Cinnamon-Spiced Hot Chocolate Cookies

brought by Kristen Marshall

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Mexican cocoa powder (or substitute by adding 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons sweet butter, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Generous pinch ground black pepper
• Generous pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup dulce de leche, optional
• 1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped, optional

Directions

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk and set aside. Combine the sugars in a small bowl and mix well with your fingers pressing out any lumps. (Combine in a food processor if lumps are stubborn.)

In a medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter and margarine until creamy. Add sugar mixture, cinnamon, peppers, and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute. Beat in the egg white and until the mixture is smooth. Stop the mixer. Add the flour mixture, beating on the lowest speed, just until incorporated. Gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a neat log, 9 to 10 inches long by 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Fold or twist ends of the paper without pinching or flatting the log. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes, or until needed.

Put the oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of chilled dough, a scant 1/4-inch thick. Arrange the cookies, 1-inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through. Cookies will puff and crackle on top, and then begin to settle down slightly when done.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and use a metal spatulato transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing or stacking. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 2 months.

To spice things up, after the cookies are baked, let them cool on a wire rack, drizzle with dulce de leche and sprinkle chopped almonds on top.

Cinnamon Gumdrops

brought by Kristen Marshall

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup water

1 package (1-3/4 oz) fruit pectin (or you can try substituting unflavored gelatin for a less fruity sweet taste)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp cinnamon oil (but I think you need at least 1/2 tsp)

red food coloring

Prepare ban by coving it with aluminum foil and spraying it with nonstick cooking spray or prepare shape molds with cooking spray and set aside. Combine the sugar and the corn syrup in a large heavy-botomed saucepan over medium heat.. Stir constantly until mixture is vigorously boiling, about 8-10 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the candy reaches 280 degrees (soft crack stage). While you are waiting for he the candy to reach the proper temperature, mix the water, pectin and baking soda in medium saucepan. Place over high heat and cook to boiling point. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Once sugar/corn syrup mixture is at the soft crack stage, place the pectin mixture back on high heat. Stream the sugar mixture into the pectin mixture slowly, while stirring. Continue to cook the candy, while stirring constantly, for an additional minute. REmove form the heat, and stir in food coloring and flavoring. Pour into prepared pan and let set until firm. Cut with sharp knife or cookie cutters, and roll pieces in granulated sugar.

Cinnamon Taffy

brought by Kristen Marshall

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS butter or margarine

1/4 tsp cinnamon extract or few drops of oil (i used oil and found that /14 tsp of the oil was still not strong enough for my liking and oil is much stronger than extract)

Few drops red food coloring (optional - but I find it helps things psychologically taste more the way they should! :) )

Butter a baking pan, or prepare a cookie sheet with a siltpat and set aside. Butter the sides of a heavy 2 quart sauce pan. In the sauce pan combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. This should take about 10 minutes. Avoid splashing mixture on sides of pan. Carefully slip candy thermometer to side of pan. cook mixture over medium heat, without stirring, till thermometer register 265 (but I find that temp too high and I like my taffy softer so you may want to choose a lower degree closer to a firm ball stage). Reaching hard ball stage should take about 40 minutes. Remove sauce pan from heat; remove thermometer from sauce pan. Stir in 2 TBS butter. Stir in flavoring and food coloring. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Cool till taffy mixture can be handled easily. Butter both hands, then twist and pull candy till it turns creamy color and is stiffer and more difficult to pull. divide into fourths and twist and pull each piece into a long strand about 1/2 inch think.  With buttered scissors, snip each strand of taffy into bite-size pieces. Wrap each piece in wax paper or plastic wrap.

Chocolate Pudding

brought by Heather Brown

recipe adapted from Cook's Country

Serves 4

1/4	cup packed light brown sugar
3	tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3	tablespoons cornstarch
1/4	teaspoon Salt
2 3/4	cups low fat milk (original recipe uses whole milk; it's super creamy)
1/4	cup heavy cream
1	cup milk chocolate chips
1/2	teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine brown sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan. Whisk milk and cream into sugar mixture until smooth. Add chocolate chips and bring to simmer, whisking occasionally, over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and large bubbles appear at surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla.

2. Transfer pudding to large bowl and place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding. Refrigerate until completely cool, at least 4 hours. (Pudding can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.) Serve.

Chill Faster, Eat Sooner To some pudding lovers (especially little ones), waiting 4 hours to eat pudding seems like a lifetime. To speed the chilling, transfer the pudding to a 13 by 9-inch baking dish in step 2 and place plastic wrap directly on its surface. Place in freezer until completely cool, at least 45 minutes or up to 1 hour.

Panera Bread Tomato Soup – copycat recipe

Adapted from recipe found at http://www.panerabread.com/recipes/recipe.php?category=4&id=48

brought by Mary Ann Bailey

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

3 large onions, finely chopped

9 garlic cloves, minced

8 cups chicken broth

2 28-ounce cans peeled plum tomatoes, drained and crushed

1 6-ounce can tomato puree

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated asiago cheese

1  parmesan cheese rind (optional)

Toppings:

¼ c. thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

¼ c. grated parmesan cheese

1 recipe asiago cheese croutons (below)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.  Add onions and sauté until very tender, about 25 minutes.  Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add chicken stock, crush tomatoes, cheeses, and cheese rind.  Simmer soup uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  For a smoother texture, puree in blender or food processor (carefully!) before serving.  Serve with basil leaves, parmesan cheese and asiago cheese croutons.

Asiago Cheese croutons

Adapted from the Test Kitchen’s Family Cookbook

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup asiago cheese grated

4 cups bread cubes (1/2-inch cubes)

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to the center position in your oven and heat to 350 degrees.  Whisk the oil, garlic, salt and asiago cheese together in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and toss until thoroughly coated.  Spread the bread cubes onto a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.  Allow the croutons to cool to room temperature before serving.

Super-Soft Sugar Cookies

brought by Jenn Iverson

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 eggs

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

When making this dough, you will think, “Are you kidding me?” because it will be so sticky it’s hard to imagine using cookie cutters on it.  I usually end up adding more flour, probably ½ cup.  Just add some until you think it’s at least manageable, but the less flour you add, the better they will taste.  Then chill the dough for at least an hour before rolling them out (this helps immensely).  Use plenty of flour when you roll them out.  I often dip the cookie cutters in flour.  Roll the dough ¼-inch thick and then cut with cookie cutters.  Bake at 350º for 8 minutes (trust me!) for large shapes or 6 or 7 minutes for tiny shapes).    

After cookies cool completely, store in an airtight container until ready to frost.  I usually bake them one day and frost them the next.  If you’re not going to frost them the same day or next day, freeze them until frosting day.  Then remove them from the freezer 4-5 hours before frosting. 

The following frosting recipe is usually the perfect amount for a generous spread of frosting on each cookie.  After frosting them, you can leave them out on cookie sheets for up to a day, as the frosting will keep them soft.  When the top of the frosting has hardened, you can layer them on top of each other and store them in an airtight container.  If I think they will last more than a day or two, I freeze them until the day I’m ready to serve them.  This keeps them soft.  Just remove the amount you’ll be needing and put them on a plate an hour or two before serving (or eat them frozen if you can’t wait!).  If cookies aren’t as soft as you want them to be, you can try putting a piece of bread in the container with them (not in the freezer).  This usually softens them up a bit. 

Note: For recipe club, I replaced the sour cream with plain Greek yogurt.  This made the cookies even softer than usual, but if I do this again, I will probably add a little extra salt to the dough, maybe ¼ - ½ teaspoon.

Frosting

¾ cup shortening

6 cups powdered sugar (heaping)

½ cup milk

1 ½ tsp. almond extract

food coloring

Knock Your Socks Off Bundt Cake

brought by Anne Leymaster

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream
1/2 oil
1 pkg. chocolate chips
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs

Blend ingredients in order. Spray pan. Bake in bundt pan 350º for 45 minutes (the cake will be gooey when you stick a toothpick in - take it out anyway)

Frosting

1/2 cup cream
1 cup chocolate chips

Boil cream, take pan off burner and add chocolate chips. Stir until melted and then pour the frosting over the cake.