Running Mania

Anyone? Any recipes to share?

Super Easy Fudge

Serving: 64 1” (2.5cm), about 2lb/1kg

Ingredients:
3 cups (750mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (300mL) Eagle Brand® Regular or Low Fat Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tsp (10mL) vanilla extract

Preparation:
Melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Spread evenly in parchment paper lined 8” (20cm) square pan. Chill 4 hours or until firm.
Remove from pan and peel off paper. Cut into squares.
Tips:
Stir in ½ cup (125mL) chopped nuts into fudge mixture.

Magic Cookie Bars
Prep Time: 8 minutes plus baking time
Preheat To: 350ºF (180ºC)*
Serving: 24 bars


Ingredients:
2 cups (500 mL) graham wafer crumbs
3/4 cup (175 mL) butter, melted
1 can (300 mL) Eagle Brand® Regular or Low Fat sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cups (325 mL) chopped pecans
1 1/3 cups (325 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups (325 mL) flaked coconut

Preparation:
1. Combine graham crumbs with butter; press evenly onto parchment-lined 13 x 9" (3.5 L) baking pan.
2. Pour Eagle Brand evenly over crumb crust.
3. Sprinkle with pecans, chocolate chips and coconut; press down firmly.
4. Bake in preheated 350ºF (180ºC) oven* (325F for glass dish) 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool thoroughly and cut into bars. (Store loosely covered at room temperature.)

Lemon Bars
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/lemon-bars/

Ginger Snaps
http://www.companyscoming.com/recipes/g ... 05/11/183/

here is last year's thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=40341

After reviewing last year's thread, and talking to a few people, I think I've narrowed down my choices for Christmas baking day 2011!! Next weekend my best friend, my SIL and I are going to BAKE AND BAKE AND BAKE!!!
I posted the recipes for fudge and the gingerbread recipe before, but here they are again so people don't have to search... I'm also going to do the Dulce de Leche bars and lemon squares from last year's thread. RM rocks for so many reasons...

Gingerbread cookies
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Gradually add the rest. Divide into 4 balls, wrap in saran, put in the fridge at least 3 hours. Roll, cut etc. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350. Decorate with Royal Icing, sprinkles, etc.

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:
2 large (60 grams) egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

SUGAR COOKIES (candy canes)
¾ cup butter
1 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Red food colouring

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla thoroughly.
Stir flour, baking powder, salt, blend into first mixture.
Chill at least an hour.
*I am going to add red dye to half the dough, and twist strings of dough together to make candy canes.
Bake at 400, bake 6-8 mins.

Christmas fudge
4 ½ cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup evap milk
Dash of salt
Mix and stir over med heat. Bring to a boil and cook/stir for 5 mins.
Remove from heat and add:
1 jar marshmallow fluff
1 large pkg choc chips
¼ tsp vanilla
Beat with mixer for 10 minutes. Pour into BUTTERED pan (13 x 9) and let set. Cover with foil, refrigerate.

Here is the recipe for the knockoff Cranberry Bliss Bars that I made last week.

http://www.food.com/recipe/cranberry-bl ... cat-203229

If you want a simpler version, you can use cream cheese frosting and grate orange peel into it, stir, frost and add more craisins and white chocolate chips.

We were talking about scuffles in the Secret Santa thread. Obviously, these are not a CinC family secret, so here's the recipe.

http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2010/12/22/u ... -scuffles/

Here's a couple I'll be making this year. Both are very easy and very delicous.

Skor Bar Squares

1 box ritz crackers
1 can condensed milk
1 bag of skor chipits

Crush the crackers in package until they are in small pieces. Mix together crackers, condensed milk and 3/4 package of skor chips. Bake in a 9x9 greased pan at 350 for 25min. When cool spread on icing and remaining chipits, lightly press down and cut into squares.

Butter Icing
1 1/2 cups of icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp butter
3 tsp water
Beat all ingredients together in a bowl and spread over cooled base.

Mars Bars Rice Krispies

1/2 cup of butter
4 full size mars bars
3 cups of rice krispies
8X8 pan

1. Cut butter and mars bars in small pieces to make it easier to melt.
2. Grease 8X8 pan.
3. In a saucepan melt the mars bars and butter on medium-low until mixture is smooth. (approx 5min) Keep mixing to prevent burning.
4. Once mixture is smooth pour into bowl with Rice Krispies. Mix until coated.
5. Pour into greased pan and smooth out.
6. Place into fridge to cool.
7. Cut into squares once cooled.

Samantha wrote:Magic Cookie Bars

LOVE these!

Samantha wrote:Ginger Snaps
http://www.companyscoming.com/recipes/g ... 05/11/183/

Do these freeze well?

gnu wrote:

Samantha wrote:Ginger Snaps
http://www.companyscoming.com/recipes/g ... 05/11/183/

Do these freeze well?

Very, very, very well! And they don't take long to thaw out.

I'm making the standards again this year. Nanaimo bars, cherry balls and rum balls.

I have done the base for the Nanaimo bars so far, still have the other two layers to go (hopefully today). Cherry balls tommorow night and rum balls sunday night. I have to have everything done by dec 23rd for a family Christmas.

pts wrote:I'm making the standards again this year. Nanaimo bars, cherry balls and rum balls.

I have done the base for the Nanaimo bars so far, still have the other two layers to go (hopefully today). Cherry balls tommorow night and rum balls sunday night. I have to have everything done by dec 23rd for a family Christmas.

Rum ball recipe please

I made 2 batches of whipped shortbread and a batch of spritzgeback (chocolate dipped shortbread) on Monday night and brought them to work on Tuesday. They were all gone by mid-afternoon I love that everyone loved them.

abhainn wrote:

pts wrote:I'm making the standards again this year. Nanaimo bars, cherry balls and rum balls.

I have done the base for the Nanaimo bars so far, still have the other two layers to go (hopefully today). Cherry balls tommorow night and rum balls sunday night. I have to have everything done by dec 23rd for a family Christmas.

Rum ball recipe please

I made 2 batches of whipped shortbread and a batch of spritzgeback (chocolate dipped shortbread) on Monday night and brought them to work on Tuesday. They were all gone by mid-afternoon I love that everyone loved them.

Shortbread & spritzgeback recipes please

abhainn wrote:

pts wrote:I'm making the standards again this year. Nanaimo bars, cherry balls and rum balls.

I have done the base for the Nanaimo bars so far, still have the other two layers to go (hopefully today). Cherry balls tommorow night and rum balls sunday night. I have to have everything done by dec 23rd for a family Christmas.

Rum ball recipe please

I made 2 batches of whipped shortbread and a batch of spritzgeback (chocolate dipped shortbread) on Monday night and brought them to work on Tuesday. They were all gone by mid-afternoon I love that everyone loved them.

I still have to get it from my mom, it is the easiest of the three recipes by far. Nanaimo bar layer two is done. Layer three will happen when kiddos go to bed (please kiddos- go to bed soon- it has been a long and rough day!).

Samantha wrote:

gnu wrote:

Samantha wrote:Ginger Snaps
http://www.companyscoming.com/recipes/g ... 05/11/183/

Do these freeze well?

Very, very, very well! And they don't take long to thaw out.

Made these tonight......sooooooooo delicious!!

gnu wrote:

Samantha wrote:

gnu wrote:

Samantha wrote:Ginger Snaps
http://www.companyscoming.com/recipes/g ... 05/11/183/

Do these freeze well?

Very, very, very well! And they don't take long to thaw out.

Made these tonight......sooooooooo delicious!!

I know! they are my favourite cookie!

My Ma's dead easy shortbread.

1 pound butter (room temp)
1 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour

(I also add in a touch of vanilla and salt if I use unsalted butter).

Mix butter and brown sugar. Add in 4-4.5 cups of flour. I use the the last bit of flour for rolling out. Roll out to about 1 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake at about 350 for 15-17 mins or until edges just start to brown.

The trick with this recipe is to have butter at room temp or a touch warmer.

I made more sucre a la creme today, my Christmas fudge, and this recipe from the Star for Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch cookies. They are pretty good, but the recipe doesn't mention flattening the balls with a fork, and I'd recommend doing this or they won't spread out on their own.

Whipped Shortbread:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup icing sugar (the recipe says to sift but I never do)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 & 1/2 cups flour

My optional ingredients -
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup coconut

Oven - 325
Cream butter. Add icing sugar, beating well. Gradually add cornstarch and flour. Beat until consistently is like whipped cream (10 to 15 minutes). Stir in optional ingredient(s).
Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 20 minutes. Do not brown.

Makes about 26 depending on the size of the drops.

I mostly follow the recipe to the letter except that I have no idea what whipped cream looks like so I just mix until it looks mixed - much less than 15minutes - and I usually only bake them for 15-18 minutes. They should only be starting to get color at the base of the cookie.

Spritzgeback:

Dough 1
250g butter
200-250g sugar
1 packet Dr. Oetker vanilla sugar
2 eggs
Salt
500g flour
3g Dr. Oetker baking Powder

Beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, vanilla sugar, eggs and salt if necessary (I used salted butter so I did not add salt). Slowly add baking powder and sifted flour until fully mixed.

or

Dough 2
375g butter
250g sugar
2 packets vanilla sugar
Salt
500g flour
250g cornstarch
125g almonds (peeled and crushed I'm guessing they actually mean ground)

Beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, vanilla sugar, eggs and salt if necessary (I used salted butter so I did not add salt). Slowly add cornstarch and sifted flour until fully mixed. Kneed

For both doughs:
Use piping bag to create cookies. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Dip one end or section of cooled cookies in melted chocolate. I used Bakers Secret semi sweet the last time but I think I'll go with milk chocolate next time.

Makes around 70 cookies.


This is a translated from German recipe.
The first batch I made last week (my first batch ever) I made from dough 1. They turned out okay but weren't as crunchy as they really should have been so next time I will make dough 2.
When the dough is ready for baking it's actually incredibly thick and hard to pipe. My hands were very tired long before I finished forming all the dough into shapes so I actually ended up tossing about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the dough. I already had ~70 cookies so I think I may have ended up with at least 90 if not 100 if I had kept on. Use a really really sturdy piping bag and large star tip. A cookie press might work as well.

For "research" purposes I have picked up the ingrediants to make the following.

Sammy's/Heather's fudge.
Skor bar squares
Scuffles
Shortbread (my Ma's version)

I am all for documented research.

Engmomma wrote:For "research" purposes I have picked up the ingrediants to make the following.

Sammy's/Heather's fudge.
Skor bar squares
Scuffles
Shortbread (my Ma's version)

I am all for documented research.

And the verdict.

Skor bar squares - super easy to make, in fact i just threw it all together in the pan. I think my only issue is trying to get them back out of the pan. They had been cooling for a couple of hours but it was still hard to get them out. So they are not exactly "square". made a double batch

Fudge - absolutely super easy and I got a bit of a workout trying to stir it before it went in the pan. I am not a fudge fan but it still seemed to be a hit with my DD. Made a double batch.

Scuffles - yet to be made. The recipe Hab quoted said to let them sit overnight. I may make them on Friday.

Ma's shortbread - I like the recipe because the recipe is so simple but I dislike getting my hands goopy. Nonetheless they are done. Also a double batch.

I also made my version of "skor bars". These ones also use crackers but becomes more of a bark then square. I like them because I can do them in the microwave. The problem this time is I broke the damn bowl. I thought it was cool enough and I put water in it an shattered it.

Other then the scuffles, I am done baking.

Instead of running today, I made these cookies, which will knock your socks off if you're a dark chocolate and coffee lover:

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE-CHERRY ESPRESSO DROPS

1 cup flour
¾ c. cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
2/3 c. white sugar
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 TBS espresso powder (or just use instant coffee) dissolved in:
1 TBS boiling water, then cooled
¼ tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
¾ c. cut-up dried cherries
¾ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
About ½ cup white chocolate chips, melted, for garnish

Sift together flour, salt, cocoa, and baking soda.
Cream butter, mix in white sugar, then brown sugar.
Beat in egg until light and fluffy. Mix in extracts and cooled coffee solution.
Blend in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.
Form rounded globs of dough, about 1 inch in diameter on parchment-covered baking sheets.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Test by prodding gently in the center of the cookie; if a soft depression forms, but the cookie doesn't seem gooey, they're done. Do not overbake--this dough is so dark that you can easily burn these. When in doubt, underbake!
Cool, drizzle on the melted white chocolate in an attractive zigzag pattern.
Store airtight. Makes about 3½ dozen.

Baking day for me today; one of my favourite days in the holiday hoopla. My kitchen's a mess and I love it .

My daughter and I just made a batch of the easiest Christmas bark - it's the perfect blend of salty and sweet.

3 cups white chocolate wafers (I buy them at the bulk barn)
1 tsp oil (keeps the choc from burning)

Melt choc over low-med heat then add:

1 cup salted peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
3 to 4 cups of Golden Grahams cereal (hard to get here; our Loblaws and Sobeys don't sell it. Our local COOP has it or I stock up when I'm in the US)

Mix well and spread on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Let cool for a few hours and break in pieces.

I put in in celophane bags (from the bulk barn) and give it to friends/neighbours as a holiday gift .

Samantha wrote:Lemon Bars
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/lemon-bars/

I know this is an old thread but I was looking for some cooking ideas!

Heather do these lemon bars freeze well?

Dr. S wrote:

Samantha wrote:Lemon Bars
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/lemon-bars/

I know this is an old thread but I was looking for some cooking ideas!

Heather do these lemon bars freeze well?

I don't know I've never made them! I can't see why they wouldn't.