Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter

6 Tablespoons sugar

6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips
3/4 Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
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Makes about 3.5 dozen cookies
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Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350*

Cream butter and sugars.
Add egg, extracts, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Add flour, allowing mixture to blend well.
Add both varieties of chocolate chips, mixing slowly, but well.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto cookie sheet, preferably lined with parchment. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet before removing.

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You all know how to mix cookie dough. Here's the dough, ready to go. This dough does not need to be chilled. 

I have found that putting cookies onto parchment is a life saver. They NEVER stick, the cookie sheets never get old enough to throw away. No worries! And believe it or not, parchment is reusable. I use it till it burns or gets ripped up. Just shake off the crumbs and store between your cookie sheets to protect it from wear and tear.

Another tip, using a scoop to get evenly sized cookies. This is the smallest, about 1.25 inches. 

Cooling racks are key for fast production. There are 4 separate racks standing here.

Here they are in use. I put two trays of cookie dough, ready to bake, one on the counter top, one immediately above that. One rack stays empty as an air break. The hot cookies right out of the oven go onto the top two racks to cool. I only have 4 cookie sheets, so once the baked cookies have cooled for a few minutes, I pull the parchment off onto the stove or a free counter to finish cooking, then I load those cookie sheets with another parchment sheet and raw dough. It's a very efficient way to crank out tons of cookies in no time at all. I mixed the dough while making dinner, almost no effort. I then baked 8.5 dozen cookies in 30 minutes.

After the cookies cool completely on the counter, I stack them in a travel box for Jonathan to take to school in the morning.

Done... Don't they look delicious? P.S. I doubled the recipe to make this many cookies. I had all of these plus a bowl with 20 cookies for us, at home. 

All finished with the cooling racks. They collapse and get put back into the cupboard. All four racks, about 1 inch high.

Christmas Rice Pudding

A colorful rice pudding that is good for any day!

This has been such a hit at the Women's Brunch that I felt compelled to share it here. It's a barely adapted old time recipe from my original Red Plaid Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup raw rice
1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit
1/4 cup butter
3 beaten eggs
2 more cups of milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
nutmeg to sprinkle
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What makes it Christmassy, for me, is adding dried cranberries or other festive looking fruit instead of plain old raisins. :)

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of milk, dried fruit and rice to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer till rice is tender, about 15 minutes.

While that is cooking, in a large bowl, mix together beaten eggs, sugar, 2 more cups of milk, vanilla and salt.

When rice is done, remove from heat, stir in butter till melted.

Gradually stir cooked rice mixture into egg mixture. Slowly adding cooked rice, because eggs will cook if you add hot stuff too fast.

When everything is stirred together, pour into 9 X 9 baking dish. Bake at 325*F for 30 minutes. Stir well. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I didn't have any dried cranberries this year. This is what I used. These little bags are about the size to toss into a kid's lunch. Very colorful and fruity. :) Open as many as you need to measure out the right amount.

Doesn't it look delicious? The ladies at the brunch just raved over it and all wanted the recipe. I kept trying to say how easy and simple it was. I bake it in the oven, in my crockpot liner (all ceramic), and then transport it in the crockpot. That way I can plug it in to keep it warm till everyone starts to eat.

Mayo Cake

Thanks for the recipe, Pam! It sounded so simple, I just had to whip it up. (RIP Pam Rickgauer) 

2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoon cocoa powder (this is not hot cocoa mix)

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup Miracle Whip salad dressing

1 cup warm water

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I didn't even pull out the mixer for this. I whipped it up with a whisk in about 5 minutes, total.

Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. mix well. I whisked for about 2 minutes and it was done. Pour into prepared 9-inch cake pans. I used 2 round 9-inch pans, lined with parchment and lightly sprayed around the edges with oil.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350*F. 

I cut parchment paper to fit both pans.

Cut parchment slightly smaller than inside.

All dry ingredients.

Mix up well before adding wet ingredients.

Mayo (Miracle Whip)

Very warm water, just from the tap.

Zip, zip, zip and it was mixed! It's moist and easy to whip. It's not overly thick and you don't have to muscle it.

Always test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done!

Center a plate over one pan, flip and drop cake onto plate. Remove parchment.

I was thinking a nice thick jam, full of berries would be good here, but since I whipped this up, spur of the moment, I didn't have any on hand. So, I put a layer of Nutella in the middle.

Carefully flip the second layer onto your hand, remove the parchment and place the second layer on top of the first. The Nutella is slippery enough that you can push it a little if you don't quite land it perfectly centered.

I warmed Fudge Frosting enough to pour it and I poured it over the top. Oh so simple and fast. This is not wedding cake. No fancy decorative top here. Jonathan was breathing down my neck the whole time. He wanted cake NOW! LOL!

Nice huh? Glossy and pretty.

I can never leave well enough alone, though. So, I dropped a sprinkling of silver dragées onto the top.

Grab a fork!

So, he did! He pronounced it GREAT!

I snapped one last picture before David and his friends descended upon it. I'm wondering if there will be a piece left for George when he gets home from work. Will it even finish cooling before it's gone? It's a keeper, Pam! Thanks again!

Poppy Seed Quick Bread

Great for giving as gifts or tea time! 

I use this recipe to make 4-5 mini loaves. I think they are about 8 X 3 inches. You can buy aluminum foil pans, or get the regular metal pans and reuse them again.

3 cup flour
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup oil
2 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
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Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (I like to use lime juice!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 Tablespoon melted butter
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Mix bread ingredients in order. Pour into bread pans (2 regular sized, or 4-5 mini), just take your time and evenly divide the batter between the pans. Bake 45 to 60 minutes at 325*F or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and spoon glaze over hot bread while it's in the pans. I like to poke the bread gently with a skewer to allow the glaze to penetrate.

This bread is delicious warm from the oven. If you are wrapping to give as gifts, be sure to allow bread to cool completely before wrapping.

Allow to cool.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the finished bread. This was a favorite for playgroup or LaLeche meetings when my kids were little. 

This is the small loaf pans I use to make this recipe. Great size for gift giving. Use 4 or 5 of this size.

Coconut Macaroons

10th in my series of Christmas Cookies.

This may not be an extremely unique addition to my assortment of cookies, but it's a favorite.

5 cups flaked coconut

2/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Optional: Melted semi-sweet chocolate to drizzle zigzag across the finished cookies

Makes 3-4 dozen macaroons

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.

In your mixing bowl, combine the coconut, salt and flour, mixing well to disperse the flour.

Add the can of condensed milk. Make sure that you scrape out every precious drop from the can. Your small rubber spatula will be indispensable for this job. Add vanilla at this point also.

Mix well, making sure everything is lifting off the bottom of the bowl. Stop to stir it up a bit by hand of the mixer seems to be missing some dry flour or coconut on the bottom of the bowl.

Drop by Tablespoons full on the parchment lined sheet. I use my cookie scoop. These do not puff up or change size while baking. If you do NOT use parchment, you will need to grease your cookie sheet. No need to grease parchment. Yet another good reason to use parchment.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Let cool completely and zigzag melted chocolate across the cookies, if you desire.