Peace on earth will come to stay,
when we live Christmas every day

- Helen Steiner Rice

Oatmeal Cookie Mix Two Ways - gifts from the kitchen

Another Great Cookie Mix found in my friend's aunt's collection of recipes. This makes about 13 cups which you can premake and put in a sealed canister. It has a counter life of about 6 to 8 weeks (so the recipe says.....mine was used to bake up these variations in one day! Lots of cookies...very satisfied men in my house.)

Mix

4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups soft shortening
4 cups quick or old fashioned oats

Whisk together the flour, soda and salt. Mix in the sugars and then cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Blend in the oats and mix thoroughly Can be stored art room temperature in sealed large canister for up to 8 weeks. The following are three recipes you can use the mix for. For gift giving, place the mixture in a canister that seals well. Type out the three recipes below and glue on cute Christmasy index cards.

Toffee Bars

Cookie Base

2 cups Oatmeal Cookie Mix
1/3 cup dark corn syrp
1 tbsp vanilla
Topping

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces melted
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

In a medium mixing bowl mix together thoroughly all ingredients for the cookie base. Pat into a well greased 8 inch square pan. (I put tin foil in first and then greased the tin foil...I'm glad I did as this will turn into a very sticky toffee which might be hard to get out of the pan. Make sure your foil comes up and over the edges so you can just 'lift it' out when done.) Bake in a preheated oven at 450 F. (Yikes...in my oven that is HOT...so I used a 400 F setting just fine) for 8 - 10 minutes (You should see it 'bubbling and getting a skim coat'). Remove from oven. Flatten the edges with a spatula as they will cream up the side and you want an even surface...you can't do this when it hardens. Cool. Then refrigerate several hours.

Loosen the edges with a spatula or in the case of using tin foil....simply remove from pan using tin foil 'handles'. Spread melted chocolate on top and sprinkle with nuts. Chill. Cut into small squares. Keep stored in refrigerator.

Oatmeal Drops (makes about 30)

3 cups Oatmeal Cookie Mix
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
icing sugar frosting

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl except frosting of course :P
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in a 375F oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Top with frosting if desired.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts, dates (shown) raisins or chocolate chips

Tee Gebaeck

Some of you may recognize this German Recipe.

This recipe could also be referred to as Linzer Cookies.

These cookies were part of a Christmas exchange, years ago from my Tanta Gertraut.
My husband dived in for this gift and he finally won the gift exchange with a happy smile on his face. My aunt passed this recipe down to my SIL, Trudy and she has taken the time to walk me through the steps.

He has begged me for years to get this recipe...
I now have the recipe, the utensils, and actually made them last night.
Guess who had to come and help put the jam between the layers?

2 3/4 C. flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
3/4 C. sugar

Sift these three ingredients.

1 Cup cold butter
2 Eggs
1 tsp.Vanilla

Make a whole in the middle of your bowl and slowly shred 1 Cup of cold Butter, adding the eggs and vanilla. Knead the flour and ingredients till you have a smooth dough.

Divide into two batches. I put the other batch in the fridge while I cut all the bottoms.
It's important to keep the dough chilled as it works much better.
Roll out the dough very thin, less than 1/4 inch. Keep your counter floured so they don't stick.
Use the round base cutter. I made mine a bit too thick, so I tried again....
Bake in the oven at 375 between 4-5 minutes.

Then take the other batch and use your favorite cutter (Linz cutter with an insert) and make all the tops. I think you can buy those Linz cutters at a Delicatessen
Again, bake for 4-5 minutes.

When they are all baked, you can use your favorite jam.
I didn't have home made jam, but Judy was generous enough to loan me some raspberry jam.
Spread about one teaspoon of jam on each bottom.
Place tops over bottoms to create the sandwich effect.

When they are completed, freeze them and just before serving, dust them with a bit of powdered sugar. They taste the best straight out of the freezer.

Yes, they take time but they are worth it.

Hot 'n Spicy Nuts 'n Bolts

A favorite holiday staple at our place is this tasty snack mix...which we call 'nuts 'n bolts', but which is known by many other names. Here's a somewhat zippy version...feel free to use the cereals of your choice. We love adding the Old Dutch popcorn twists...but if you aren't Canadian, you won't be finding those on your grocery store shelves.

Hot & Spicy Nuts & Bolts

4 cups cheerios
4 cups pretzel stix
4 cups crispex cereal
4 cups popcorn twists
1 cup peanuts

1/2 cup butter
1-2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1½ tsp. garlic salt
1 ½ tsp. dry mustard
1 ½ c tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix together the cereal, popcorn and nuts in a large pan.
Melt butter and add spices; drizzle over cereal mixture and stir well to coat.
Place in large roaster pan. Bake at 200F for 2 hours, stirring every ½ hour.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

The other day I was having coffee with Terry's aunt Wendy and she told me about the cookies she had brought to her cookie exchange. . .I just had to try making some like them, they sounded like they would be as pretty as they would taste.

Chocolate Peppermint Drop Cookies

• 2/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 farm fresh egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup hot coffee. . or water
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons crushed candy canes

1. Cream the butter with the sugar.
2. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well.
3. In a small bowl, combine the hot coffee and the cocoa and stir until no lumps remain.
4. After it has completely cooled, add to the sugar mixture.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture.
6. Add the chocolate chips and the crushed candy canes.
7. Drop by a small ice cream scoop onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes for little cookies at 350. The shiny spot in the middle of the cookie should have gone dull. . .but don't wait longer than that to remove them from the oven.
9. Melt 1 cup each of chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.
10. Put the melted chocolate in a zip loc bag or cake decorating bag and cut a small hole in the corner to squeeze the chocolate onto the cookie as shown.
11. Sprinkle a little bit of crushed candy cane on top of each cookie while the chocolate is still melted.

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen small cookies

Oatmeal Shortbread

Here is a shortbread that's a little different than most.

The recipe comes from the Yellow GWG cookbook

that our ladies Bible study group put together back in 1980.

I've been making them every Christmas since.

1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cup oatmeal
1 cup butter softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup fine unsweetened coconut

Mix dry ingredients and work in butter as you would for regular shortbread.
Dough will be slightly sticky.
Roll out on lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

Using your handy dandy bench scraper, mark dough into sections and cut into logs about 1/2 inch by 2 inches. Using bench scraper or metal spatula, transfer to ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 275 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until cookies are set. Remove from oven and let cool.


Dip one or both ends of each cookie into chocolate dip (melt 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips with 3 Tbsp milk or cream over hot water until melted, stirring until smooth. If chocolate is still too thick, add a bit more hot milk.) Place on waxed paper and refrigerate until chocolate is set.
These cookies keep very well in a tightly covered container kept in a cool place. (I usually store all of my Christmas cookies and bars in the garage.)

Minnesota Munchers

Another cookie I bake at Christmas time, of course it can be baked at any other time which I do. I have baked this recipe numerous times and it always turns out. I found it at Christmas-cookies.com and after the first time I tried it it was marked as a winner! I've changed up the recipe a wee bit.

Minnesota Munchers

1 cup butter or marg softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cups toffee bits
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and stir in vanilla.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips, toffee bits and pecans. Drop by tbsps on cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 min till slightly golden in color. I found that I had to bake them a bit longer in my oven. Cool on baking sheet 5 min before removing to cool completely on rack.
Approx 3 dozen.