#51_RUGELACH COOKIES

RUGELACH, RUGALACH OR BUTTER HORN COOKIES

These cookies resemble croissants, and the varieties of them are so endless. Some people prefer to fill them with nuts and jams, or with spices, or with chocolate or veggies. I prefer my rugalach with just raspberry jam fillings, very simple, not-so-sweet dessert.

Chilling the dough for hours is one of the keys to sucessful RUGALACH

After chilling the dough for at least 1 hour, roll it out on a floured surface to a pie crust thinness and spread with whatever fillings you want on it. In my case, I like plain raspberry or strawberry preserves.

With a pizza cutter, aaarg!!! ugh!!! I can't find my pizza cutter!!. I just used a knife, cut the dough out to wedges and roll them up like croissants.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

I NEED TO DELIVER SOME COOKIES BEFORE IT WILL GET SO DARK!!!

12-23-08

RECIPE:

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature

1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar mix with

2 tsps. ground cinnamnon

FILLINGS OPTIONS:

Walnuts with brown sugar and cinnamon, any of your favorite fruit jams or preserves, chocolate chips or chopped chocolate candy bars, M&M chocolates or mix and match.

PROCEDURE:

1) Cream butter, cream cheese and the 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy

2) Sift in the flour and mix thoroughly, this is a very soft dough.

3) Divide the dough into 4 equal balls and flatten each one to form disks.

4) Wrap each disk in plastic wraps and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

5) When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

6) Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out thinly (like pie crust thin) on a floured surface into an 8-inch circle

7) Spread whatever filling you prefer on the rolled out dough leaving about an inch border.

8) With a pizza cutter or a sharp knife slice the dough into quarters, and then each quarter into 3 or 4 sections, making 12 to 16 triangles.

9) Starting from the wider side of the triangle, roll up to form spirals; you can curve them into crescents if you prefer

10) Continue with the other disks of dough

11) Arrange the rolled up dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheets making sure the points are tucked under

12) Sprinkle lightly with the cinnamon-sugar mixture

13) Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown

14) Cool on wire racks

#50_HONEY BALLS COOKIES

MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH HONEY BALLS COOKIES

There are two kinds of HONEY BALLS cookies that I know, one kind is the fried honey balls with honey syrup drizzled on top, and the baked kind with honey mixed in the dough, pictured above.

These baked Honey Balls Cookies are very similar to the Mexican Wedding Cakes in that they are both shortbread-like cookies, they have nuts, same shapes and are dusted with confectioners sugar.

The difference between the two is that in the Mexican wedding cakes, the nuts are ground and require no honey while in honey balls cookies, the nuts are finely chopped and with, of course, honey.



RECIPE:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

4 tbsp. honey

2 cups flour

1 cup pecan nuts or walnuts, finely chopped

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

sifted powdered sugar for dusting

PROCEDURE:

1) Cream together butter and powdered sugar

2) Stir in honey and vanilla

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well to blend

4) Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

5) Shape into 1 inch balls

6) Arrange in a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes

7) While still warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar or toss them in powdered sugar to coat


NOTE:
This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

#49_CHRISTMAS COOKIE PLATTER

AHHH, CHRISTMAS IS HERE!! (almost)

My sister Melita e-mailed me a few days ago wondering if I was sick as she noticed that I haven't posted a new entry in this blog for a while.

I have been so pre-occupied baking some yummy cookies and yes, I had slight flu which slowed me down quite a bit for the baking marathon, but in spite of all that I am still managing to bake these yummy cookies, which is a holiday ritual that I look forward to each year. Baking goodies is my JOY of the Christmas season.

I hope to be able to plate up 35 of these tonight and deliver them to friends and neighbors by tomorrow night.

A SAMPLE OF MY COOKIE PLATTER

Sugar Cookies, Mudslide Cookie Sandwiches, Lace Cookies, Honey Balls Cookies, and Rugelach.

#48_CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

Using different designs of cookie cutters, you can make fun shapes such as Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, mistletoes, snowmen, candy canes, etc.

Roll out sugar cookie dough on a floured surface
and cut them out in different shapes with cookie cutter.



Sprinkle with sugar crystals

RECIPE FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES:

2 cups white sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
2 eggs

2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

5-6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

1) In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter, add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

2) Stir in the sour cream and blend well.

3) With a wire whisk, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl to blend all ingredients together. (You don't need to sift them together). Stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.

4) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 5 hours.

5) When ready to bake, on a floured surface, and with a rolling pin roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut cookies out into different shapes using cookie cutters.

6)Sprinkle cut out cookie with sugar crystals. In order for the sugar to stick on the cut out dough, brush each one with softened shortening like Crisco or butter.

7) Bake in 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 8- 10 minutes.

8) Transfer baked cookies immediately to a cooling rack.

NOTES:

1) This will make about 60 cookies, depending on the shapes and sizes of the cookie cutters.

2) Dough can be made few days ahead of time as long as it is refrigerated.

FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

MALIGAYANG PASKO AT MANIGONG BAGONG TAON SA INYONG LAHAT!!!

#47 Tortilla Pizza

As I was preparing some quesadillas the other day, I decided not to cover it with another tortilla for myself and the result was a tortilla pizza!



I prepared it exactly the way I did the quesadilla without the cover. I placed the quesadilla on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, then I put it in the second to lowest rack of the oven to broil for about 8 minutes or until the edges turned brown and crispy.

This is a quick way to fix a snack or light dinner specially if you already have cooked meats in hand.


Note:
Try it with some ham and pineapple for a Hawaiian tortilla pizza or use any fillings you like. I found out that it is not necessary to use pizza sauce on the tortilla.

#46 Quesadillas Pizza Style

Here's another way to prepare quesadillas: like pizza except topped with another tortilla.

Butter one side of a tortilla. Place the buttered side down onto a cast iron pan or non-stick pan. Do not oil or butter pan. Spread shredded cheese on the tortilla bringing them all the way out around the edges.

Fill the tortilla with any filling you prefer like vegetables such as green pepper, red pepper, onions, olives; and cooked meats such as ham, chicken, pork or even shrimps. Top with more cheese.

Cover the filling with another tortilla and butter the top. Turn the heat on to medium high and grill quesadilla pressing down the edges with the back of spoon as the cheese melts in order to seal them. When browned, flip it over and grill the other side.

Transfer the quesadilla onto a plate and cut into wedges.

Serve hot with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and sour cream on the side .

#45_Chicken Quesadillas (Empanada Style)

According to Mr. Wiki (pedia) Quesadilla means "little Cheesy thing" and is a fast food item in Mexican cuisine which involves cooking the ingredients inside a corn or flour tortilla.

Wedges of Quesadillas

I like to use flour tortilla with my quesadilla.



I use a combination of these two cheeses although the pizza cheese is a blend of 3 kinds of chesses including mozzarella cheese, I like to add more mozzarella to my quesadillas for the ooey, gooey effect.

You can basically use anything you prefer for filling inside the tortilla, like cubed ham or cooked pork. In this case, I used cooked shredded chicken breast, chopped red onion, chopped green pepper, and lots of cheese.

Here's the steps on how to make the quesadilla empanada style:

1) Butter one side of the tortilla and place the buttered side on a plate (or directly onto a pan).

2) Spread some shredded cheese on one half side of the tortilla, making sure the cheese comes out to the very edges of the tortilla; the cheese will serve as sealing agent as they melt.

3) Top the cheese with the chicken, red and green peppers and red onion; cover with more cheese.

4) Bring the other half of the tortilla over to the filled part, like empanada. (At this point the edges won't seal together)

5) Heat a non-stick frying pan or cast iron pan; do not oil the bottom of pan.

6) When pan is hot but not smoking hot, slide the filled tortilla into the pan and grill each side pressing down the edges to seal. It's the melting cheese that will make the edges to seal up.

Transfer quesadilla to a plate and cut it into wedges.

#44_Banana Nut Bread

Sweet & Moist and Easy to Make Banana Bread

My first baking experience was baking banana bread which was a total disaster and a disappointment because I accidentally omitted the sugar while making the batter. Of course without sugar, the bread came out not only tasted so bland, but also tasted awful. Nobody in my family including myself wanted to eat them except my father. He said the bread tasted okay if you sprinkled them with sugar as you eat them. I thought that was very kind of him.

I've come a long way since my first Banana Bread.
These are sweet and moist and definitely have sugar in them.

The recipe makes four 4x9 loaves

Recipe for Banana Nut Bread

Dry ingredients:

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Wet ingredients:
1-3/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup melted butter(1 stick)

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

Procedure:

1) In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and the pumpkin pie spice; set aside

2) Cream together brown sugar, butter and canola oil, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the mashed bananas and vanilla.

3) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just blended.

4) Fold in the nuts

5) Pour batter into 4 greased 4x9 loaf pans ( or aluminum foil pans, 7-1/2"x 3-1/2")

6) Bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 50 minutes

7) Cool before slicing

Updated 2-10

#43_Mashed Potatoes

I overheard somebody talking about perfect mashed potatoes at a restaurant awhile ago. In my opinion, I don't think there is such a thing as perfect mashed potatoes. The way one makes it or likes his mashed potatoes is purely a personal preference. For some people, they like their mashed potatoes light and fluffy, some like it dense and lumpy, or creamy, or runny, or country (with skins on).
Although I'm not a meat-and-potato person but rather a rice-and-gulay person, when I cook or eat mashed potatoes, I like mine light and fluffy. For those who don't like it that way, then it won't be a perfect mashed potato for them.

I wasn't able to take a picture of the finished product because I was running behind schedule at the time but the picture above shows how I prepared the potatoes to be mashed. Peeling the potatoes is the hard part, other than that it is really easy to make it.

Recipe for basic mashed potatoes:

5 lbs. russet potatoes

1 stick butter

1 can evaporated milk, heated

salt to taste

Peel and wash the potatoes then slice them crosswise. I discovered that it is faster to slice them this way than slicing them in cubes. Put the sliced potatoes in a big pot and put enough water to cover them. On medium high heat, boil the potatoes until fork tender. Drain the water but leave a little bit in the bottom of the pot. To the hot potatoes, add some salt and the butter and hot milk. With a potato masher, mash them tatoes, it is a good work out for the arm. After mashing it with potato masher, use an electric hand mixer and beat the mixture until smooth and fluffy. If dense, add some more hot milk.

Serve it hot with gravy. Click here for gravy recipe #260

Note: I have a big aluminum pot that I use for boiling the potatoes. I mash and beat them with the mixer in the same pot I boiled them in. You can transfer the boiled potatoes to a big bowl and mashed them but you have to work quickly to make sure the potatoes stay really hot when mashing.