Rolo Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Rolo Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods for the Cookie Plates this year.

For those of you interested in some healthy recipes: I promise I'll be back to soups and stews and hearty meals soon. This time of year gets me. Sweets. And, this recipe has ingredients that I don't, as a general rule, eat. The rolos have all manner of high fructose corn syrup-y things that I abhor. This time of year, well, I let it slide a tiny bit. We'll survive!

I've just barely made it happen. 4 kinds of treats this year. All wrapped up and pretty. I wanted to do gingerbread people and sugar cookies with Abby, but we'll just have to do it after Christmas and make it a New Year's tradition!
The rolo cookies should really be classified as a candy since that's what's inside. Our friend Anne makes these by the seeming hundreds. She commented on my last post with this advice to keep me from eating them all: "I have a trick for making rolo cookies less dangerous (tempting). Make them your signature cookie. Bake them all the time. This works especially well if you have a bunch of college kids to bake for."
Unfortunately, I don't have a bunch of college kids to bake for and if I baked them all the time, I'd eat them all the time! HA! Thanks for letting me take over this tradition Anne, we miss you out here.
I baked them in tiny muffin cups because I didn't have parchment paper on hand. It makes them look festive and less like a cookie that you could eat 25 of and more like a candy that you can eat 25 of. . .normal people only eat a couple. I guess I'm not normal. They are so tasty, I can't stop! I made another batch for gifts and wrapped them up in cellophane as soon as they were done cooling to keep myself from eating them. That worked.

So, the recipe:

Rolo Chocolate Cookies

4 packages rolo chocolates (about 8 pieces in each roll)
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
¼ cup granulated sugar (optional) I don't think this is optional

Steps:

Place ROLOS in freezer for at least 6 hours. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and baking powder until combined and no lumps remain. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in brown sugar and vanilla, then egg, until smooth. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until just combined. Let dough stand for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180oC). With hands, roll 1 tbsp (15 ml) of dough for each cookie into balls and place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. If using, place granulated sugar in a shallow dish. Bake no more than 15 cookies at a time and remove 1 package of ROLOS at a time from the freezer. Press each ball of dough into about a 2-inch (5 cm) circle. Place a ROLO in centre; wrap dough around ROLO so it is evenly covered. Seal well so there are no cracks. Roll into a ball. Roll in sugar, if desired. Place about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven for about 8 minutes or until dry to the touch. Cool on sheet on rack.

Makes about 40 cookies. (I only get about 32 cookies. . . no matter how I try to get 40!).

Nutrients per cookie:

About 95 Calories, 1 g Protein, 4 g Fat, 14 g Carbohydrates.

Ginger Brandy Cookies

Day 3 of the one batch a day plan. Day 2 was Rolo Chocolate cookies. We ate them all. ALL of THEM. There were 40! Oh my. I can't even admit to how many people have been through my house to help Tom and I. It was a VERY small number of people. And, add the fact that Tom was gone through most of the time they were here and add too that I didn't let Abby have any. That means that I am about 25 rolo cookies bigger. I'll make another batch and take photos and then post the recipe.

So, Ginger Brandy Cookies from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.
My only note: don't roll the cookies in the sugar. . . just use a sifter or a small tea ball to sprinkle the sugar on. It's easier and makes for less pasty powdered sugar on the cookies.


Ginger Brandy Cookies
(yields 48)

Dough:
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 c. unbleached white flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tblsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 Tblsp. brandy

Topping:
3 Tblsp. confectioners' sugar

With an electric mixer or food processor, cream the butter and
2/3 c. of the sugar until light and well blended. Add molasses
and egg and beat well. In separate bowl sift flour, salt, baking
soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Alternate adding the dry
ingredients and brandy to the wet ingredients, stirring well after
each addition. Form dough into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or oil baking sheets.

Spread the topping sugar on a plate. Shape dough into
1-inch balls, roll each ball in sugar, and place on
baking sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes, until just
firm and a bit crisp around the edges. Remove cookies to
a rack and let cool.

Cranberry Cornmeal Biscotti

I make holiday cookies for a very small handful of people. I don't have a great system down that has me making dough in October, freezing it until November, baking and freezing the cookies before Thanksgiving and then plating them in December. Someone, somewhere on the blogs does something like that. It sounds like a great plan, but I'm just not interested in making shit-tons of cookies, or spending months doing it. Also, I would eat them all. So, the week before Christmas, it is a frenzy of baking around here. I'd like to be one of those people who has plates of cookies for the neighbors, or even my good friends. No. I just make a few kinds and give them to my mom's 4 best friends. All women who have been so good to me throughout my life. I usually do a little something knitted or crafted for them too. You can see that part of the gift over here.
Anywhoo, since I was off gallivanting in the North Cascades last weekend and have been nursing a very sore back from the fender bender last week, well, I've only made one kind and they are slowly being eaten.
I found this recipe in Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. I like the slightly nutty crunch of the cornmeal and that they are sweet, but not so sweet that I couldn't eat a dozen of them for breakfast. Not that I've done that. . . yet. Don't be put off by having to bake them twice. That effort is easily made up for by how quickly the rest of it comes together. I might dip these in chocolate when I do my chocolate dipped pretzels later in the week.

Cranberry Cornmeal Biscotti
(notes by me in parenthesis)

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (a food processor does this quickly and easily)
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup cornmeal (I use stone-ground cornmeal not the really gritty stuff in the box)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer or a wire whisk. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Fold in the cranberries and set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Dust your hands lightly with flour and shape the dough into a ball. (Don't skip the flour on the hands, the dough is very sticky).

Use a spatula and your floured hands to scoop the dough onto the oiled baking sheet. Form the dough into a 12x3 inch-diameter log shape; then press down on the log, flattening it to a thickness of about an inch. The length and width of the flattened log should be about 14x4 inches. (try and make it rectangular and evenly thick, that way you don't have whimpy edge biscotti or raw middle pieces).

Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is firm and just slightly brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the log to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, slice crosswise into 3/4 inch pieces (using a bread knife makes this easier and less messy). Lay each biscotti cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for about 5 minutes on each side, using tongs to gently flip them. (If you like your biscotti hard, bake a little longer, otherwise, they end up a little chewy and soft, but in a good way. Just make sure they don't burn.) Cool on a rack.

When completely cooled, store in an airtight container. Biscotti will easily keep for a couple of weeks.
Makes 14 biscotti.

Brad's Kick *ss Chili

A long time ago, before we had kids, my dear friends Kate and Jamie had us join them on an amazing sail boat in the Virgin Islands for almost 2 weeks. We sailed, we ate, we drank, we had no idea how lucky we were. Now that I have a child, I sometimes LONG for those moments with the wind in my hair and the blue-green water. I'd even take the seasickness on some days. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a parent, but oh, the sea. The sun. The alone time. The chili.

Now, I might be wrong, but I do believe it was on this trip that I first had this chili. I know it was Kate and Jamie who gave me the recipe because they got the recipe from Kate's brother Brad. Jamie likes it so much he calls it "Brad's Kick Ass Chili". I never found out where the recipe actually came from, so, here, the Kick ass chili.

Brad's "Kick Ass" Chili

1 large red onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 Red pepper chopped
2 celery ribs chopped
2 large carrots chopped
1 14.5 ounce can Italian stewed tomatoes (I just use diced tomatoes, fresh or canned)
2 Tbl. chili powder (less if you want kids to eat it)
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp basil
2 med. zucchini chopped
16 oz. frozen corn ( or corn off the cob)
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 tsp salt
cayenne to taste (omit for kids)
sour cream or plain yogurt and cheddar to garnish

Saute onions and garlic until soft. Add pepper, carrot, celery and cook 5 min.
Add tomatoes, chili powder and cumin. Cook and reduce for about 25 min.
Add the rest and cook covered for 10 minutes more.
Serve over rice pilaf with sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Oh, and the cornbread!
Buttermilk Skillet Corn Bread
from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

1 tbs. butter
1 cup flour
1 cup stone-ground white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbls. sugar or honey
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Put the butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven while you get everything else together. Sift the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix the eggs, sugar, and buttermilk in another. Remove the ban from the oven, brush the butter over the sides, then pour the rest into the wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and stir long enough to make a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the hot pan and bake until lightly browned and springy to the touch. 25-30 min.

Not white flour thanks.

For those of you hoping to avoid the hydrogenated fats, High fructose corn syrup and lard in your pie this holiday season! A pie crust for you!

Whole-Wheat Pie Crust: the new Whole grains cookbook
makes 1 pie crust for 9-inch pan

1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. ice water

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. using large holes on a box grater, grate butter into flour mixture. With your fingertips, work butter into smaller pieces for about one minute.

Mix vinegar with ice water, and sprinkle over flour mixture while tossing it with a fork. Try to press mixture together and if it's too dry, sprinkle in more water, a teaspoon at a time.

When it just comes together, form dough into a ball and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for 20 min. to 1 hour. Don't chill longer than an hour and be careful not to overwork the dough. Recipe can be doubled to make a 2 crust pie.