February 9th, 2005 § § permalink
Cookies
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup Land O Lakes Butter(or your favorite)
1 package(3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
Glaze
1 cup semi-sweet real chocolate
1/4 cup Land O Lakes Butter
For cookies, in large mixer bowl, combine all cookie ingredients except flour. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until light and fluffy. Add flour; beat until mixed. Divide dough into halves. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Heat oven to 375. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out with floured heart-shaped cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minute, or until edges are very lightly browned. Removed immediately; cool completely.
For glaze, in small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally over low heat until melted, 4 to 6 minutes. Dip half of each heart into chocolate. Refrigerate on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet until firm. Store, covered, in refrigerator. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.
This recipe comes from the Land O Lakes Cookie Collection.
What did I learn?
The glaze was a bit of a challenge for me because I could not get it smooth enough. I used Baker’s Dipping Chocolate for dipping the cookies and it worked great. Get 3 to be on the safe side. Heat up two and pour them into one container. This way your chocolate will be deep enough to cover half your cookie.
Cream cheese is sold in 3 ounce packages but you do not see it in the stores very often so I cut 3 ounces off the 8 ounce silver brick. You can save the rest for bagels. 
December 21st, 2003 § § permalink
It is that special time of year. Continuing the tradition started last year, I hosted the second annual Festival of Desserts on Friday. As always, I ran out of time and didn’t make all the desserts I wanted to prepare. Here are the desserts that were enjoyed for this year’s festival.
- Banana Chocolate Walnut Brownies
- Chocolate Brownies
- Egg Nog Rum Cake
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Cheesecake
- Lunchroom Butter Cookies
- McNannygocious Pound Cake
- Egg Nog Pound Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Banana Nut Bread
- 7 Up Cake
Special Guest Desserts
- Lemon Squares
- Sweet Potato Pie
Special thanks to Joey for the lemon squares, David for the sweet potato pies, and JS & AF for the chicken. Another big hit of the party was the hot apple cider with the mulling spices from Williams-Sonoma. A good time was had by all. I must apologize for not taking more dessert photos.
February 26th, 2003 § § permalink
No, this is not about the popular
D’Angelo song from a few years back or the popular movie from last year. It’s about the new cookbook from
Joyce White entitled “
Brown Sugar: Soul Food Desserts from Family and Friends” which is the sequel to “
Soul Food: Recipes & Reflections from African-American Churches” which was published five years ago. White definitely does her homework and even if you have never baked before, her instructions are clear enough to make you a success. Her recipes are gathered from urban and rural home cooks, church groups and her wide circle of friends. Just the cover is enough to make you hungry. Thanks Dre!!
Read more about
Joyce White and “
Brown Sugar” in the
SF Chronicle article, “
Old-fashioned desserts with soul”
December 26th, 2002 § § permalink
Every now and then, you come up with a really cool idea but do not realize how big it will be until you do it. I recently hosted the 1st Annual “Festival of Desserts” and it was quite well received. Besides collecting music, I enjoy baking. I am often listening to good music while baking. For the festival, I made 11 different desserts including egg nog rum cake, sweet potato pound cake, McNannygocious pound cake, red velvet cake, oatmeal raisin cookies, and butter cookies. Even though many goody bags were taken home, I had enough leftovers to make two trays for a holiday party the next day. I wanted to make a three layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting but that would have been overkill. When I told my mom I was doing this, she said “you are having some food, right?” Thanks to js and af for bringing the great chicken and also the mashed potatoes and gravy that hardened as the night went on. I had a great time and may do this again next year but maybe not as many desserts. We will also have hot apple cider next year since I got some mulling spices from Williams-Sonoma for Christmas. I have included a few pictures from the festival to tempt your taste buds…enjoy!!!
P.S. More recipes to follow….
Hershey’s Best Brownies/Banana Chocolate Walnut Brownies
Cranberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pecan Tarts
