Sugar Glazed Almonds

Why is it that we only make tons of baked goods and candies at Christmas time? Sure, we think of then at the other holidays too, but for the most part at Christmas we make triple the amount. Don't get me wrong, I love it! I have made these for years. They are simple, and you can change up the flavor..add some orange zest, add some cinnamon or even rose water. Or just leave them plain and they taste like a honey roasted peanut, only in almond form.

Would someone please take them away from me, I can't stop eating them!!

Sugar Glazed Almonds

1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups whole almonds

Set aside an ungreased baking sheet. In a heavy 2-quart skillet, combine water and sugar. Place over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. Add almonds and stir continuously. Reduce heat to medium and stir almonds until mixture foams and turns to sugar. (This takes about 10-15 minutes.) Continue stirring as almonds become coated with sugar; sugar will begin to remelt and caramelize on the almonds. Remove from heat and turn out onto baking sheet. Using 2 forks, separate almonds into single nuts. Cool.

Variations:
For Glazed Orange-add 2 Tbsp grated orange zest at the beginning of cooking.
For Cinnamon-Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon at the beginning of cooking.
For Rose Water-At the end of cooking, sprinkle nuts with 2 tsp rose water and stir well.

Orange Vanilla Shortbread

We are at week 10 of thee 12 weeks of Christmas cookies. When we first started this, I thought it would take forever to finish it up, but now we only have 2 more weeks! There have been so many great cookie recipes during this and can't wait to see what the next weeks bring!

I saw this recipe in Sherry Yards book The Secret of Baking and was curious about the use of Orange Blossom Water. I had never seen it, much less needed to use it in a recipe. I knew that I wanted to try it. That was about a year ago. I don't know why I haven't made them sooner. I really like the flavor of them. They have a base of orange flavor with a little hint of a floral scent. And then the vanilla mellows it all out. The recipe said to roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into a shape, freeze for 15 minutes then bake. I chose to bake them in an 8x8 square dish and cut them into squares. They turned out a little more fluffy than the shortbread that I have made before. Maybe it is because I didn't roll it out? Not sure, but they still taste yummy! I think I might like to make this recipe and adapt it to this flavor.

Remember to see what Megan, Barbara, Megan, Denise and Kim baked up this week!

Orange Vanilla Shortbread

By: Sherry Yard

2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

2 Tbsp finely grated orange zest

1/8 tsp salt

1 Tbsp orange flower water

1 large egg, at room temperature

Sift together flour and baking soda in medium bowl and set aside

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Add the sugar, vanilla extract and scraped seeds from the bean, orange zest, salt and orange flower water. Cream on medium speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

Add the egg and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until all the dry ingredients are incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. The dough will be gooey. Remove the dough from the mixer, scrape it onto a sheet of plastic film, press it into a 1/2-1 inch thick disk, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 1 hour. At this point, the dough will keep nicely, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month. (Thaw frozen dough at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until you can slice it.)

Dust a work surface lightly with flour. Place the dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment paper, roll it out 1/4 inch thick, and freeze it for at least 2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Adjust the rack to the lower third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

When the dough has frozen, carefully peel off the parchment and place the dough on a work surface dusted lightly with flour. Dip a 3 inch round cookie cutter in flour, then cut out the cookies. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets, alternating the rows like a checkerboard. Return the dough to the freezer for 15 minutes or more whenever it becomes too sticky to cut.

Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges, turning the sheet front to back halfway through the baking. Remove from the oven and carefully slide the parchment directly onto a work surface. Wait at least 5 minutes before serving or 30 minutes before storing the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

Cake Cookies-Week 9!

I saw this recipe for these cookies in a magazine that called for a cake mix, an egg, and a carton of cool whip. The cool whip got the best of my curiosity and I had to try them out. They turned out so good that a friend and I made 4 different flavors and each batch made 4 dozen, so I was stuck with 16 dozen cookies! There could be worse things, I guess. :)

These cookies are really soft and chewy, a little messy because of the powdered sugar, but so worth it. These will definitely be going on my platters! The cake mixes we used were chocolate fudge, strawberry, orange and spice cake. I have a lemon to make and I want to try pineapple upside down.

We are coming along with out 12 weeks of Christmas, we are at week 9 and have seen some really awesome cookies!

Cake Cookies

1 box cake mix, any flavor

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix the cake mix, egg, and cool whip together until combined. This will be thick, but not so thick that you can roll it into balls. Put the powdered sugar into a shallow bowl.

Once you mix the dough, put the scoops of dough into the powdered sugar and roll it to coat. You can shape it once it is covered with the powdered sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week, I asked the hubby what kind of cookie he wanted and he wanted something with peanut butter and chocolate. Honestly, I wanted him to tell me something that was sort of a challenge for me to find a recipe for this week, but I guess you really can't do that with cookie. I guess this really was a little challenge for me, because I haven't found that perfect peanut butter cookie recipe yet. This one is close, and will do, but I am always looking for new ones. :)

I found this recipe in one of my cookie magazines and was curious about it because there is no butter, I am guessing that the peanut butter takes that place, and there is only 1/4 cup of flour. This told me that it would probably be moist and chewy in the middle. And yes, I was right. With little spreadage, and a crisp outside, with the chewy in the middle, they did hit the spot. The first thing that came out the oldest sons mouth as soon as he popped one in his mouth was, mmmmmmm. I took that as a thumbs up! Will these go on my cookie platters? Probably!!

Don't forget my other cookie baker's this week, we are almost to the end girls! :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl beat peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Stir in flour and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet (do not use an insulated cookie sheet); flatten slightly with fingers.

Bake in preheated oven about 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and lightly browned around edges (centers will be soft). Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; cool completly. Makes 2 dozen.

Cinnamon Bun Scones

I am a firm believer in homemade scones. The ones that you buy out at the store or coffee shops, that are dry and crumbly and make you choke, are just not for me. Now, the hubby on the other hand, isn't really a fan at all of scones. He calls them fu-fu food. Let me rephrase that..until now, he was not a fan. I think that he ate half of them, and my boys ate them for breakfast this morning. I am positive that they will be requested again and again. :)

I found this recipe from the book A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. I have made a few things from this book and so far so good. If you haven't seen it, you really should. It is full of yummy, yummy things! I didn't follow the directions exactly, though...but they still came out great. The directions say to mix the dry ingredients in the food processor, dump them out and make a well in the center, then put the wet ingredients and combine. I bypassed all of this and mixed everything in my mixer with a paddle attachment. It mixed up perfectly! :) You also scoop these out with an ice cream scoop, so I am thinking mini's would be great too!

Cinnamon bun Scones

By: Marcy Goldman

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

3/4 to 1 cup whipping cream

Cinnamon Dip

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar

Whipping cream or milk, as required

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

In a food processor, add flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and blend briefly. Add butter and pulse to make a coarse, grainy mixture.

Turn out mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in center and stir in vanilla, eggs, and whipping cream to make a soft dough. If it is stiff, add more cream.

Using an ice cream scoop, deposit 15 to 20 scones on prepared baking sheets,or use a smaller 2 Tbsp cookie scoop and deposit 3 dozen baby scones.

Bake until scones are puffy and golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, for Cinnamon Dip, whisk together all ingredients until you have a thick but drippy glaze. Add more confectioner's sugar or cream as required.

Cool scones to warm and then dip into Cinnamon Dip. Dip scones again once topping is set.

Vanilla Bean Angel Pillows

I chose this cookie recipe from last years Better Homes and Garden Christmas Cookie magazine. I'm glad that I keep these year from year just for this reason..even if it is 8 years from now, I now that I will find something that I haven't made yet or maybe I will have made the same recipe 10 times. The bottom line here, I guess, is that I really have an addiction. I just had this conversation this week with a friend, and I am glad to know that I am not the only one with this problem. :)

I love the look of the vanilla bean speckles! :)

These cookies are just what the title describes, vanilla bean pillows. They are light and crumbly and sweet, but more buttery than sweet. Once you bite into it, the vanilla sugar on the outside sticks to your lips and chin...really, it get everywhere..but I think it just adds to the yumminess! The recipe said that this would yield 28 cookies, and that is exactly what I got. I normally go for the ones that make more than that, but I couldn't pass these up. These will be going on my platters this year, and maybe I will roll some of them in red and green sugars.

Don't forget to see what Megan, Barbara, Megan, Kim, and Denise baked up this week!

Vanilla Bean Angel Pillows

From Better Home and Gardens

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

1 cup cold butter, cubed

1/4 cup vanilla sugar*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Cover and process until combined.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, scrape pulp from vanilla bean. Add vanilla pulp to the flour mixture; add butter. Cover and process with several on/off pulses until mixture starts to cling, stopping once to scrape bowl. Gather mixture into a ball.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven about 12 minutes or just until edges start to brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool for 5 minutes.

Place vanilla sugar in a small bowl. While cookies are warm, roll them in vanilla sugar to coat. Cool completely on wire rack. Makes about 28 cookies.

*To make vanilla sugar, in a small bowl, combine 1 cup sugar and 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 week, giving it a shake every once in awhile.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

I probably think that these are the best cinnamon rolls that I have ever had! I made these with my friend, that I do the dinner club thing with, and we froze them. We made up the dough, let it rise, rolled it out and put the butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled them back up, gave them a quick slice. We then put them in our pan and stuck them in the freezer. I had no idea if they would turn out or not. I pulled them out of the freezer about an hour before I was going to bake them. They thawed out in this hour and had just started to rise some more when I put them in the oven for their 15 minute bake. They puffed up perfectly! I had 20 of them in my pan and every one of them were eaten! I will now have them in my freezer at all times!!

One of the things that I really liked about this recipe was that 1.)it was simple and 2) this recipe makes a ton of them! The only thing I changed on this recipe was the maple glaze. I just went with the standard vanilla glaze, I am thinking a cream cheese glaze next time will be in order!

With The Pioneer Woman's book just coming out, this was the perfect time to try these out. The only thing that I have seen on her book is that it is wonderful! I'm thinking that I am going to have to bring one home to be part of the family! :)

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

1 quart of whole milk
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
8+1 cups of all-purpose flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 "scant" tsp baking soda
1 heaping Tbsp of salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups melted butter
1 cup of sugar
generous sprinkling of cinnamon

Mix the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan. "Scald" the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point.) Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but not hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

Add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it-overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to splurge out of the pan, just punch it down.)

Sprinkle surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam to the roll to seal it. Spread 1 Tbsp of melted butter in seven round, foil cake or pie pans. Then begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them int he buttered pans. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20-30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.

Maple Frosting

1 bag of powdered sugar
2 tsp maple flavoring
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brewed coffee
1/8 tsp salt

Mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don't skimp on the frosting! :)