Holiday Challenge Day 5 - Chinese Chews

Once upon a time, I thought making a bar cookie was a form of baking cheatery.  A congo bar just didn't hold the same allure as a chocolate chip cookie or a sand tart that required a rolling pin, cookie cutters, and sprinkles to make.  No matter how great they tasted, bar cookies inevitably fell to the bottom of the heap in my personal hierarchy of homemade cookie-dom.

I'd like to think that my outlook on cookie making has matured over the last 20 years (okay, it's more like 30 years, but who's counting?).  As a kid you're kind of oblivious to the amount of time and energy making cut-out (and sometimes even drop cookies) requires.  As an adult, quite frankly, the thought of rolling and cutting and decorating cookies makes me want to stick my head in the oven with it on high.  Although you will never find me using "cheater" dough from the grocery store, you will frequently find my cookie jar filled with bar cookies.  And some pretty delectable ones at that. 

One such recipe that I have in my stash is an old family favorite - Chinese Chews.  Like a lot of the bar cookies that I make, this one starts out with a shortbread-like crust, and is topped with a mixture that I can only describe as pecan pie-esque (although it includes coconut too).  This year I was struck by the idea that semi-sweet morsels might be a welcome addition to the mix.  I vaguely remember making a pecan/coconut/chocolate chip pie that was a huge hit last Christmas.  So I made a pan of each - one original recipe and one with chocolate chips.  I have one word for you.  Brilliant.  Because really, what isn't better with a bit of chocolate?  So take your pick - below is a recipe with options for whichever you choose, with chocolate or without.  Both were simply scrumptious!

As one last aside, I will mention that I almost always make the Chinese Chews and the Millionaire Shortbread as a double batch.  Even though recipes like these like to say they make 81 pieces, that's only if you cut them in 1" x 1" squares.  And in my book a 1-inch square does not a cookie make!  What it makes is me...cranky.  So I opt to cut them on the larger side, but still manage to get 30-40 bars per 9-inch square pan. 

Chinese Chews
Makes 40 2" x 1" bars

Crust:
¼ pound (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a fork or a pastry cutter, mix all 3 ingredients together until crumbly (like pie crust). Pat into a 9" x 9" square pan lightly coated with cooking spray (I lined my pans with foil and sprayed with cooking spray so they were easier to take out and cut at the end).  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly.

Topping:
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts*

Confectioners sugar for dusting

*If you choose to make these with chocolate chips, reduce nuts to 3/4 cup and add 1/4 cup semi-sweet mini morsels.

Mix all ingredients together and pour on crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Run knife around edge very soon after removing from oven. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Cool and cut into pieces.

Holiday Challenge Day 4 - Popcorn Brittle

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would be so hard to find plain popcorn on the cheap.  I actually heard myself muttering in Target (after an unsuccessful trip to Publix), "Come on, Orville! Are you kidding me?!"  Because seriously, it's all there...buttered, salt & peppered, kettle corned, carameled, lightly salted, lightly buttered, buttered like they do in the movie theater.  Every kind of popcorn you can think of, with the exception of plain.

Well, that's not quite true.  You CAN find unsalted, unbuttered, unadulterated popcorn.  In fact you can find it with relative ease in the popcorn section with all of the microwaveable madness.  But it's $4.89 a jar.  And I only need a mere 1/4 cup of kernels to yield the 5 1/2 cups of popped corn the recipe calls for.  Since I don't eat popcorn much, I won't really make use of the remaining 20 servings.  Grr.  It's not even "D-Day" for making the brittle (I try to get my supplies at least a day early), and my knickers are already in a twist.  Because sometimes it's not the baking that'll kill ya. It's finding all the right ingredients at a decent price.  You and I both know my time for finding the popcorn is running out, and I'll no doubt end up paying an arm and a leg to get what I need.  All I'm gonna say is this brittle better be bodacious.  And someone needs to tell Orville that scalping popcorn kernels is bad karma.

But that was yesterday.  This morning, with today's challenge weighing heavily on my mind, I made an early morning trek to Publix for that's right, you guessed it, the $4.89 bottle of popcorn and a package of brown lunch bags (I didn't know this, but you can actually make your own microwave popcorn - place 1/4 cup of kernels into a brown lunch bag, fold over the top a little, and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes.  Voila.  Pure naked popcorn).

With the last ingredient now in place, I managed to make the brittle with relative ease.  Unless you are having a particularly stressful day, there's no need to whip out your meat mallet to break up the popcorn - I did it with my hands.  I definitely would recommend making this with the help of a candy thermometer, because it took me longer than 8 minutes to reach 270 degrees.  And remember to be patient when spreading this out in the pan - definitely spray your spoon with the cooking spray, and work your way from one end of the pan to the other.  Any recipe with the phrase "working quickly" gives me the dry heaves - I had visions of a mess of tangled brittle sitting in the middle of my pan because I wouldn't be able to spread it quickly enough.  Not so.  It stayed warm long enough for me to get it smoothed out, although it didn't quite fill a 12 x 17 baking sheet. 

Cooking Light described it as, "...a wonderful hybrid - part caramel corn, part brittle."  I couldn't have said it better myself!  This is definitely one bodacious brittle!  Which is why I'm going to make a second batch.  Right now.

Popcorn Brittle
Cooking Light, November 2005

Ingredients
Cooking spray
5 1/2 cups popcorn, popped without salt or fat
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation
Line a baking sheet with foil; coat foil with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place popcorn in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Crush popcorn using a meat mallet or rolling pin; set aside.

Combine sugar, syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer registers 270° (about 8 minutes). Stir in molasses and butter; cook until thermometer registers 290° (about 5 minutes). Stir in baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Stir popcorn into boiling syrup mixture. Working quickly, pour popcorn mixture onto prepared pan; spread to 1/4-inch thickness using a wooden spoon coated with cooking spray. Cool completely; break into large pieces.

Note: Store brittle in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days.

Holiday Challenge Day 3 - Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan "Turtles"

When I initially decided to endeavor upon this challenge, I knew I was going to have to throw myself a proverbial bone or two along the way so I'd make it through 24 days of non-stop baking.  This recipe is one of those "bones" (and yes, I realize we are only at Day 3, but I'm trying to pace myself), because in all truth what will take you the most time is unwrapping each individual Rolo. 

Directions for these are all over the internet - I'm not sure what their official name is, but I think "turtle" is probably the most accurate description.  Call them whatever you want, though, because no matter what you call them, these little sweet & salty creations are downright addictive!  I personally call them "gone".  Hah.  Joking.  They're not gone (at least not yet).

Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan "Turtles"
Makes 56

1 bag mini pretzels
1 13-ounce package Rolo candies
1 package pecan halves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place pretzels on sheet in a single layer.  Place one Rolo on top of each pretzel.  Bake at 400 for 2 minutes or until Rolos are soft.  Remove from oven.  Place pecan half on top of each Rolo, pressing down to flatten.  Cover, then place in refrigerator until chocolate is firm.  Makes approximately 56 candies. 

Holiday Challenge Day 2 - Laird's Larder Millionaire Shortbread...It's Twix-A-Licious!

Shortbread.  Toffee.  Chocolate.  Who wouldn't agree that each are quite delicious in their own right?  But when combined together, well...they're a trifecta of Twix-A-Licious tastiness!!  The thought of which makes me all warm and giddy inside.  Oh wait.  Maybe the warm and giddy is from the rum balls.  But who cares?!  Because what I'm talking about is Millionaire Shortbread, a scrumptious confection with a flaky, buttery shortbread crust, an ooey, gooey toffee-caramel middle layer, and a rich chocolate glaze.  Have a bite and you'll be giddy too - I guarantee it!

Although this recipe comes courtesy of my awesome aunt, I just had to wonder about it's title.  Laird's Larder Millionaire Shortbread...Who or what is Laird?  Where exactly is this larder?  And why Millionaire Shortbread?  Enquiring minds want to know.  So I did what any inquisitive individual would do...I turned to Google.  Well, actually, I turned to Swagbucks (which is powered by Google) because not only am I inquisitive, I also like to earn free stuff by doing virtually nothing.  But that's a story for a different day.  Today we talk shortbread.  So.  Where was I?  The internet.  Right-o.  A quick search indicated that the Laird's Larder is a food retailer over in the U.K.  Shortbread...U.K.  Makes sense.  Sadly, though, the Laird's Larder doesn't post recipes on its site (stingy, stingy - share, people, share!).  So I turned to another site with a Millionaire Shortbread recipe of its own, hoping to find a reason behind the name.  According to the author, it's called Millionaire Shortbread simply because the end result is so rich.  Huh.  Who woulda thought...

Surprisingly, I found this recipe incredibly easy to make (even the daunting use-a-candy-thermometer caramel/toffee layer).  As a result, you will find this blog free of trials, tribulations, and corresponding British-inspired comments like "bollocks" and "bloody he**".  It's a shame, really.  I was so looking forward to using them.  Oh well.  Enjoy the shortbread.  They are, in the words of one infamous Brit, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"!  (Did you get that?  Mary Poppins?  British?  Heh heh.)

NOTE:  I actually wrote most of this prior to finishing the glaze for the shortbread.  And guess what?  I chose to heat the water for the glaze in my microwave in an ANCHOR HOCKING glass bowl that is "oven and microwave safe".  Not.  My bowl blew to bits in the microwave in less than 2 minutes.  Bloody he**.   But no shortbread or individuals were hurt in this incident :)

Laird's Larder Millionaire Shortbread

Shortbread:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil so that the foil extends 2 inches beyond the ends of the pan.  Lightly butter bottom and sides of foil.  In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the flour and mix until the dough holds together.  It will be somewhat dry, and you can use your hands to make it bind together.  Press dough into the pan and bake 10 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown.  Cool completely.

Toffee:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk

In a heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Cook until mixture reaches 200 degrees on candy thermometer (usually 8-10 minutes).  It should be thick and light brown in color.  If it separates, beat with a whisk for 30 seconds.  Pour over cooled shortbread and spread evenly.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes before glazing.

Glaze:
1/4 cup water
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Add chocolate.  Stir until melted, and let cool until slightly thickened.  Spread over toffee layer.  Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes or until glaze is set. 

Using foil, lift shortbread out of pan.  Cut into 81 1" squares.  Ah yeah.  More like 40 2" x 1" squares.  Or 10 4" x 2" squares.  It's entirely up to you.

Holiday Challenge Day 1 - Ho Ho Ho and a Ball of Rum

The holidays are all about spreading warmth and good cheer.   For you and yours that may mean throwing a yule log on the fire, crooning Christmas carols, or catching up on classic holiday movies surrounded by the ones you love.  For me, it means whipping up a batch of rum balls.  Because really, after you've had a couple, who doesn't feel the warmth and good cheer begin to spread?!

This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookies, a virtual treasure trove of ideas for anyone looking for inspiration for the holidays and beyond.  Unlike most rum balls that are made with crushed vanilla wafers, ground nuts, or both, these are made with homemade brownies. And who could resist that?  Brownies AND booze in the same recipe! 

I will readily admit that I envisioned myself snacking on a few spare brownie bits while mixing and rolling the rum balls.  And why not?  There's nothing I love more than a rich, thick, chocolatey brownie.  So good!  So tasty!  But sadly, the only thing I was tasting when that pan of brownies came out of the oven was disappointment.  Bitter disappointment.  Because, instead of producing ooey gooey chocolatey goodness, I ended up with a wafer-thin concoction that pulsed and sizzled in the pan like it was possessed.  I am not joking, people!  It sizzled (from all the butter) and pulsed (from what, I do not know).  Nevertheless, I pulled it from the oven and let it cool.  The sizzling and pulsing ceased.  And although it didn't look like a brownie or taste like a brownie, the end result was chocolatey, made perfect crumbs, and when mixed with Kahlua and rum, made some pretty tasty booze-filled balls of joy!

Rum Balls
Makes 4 dozen

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark rum (I used Kahlua in 1/2 the batch)
Coarse sanding sugar, for rolling
Vegetable oil cooking spray

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a 12 x 17 inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2.  Melt butter and chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Note:  I melted this in the microwave.
3.  Whisk together eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.  Stir in chocolate mixture, then fold in flour.  Pour batter into prepared baking sheet.  Spread evenly with a rubber spatula.  Bake until top is shiny and a cake tester inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached, about 10 minutes.  Let cook completely on a wire rack.
4.  Break up brownie into small pieces; transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  With machine on low, pour in rum, and mix until crumbs start to come together to form a ball.
5.  Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in sanding sugar to coat.  Transfer to a baking sheet; refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, about 2 hours.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.  Rum balls can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Twenty-Four Days of Baking Madness....A Sweet a Day til Christmas!!

With the passing of Thanksgiving, the holiday season is in full swing.  There was barely time for a second helping of turkey and pumpkin pie before the frenzy of activity and festivity began.  It's only November 30, and any number of homes in my 'hood are already outfitted with twinkle lights, Christmas wreaths and bobbing reindeer, and the tv, newspapers and internet are crammed with ads for "great deals" just about everywhere on just about everything. 

Some people get into the spirit of the season by decorating.  Some get into the spirit of the season by shopping.  And some people, like me, prefer to get into the spirit of the season by baking.  A lot.  So while my friends and neighbors were wrestling with Christmas lights and untangling yards of garland, or making lists of toys and stocking stuffers, I was ticking off my own list of essentials - ten pounds of flour and sugar?  Check.  Nine pounds of butter?  Check.  (Which, by the way, was recently $1.50 a pound at both Publix and Walmart - woo woo!!).  Shortening, chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, cranberries, coconut, brown sugar, confectioners sugar, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream?  Check, check, checkity check!

Every year I jokingly say that my unofficial personal motto during the holiday season is "a cookie a day til Christmas".  Most years (okay, every year to date) I lose my mojo a few weeks into December, mostly because I start the month fueled by a little too much holiday cheer, whipping out 3 or 4 different cookies a day, then burning out when my supplies or my sugar rush run out.  This year, however, will be different.  This year I have a well-stocked pantry.  This year I have a plan.  And it's a good one.  I'm going make one and only one cookie a day (it actually will be more like a sweet a day, because it really wouldn't be fair to ignore some of the fabulous recipes for cakes and other confections that are out there) til Christmas.  So, for those of you who are following, that's 24 different treats in 24 days.  And to make it a little more difficult, I'm not going to fall back on some of my favorite holiday recipes that I've already posted (like ginger cookies, fudge, and peanut butter incredibles), and I'm going to blog about it every day until Christmas.

For those of you who are wondering what I have in mind, here's my list...

1. Rum Balls
2. Laird's Larder Millionaire Shortbread
3. Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan "Turtles"
4. Popcorn Brittle
5. Chinese Chews
6. Angel Wings
7. Coconut Sandwich Cookies
8. Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies
9. Surprise Cookies
10. Pecan Tartlets
11. Peppermint Bark
12. Shortbread
13. Sour Cream Pound Cake
14. Cookie Dough Truffles
15. 7 Layer Bars
16. Rugelach
17. Chocolate Thumbprints
18. Peanut Butter Bon Bons
19. Spritz
20. Oreo Truffles
21. Almond Crescents
22. Nutella Sandwiches
23. Linzer Cookies
24. Buche de Noel

 Let the baking commence!

Holiday Baking - Two Sweet Treats

Whoo hoo – it's official - it’s holiday time! And who doesn’t love the holidays?! They’re a virtual whirlwind of food and fun, what with presents, decorations, and festivities with friends and family.  But if visions of sugar plums dancing in your head are interrupted by flashes of work, kids and lines at the mall, you aren’t alone. If the thought of baking (on top of all that) makes you want to shout “BAH HUMBUG”, run for the rum balls and hide until the New Year, don’t despair.  Because there are some really great recipes out there that are big on taste and short on preparation for anyone who is strapped for time, patience or both...

Following are two of my favorites.  I hadn't made them in a long time, and then when I did, I realized just how easy they were - I made both together in less than an hour, and didn't even have to use the oven.  Both of them can be easily doubled if you're feeding the masses.

Candy Shop Fudge
Makes 36 pieces

Below is the original recipe for the fudge, as can be found in the Good Housekeeping 2001 Holiday Best magazine.  In an effort to make the fudge as quickly and easily as possible, I always use chocolate chips so I don't have to chop the chocolate.  I also use the microwave to melt the chocolate and sweetened condensed milk - just remember to melt it using relatively low power so the chocolate doesn't burn.

16 ounces semi sweet or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 14ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt

Line 8 x 8 metal pan with plastic wrap (smooth out wrinkles). In heavy 2 quart saucepan, heat chocolate and condensed milk over medium low heat until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in walnuts, vanilla and salt (do not overmix). Spoon chocolate mixture into pan; spread evenly. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Remove fudge from pan. Cut into 6 strips, then cut crosswise into 6 pieces. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Peanut Butter Incredibles
Makes 36 bars

This recipe, reminiscent of a Reese's peanut butter cup, came from a Betty Groff cookbook of my mom's - which one, I can't remember.  Again, I used the microwave to melt the butter/peanut butter and the chocolate chips, and used boxed graham cracker crumbs so I didn't have to deal with the mess of crumbing graham crackers myself.  All in all the whole process took me about 15 minutes, the majority of which was trying to prettily spread the chocolate on top!  In retrospect, I probably would line my pan with plastic wrap (like we did with the fudge) - then when the bars have set you can lift the entire contents out of the pan and cut with relative ease.

2/3 cup butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cup confectioners sugar
1 ½ cup fine graham cracker crumbs
12 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Melt butter and add peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Add sugar and cracker crumbs. Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended. Press crumbs into buttered 9 x 13 baking pan.

In microwave or top of double boiler, melt chocolate chips. Pour over the crumb mixture. Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Remove and cut into bars. Do not store in refrigerator, or white spots will develop on the chocolate. These bars freeze, but should be eaten as soon as they thaw, to prevent spotting.