Three Days Of Baking

I have spent three days baking all my Christmas Cookies. I made ten different kinds including three new recipes. The new Cookies are Italian Pizzelles and Date nut cookie. The third cookie was a total accident. I was going for my chocolate dipped lady finger cookies and I added to much butter. The result was these spectacularly crispy and chewy cookies. I like crispy cookies and chewy cookies and now I have the best of both worlds in one cookie. Now if that was not good enough, I added chocolate and nuts to the edges.

This is the result!

The delicious crispy and chewy cookie.

1 cup butter plus 3 taclespoons
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1tea. vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet Bark Coating
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions:
Cream 1 cup butter and sugar. Add flour and vanilla, mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Shape dough into logs 1/2 inch wide' cut log 2-1/2 inches long. Place on un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. In a Microwave melt chocolate and remaining butter. Dip one end of each cookie into chocolate and then into nuts. Place on waxed paper until chocolate cools and hardens.
Once the batter refrigerated for at least one hour, roll the dough into small balls.

The Second Cookie is the Date Nut Cookie.

1/2 cup butter softened

3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of honey
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tea. Baking powder
1/4 tea salt.
1 cup of dried Dates
1 cup of chopped peacan

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, honey and egg together. Gradually add dry ingredients. Blend the nuts and apricots with a spoon. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Once chilled, roll into 1-1/2 inch balls and flatten the tops. Place on an ungreased baking sheet about one inch apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10- minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Chopped Dates

Chopped Pecans

Italian Pizzelles.  A light crispy cookie.

3 eggs, beaten
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. butter (melted)
3 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. anise extract

Add and beat ingredients together in order listed. Drop by rounded spoonful onto center of preheated grid (pizzelle maker). Close lid, allow to cook until steaming stops (30-60 seconds). Cool on wire rack. Store in airtight container.

A Mad Class Party

Friday, The Cisco Kids Class had a Mad Scientist Party. The teacher had four different kinds of experiments. She had Dry Ice and explained the Composition between solid and gas. She had what she called bleeding paper. The kids took a piece of wax and wrote what they wanted on the paper. She then came around and sprayed Windex on the paper and the paper bled revealing their text. The Cisco Kid's paper said "Stay Out Haunted House". She then had a trick where they cut a card in a special way to make a bracelet. Her last experiment was where each child made their own batch of silly putty. After all the experiments were over they saw a 1950's Halloween cartoon. Last but not least Pizza was served with a very large variety of fun deserts.

Stromboli

These Stromboli's can be served as an appetizer or a main course. Both could also be served with a side of tomato sauce.

Ingredients:
3-1 lb fresh or frozen dough. I use Bridgeford frozen Ready Douth.
2- 6 oz. package of sliced pepperoni
1 lb. of 98% fat free ham, sliced 1/4 inch in length
2 large green bell peppers, sliced 1/4 inch thick
4 cups Shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 egg scrambled
Your favorite Tomato Sauce for dipping

Directions:
Roll the dough to the size of  aproximatly 19 inches x 6 inches. That length will depend on if you like a thinner or thicker crust. If you like a thicker crust, roll the dough to 15 inches x 5 inches. I like a thin crust.  If the dough is to long for you to handle, just cut it in half and work with two smaller pieces.   That is what you see in the picture. I prefer to fill them with pepperoni, ham, green bell pepper and mozzarella cheese. You can fill them with anything you like. I do recommend that with any ingredients you may use, always include the Mozzarella cheese.
Scramble one egg and set aside. Once you have rolled out your dough, start layering all your ingredients down the center, starting with the pepperoni and ending with the Mozzarella. Now you can start to close the Stromboli by bringing both sides of the dough around and overlapping them. Then fold the two ends closed. If your dough will not stick together you can dip your fingers into the scrambled egg and run it along the seam.

Place the Stromboli on a greased or lined cookie sheet seam side down. Generously rub the scrambled egg all over the Stromboli’s.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or golden brown.

Serve with a side dish of tomato sauce for dipping.  Each one lb loaf of dough will complete a 20 inch long or two 10 inch long Stromboli's.

Serving the Stromboli as a main course
Cut Stromboli in half and serve with a side of tomato sauce. Serves 8

Serving the Stromboli as an appetizer
Cut into 2 inch pieces and place on a serving tray with tomato sauce. Approximately 80 pieces.

Hints: When cutting the bell pepper into your 1/4 inch slices, slice the two ends off where it curves. The curves have a tendency to puncture through the dough.

Thanks Kim from "Pair Slices"and Heather from Oswalds Cuties for participating in "What would your children say"? Wednesday.