium heat like a soft custard, stirring constantly. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from heat, add the graham crackers and nuts. Press into a rectangular pan and cool completely. Cream the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla pudding mix. Pour onto the graham cracker crust and spread evenly. Refrigerate until just set. Touch your finger to the top; if the topping does not stick to your finger, it is ready. Melt the chocolate with the butter and spread over the topping. Refrigerate until the chocolate is barely set (use the finger test again) and then cut lightly into squares. If you wait too long the chocolate will crack when you cut it. Refrigerate again, cut deeper into squares, refrigerate or freeze.

♪♪ I'ts beginning to look a lot like Christmas....♪♪



I couldn't resist making these this week....I've been saving the recipe since last year. Such fun. Even unfrosted the chocolate cookies are delicious. Boring looking, but really good. I wasn't certain about the peppermint extract- worried about the amount and that it might be too strong a flavor for the cookies- but it wasn't. Very mild and just the right touch. (Frankly, leaving enough cookies to dip in the white chocolate will be your main problem!)

Are you thinking Girl Scout Mint Cookies here?

So. I thought it might be clever to arrange the cookies and candy the way it was done in the magazine photo. Never had so much fun alone in the kitchen. Choked. Up. With. Laughter. First: take a hammer to the candies. Then: trying to balance uneven peppermint candies in a tall pile is a simply absurd idea. There was even supposed to be one standing upright on top of the tall pile of candies (which in my photo resembles the leaning tower of Pisa). Cute idea to balance the candy on top, but it won't work. Short of using super glue anyway. The pile fell a dozen times before I finally threw in the towel. No doubt the magazine hot-glue-gunned it all together. In the end I licked 'em and hoped they'd stick together. So you are seeing the real thing here- no glue, all imperfections of the amateur (understatement of the week) food designer showing. It was still fun.
The contortions we go through to get decent photos!

Now for a couple practical notes: You can melt your chocolate in the microwave. Carefully. In 20 second increments, stirring after each 20 seconds. Stop before it is completely melted and stir until it's all melted. Then spoon the chocolate over the cookies while they are on a rack...forget the dipping by hand experience. Messy. You may need to give it a quick zap to reheat your chocolate a couple times to keep it as thin as possible-which isn't easy with white chocolate. No real need to cover the bottom of the cookie with the chocolate anyway unless you are an extreme chocoholic OR taking a photograph.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
(Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, December 2008)



Refrigerate until set, up to 3 hours. Decorated cookies are best served the same day.

(I bet that Week 7 made you gasp!)

There's no point in telling you these cookies were simple to make. They weren't. But they ARE a true European Christmas cookie; interesting, frustrating,  unusual and yes, tasted wonderful, but will I make them again? Well....maybe. And compared with some of the other photos I found online of these, all I can say is: I had a bad baking AND camera day. Oh well, I'm going to post this anyway. They were worth the trouble.

First of all, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, The Many Meals of Rose Bakery is a gem of a cookbook.

 

And that's where I found this recipe...they called it Almond, Cinnamon and Meringue Biscuits. But what they really are is Zimtsterne, or erstesternen ("first stars"), a reference to the heavenly signs indicating the end of a fast day. They are traditionally served by German Jews at the meal following Yom Kippur. You can read more about them here, here and here. European bakeries make them only during the holidays, rather like my mother's favorite Christmas cookie, Springerle. And they are usually made in star shape. I made them round. For one thing, I didn't have a small star cookie cutter and for another working those star points with that dough and meringue was beyond me. Perhaps with practice.....

This is what David Lebovitz says about them (and he doesn't make his own, he buys them):

"There’s just something about these chewy little stars, spiced with lots of cinnamon, then brushed with a glaze of royal icing that provides just the right bit of creamy sweetness in contrast to the chewy cookie below."

So here's the thing. The dough is difficult to work with and I made two different batches, correcting the original recipe a little to make it slightly easier to work with. Still....not the easiest cookie dough to roll out. But as I said, after the first bite, it was worth the effort!


Bench note: many recipes call for 1/2 cup candied citrus peel which I omitted 'cause I just don't like it.


Zimtsterne
Adapted from Breakfast Lunch Tea, The Many Meals of Rose Bakery
 


 Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups ground almonds (I used almond flour)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1/2 lemon and grated zest of 1 lemon
4 egg whites
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Method:
First, make the meringue. Beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. Then very gradually add the sugar. When the mixture is very stiff, beat in the lemon juice. Set aside 6 ounces of the meringue for the topping, covering with a damp cloth. Place the rest in a bowl.

Add the ground almonds, cinnamon and lemon zest and mix by hand. Mix until you have a dough-like paste. If it is too sticky to handle, add more ground almonds, by the tablespoon, until it is manageable. If the dough crumbles or falls apart, add a few drops of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the reserved egg whites. When the dough has reached the proper consistency refrigerate for one hour.

Butter a baking tray and line it with parchment paper.

Then dust a pastry board lightly with granulated sugar. Shape the dough into a flat round and dust the surface lightly with sugar. Roll the dough out into a rectangle 3/8 inch thick. Add more sugar on the board as necessary.

Cut into desired shapes and place on the baking tray.

Remove the cloth from the reserved egg whites. Use a metal spatula to smooth an even coating of the meringue over the entire surface of your cookie, just enough to cover it completely with white. To smooth the surface further, dip the spatula in hot water and run it across the glaze.

Leave to dry on the prepared tray for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes until the bases are lightly golden. The tops should remain white and the bases must be soft and moist. And BTW? Keeping the tops from  browning is another tricky part!

This post made it just under the Halloween wire. Deliberately. I wasn't going to post these recipes at all, but I couldn't resist suggesting two more gooey treats to an already laden holiday. Forgive me. I love being witchy.

The first treat is an old recipe.... we used to make it all the time. Very kid friendly. Made with a bunch of gooey, chewy things that most everyone likes, all mixed together. With the added attraction of....wait for it.... sweetened condensed milk. I made it at the last minute so I could take photos and immediately remove it from my reach by giving it to friends with kids (or even some without) just as long as I don't have it around here to nibble on like M & M's or something. Kids love to make it, love to eat it and you can serve the bars (or take them) to any party you're giving or going to this weekend. Doesn't need to be for Halloween either- make it for any holiday- just use appropriate candies on the top and change the title to something like Rocky Road Independence Day Bars. Stick a bunch of flags in it. Very adaptable, this recipe.

The second treat to avoid tricks is from Smitten Kitchen's cauldron. And she's right to comment that it's seriously sweet and to cut it into small pieces and serve it in those miniature cupcake liners. Again, it has sweetened condensed milk. (Are you noticing a pattern here?) This one takes some baking but Oh. My. So good. I don't want these in the house either! From an adult standpoint, I think treat #2 has a slight edge over treat #1.

Oh well, the devil made me post these.

Happy Haunting!
Boo!
Trick or Treat!


Rocky Road Halloween Bars

Ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) package chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
10 1/2 ounce package mini marshmallows
assorted Halloween candies

Method:
Mix the first three ingredients together on the stove, in a microwave or in a double boiler until melted. Put peanuts and marshmallows in a large bowl- mix carefully. Pour the melted chocolate over the peanuts and marshmallows and mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into 9"x 13" buttered pan. Top with orange and yellow M & M's and/or candy corn. Refrigerate 2 hours until set. Cut into squares.


Hello Dolly Bars
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, October 2007 post)

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (about 1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line the bottom of an 8" by 8" baking pan with parchment paper; butter the paper.

Melt butter and add to the graham crackers. Mix. Pour mixture into the prepared pan. Press down evenly.
Layer coconut, pecans, butterscotch and chocolate chips on top of the graham cracker mixture. Pour the condensed milk over everything evenly. (I had some coconut left over and sprinkled it all over the top.)
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool.
Refrigerate before cutting.

Halloween fun! I may not have kids around the house anymore, but are these adorable or what? To be honest, I was rather intimidated by the idea of making fortune cookies, but that part turned out to be the easiest. Would you believe it's finding exactly the right kind of black food coloring that's the trick? Some just left me with grey batter...no matter how much I added. Why don't ALL grocery stores carry good quality black and orange food coloring this time of year? At any rate, I had success with this excellent product:


 And the next time I make them, I'm going to use even more black. The camera made them seem more dark brown than black, which trust me, they were. (Or perhaps it was the lighting......)

 Anyway, surprise your family and make a batch for Halloween!

Mis-Fortune Cookies
From The Decorated Cookie (such talent!)


Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoons water

Method:
Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Or print them out HERE. 
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

 Note: if you want to dye the fortune cookies, add the food coloring at this point, stirring it into the batter. I added black as indicated above. A little at a time, until the desired color was reached.

 Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Instead of spreading the batter with a knife or spoon, gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle about 4 inches in diameter. That way they will be smooth and crisp.

 Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown (difficult to see with black ones!) and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 - 15 minutes). Working quickly (I used a hot pad over my hand), remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the corners downward over the rim of a glass. Place the finished cookie in the cup of a muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies. This recipe makes about a dozen cookies.

And stay tuned for a fabulous giveaway next week!

This my second offering in April's Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies. Click on the button in the sidebar to see all the super cookie recipes everyone is posting.

These amazing cookies were the grand prize winner in the Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown in 2008. Camilla Saulsbury won and believe me, she deserved it. My book group moaned with delight and my daughter rolled her eyes after tasting them.

You're going to love them.  They are  filled with spicy warmth from the ginger, cardamom, coriander and black pepper. The extra salt brings out the spicy sweetness in the ginger. They have a slightly crispy edge and are chewy on the inside with bits of crystallized ginger throughout. And look at those ingredients: a definite Middle Eastern flavor.

Exotic Spice Cookies
From  Camilla Saulsbury of Camilla's Shortcut Kitchen (and The Food Network)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup crisco solid, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon rosewater
3/4 cup turbinado sugar, for rolling

Method:

Whisk the flour, ginger, soda, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, pepper and salt until blended. Mix in the crystallized ginger and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter and shortening until fluffy but do not overbeat. Add the egg, honey and rosewater and beat just until blended.

Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350° and spray cookie sheet with Pam. (I used parchment paper.)

Using wet hands, form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll in the turbinado sugar.

Bake cookies 11-13 minutes until cracked on top, but soft.

Cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute and then carefully transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

I really, really wasn't ready to hear this, but April over at Abby Sweets is starting a Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies with this adorable button.


After getting over the initial fright of reading 12 weeks until Christmas in print, I thought: what a marvelous idea! We can peruse cookie recipes and copy our favorites to use when we start baking for the holidays. I would so love to join April's group of cookie bakers, but I know I'll get side-tracked and skip a week.  Or two. So I'm going to sneak a peek each week at April's blog and follow her links to some yummy cookie ideas. If you want to join in, drop on over to her blog, she'd love to have you. I'm going to do the best I can and post some cookie recipes off and on, so with April's idea in mind......here's cookie recipe #1.

Rarely do I post an old recipe, but way back when I started blogging, I posted Giada's Apricot and Nut Cookies. It's a hands down winner. Not too sweet ( I almost feel healthy eating them) and that finishing touch of amaretto frosting can be as thick or drizzly as you want, adjusting the sweetness. Also, you can stick these in the fridge or freezer and slice them as you want to use them. I LOVE that!

Now don't let me hear any excuses like "I don't eat many cookies" or "I only like chocolate" or "my kids will never eat these" or "I'm on a diet". Remember, these are for the holidays! For family. For company. Everyone's going to love them. YOU'RE going to love them; it's become the most asked for cookie recipe at my house. That's why I'm telling you about it first!


Apricot and Nut Cookies with Amaretto Frosting
From Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis, 2008



Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
Icing:
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
5 to 7 tablespoons almond flavored liqueur (recommended: Amaretto)

Method:
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg. Stir in the flour until just blended. Mix in the apricots, almonds, and pine nuts.


Transfer the dough to a sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap and shape into a log, about 12-inches long and 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2 inch-thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.


For the Icing: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Gradually whisk in the almond flavored liqueur, until the mixture is of drizzling consistency.

Place the wire rack over a baking sheet. Using a spoon or fork, drizzle the cookies with the icing, allowing any excess icing to drip onto the baking sheet. Allow the icing to set before serving, about 30 minutes

My family always had sweetened condensed milk on the grocery list. My father called it "goo-goo"- probably because one of us described it that way as a child- and it stuck...my kids still call it that. Dad even liked it on toast and, until the day he died, he had a spoonful of it in his coffee. It was both sugar and cream. Manna. He lived to the ripe old age of 94.

Mother made dulce de leche by boiling cans of sweetened condensed milk for a couple hours then she'd slice it and serve it with cream for dessert. (Are you mentally counting those calories?) I'm too chicken to boil it - why doesn't it blow up?-and mother is no longer here to give me exact directions. We all know the only directions that really count are Mother's. My sister does hers in a pressure cooker- no way I'm doing that either. Then I read someplace about making it in the microwave. Uhhhhh..no.  So while doing a search online for a simple and safe and fool-proof method I came across the recipe for Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares at Smitten Kitchen. She has an excellent plan for making the dulce de leche part of the recipe: in the the top of a double boiler. Works for me. 

I know.  I'm a tad late arriving at the dulce de leche party (pronounced: dool-say deh lay-chay according to a Cuban friend, who corrected me), but we've been eating it in my family since way back. I just never made it myself. Go figure. So I continued on and made the cheesecake squares. The recipe has already made the rounds so you've probably tried them by now and I'm not saying they aren't good, they're delicious. But if your raison d'être for making them is to savor the flavor of dulce de leche- you can forget it. Mainly you taste the chocolate on top. I know you chocolate fanatics are loving that idea.

Even though I am posting the cheesecake square recipe here, I have a confession: I really wanted to make dulce de leche so I could eventually try Dulce de Leche Brioche. Doesn't that sound divine? I'll keep you posted. And just in case there are one or two of you out there who haven't yet made these cheesecake squares- here's the recipe. Yummy.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares
(Adapted from a Smitten Kitchen post  in February 2008, who adapted it from Gourmet Magazine, December 2003)

Making dulce de leche:
Pour one can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk into the top of a double-boiler. Place over boiling water.


Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 50 minutes to an hour, or until thick and light caramel-colored. Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Makes 1 cup.



Cheesecake squares:



Ingredients for the crust:
1 cup of crushed graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for the filling:
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup whole milk
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup dulce de leche

Ingredients for the glaze:
3 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), coarsely chopped
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Method:
With the rack in the center of your oven,  preheat to 325°.  Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with 2 sheets of foil (crisscrossed), leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Crush the crackers and add the sugar, a pinch of salt, the butter and mix thoroughly.  Press the mixture into the bottom of your prepared baking pan. Bake 10 minutes, then cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

Sprinkle gelatin over milk in a bowl and let it soften for 2 minutes. In a mixer, beat together cream cheese, eggs, salt, and gelatin mixture until well combined, then stir in dulce de leche gently but thoroughly. Pour the filling over the crust, smoothing top, then bake in a hot water bath in the oven (leaving the temperature the same) until center is just set, about 45 minutes. Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 2 hours. Chill, covered, at least 6 hours.

Heat all glaze ingredients in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat in 10 second intervals until melted together. Give it a quick whip by hand to make it smooth, then pour the glaze over the cheesecake, tilting the baking pan to coat the top evenly. Chill, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Lift cheesecake from the pan using the foil overhang and cut it into 1-inch squares (anything bigger is just too rich) with a thin knife, dipping and cleaning off the knife in hot water after each cut. (Don’t skip this step! A clean knife is essential if you want your squares to look pretty and not have chocolate smeared down the sides!)
Makes about 64 one inch squares.
Note: you can refrigerate the cheesecake (without the glaze) for up to 3 days.

Does it seem to you this is a summer of butterscotch recipes? Cookies, bars, cakes- you name it. Well lucky me because butterscotch is a favorite - doesn’t have to be in baked goods either: butterscotch hard candy, butterscotch sticky toffee, butterscotch sauce (on vanilla ice cream, what else?) butterscotch fudge and just in case you still don’t get it, I also include anything labeled toffee and caramel (nearly the same thing as butterscotch) in this list. But when you combine it with chocolate (or cinnamon like Grace did in some of her recent recipes) you have a double whammy.

It seems to me I’ve hosted tons of meetings in my home over the years. And always trying to be a gracious hostess, whether the meeting is in the morning or afternoon, I always think it’s nice to serve the coffee or tea with a little something to munch on. Very light, because everyone is always on a diet. (Or say they are.) My favorite is Apricot Nut Cookies ( a previous post) because they are light and not too sweet. The Lemon Thyme Cookies are a recent discovery and could really be called a bar; they are buttery, thin, delicate and unusual. And while I suppose you could have coffee with your Lemon Thyme Cookies- they just seem to go with tea for some reason. Up to you of course...I'm not a good judge as I am not a coffee lover.

Honestly, Giada De Laurentis comes up with some marvelous cookie ideas on her show. Some are ridiculously sweet while others, like the Apricot Nut Cookies previously mentioned, are less sweet and actually have healthy ingredients. In fact, every time she makes a cookie on her show, I sit up and take notice because I have garnered some nifty cookie recipes from her.

What’s different about this recipe is I think it demanded some outside opinions. The flavor is herbal and lemony. So, when I made the cookies, I tasted one, loved it and took the rest to the hair salon where I happened to have an appointment that day. And I got lots of opinions. Four loved them, one did not- women. One loved them, two didn’t- men. (I was surprised men even wanted to try them because they really aren’t a standard looking cookie.)

I think these are to die for- and so good with tea- iced or otherwise. They are not the sort of cookie you sit down with a glass of milk (like chocolate chip cookies) and pig out. This is the kind you savor, wonder at the flavors and nibble away. Tart and refreshing.

Lemon Thyme Cookies
(Adapted from Giada De Laurentis)


Ingredients:
1 stick butter ( 4 ounces), at room temperature
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract


Glaze:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ cup powdered sugar

Method:
Put your oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325°. Butter and flour an 8 by 8 glass baking dish.
In a small bowl combine flour, thyme and salt. Set aside. Using a paddle attachment beat together the butter and powdered sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Beat in lemon juice and and vanilla. Mix the flour and thyme leaves. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Using damp fingers, press the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes until golden. Cool for 30 minutes.

For those of you too young to remember, Flip Wilson* was a fabulous comic back in the 70's. And one of his funniest characters was Geraldine Jones.  If you have never seen him do Geraldine, you are really in for a treat because Geraldine introduced "the devil made me do it" to an entire generation and it became a national expression. Here he is on the Ed Sullivan show in 1970. Unfortunately, not in Geraldine's costume, but use your wildest imagination and enjoy the video anyway.



And yes, the devil DID make me do this. There's no saving grace here. None. But listen you guys, it has Milky Way bars! I used to love them. I have much better control these days, barely, but if I'm going to splurge on a candy bar, it's gonna be this one. Dark chocolate version, please.


There was no resisting after I saw the photo of this recipe in the cookbook. So, if you haven't seen it, let me introduce it to you. Lisa Yockelson is a baking journalist, food stylist and prolific cookbook author. Every page in this book has a gem of a recipe and every photo will make you drool. It's such a beautiful book, I actually have it on a coffee table and not in the kitchen. It draws people like a magnet.  The title says it all: Chocolate Chocolate. (And Amazon has it used for $3!)


No doubt the devil will be pushing me to make some of the other recipes (I have post-its all over the book) but let's start with this little gem!

Chocolate Nougat Squares
Adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson


Ingredients:
4 (1.76 ounces each) Milky Way midnight bars
1-1/4 cups unsifted cake flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grease and flour a 9 by 9 by 2 inch baking pan.
Refrigerate the candy bars for 20 minutes. Dice the candy bars into 1/2 inch squares. (I cut them lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/2 in pieces.

(Note: I suggest you change this to: refrigerate for 20 minutes, cut into 1/2 inch square chunks, then put in the freezer until you're ready to add to the batter. They will hold up better and not melt completely like mine nearly did and might look more like the photo in the book.)
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.

Mix the melted butter and chocolate together.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for about 15 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk for a minute. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and stir until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the batter and mix until incorporated.  Add the cold candy pieces.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until set.
Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack for 2 hours. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into quarters and then each quarter into 4 pieces. Remove from baking pan and store in an airtight pan.

*Whatever happened to Flip Wilson? At the end of the 70's he got custody of his children and, wanting to spend time with his family, performed infrequently after that. He passed away from liver cancer in 1998.

Did you ever play the picnic game as a child? Well, Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is hosting a virtual Picnic. In order to participate in the Picnic Game, each blogger chooses a letter and brings a dish that begins with that letter.  Join in the fun!

A: Apricot Cobbler from Mae at Mae's Food Blog
 

                    




B:  Banana Cream Pie from Marjie at Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet





And my letter is C: Cherry Bars in a Jar

Be sure to visit Louise for all the other letters and their matching dishes!

Back in the 60's, I made these gems all the time. Such a simple dessert when you're in a hurry and I've always made the recipe in bar form. But recently I remembered the little Ball jars I made my mother's rhubarb pie in. Why not make Cherry Bars in those? I love individual servings like this. So you have a choice...make this as a bar, using a rectangular pan, or make it in oven proof individual dishes like these. This is an easy dessert to serve on a picnic as you can use canned pie filling on top, screw the jar tops back on and pop them in your basket. I know it's called "cherry", but I've also made it with rhubarb curd (if you have any rhubarb in your garden) and roasted fruit. So use any fruit you want; take the fast and easy road with canned pie fillings or make it more elegant with homemade fresh fruit toppings. For Louise's 4th of July virtual picnic, I thought the bright red cherries were very appropriate.
The filling may look like cheesecake, but it's not nearly as dense.

Cherry Bars in a Jar

Ingredients:
16 graham crackers, crushed
1/3 cup  butter, soft
1/2 cup  sugar
1 8 oz  pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup  sugar
2 eggs  
1 can  cherry pie filling

Method:
Mix grahams, sugar and butter. Press into the little Ball jars or press into a 9 by 13 pan.  Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and add eggs. Pour over crumbs. Bake 325 for 25 minutes or until very lightly browned. You'll see cracks in some of the tops. That's OK. When slightly cool, pour cherry pie filling over top. Refrigerate.



You'll find the individual jars need to come to room temperature as the graham cracker crust gets quite firm. But they're still delicious no matter if you serve them cold or at room temperature.