Christmas Candy Cane Cookie

On Saturday, Krista kicked off a week of Christmas Cookie Recipes Week! Today, we resume the fun. Lucky me. My house smells fantastic!!!



I have to admit, Christmas is my favorite time of year. The beauty of a pine tree, the wonder of Christmas lights, the aroma of fresh-baked cookies and pies. Smiles on children's faces.


Like me, my protagonist Charlotte loves to bake. Being the proprietor of a cheese shop in Ohio, she is always trying out new recipes with cheese. For cookies, she prefers to use cream cheese, creme fraiche, and ricotta cheese. The smoothness of these cheeses mixes well into any baked goods. For her twin nieces, she likes to make cream cheese refrigerator cookies. She can make the dough ahead and bake them fresh any time of the day. Add sprinkles of peppermint candies or red sugar sprinkles, OR frost with cream cheese frosting and you have the perfect...



CHRISTMAS CANDY CANE COOKIE



Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (or about 5 tablespoons)
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 egg yolk
2 ¼ cups flour
1 egg white (for brushing on top of cookies)
½ cup crushed candy canes
red colored sugar (optional)

Directions:

In large bowl, combine sugar, butter, cheese, salt, extracts and yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour. [This dough can be prepared ahead and chilled. You can also use half a recipe and freeze the other half in "rolls."]


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Drop walnut-sized spoonfuls 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet. Press with spoon.


Bake for 7-10 minutes until golden brown.


Two ways to enjoy:



Option #1:

If you want, before you bake, you can brush the cookie with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with crushed candy canes and red colored sugar. [They will melt, like cookies on right of picture.]


Option #2:

Bake, let cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting and then sprinkle with crushed candies. [Like the cookies on the left.]



Option #3:

These can be made gluten-free by switching out the regular flour with gluten-free sweet rice flour and 1 tsp. Xanthan gum.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:



Ingredients:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature (soft)

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a bowl and blend with blender. Spread on cookies as you please. What you don't eat, you can store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature to re-use.

Now, don't forget that this is the last week to send in suggestions for our January Iron Chef competition. If you enter, you could win a Junior's Cheesecake! We'll be announcing the winner next week. So get those suggestions in! Click on the picture of the cheesecake in the right column for more information.



Last but not least, check out changes on my web page www.averyaames.com. I've added more recipes. A link to my newsletter, and all sorts of fun things.

Featured Guest - Joanna Campbell Slan

Mystery Lovers' "Christmas Cookie Week" resumes Monday.

For our Sunday Guest Blogger, let's welcome Joanna Campbell Slan. She is the author of a mystery series featuring spunky scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein. The first book in the series—Paper, Scissors, Death—was nominated for an Agatha Award. Photo, Snap, Shot, the third book in the series, will be released May 2010.

For today's special blog, Joanna wants to share: Christmas at Mount Vernon.

Take it away, Joanna!!

Hi, folks. Have you recovered from your Thanksgiving guests? Our house is still a bit topsy-turvey. As I write this, my washer hums merrily along, cleaning the sheets and towels. The refrigerator is as stuffed as I am. My Weight Watcher Points and I won’t catch up with each other until Spring 2010.

But I don’t want you to misunderstand! I love having company. I love readying the guest room. When we moved house in September, we tossed most of our old, well-worn bed clothes. That gave me the perfect excuse for buying new quilts, linens, blankets, and towels for our guest room. While I’d never lay claim to Martha Stewart’s crown, I certainly enjoyed my mini-decorating spree.

Of course, two overnight guests and a son home from college count for very little when you compare my entertaining efforts to those of our nation’s first Martha, Martha Washington. On a candlelight tour of Mount Vernon last week, I learned that the Washingtons often had as many as 650-plus houseguests per year! (That’s a photo of me peeking at the music being sung by carolers at the site.) Since the Washington home was rather isolated, we aren’t talking about people dropping by for pizza. Oh, no. These were folks who settled in for a long visit. In fact, I wonder if Ben Franklin and Martha were commiserating when Ben penned his famous line, “Fish and visitors both stink after three days!”

The docent portraying Mrs. George Washington assured us otherwise. “Mr. Washington and I do so enjoy having visitors,” she said, as she clapped her tiny hands together and smiled. “I wish I had known so many of you are coming because I would have baked another cake!”

Martha Washington’s Great Cake was traditionally served at Mount Vernon on Twelfth Night, January 6, which was also Martha and George’s wedding anniversary. The original recipe called for 40 eggs, 4 pounds of butter, 4 pounds of sugar and 5 pounds of “flower” (sic). This recipe has been reduced to more modest proportions.

Martha Washington’s Great Cake (Adapted)

10 eggs (separated)
1 lb. sugar
20 oz. flour
1 lb. butter
20 oz. assorted fruit & nuts*
2 ½ tsp. ground mace
2 ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 oz. French brandy
2 oz. wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites to a soft peak. Cream the butter. Slowly add the beaten egg whites, one spoonful at a time, to the butter. Slowly add the sugar, one spoonful at a time to the egg white/butter mixture. Add egg yolks. Add flour, slowly. Add fruit.

* 5 oz. pear (peeled, cored, diced)
9 1/2 oz. apple (peeled, cored, diced)
3 1/2 oz. raisins
2 oz. sliced almonds

Add ground mace and nutmeg, wine, and brandy. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch spring-form cake pan. Pour batter into pan and bake about 75 minutes. Allow cake to cool after baking.

Modern Adaptation of 18th Century Icing

Beat 3 egg whites and 2 T. powdered sugar. Repeat additions of sugar until you have used 1 ½ cups in total. Add 1 tsp. grated lemon peel and 2 T. orange-flower water. Beat until icing is stiff enough to remain parted after a knife cuts through it. Smooth it onto the cake. Let it dry and harden in a 200 degree oven for one hour.

thank you, Joanna!! What a ton of fun. To learn more about Joanna, the series, and about scrapbooking go to http://www.joannaslan.com/ Joanna blogs every Monday at http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com/

And don't forget about our latest Mystery Lover's Kitchen Contest! This is our last week for suggestions for our January Iron Chef competition. If you enter, you could win a Junior's Cheesecake. Get those suggestions in soon. Click on the cheesecake on the right for more details!

Krista's Florentines

Today we're kicking off a week of Christmas cookie recipes! I love to try out new Christmas cookies. Okay, I confess, I'm a sucker for every magazine that has new Christmas cookie ideas, so I'm very excited to try the recipes of my fellow bloggers.

In the meantime, though, don't forget that this is your last week to send us a suggestion for our January Iron Chef competition and enter our contest to win a Junior's Cheesecake! This time next week we'll be announcing the winner, so get your suggestions in soon!



I have to admit that I'm a total pushover for a simple chocolate chip cookie. Like Sophie Winston in The Domestic Diva Mysteries, I make a big batch and freeze the uncooked dough so I can bake them at a moment's notice. Soft, gooey chocolate in warm cookies. Yum!

But when it comes to Christmas cookies, for some odd reason, I lean to cookies that take a lot of time. I adore Linzer cookies with sweet raspberry jam in the middle, and Lebkuchen, a traditional German cookie that heralds the holidays. Even simple sugar cookies take a lot of time to decorate.

Today I'm sharing my recipe for Florentiners. (Somewhere along the line, my family added an “r” to the end, don’t ask me why!) If you've never had one, they're chocolate on one side, and fruit and nuts on the other. Almost healthy! I'm picky, though, and had a few problems with the Florentines I often found for sale. I'm not a huge fan of the candied fruit that's found in fruitcake. Why use it when there are so many wonderful dried fruits available? The traditional three inch diameter of the cookie is a bit daunting, so I make them smaller. Plus, using a cupcake pan for the smaller version makes it far easier to manage the cookies. Without it, they took an enormous amount of counter space and a lot of time to allow the chocolate to harden before they could be moved.

A word about the chocolate. I have made these with milk chocolate and with dark chocolate. There's just no doubt about it -- dark chocolate is far superior in these cookies. I recommend using the best dark chocolate available. Whatever you do, resist the temptation to use coating or dipping chocolate, or to substitute margarine for the butter. The taste simply isn't the same.

Krista's Florentiners

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 12-muffin tins or 2 12-mini-cheesecake tins very well. You can also use a greased and floured baking sheet but your cookies will be thinner and less uniform.

1 & 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit and sliced almonds
(Note: This recipe is very flexible. My mother, who adores nuts, uses one cup of sliced almonds and half a cup of dried fruit bits. I use one cup of dried fruit and half a cup of sliced almonds. You can even omit the almonds if someone has a nut allergy. I make my own mixture of dried fruit from dried apricots, dried cherries, dried cranberries and raisins. If you’re in a hurry, Sun-Maid Fruit Bits work very well, too.)

6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup flour
1 cup high quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips or chunks chopped into bits

3 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, heat the 6 tbsp. butter, milk, sugar, and honey and bring to a good boil. Cook, stirring constantly until melted together and well-mixed, about 45 seconds to one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in the mixed dried fruit and almonds, and flour.

Spoon the mixture into the 24 muffin or cheesecake rounds. Do not fill to the top, there should be enough dough to make 24 cookies. (If using a baking sheet, drop the dough by the teaspoonful. It will appear very thin.) Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. The edges will be golden brown.

When the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate with the remaining butter. This can be done in the microwave at low temps for 20-30 seconds at a time. Stir with a fork and add the vanilla. Using a teaspoon, spread the chocolate mixture over the cookie. Use the back of the spoon to make a swirl. If you prefer less chocolate, this can also be done with a brush. (If you have used a baking sheet, this process is a little bit messier because it works best if you flip the cookies and add the chocolate to the flat side.)

Allow to remain at room temperature as the chocolate sets. Loosen (but do not remove) the cookies from the muffin or cheesecake tins before covering them with plastic wrap and refrigerating overnight. The next day, the cookies can be removed and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container with waxed paper between layers. Enjoy!

Cleo Coyle's Holiday Brussels Sprouts with Stilton, Bacon, and Figs

This blog post was named a 

"Foodbuzz Top 9" for Sunday, December 6. Thank you, FoodBuzz! 

~ Cleo Coyle

“What does Christmas
taste like?”

When I wrote about the "flavors of the Season" in Holiday Grind, I tried to come up with an array of evocative tastes that my amateur sleuth might want to feature on her coffeehouse’s holiday menu. 

Nutmeg, cinnamon, rum, and peppermint were among the many flavors Clare Cosi considers. Of course, they're only a fraction of the tastes that we look forward to eating or drinking at this time of year—whether they're attached to our family traditions, our ethnic backgrounds, or the little discoveries that we make when we dine at brand new tables far and wide.

Today I'd like to share with you a more savory holiday taste, one that comes with the yearly availability of English Stilton at my favorite cheese monger here in New York City.

Stilton is traditionally eaten at Christmastime, and I’ve enjoyed it for many years now, pairing pungent chunks of it with fresh figs, dried fruits, or sweet slices of ripe pear.


I still remember the second time I tried Stilton. It was served to me in a Pear and Stilton Salad at Bryant Park Grill.
(The first time I tried it was at a formal dinner at Oxford University, where I happily concluded that port and Stilton were my new best friends.)

BTW: Bryant Park Grill is a great restaurant to visit if you are planning a holiday trip to NYC. Click here or on the photo to see a slideshow at New York magazine, which called it one of the best-situated and most attractive dining rooms in the city. This lovely, airy restaurant is located just behind the Main Branch of New York’s Public Library, a memorable landmark that I also used as a featured setting in Holiday Grind. As far as today's recipe, the Grill's Pear and Stilton salad was what gave me my first clue that a blue-cheese-and-fruit pairing would work well as a base for other dishes—like this one...

Although English Stilton is traditionally eaten at Christmastime, any blue cheese will work nicely in this recipe: Danish blue (aka Danablu), Italian Gorgonzola, or French Roquefort. If you’re not a fan of dried figs, try substituting dried cranberries, which is an equally festive holiday flavor. I hope you like my recipe! Eat with joy and...Happy Holidays!

Click here or on the photo of the Stilton crock to virtually visit my favoite cheese shop in New York City: Murray's Cheese. The shop is located in the heart of Greenwich Village, where my Coffeehouse Mysteries are set.

 

Cleo Coyle’s Holiday Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese, Bacon & Dried Figs

To get this recipe in a takeaway format, just click here and you can download it as a PDF document.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
3 slices thick bacon (or 4 slices thin)1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 10-oz package of whole Brussels sprouts (about 18-20 sprouts)10 dried figs, roughly chopped (I use mission figs. You can also substitute 3/4 cup dried cranberries.)Crumbled blue cheese (Stilton is perfect for the holiday season!) 

(1) Prepare sprouts and figs: Wash and dry sprouts and slice each in half. Chop dried figs. Set aside. (If you aren’t a big fan of figs, try 3/4 cup dried cranberries.)

(2) Brown bacon pieces: Cut bacon slices into small pieces. In large skillet, fry bacon pieces until browned but not crisp. NOTE: As soon as you move to the next step in this recipe, the bacon will stop browning, so make sure your bacon displays some nice caramelized color before you move to step three and toss in your onions.

(3) Add chopped onions: Throw in the chopped onions and sauté until lightly caramelized. Remember: color equals flavor! If you move to the next step before the onions get a bit of color on them, they will not taste as sweet and the dish will not be as tasty. As with so many things in life, patience is a virtue, especially when sautéing onions! 

(4) Toss in sprouts and figs: With the bacon browned and the onions sweetly caramelized, you are ready to throw your sliced sprouts and chopped figs into the pan. Fold these in well, until they are absolutely glistening with the rich, delicious flavor of rendered bacon fat! 

(5) Add water, cover, and simmer: Here is the trickiest step. Add about 1-1/4 cups of water. This amount may vary depending on the weather and your geographic altitude. That’s why you need to watch this process and adjust it as needed. Cover and simmer the mixture on medium-high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes. After about 8 minutes, lift the lid and stir. Bite into one of the sprouts to see how far it is from properly cooked through. You want a nice “al dente” texture and not mush. If the sprout is too hard, replace the lid and keep going, checking every few minutes.

Also check to see if the water is evaporating too slowly or quickly. If too slowly, remove the lid and turn up the heat. If too quickly, add a little more water so the mixture does not burn. While you do not want this dish to be swimming in liquid at the end of the cooking process, neither do you want it to scorch. The trick here is getting the water to evaporate at the proper rate so that the sprouts are perfectly cooked through and still browned a bit in the pan, giving you that beautiful little caramelized rim that you see in my photos. (Yes, color = flavor. But black = burned!)

(6) Finish: To serve, spoon onto serving plates and crumble your favorite blue cheese on top, whether it’s a Danish blue, an Italian Gorgonzola, or a French Roquefort. For a special treat at this time of year, try English Stilton, which you can also serve as an appetizer with sweet slices of pear, or as a final course with a lovely glass of port before coffee, tea, or espresso.

Till next time,

~ Cleo Coyle
author of The Coffeehouse Mysteries

ESPRESSO SHOT
by Cleo Coyle
A Coffeehouse Mystery

Now in paperback and...
a National Bestseller!

To find out more about the books in my Coffeehouse Mystery series or enter my weekly Free Coffee Drawing, click this link to my virtual home at Coffeehouse Mystery.com

Recipe text and photos are copyright (c) 2009 by Alice Alfonsi who writes

The Coffeehouse Mysteries as Cleo Coyle with her husband, Marc Cerasini

Beer Braised Pot Roast

Hello to everyone who commented on guest blogger Barb Goffman's post on Sunday.

We have a winner!
(but we don't know how to contact you)

Would "HSS" please contact -- JulieHyzy (at) AOL (dot) com?

Thanks!

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food.

For me, the comfort food becomes a necessity on a cold, wet day. Now, it was just as warm and sunny as anything over Thanksgiving—but now the temperatures have taken a dip and a bunch of rain has moved into the South.

Every once in a while, I do appreciate this kind of weather. It makes me so thankful to see the sunshine when it finally makes its appearance again! And, I’ll admit, there’s something cozy about staying inside on a rainy day—writing a book. Drinking some hot herbal tea. And cooking up some beer-braised pot roast, of course.

Beer-Braised Pot Roast

• 5 slices bacon
• 1 beef chuck or sirloin roast (4 pounds)
• 6 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
• 8 ounces button mushrooms quartered
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 12 ounce dark beer (Warsteiner Premium Dunkel is great to use)
• 1 cup low sodium beef broth
• 3 cups diced tomatoes with their juices
• 4 large carrots peeled and cut in strips
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325
• Heat large Dutch oven on medium heat, add bacon and cook until fat is rendered
• Remove the bacon (you only use the fat in this recipe)
• Leave the pot on the heat
• Place flour in a shallow dish.
• Pat roast dry with paper towels.
• Season roast on all sides with salt and pepper dredge in flour shaking off excess.
• Add roast to the pan and sear on all sides until well browned (8-10 minutes)
• Remove the roast from the pan and set aside.
• Add onions to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes until translucent
• Add mushrooms and cook until they begin to color about 4 minutes, stir occasionally
• Add garlic, thyme and bay leaf stir in until fragrant – less than a minute
• Add beer, beef stock, tomatoes with juices to the pan. Stir and bring to a simmer.
• Cover the pan tightly and place in the oven bake for 1 ½ hours.
• Remove the pan from the oven and add carrots. (if you like pot roast with potatoes you would add them at this point)
• Turn the roast. Cover the pan and return to the oven. Cook until beef shreds easily with fork and vegetables are tender (1 ½ to 2 hours depending on size of meat)
• Remove from oven. Discard bay leaf.
• Remove roast from pan and let sit 5 minutes. Shred meat using 2 forks or a fork and knife.
• Skim the fat from the pan juices and discard.
• Return meat to the pan. Add parsley and stir well.
• Serve over rice or mashed potatoes spooning the roast, vegetables and gravy on top.

Riley/Elizabeth
Pretty is as Pretty Dies –Elizabeth Spann Craig
Delicious and Suspicious (May 2010)—Riley Adams

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com

Again with the turkey!

You've had turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie,
turkey salad and turkey a la king and you still
have leftover turkey. Well, pull that bag of
chopped up breast meat out of the freezer,

because we're going to finish it off with a turkey
enchilada casserole!



This is a fave at our house.
It's fast, easy and tasty!



Ingredients:

2-3 cups chopped turkey (or chicken meat)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can diced green chiles
1 package corn tortillas (12)
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can sliced black olives

Directions:

In a large bowl mix together the turkey, 2 cups of the
cheese and the green chiles. Take a corn tortilla and
hold it flat in one hand while you spoon two heaping
tablespoons of the mixture down the middle of the
tortilla. Roll it closed and place in a medium sized
baking dish. Continue filling and rolling tortillas until
the casseroledish is full and all of the mixture is used.
Pour the enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle on
the remaining cup of cheese and the black olives.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes
before dishing.

Enjoy!

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jennifer McKinlay
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
March 2010

aka Lucy Lawrence
STUCK ON MURDER
Sept 2009

CUT TO THE CORPSE
April 2010



Don't forget to keep entering ideas
for our next Secret Ingredient cooking
contest! Come on, try and stump us!!!

Manuscripts, College Apps, and Recipes, Oh My!

Hello to everyone who commented on guest blogger Barb Goffman's post on Sunday.

We have a winner!
(but we don't know how to contact you)

Would "HSS" please contact me -- JulieHyzy (at) AOL (dot) com?

Thanks!


Now... for today's recipe...

Let me start off by admitting that in a pinch I always fall back on easy favorites. I might have mentioned that modus operandi before...

:-)


These past several weeks ... er ... the past couple of months ... have been super busy. After I got back from Bouchercon, I had to really put my head down to finish the manuscript that's due -- ummm -- TODAY!


;-)


Not only that, but my daughter asked for my help proofreading her many college and scholarship applications. They've been due from November 1st through - TODAY - and these are so important that I wanted to take my time helping her do her very best. (Just an aside... I really love debating word choice and comma usage with this daughter. Way fun.)

Add in Thanksgiving help at my brother's, a couple of family parties, Christmas decorating, commitments to others, and some interesting cat-transporting issues ... and the past couple of months have been jam-packed.


So... just like everyone else, when I'm pressed for time I always have a few favorites I can rely on. Today I share with you super-simple, but very tasty ham roll appetizers. I use canned asparagus cuts. They're perfect for this recipe and cheaper than the spears or the tips. My husband (who hates asparagus) always asks me to substitute dill pickles for the center in a couple. To be honest, those are pretty good too.



Here you go. Ridiculously easy... and that's why I love 'em. Plus they taste great.



Ham Roll appetizer


Deli ham sliced, not thinly. I usually ask for a thick cut and I think Krakus is the best brand. I prefer boiled ham over smoked or honey-glazed
Can of cut up asparagus pieces (or dill pickles, quartered lengthwise if you prefer)
8 oz Cream cheese







Soften cream cheese and spread a generous layer over one slice of ham.
Line up cut asparagus pieces (about 4 or 5) along one short side
Roll up starting at asparagus side
Repeat with all your ham slices until one of your ingredients is gone.
Chill for about an hour
Slice roll into bite size pieces
Place cut side down on serving plate and serve





Super simple!



This is the perfect week to share it with you because I haven’t had a chance to do anything extra cool or fancy this week. Avery’s recipe yesterday has my mouth watering, though. Mmmmm, may have to take some of this newfound free time LOL and play in the kitchen!




Wish us luck ... me on the new manuscript (Buffalo West Wing, which won't be out for another year) and my daughter on all her college apps. It is so nice to be done.

Tonight I celebrate by participating in the PARTNERS IN CRIME book group, talking about my White House Chef mysteries at the Tinley Park Public library. Dinner and discussion. Can't wait!


Thanks for stopping by today!


Best,
Julie





My White House Chef Mystery series includes State of the Onion, Hail to the Chef, and Eggsecutive Orders (coming in January). All from Berkley Prime Crime.

Sign up for my newsletter at http://www.juliehyzy.com/