21 Dec
Christmas Baking: The Peanut Butter Blossom
Posted by Chelle as Christmas Baking, Cookies | 0 Comments
These are the quintessential Christmas cookie. They show up, without fail, at every cookie exchange and on every cookie tray. If there is anyone who tires of these cookies I’d love to find them. Yet another peanut butter cookie I can’t enjoy, but back in the “good old days” I’d gobble them up without abandon. This is your basic peanut butter cookie with a chocolate kiss pressed down into the middle as soon as they come out of the oven. Mmm, Christmas in a cookie!
19 Dec
Christmas Baking: Chocolate Chip Tea Cookies
Posted by Chelle as Christmas Baking, Cookies | 7 Comments
I have made these cookies numerous times over the years and they are one of my favorites because of their light and airy texture. They taste like a buttery shortbread ball with little chocolate chips. You can’t go wrong with this one!
19 Dec
Christmas Baking: Biscotti - A New Recipe
Posted by Chelle as Christmas Baking, Cookies, Italian | 2 Comments
Behold the beautiful biscotti that will be gracing my gift tins to family and friends. Now I know that I just posted a biscotti recipe not too long ago, but I wanted to share this one as well because they have somewhat different properties. The previous biscotti recipe produced a soft and tender cookie, which was very good. This recipe, however, mimics what I have grown up to know and love about the biscotti - hard, crunchy, and it withstands multiple dips into a cup of coffee without falling apart. So both of these are good; if you want one that’s a little softer to enjoy eating with your tea I would suggest my previous entry. However, if you’re Italian or a dunker, you’ll want to use this recipe, as I feel it’s much more authentic. Also, the previous recipe made significantly smaller biscotti, whereas these are substantially larger and look like they came from a coffee shop. A little drizzle of chocolate and they were ready for my tins!
18 Dec
Christmas Baking: Peppermint Bark
Posted by Chelle as Candy, Chocolate, Christmas Baking | 10 Comments
I made peppermint bark for the first time last Christmas and I found it so easy yet such a luxurious-looking treat that I decided I would make it once again for the gifts I am giving to some friends and family. I do not include any peppermint oil or extract in mine, as I like the mint flavor that comes from the crushed candy canes, however you could certainly add it if you want more of a peppermint punch! I’ve also found that trying to actually “cut” the bark doesn’t work so well - a better method is to merely take the tip of a sharp knife and insert it into the bark and apply some pressure, which will start the bark breaking into pieces.
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18 Dec
Christmas Baking: Buckeyes
Posted by Chelle as Candy, Chocolate, Christmas Baking | 7 Comments
My history with peanut butter is a sad and tragic one. I grew up infatuated with peanut butter and would put it on everything and anything imaginable, no doubt eating it in some form everyday. I even had a peanut butter and jelly sleeping bag when I was little. Then about three years ago I started to develop asthma symptoms and when I saw an allergist and had tests done, it turns out I was allergic to peanuts (among a variety of other things). So I have not eaten peanut butter since June of 2004. I don’t have an allergy so severe that I cannot touch it or smell it, since of course I was eating it right up until the day I was tested and I never came close to death. So I live vicariously through others, taking in huge whiffs of peanut butter when I open the jar to make peanut butter treats for everyone else.
This weekend I got started on my holiday baking and goodies-making and kicked it off with buckeyes. These, along with peanut butter blossoms, are the most requested Christmas treats from my sister. Of course it’s pure torture for me to smell them and not be able to eat them!
Some tips on making buckeyes:
- I find it best to mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. It will take some time to all come together and takes a lot of patience and elbow grease!
- The mixture WILL be pretty dry and crumbly, so when shaping the balls you will need to press the mixture together before rolling it into a ball.
- In order to avoid the toothpick holes at the top of the peanut butter balls, an alternative would be using something like a dipper for coloring eggs to lower the balls into the chocolate.
- This recipe yields 7-8 dozen buckeyes.
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