A Be"witching" Halloween

It's been a couple of years since I posted anything for Halloween.  I thought I'd rectify that and share two witch themed cookie recipes this year.

Store bought fudge stripes cookies turn into witches hats with the addition of two ingredients.

Turn the cookies so the chocolate side is on top.

Put a dollop of orange frosting -- I use Wilton decorating icing -- in the center 

and add a Hershey's kiss.  

Let the cookies dry and then store them in an airtight container.

If you don't mind doing a little additional work, a pretzel rod and peanut butter cookie are easily transformed into a witches broomstick.  I like the look and texture of these braided pretzels, but you can use a regular pretzel rod.

Put the pretzels on a cookie sheet.

Mix up a batch of peanut butter cookies and roll the dough into balls. Place one ball on each pretzel, pressing down so the cookie will adhere to the pretzel when baked.

Use a fork to make vertical lines on the cookie to resemble the bristles of the broomstick.  

Bake the cookies as directed and let them cool on a wire rack.  Store the cookies in an airtight container.

The cookies don't have to look perfect because, at Halloween, the uglier, grosser and more disgusting, the better!

© Margaret's Morsels

12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 10

Bar cookies might not come to mind at Christmastime, but for me they are the equivalent of a bow and go gift.  Bar cookies are a real time saver since they don't have to be rolled and cut out.  Frosting is easy since it's typically done in the pan -- not individually -- and can be as simple as a sprinkling of powdered sugar.  Lemon Bars are quick and easy to make, especially when they start with a tasty shortcut!

© Margaret's Morsels

12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 7

Kids love to help decorate these snowman cookies.  You don't even have to make the cookies.  They start with a package of Nutter Butters!

© Margaret's Morsels

12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 6

Today's gift from the kitchen is a match made in culinary heaven!  Peanut Butter Brownies elevate brownies from ho hum to wow!

© Margaret's Morsels

12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 3

If you love cinnamon, you'll love today's gift from the kitchen. These Cinnamon Cookies have cinnamon in the batter and on top of the cookie.  They're also easy to make when you're pressed for time.

© Margaret's Morsels

12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 2

The recipe I shared yesterday is the cookie I've been gifting at Christmas for years.  However, with its blend of cloves, ginger and cinnamon, nothing smells more like Christmas to me than Molasses Sugar Cookies.

© Margaret's Morsels

Microwave Magic

Microwave ovens are wonderful for reheating food.  They're also an excellent way to cook bacon, popcorn, fresh corn-on-the-cob and baked potatoes. You can also use a microwave to cook a made from scratch dessert.  You can go from this

to this

in just four minutes!

Homemade microwave brownies are easy to make.  They use the usual ingredients for brownies so chances are you've already got everything on hand.  Nuts are optional so, if you don't have any or don't like them, you can omit them.

To save even more time, let the butter or margarine soften at room temperature while you measure the remaining ingredients.  By the time you're done measuring, the butter will be soft.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Combine the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture.

Beat with a mixer until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Stir in nuts.  I prefer walnuts, but pecans are good too.  Unfortunately, I didn't have either one so I made this batch without nuts.

Pour the batter into a greased glass or microwave-safe baking dish.  I use an 8-inch square Pyrex dish.

To keep the brownies from overcooking, microwave them in one minute intervals.  Check the batter with a toothpick after each minute, repeating the process until the toothpick comes out clean.  There may be some crumbs on the toothpick, but that's ok.  It takes a total of four minutes for the brownies to cook in my 1100 watt microwave.  Depending on the wattage of your microwave, it may take more or less time.

Let the baking dish cool on a wire rack and then cut the brownies into squares.

Microwave brownies are great for those times when you want something sweet, but you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  The recipe also comes in handy when you find out at the last minute you need to make something homemade for a bake sale the next day.  The brownies can be cooked and cooled in less time than it would take to make something from a mix!

Microwave Brownies

16 Servings

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

dash of salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream the sugar and butter together in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Combine the cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the creamed mixture, beating until combined.  Stir in nuts.  Spread in a greased 8-inch glass or microwave-safe baking dish.  Microwave on High in one minute intervals, testing with a toothpick after each minute.  Repeat the process until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the baking dish on a wire rack and then cut the brownies into squares.

© Margaret's Morsels

Pressed for Time

For the first time in almost 20 years, I won't be making German Christmas Cookies this year.  My mother made these delectable, melt in your mouth cookies flavored with nutmeg and frosted in icing tinted red, green and yellow every year at Christmas.  They were a holiday tradition just like her cheeseball and Kool-Aid Punch.  Although they epitomize Christmas to me, they have to be rolled, cut out and frosted, something I don't have time to do this year.  I'll still make cookies -- they'll even be shaped like trees and wreaths -- but the designs will come not from a cookie cutter but from a cookie press.

I remember the first time I ever saw a cookie press.  I was a teenager visiting my next door neighbor.  She was using a cookie press to make spritz cookies.  I remember thinking how much faster it was to use a cookie press to shape cookies rather than rolling them out and cutting them with cookie cutters.  It made an indelible impression on me and, when I was living on my own in my first apartment, I bought my very own cookie press. Although a cookie press makes things faster, you don't have to use one to make the recipe I'm sharing today.

Cookie presses come in two sizes:  regular and bite size.  I have one of each, but prefer the bite size cookie press.  I like serving miniature desserts, especially at the holidays when there's a wide variety of food -- including desserts -- available.

A cookie press consists of two parts:  a hollow tube and templates with various designs.

The tube is filled with cookie dough

and the template is screwed on the bottom of the tube.

The cookie dough is pressed through the template by pressing a trigger mechanism on the cookie press.  As the trigger is pressed, a plunger pushes the dough through the template.  Changing the template is as easy as unscrewing the template and screwing on a different one.  I don't recommend using a cookie press with nonstick cookie sheets.  Nonstick pans keep things from sticking which also includes the cookie dough from the cookie press!

The cinnamon cookie recipe is fairly straightforward.  The butter -- I use unsalted -- and sugar are creamed until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks and vanilla

and beat well.

Stir the dry ingredients together and add to the creamed mixture in three additions.

Fill the cookie press with dough and make the desired shapes directly on the cookie sheet.  You'll need to press the mechanism a couple of times before the dough starts coming out of the template.

Brush the cookies with the reserved egg whites; this helps the cinnamon sugar mixture adhere to the cookies.

Sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and immediately remove them to a cooling rack.

You'll need to wash the cookie sheet between batches to remove the egg white residue and leftover cinnamon sugar.

If you don't have a cookie press, make the cookies as directed, but refrigerate the dough until it's firm enough to roll into balls.  Omit the egg whites and roll the cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture like you would for Snickerdoodles.  Proceed as directed.  You may need to increase the baking time for regular size cookies.

These cookies will never replace the Christmas cookies from my childhood, but they're a nice alternative this year since I'm pressed for time.

Cinnamon Cookies

150 Bite Size

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, separated

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks and vanilla; beat well.  Stir the flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and salt together; add to creamed mixture in three additions.  Place cookie dough in cookie press; make desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet.  Brush cookies with the reserved egg whites.  Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; sprinkle over cookies.  Bake at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes.

© Margaret's Morsels

Blue Ribbon Brownies

Since September is prime time for state and county fairs, I thought I'd stick with the fair theme and share a blue ribbon brownie recipe.  I won a blue ribbon at a fair in the mid 1990's with a batch of Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies.  Thirteen years later, my son won a blue ribbon at a fair using the same recipe!

I think brownies are the most versatile cookie ever invented.  There are cookbooks devoted solely to brownie recipes!  Brownies can be fudgy, cake-like, frosted or plain.  Brownies can also be doctored up by simply adding additional ingredients to the batter.

Chopped nuts are probably the most common addition to brownies.  Candy -- chopped candy bars, crushed peppermints, M&M's, peppermint patties, caramels -- are also common additions.  So are chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, mint chips and white chocolate chips.  Food isn't the only way to add flavor.  Powders, such as Espresso or instant coffee, can be added, as can liquids, such as flavored liqueurs.

The recipe I'm sharing today uses two other popular brownie additions: cream cheese and peanut butter.  

Combine the brownie ingredients and remove 1 cup of batter.

Spread the remaining batter into a greased baking pan.

Combine the filling ingredients.

Spread the filling over the batter in the pan.  An easy way to do this is with an offset spatula.

Drop the reserved batter by teaspoonfuls over the filling.

Use a knife to gently swirl the batter for a marbled effect.

Bake the brownies and let the pan cool on a wire rack. 

When the brownies are completely cool, cut into the desired size. Whenever I bake bar cookies, I remove the crusty edges with a knife before cutting the cookies.  I think this makes the cookies look nicer when they're cut.

Cut the brownies into the desired size.  I use a square cookie cutter; I think it's easier and faster than cutting them with a knife.  It also produces identical size cookies.

You'll need two other things to go with these brownies:  glasses of milk and the recipe.  Why the recipe?  Everyone will ask for a copy! 

Peanut Butter Brownies

12 to 36 Servings (depending on the size)

Brownies:

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Filling:

2 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

Prepare filling by combining all ingredients in a small mixing bowl; beat until smooth and creamy.  Set aside.

Stir together melted butter, sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs; beat well.  Add cocoa; beat until well blended.  Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Stir in chips.  Remove 1 cup batter.  Spread remaining batter into a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.  Spread filling over surface.  Drop reserved batter by teaspoonfuls over filling.  Using a knife, gently swirl for marbled effect.  Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean.

© Margaret's Morsels

  

The Top Ten Countdown: Number 4

The fourth most popular recipe on Margaret's Morsels is Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies.  This easy to prepare recipe doesn't skimp on flavor plus it's award winning!

  

© Margaret's Morsels

Repurposed Recipes

I love to repurpose recipes.  Chili turns into taco salad;

Nutter Butter cookies become ghosts in October

and snowmen in December;

Ritz crackers and peanut butter dipped in chocolate coating and decorated for Christmas

get a makeover for patriotic holidays.

Instead of dipping the crackers in chocolate coating, I dip them in vanilla coating instead.  The white color makes the perfect background for red, white and blue sprinkles.  If you prefer, Oreos can be substituted for the Ritz crackers and peanut butter.  Click here to find step by step directions for making these tasty treats.

© Margaret's Morsels