Thursday, November 29, 2007

Holiday Gift to You!

by Suzanne Welsh
This year the Bandits are celebrating our first holiday season as a blog group. We talked in private how we could celebrate with you, our guests and readers. We decided to share some of our favorite traditions or foods with you. So starting today and ending with Boxing Day, December 26th, we'll have some of those favorite recipes for you to try, some great memories and stories to share with you, as well as some fabulous guests.

Every year after Thanksgiving I begin baking for the Christmas season. It's a tradition with my family that Mom is baking a new cookie or treat almost daily. Last year I'd injured my shoulder moving a patient and my husband realized that the stirring motion needed to make cookie dough was now impeded. So he bought me a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer..."so the kids can have their Christmas Cookies." Yeah right. Anyway, he saved the holiday season.


Here's the list that fluctuates depending on my mood and schedule:
Chocolate Mint Cookies
Buckeye Candy
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Coconut Jam Thumbprints
Mexican Wedding Cakes (for hubby)
M and M Cookies made with green and red M and Ms
Peanut Butter Blossoms with Hershey Kisses
White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies
Raspberry Filled Pastries
Oatmeal Scotchies
and Cookie Cutter Sugar cookies my daughter ices with butter cream frosting.


The following recipe is one I actually make twice over the holidays. It's my kids' favorite, as well as several of their friends. The first batch always disappears quickly. My gift to all of you!

CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES

I received this recipe while working at THE Ohio State University’s L&D unit. It became an instant hit with my family and a staple of every Christmas celebration from that time on.

Ingredients:
¾ cup butter
1 ½ cups firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
2 TBS. Water
1 package semi sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp. Salt
Green chocolate mint wafers, (Andes). About 1 pound.

Directions:

Heat butter, sugar and water in a large heavy saucepan over low heat until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips, stirring until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large mixer bowl and let stand about 10 minutes until slightly cool.

With mixer at medium speed, beat eggs in one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating just until blended. Refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with foil. Roll tsp of dough into balls, place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 12-13 minutes. Cookies will appear soft. DO NOT COOK ANY LONGER.

Remove from oven and immediately place mint on each hot cookie. Let soften, then swirl mint over cookies to frost. (You can use the tip of a spoon or a toothpick.) Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!

So is there a favorite food you have to have for the holidays or your celebration won't be the same?

55 comments:

Cassondra said...

No way. This cannot be.

Cassondra said...

Hell has frozen over. I have the GR.

And Suz, you are waaaaaay too domestic for this black-fingernailed, coffin-sleeping girl. (hangs head in shame)

Jennifer Y. said...

LOL...oooh...that sounds good.

Cassondra said...

I have to say, those cookies DO look FINE! I'm a cake and pumpkin pie person, but I do have the FONDEST memories ever of Christmas cookie baking.

My best friend from high school was originally from Lancaster, PA, and LORDY her momma could cook. Every year I'd be invited to her house like two days before Christmas to bake Christmas cookies with her and her mom. They were some kind of yummy, simple, sugar cookie recipe. And she had all kinds of cookie cutters.

Okay I just started to tell about the cookie cutter incident, but perhaps I'll save that for MY Christmas blog in a couple of weeks. (evil grin) I was wondering what to write about....now I think I have it. Indeed.

Yes, though I'm not a cookie person per se, I do have good memories of cookies.

Jane said...

Have to have apple pie.

Joan said...

I cannot believe it. I am up but I was engrossed in a book (NOT MY COPY OF UNTOUCHED dangit) and did not realize the time. I gooda been a contender!

Suz,

Your cookies (all of them) sound fantastic and this whole celebration is right up my baker's alley. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer...it's royal blue :-)

I went to Garden Ridge today. Hadn't been there in a long while and not at Christmas.

Oh. My. God. I was in hog heaven. While the gorgeous wreath I bought is too big for my door, I did find some holiday boxes that I've bought to put goodies in. Not only do I have to bake for MY co-workers but my brother's as well. He's already called with two specific requests.

Ack! I can't find the double double chocolate cookies I made last year!

Maybe a Bandita will post one?

Christine Wells said...

See, now no one can say I'm not sporting. I put this post up on Suz's behalf and waited 20 minutes before commenting. But as I always say--noblesse oblige!

Congrats on the GR, Cassondra! Suz, those cookies sound fantastic. I'm looking forward to all the treats I'll be adding to my recipe book this season.

Since it's summer here and hot as the proverbial, my family tends not to to the traditional thing. My mother's home made ice cream cassata always means Christmas to me. Bottom layer--strawberry icecream with glace fruit through it, second layer, choc choc chip icecream, top layer, vanilla icecream dusted with toasted biscuit crumbs, toasted almonds, piped cream and glace cherries. Mmm... Christmas Oz retro-style.

Donna MacMeans said...

Cassondra - well...it is pretty cold up here ;-) Congrats on the GR

Suz - These sound great! My daughter spent a couple of years at a culinary arts school and goes into a cookie frenzy this time of year. I'll give her the recipe.

For us, you know the holidays have arrived when I make my pumpkin cake rolls and pecan pie.

Cassondra said...

Holy Moly Christine!

When it's your day, you have to include that. That looks amazing!

And now I understand how I snagged the rooster. I'm not early. I'm just up late--and it's what....afternoon in Oz? Okay, perhaps the devil does not need to be thawed out just yet.

jo robertson said...

I was skating on Hell's frozen pond, so, yep, congrats, Cassondra!

Yummy, that cookie recipe sounds delish, Suz. I'll try it this season for sure.

My family loves my pumpkin bread, which is quite tasty, but my husband always wants me to make his favorite holiday dessert handed down by his mother. It's called Heavenly Pie and it's wonderful but way too labor intensive for me.

I'll share one or the other on my blogging day!

Fedora said...

Mmm... that recipe sounds good! Before I had kids, I did more baking from scratch around Christmas, and *cheeks blushing from embarrassment* now we mostly use premade doughs and that sort of thing. Maybe this year we'll try a couple batches from scratch since the moppets are old enough to help make a proper mess now :)

Hmm... I don't think we have a make-or-break food for the holidays though--growing up, we had prime rib for some special occasions (such as Christmas), so that was a big yum (no vegetarians here, although I did a stint in college), but haven't followed that "tradition" since getting married.

I guess our tradition, if anything, is food, and plenty of it :)

And congrats, Cassondra! (I'm pretty new to Romance Bandits, and just figured out what the GR is--I think!)

Anna Campbell said...

Did you say nobbles were less obliging, CDW? I'm sure we can find you a cooperative nobble for those poor old knees!

Cassondra, good on you, my friend! About time the rooster saw some good ammunition!

Suz, those cookies sound amazing. The only thing is I'm not clear on what the wafers are. Are they a biscuit or a sweet? I'm wondering if we have an equivalent down here. Unlike Smores which don't seem to have an Aussie branch - Smigh!

Actually oysters say Christmas to me. Don't know why! Perhaps because we always had them as a starter to the big roast turkey meal and I've always loved oysters (there's a family tale that I ate them at my first birthday party. That's right, Bandita. Start as you mean to go on. No oatmeal for you!).

Buffie said...

Ah Suzanne, a woman after my own heart. I too make several kinds of cookies or bars or such during this holiday season. Last year, the hubby and I baked over 13 or 14different kinds. I'll have to add this recipe to my notebook. The peanut butter blossoms are a staple every year for us, and most people want my swedish butter cookies every year too. I also do breads (banana and pineapple). So much fun!! Happy baking!

Anna - the wafers or Andies are candies. Thin chocolate with a layer of green mint in the middle.

Anonymous said...

This is my second year of a migraine-trigger free diet, which means that almost all of those delicious cookies are on my "can't eat" list! Suz, you're probably magnanimous enough to make cookies you can't eat, but it definitely takes the fun out of it for me. :-(

This year, I saw Andes has little mint chip things that have no chocolate...I may have to try one of their recipes.

I'm definitely with flchen1--no specific food traditions, except for lots of it! And for Christine, I'll say that I have a Christmas recipe for an ice cream bombe that involves strawberry sorbet over a layer of vanilla ice cream mixed with ladyfingers (do they have those in Oz? yummy very light cookies with a hint of amaretto) crushed up with almond extract and corn syrup. It's very delicious, and extracting it from the bowl intact, so it can be displayed properly, is part of the fun.

Thanks for sharing your traditions with us, Suz! I do wish I could be at your house this season!! :-)

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Thanks guys, and I have to let you know that I have a bowl of this cookie dough made up yesterday and in the fridge so when I get up this afternoon I can bake them before going back to work. They might last all of 24 hours too, since my son will be at work in the evening!

Anna...Andes are small green and chocolate after dinner mints. They melt on the hot cookie and swirling them makes an icing.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Cassondra...I soooooooo want to hear about the cookie cutter incident!

Joan...my Kitchen Aid is gun metal grey!

Chrsitine...I'd love the recipe for your mom's desert!

Donna...does your daughter make lace trumpets? I'd love to figure out how to make those.

Jo...either recipe sounds good to me!

Buffie...Pineapple bread? Sounds good. My mom has a recipe for strawberry bread. Yumm

Kirsten...the biggest tradition is making Buckeye Candy. Think home made Reese's balls! And if I don't make them I hear about it from the kids, the hubby, the kids' friends, my CP, my CP's hubby, girls at work, even two doctors!

Andrea said...

I have to have deep fried turkey. It is the absolute best way to prepare it. Delicious!

And I am totally scribbling down that Chocolate Mint Cookie recipe...

~Andrea

Cassondra said...

flchen1said:

And congrats, Cassondra! (I'm pretty new to Romance Bandits, and just figured out what the GR is--I think!)

So sorry flchen1! Golden Rooster. I don't know who started it....Helen? It was one of the Bandita regulars we have to blame for this tradition that seemst o have taken on a life of its own.

And, well, thank you. But it's a freak accident, I promise. I would have never in a normal lifetime won the thing. Love mornings, but not a morning person at all.

Not. At. All.

Suz said:
Joan...my Kitchen Aid is gun metal grey!

Mine's plain old white--a wonderful gift from my Mother In Law (the chef) a couple of years after I married her son. She was at our house and saw me beating a cake by hand (yes, I DO know how to do that properly--learned it from my grandmother.) I'd love to have a red one, but I feel as though a bit of her magic is in that mixer with me when I cook, so I wouldn't trade it for the hottest color around.

Makes some kickin' mashed potatoes, too.

Cassondra said...

Foanna said:

Cassondra, good on you, my friend! About time the rooster saw some good ammunition!

No worries mate. (How'd I do with the Oz accent there?) I won't shoot him. Y'all can have him back in the morning, I promise. Nary a feather out of place.

doglady said...

I suspect the GR is going to show up with a Goth hairdo, Cassondra! Congrats! For my family Christmas means Mom's homemade divinity, potato chip cookies, chocolate fudge - she makes batches of these to hand out to the fire department and the police department on Christmas Eve when they escort Santa Claus thruher neighborhood. We also have to have her lane cake and japanese fruit cake which are recipes that have been in our family for over 100 years. She also does crumpets, these little cakes called maids of honor, and Yorkshire pudding with Bisto gravy for Christmas Dinner every year. My sisters-in-law and I are learning to make these treats to continue the tradition. Will definitely be copying these cookie recipes down, Suz! YUM!

Joan said...

flchen how cool is it to start baking with your little ones?

My friend has 3 and 4 year old girls who came to "help" me with my State Fair baking this year. In honor of their visit I bought them each their own spatula from William Sonoma with little lady bugs on them.

They were..er, enthusiastic to say the least LOL (My choc chip batter has never been beaten so thoroughly in its life!)

I also need...the pineapple and strawberry receipes if you please.

Demetrius, get a pen...

Fedora said...

Thanks, Joan--yes, I just need to relax and enjoy the enthusiasm they'll bring to the table and not worry about the spills ;) They're only little once :)

And thanks for the clarification, Cassondra--I'm not usually much of a morning person either. Today's a bit of an aberration...

Christie Kelley said...

Man I'm hungry now. The cookies sound great and I think I'll try that recipe. Suz, I make the M&M cookies too only I use the mint M&Ms. They're harder to find but they make a great cookie.

I have a recipe for brownies where you use the Andes mints as an icing. The mints soften up on warm brownies, then you cut the brownies and put them into the fridge. The mints harden up like candy again on top of the brownies. Oh, they are sooo good!

And I'm just adding that I love my white Kitchen Aid. With the new kitchen cabinets, I ordered a cabinet just for my kitchen aid mixer. The mixer sits on a shelf in a lower cabinet and when you want to use it, you pull the shelf up and lock it into place.

Okay, now I need a cup of coffee and a cookie.

p226 said...

So is there a favorite food you have to have for the holidays or your celebration won't be the same?

I'm not sure which food group this falls into, but the answer to that question is...


Rum.

Joan said...

Oh, my, my, my p226....

Do we have some RUM recipes for you!

But not yet. The anticipation has to build just like waiting for Santa to arrive.

:-)

Trish Milburn said...

Okay, I just ate breakfast and now I'm salivating for cookies! Christie, are you going to share that brownie recipe on your day? If not, I'd love it. I'm a brownie fan.

I fall into the "plenty of food" camp rather than something specific -- except Christie Cookies, which are made here in town by the Christie Cookie Company. OMG, you can taste the butter. Hubby's boss usually gets a small gift box of them for all the employees.

Caren Crane said...

Suz, I am definitely trying these cookies out!

Joan, I have the cobalt blue Kitchen Aid mixer, too! And Suz, my younger sister has the gunmetal gray. Cassondra, Mama's is white. *g*

Cassondra, my next older sister is now the Martha Stewart of Landsdale, PA. Maybe she stepped into your neighbor's shoes! My sister moved there from Augusta, GA, and began entertaining Southern-style (i.e. with loads of delicious food) right away. She is very popular!

My must-haves include Peanut Butter Balls (which you call Buckeyes, Suz), Wedding Cookies (also on Suz's list), Melting Moments (insanely addictive and a pain in the rooster feathers to make), and Santa's Whiskers. Man, I'm ready for Christmas!

Btw, Flchen1, I believe it was Doglady who brought us the Golden Rooster!

Caren Crane said...

Doglady, I can't believe your mother still makes Lane Cake. It's so very wonderful and old-fashioned, but such a labor of love! I have never worked myself up to making it, but remember my grandmother making it when I was young. My grandmother still makes an old-fashioned jam cake with blackberry preserves that you soak with wine. Yum!

Christie Kelley said...

Trish, I had a different recipe for my day. The brownies are super easy, just use any brownie recipe you have or even a box brownie mix. As soon as you take them out of the oven, place the Andes mints on top. Sometimes I will put them back in the turned off oven just to melt quicker.

Once melted, swirl with a knife so you get the brown and green colors mixed. Cut the brownies while warm and if you can remove them from the pan. Once the mints harden again, it's very difficult to cut the brownies without ruining the candy icing. The mint icing will harden without being put in the fridge but that will hasten the hardening.

That's it! Super easy and really good.

Buffie said...

Kirsten -- so what's on your "do not eat" list? Is it just no chocolate? I gave up chocolate last year, so I don't eat all those yummy chocolate cookies. But I still bake them for everyone else.

Terri Osburn said...

I'm not a fan of mint but I'd walk across hot coals for peanut butter & chocolate. I so want the recipe for the Peanut Butter Blossoms with Hershey Kisses.

Please???

My grandmother made cookies and other baked items the entire month of December and I loved the assembly line we used to have. Nut rolls were the best and took about four of us to make, spread all over the kitchen. Rum balls, sugar cookies in all kinds of shapes and pitsells too. Not sure how to spell that but they are made in a waffle iron kind of contraption and look like snowflakes.

No one in my family bakes now but I want to start doing some stuff with my daughter. She's 8 and I just know she'd love it. You've inspired me. I think we should start this weekend! LOL!

Caren Crane said...

Terrio, you can make the Peanut Butter Blossoms very easily. Take your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe (and I know you have one) and mix as usual. Roll the dough in balls (about 1 in. in diameter - or bigger if you prefer them!) and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Take unwrapped Hershey Kisses and press one into the middle of each cookie. Bake per peanut butter cookie directions.

Now, some people like to do it differently. I have, in the past, used a mini-muffin pan to make these. Simply roll the dough into balls and plunk them in your mini-muffin pan. If you want to be fancy, you can use your Pampered Chef mini-tart shaper and make a nest for your Hershey Kiss, then drop it in. Otherwise, just squish them in there. *g*

These are so unbelievably delicious (and fattening) they should be outlawed. *sigh*

Terri Osburn said...

I didn't even think of those cookies with the kiss on top. I've just never heard them called blossoms. I need to try that mini-muffin thing. That sounds sinful.

Gillian Layne said...

Ladies, you need a holiday drink with all this food!! Our favorite:

Cranberry Vodka:

1 pound cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla (the real stuff!)
You can zest an orange or two as well, if you like.

Cook the berries with the sugar just until the berries start to break, 5 minutes or so.

Divide the berries into two mason jars, put the zest on the bottom if you're adding it, stir the vanilla into the berries, then pour good vodka over the berries. Sit it aside for a week or so, turn the jars over to mix every couple days.

Strain into pretty drink bottles.

Keep the berries for some amazing cranberry cakes, or over ice cream, etc.

Anna--have you tried corn and oyster casserole?

Doglady! (hugs) What is Lane Cake?

Helen said...

Love the reciepe Suzanne I used to cook lots when I was a stay at home mum and the kids were little but with working full time now I don't seem to have enough time,but at christmas I always make christmas cake and I usually make about 6 or 7 because I give them to my friends for presents I have made 2 already and hope to make another 2 this weekend. I make the christmas pudding in the cloth as well and that needs to be done but as Christine has already said it is very hot here in Oz but we still have the traditional English lunch hot roasts and pudding and custard but I wouldn't have it any other way. I will defiantly be copying down some of these reciepes to try and if I have time I usually make a pavlova as well for chrissy.
Love the post looking forward to everyones reciepes.
Congrats Cassondra on the GR
Have Fun
Helen

Hellie Sinclair said...

I'm more a candy maker than a cookie one. (Cookies you have to watch with the baking. *LOL* Candy, it's gotta boil about 30 minutes before it's ready to pour.)

I love making honeycomb and dipping the edges in chocolate. My new love is making Scottish Tablet--which is basically sugar, more sugar, and some sweetened condensed milk boiled together. Truffles are ridiculously easy to make--and I love to make those...and eat them.

OH, the best Christmas candy in the world: Oreo truffles

1 pack (20 oz) oreos, crushed
8 oz (1 pkg) cream cheese

Mix, roll into one in balls--then:

Almond bark coating, melted: dip balls in coating.

THAT'S IT. And they're CRACK.

Tawny said...

YAY Cassandra ;-) Way to snag the GR!!

Christine, nice show of restraint too :-D

Suz, this recipe is yummy looking!! I am going to try it tomorrow and take it for my chapter holiday party this weekend (and will make a note to anyone who wants the recipe to visit the Romance Bandit site LOL)

I always switch up the cookie lineup at the holidays, making whatever recipe entertains me at the time. But I always - ALWAYS - have to make cranberry bread. Its a huge family favorite.

Oh - my Kitchenaid is white *g*

jo robertson said...

Flchen1, no shame about using premixed or stuff from a box. I find the little ones don't know the difference; they just want to work their grubby little fingers through the dough. Hey, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta!

Kirsten, I hope you post that recipe with the ladyfingers on your blog day. Sounds marvvvalous.

LOL, P226, the rum sounds like a delightful new food group!

Mshellion, yummy sounding candy. I admire candy makers. Mine never turn out right.

Trish, I've got a wonderful brownie recipe I'll pass along too.

Wow, I've gained 5 pounds just listening to these scrumptious recipes!

Caren Crane said...

Gillian, that sounds fab! Though for me, I would cook the cranberries first, then remove them from the heat and stir in a cup of Splenda. The sugar in the vodka is quite enough for me! But that sounds wonderful and reminds me of this amazing cranberry chutney I make at the holidays (which also features grated orange zest). Vodka and cranberries are two of my very favorite things!

Caren Crane said...

Jo, the only reason your candy wouldn't turn out perfectly is if you grow impatient and decide, "It must be done by now" OR wander off to watch TV or check e-mail and forget about it. 'Fess up. *g*

Joan said...

mshellion,

I SO admire candy makers. I just don't quite have the knack for doing anything much like that. I did find a receipe in Southern Living once for these mocha balls. First time I did them, they turned out great. Second time, major flop.

I'm really getting in the spirit this year and am already itching to fire up the oven! Falalalalalala

Anna Sugden said...

Oooh what a yummy post to kick-off the holiday season, Suz.

And thanks to everyone who's kicked in with their recipes - I'm scribbling notes to pass on to the expert cookie maker - hubby.

P226 - you should come to England ... we like lots of rum in/with our cakes and puddings!

Being a Brit - traditional Christmas lunch all the way (some of it has to sneak its way past the customs people in our suitcase!)

I don't like Christmas pudding, but the rest of the family loves it. Hubby makes a bunch of them using his mother's recipe ... and he (or rather I) steam them the old-fashioned way for six hours! Then there's the Christmas cake. And sherry trifle. And best of all ... mince pies!

Oh and yay to Cassondra for snagging that pesky rooster!

Buffie said...

TerriO -- yep, those peanut butter blossoms are so easy, and everybody loves them. I make a mini version of them -- I only roll my peanut butter cookie dough into balls of about 1 inch. Before I place those balls on the cookie sheets I roll them in granulated sugar -- that just adds an additional sweetness to them. Then when they come out of the oven, I plop a mini-kiss in the center. YUMMO!

Caren -- Don't ya just love Pampered Chef!??!!? My MIL was a demonstrator for about 2 years so I have so much of that stuff -- some of which is still in the box!

Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy said...

OMG, Gillian! I THINK I'm IN LOVE! I will alter as Caren suggests with the Splenda but otherwise, I'm cooking up a batch RIGHT AWAY!

AC
descendant of bootleggers :-)

Caren Crane said...

Buffie, I adore Pampered Chef! When my MIL had to move to the nursing home, I found some PC goodies in with her kitchen gadgets that were still in boxes. I had to grab them before my husband gave them to Goodwill!

AC, I am so not surprised you are descended from bootleggers. I'm sure I am, too. You can't have half the family live in the mountains of TN and NC for 250 years or more and not have some bootlegging going on.

Though my brother told me he can hardly find good moonshine anymore. He says all the rednecks in his area have dismantled the stills and started meth labs. Ah, well.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Oh, Lord, Anna, no wonder CTC is so hot, hot, hot. You began your Christmases with OYSTERS? Whew! :> A college friend of mine would have a bunch of us over for a meal before term was over and would make turkey and oyster dressing. OMGosh. YUM. But what says "Holidays" to me is pumpkin pie. Begins at Halloween and deliciously makes appearance at T-giving and Christmas. (And New Year's too, if I have my way!)

I too am a KitchenAid fan - mine's suitably Black, a gift from a friend who know's my love of Halloween. She's a fan of my famous pot pie and cookies. Grins. The only other color I would want would be, as with my dear Evil Twin - screaming red. VBG.

P226, I agree w/ Joan. Check back, we've got some Rum recipes for you. Ha! We are Banditas after all. Aaaarrrrrrr!

It's too late for cookies or biscuits for you Oz pals, but I'm SO drooling over the thought. I've made my ginger cookies with my boys for a couple of years now. Makes an unholy mess in the kitchen but it sure is fun. We've also done small-boy-sized gingerbread houses. Way fun.

Terrio I think it's pitzelles. I have a recipe around here somewhere for them.

Oooh, Gillian, that's great (copying furiously) I love it.
Helen, I want to know what a pavlova is and the other cookies maids in waiting was it? I can't find which post it's in drat it.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

AC and Caren, got a fellow bootlegger descendant here as well. I'm betting Cassondra, Suz and Trish might be too, since we're all Southern gals. But Caren, it's POT they've switched to, along with the meth. The county I'm from, Wilkes in NC, has gone from being the Moonshine Capitol of the South to being the Maryjane Capitol. We've had to give the sheriff permission to prowl our property there at will so no one sets up shop on it. Yikes. Grins.

BTW, Pampared Chef fan here too...just put in an order for more of those amazing spatulas. Don't stain, don't burn or scorch. Gotta love 'em.

Cassondra, can't wait for the cookie cutter tale. I adore cookie cutters and have dozens of them, which my boys love.

jo robertson said...

LOL, Caren, or the other alternative is I use the soft-boil, hard-boil stage method rather than a candy thermometer.

Christine Wells said...

Cassondra, no, I have another surprise for my Christmas recipe. Bwahahahah!!!

Christine Wells said...

Ooh, Kirsten, that bombe sounds delicious! Yes, we do have lady fingers here. My mother used to make a mean Charlotte Rousse with them. Notice my mother is featuring a lot here? I haven't done much fancy cooking since kidlets came along.

Joan said...

Oh, no. The MJ captial of the nation is in Washington/Marion Co. here in Kentucky.

I took care of an old guy who'd gone to prison for being the "Godfather" of the local Cornbread mafia.

He'd always refer to me as "lady".

And I'm a Williams Sonoma fan. I love me some Williams Sonoma "stuff". And the Food Network has opened an online store.....Keep. Me. Away.

Cassondra said...

doglady said:

I suspect the GR is going to show up with a Goth hairdo, Cassondra!

Well, at the very least, I've painted his toenails a nice blue-black....

p226 said:

I'm not sure which food group this falls into, but the answer to that question is...

Rum.


Pyrate Reserve, OOOOOOH yeah.

Keira Soleore said...

WOW! Suz! How about a SASE via Express Mail?? Would that work? I don't currently live nor have I ever lived in Baker's Lane, unlike you and Joan and so many of the Banditas. Recipes are good and all, but unless I know what it's supposed to taste like, how will I know I have the recipe down right?? Hence the SASE. :)

Helen said...

Jeanne pavlova is like a big meringue topped with fresh wipped cream and decorated with fresh fruit very yummy.
Have Fun
Helen

Beth Andrews said...

Love the recipe, Suz! Thanks for sharing. Like Tawny, I have a cookie exchange tomorrow and I think your chocolate mint cookies will be a bit hit :-)

We have so many favorites here - I have to have my White Trash and chocolate chip biscotti and the rest of the family loves frosted sugar cookies and kiss cookies (peanut butter blossoms *g*)

Buffie, I too roll my peanut butter blossom dough in sugar before baking *g* If I bake them in mini muffin tins, I add a miniature reese's peanut butter cup instead of a kiss. And I would love your recipe for swedish butter cookies! My mom's (Swedish) grandparents owned a bakery but unfortunately, she doesn't have very many of their recipes. She always makes Pepperkaker cookies which remind me of gingerbread cookies but they're rolled very thin before baking.

I too adore Pampered Chef, my white Kitchenaid mixer and RUM :-)