Vacation Baking!

I am on vacation in Washington visiting my friend that just moved down here. (In my mind Washington is "down" because my brain in based in Alaska.) :-) Can't find time to post much at home, but on vacation - why not?! 

When you're at someone else's house  and you want to bake or cook sometimes you have to improvise. No mixing bowl, hmmm . . . search around . . . what to mix in . . . can't use a plastic bowl to whip egg whites . . . I know! Someone just bought a new crockpot - let's see if we can use the crock insert as a mixing bowl. Success!! No food processor? Relax your brain and finely chop the walnuts. I so enjoyed this extra step. At home I just whirl them up in the food processor. Chopping them by hand was so relaxing working my way through the nuts section by section. I think I'll switch to hand chopping all the time.

This recipe was passed down from my mother-in-law and it's one of our favorites. I usually make them during the holidays. They are really easy to make and go together quickly but the cookies are a little fussy and delicate so they doesn't freeze well, and if you take them somewhere to share be careful during transport. And then be prepared to be asked repeatedly for the recipe!

I should also add that name comes from the fact that the recipe was provided by First Lady Nancy Reagan in the 80's as President Ronald Reagan's favorite cookie. At least that is the story. I did some internet sleuthing and found the original name of the cookie is Vienna Chocolate bars, but we always call them President Cookies. Hope you enjoy!

President Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups flour
10 oz. seedless red raspberry or red currant preserves
1 cup chocolate chips
4 large egg whites
2 cups finely chopped walnuts or almonds

In large bowl, combine butter or margarine and 1/2 cup of sugar. Work mixture together until creamy. Beat in salt and egg yolks. Add flour gradually; when mixture becomes too stiff, knead with fingers to make a smooth dough. Pat dough evenly in jelly roll pan. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees until lightly browned. Cool slightly and spread evenly with preserves then sprinkle chocolate chips evenly; set aside.

In deep bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Using rubber spatula, fold in nuts and remaining cup of sugar. Gently spread mixture on top of preserves, spreading to the edge of the pan. Return pan to oven and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until evenly browned. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack 15 minutes. While still warm, cut into bars or sqaures.  Cut into squares or triangles (they're very rich - triangles are my favorite).

Kashi-Oat Cookies

Looking for a tasty, moist, chewy cookie? One made from pretty simple ingredients you already have (with the exception of the Kashi)? This is the one! Next time I will make the cookies twice the size and use them for breakfast cookies on-the-go. They go great with a cup of coffee, or an anytime snack you can feel pretty good about considering they have whole grain cereal & oats.

Kashi-Oat Cookies
adapted from Grape Nuts Cookies
1 cookie 2PP
2 cookies 3PP - you might as well have two, it's a better value!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Stick Margarine
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar substitute(Splenda)
3 Tbsp honey
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Kashi Cereal 7 Whole Grain Nuggets (can sub Grape Nuts)

 Instructions:

Cream together ICBINB stick with brown sugar and splenda. Add honey, egg, vanilla and mix. Mix in soda and salt. Add rest of dry ingredients and mix until it comes together.
Bake 350° for 10 minutes.

I altered the original Grape Nuts cookies recipe to make it more Weight Watchers friendly and lower the PointsPlus a little.

Meringue Cookies

A sweet bite-sized chocolate cloud, the taste of toasted marshmallow, a little kick of espresso...mmmm. These are tasty little cookies. I started with a recipe from Weight Watchers and only deviated slightly. The original recipe suggests you make the meringue batter and then split into two halves. Flavor one with cocoa powder and leave the other vanilla. I started by dividing the batter into three. The first part combined vanilla-almond flavor (which gives the toasted marshmallow flavor to the "plain" ones), used unsweetened cocoa powder as suggested in the second, and in the third added instant espresso. They are yummy, but the vanilla-almond are my favorites.

Meringue Cookies
adapted from Weight Watchers
Serves: 22 | 2 cookies each **see yield note after recipe

4 large egg whites
½ tsp white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
approx. 1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 200ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy. Add vinegar; beat until
soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add sugar; beat until glossy stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla and almond.

Remove 1/3 of meringue to another bowl; stir in cocoa until blended.
Remove additional 1/3 meringue and add espresso powder.

Spoon each flavor into zip top baggie and pipe onto baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Batter can be piped individually, or pipe half a tablespoon or so of 2 flavors and swirl together with a toothpick.

Bake until meringues feel dry and crisp all the way through, about 3 hours. Turn off oven;
leave meringues in oven for 1 hour. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely.
Peel meringues off parchment and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
**Yields about 2 cookies per serving

**The recipe said @ 1 Tbsp each there would be about 44 cookies. I must have been extremely sparing on my Tbsp thinking because I ended up with 100 cookies. I do prefer them this way as they came out to be about 2 small bites worth each. Delicious and will definitely make them again. 

Suggestions for Cookie Exchange?

I'm going to a cookie exchange at our local quilt shop next Monday night and I'm looking for the perfect recipe. Who's got the best cookie exchange recipe? We're only exchanging half dozens, rather than dozens, so I don't need a ton. I'd like something easy-ish and maybe not the norm. You know, I don't want to get there and see that everyone has made spritz cookies.

Recipe Review: Cranberry Bars

Want one?! Yeah, you do. These are so yummy! You can taste the spices in the crust, along with the sweetness of the crust, and then a little tartness. Overall they're sweet, but not excessively so. Next time I think I'll use a slightly larger pan because I'd prefer the crust a little thinner. Maybe will try it on a jelly roll sized pan or my Pampered Chef bar pan. They go together pretty quickly - the only part that takes too long is waiting for them to cool enough to get one out of the pan without it crumbling apart and then burning your mouth because you threw it in there while it was crumbling. Who can wait 40 minutes for them to cool?!






Cranberry Bars
original recipe allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package whole cranberries
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon *I used Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus spice blend in place of these 2 spices

Directions:  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cranberries, white sugar, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally until all of the cranberries have popped, and the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, melted butter, and eggs. Stir in the oats, brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Set aside about 1 1/2 cups of the mixture, and spread the rest into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish**. Pack down to form a solid crust, getting it as even as possible. Spread the cooled cranberry mixture over the crust. Pinch off pieces of the remaining mixture and place evenly over the cranberry layer.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is lightly browned. Cool in the pan for about 40 minutes before slicing into bars.

	**I found that spraying the baking dish with cooking spray made the bars come out really easily. The cranberry mixture didn't get hard and stuck to the sides of the dish around the edges.

A much overdue Thank You!

First let me start with the overdue "Thank You" to a bento friend for sending a sweet little Mio box for my slowly growing bento box stash. (Thanks Judy!) I love this little box! It's the perfect size for a snack. For this inaugural snack I had some black grapes (really hard to see in the black box) and some of my new fave Weight Watchers mini Ginger Snap cookies. They have a nice little spice to them and are fantastic with coffee.

This next shot is a variety of columbine growing in my garden. I love how they look like little clusters of fireworks. This year this columbine is about 4 1/2 feet tall! Speaking of fireworks, I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

Sour Cream Cookies

My friend Teri makes these really yummy, fluffy, moist, amazing sour cream cookies. I've made them a couple of times and while they taste just like hers, they NEVER puff up like hers do. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I bought the ingredients again and will make them AGAIN later this week to see if I can get them puffy-fluffy so you can see how they are supposed to look.

Sour Cream Cookies

Mix together thoroughly:
½ C. Soft Shortening
1 ½ C. Sugar
2 Eggs

Stir in:
1 C. Thick Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla (I usually add a little almond as well)

Sift together and stir in:
2 ¾ C. Flour
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt

Chill at least one hour. Drop by tsp on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake until just lightly brown or when touched by a finger only a slight imprint remains.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 400°.

Valentine's Day Cookies

My friend Melissa and I have been decorating cookies together since the first year we met (2002). When we started it was just us girls, and since has grown to include her 3 kids in the event. The boys are big enough now to decorate their cookies without much help. Next year her daughter will be ready to jump in and frost too!

We don't do every holiday, but usually at least 1 holiday a year. This year it's Valentine's cookies! YUM! Thanks to my MIL for sharing the awesome cut out cookie recipe handed down from my husbands great great grandmother.