No Empty Chairs

December 8, 2015 · 12:13 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Cranberry Orange Bread

DAY 8: Cranberry Orange Bread

Another non-cookie recipe, but this comes at the request of my brother-in-law. Now he just needs to buy himself a plane ticket from Seattle to Baltimore so that he can eat some with us!

Cranberries and oranges are one of my favorite holiday flavor combinations. Which is why I also love these Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cookies:

Cranberry Orange Bread makes a great neighbor gift, especially when you find these adorable small loaf pans in the dollar section of Michaels!

RECIPE:

Cranberry Orange Bread

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
½ brown sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup orange juice
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour, divided
2 tsp baking powder
¼tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup buttermilk (or additional orange juice)
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
(do not thaw cranberries before chopping)
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or use baking Pam): 1 large loaf pan, or 3-4 small loaf pans, or 6 mini loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Mix in ¼ cup orange juice, orange peel and vanilla. Add 1 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix until just combined. Mix in buttermilk (or additional orange juice). Mix in remaining 1 cup flour until just combined. Fold in cranberries and nuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

Baking times (check doneness with a toothpick in center of loaf):

Large loaf pan: 60-80 minutes
Small loaf pans: 45-60 minutes
Mini loaf pans: 25-35 minutes

**NOTE: If you use frozen cranberries, baking times will be on the higher end of the range. Cover bread with foil if the top begins to brown before center is cooked.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then remove to a rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing.

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Filed under Breads, Desserts

Tagged as christmas, cranberry, cranberry bread, gifts, mini loaf, nut bread, orange, quick bread, recipe

December 7, 2015 · 3:13 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Cake Mix Snowball Cookies

DAY 7: Cake Mix Snowball Cookies

Cookie Making Simplified. Easy to throw together, and a delicious cookie for those who like their cookies soft and gooey.

These cookies are also delicious made with a lemon cake mix, but then you might not want to call them Snowball Cookies. You might not get many takers when you offer “Yellow Snow”ball Cookies.

RECIPE:

Cake Mix Snowball Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 box white or yellow cake mix (or lemon)
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Use an electric mixer to beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and then cake mix. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Place powdered sugar in a small bowl. Roll dough into balls (about 1” in diameter) and then roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust cooled cookies with additional sifted powdered sugar.

Makes 2 ½ – 3 dozen cookies

NoEmptyChairs.me

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

DAY 6: Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

A cookie for fans of the crowd-feeding chocolate cake with pour-on frosting known as Texas Sheet Cake. Now you don’t need a crowd to feed to have an excuse to indulge in a rich, chocolaty, nutty treat.

Also available without nuts. In fact, a great alternative is to make the icing without nuts, and stir in ¼ tsp peppermint extract for a fudgy, mint brownie-like cookie.

These cookies are super rich and fudgy: serve with a tall glass of ice-cold MILK!

RECIPE:

Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Icing:
½ cup butter
2 Tbs cocoa powder
3 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use silicone mats.

Combine butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.

In a microwave safe bowl heat chocolate chips on high for 30 seconds. Stir. If chunks still remain, add another 20 seconds and stir again. Mix warm melted chocolate into cookie dough until evenly mixed.

Use a medium cookie scoop (or Tablespoon sized measure) to drop dough onto baking sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes until cookies just appear set. Do not overbake. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Icing:

**DO NOT MAKE ICING UNTIL COOKIES ARE COOL AND READY TO ICE

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in cocoa powder and cook for 30 seconds, stirring with a whisk. Stir milk and vanilla into pan. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar. Stir in pecans.

Spoon 1-2 tsp of frosting over each cooled cookie. Stir icing if it begins to harden on top. If icing becomes too hard to easily spoon, place pan over low heat and stir until smooth.

Allow icing to set on cookies completely before serving or storing.

Makes about 4 dozen

**NOTES: These can also be made without nuts. For a mint chocolate icing, stir ¼ tsp peppermint extract into icing with the vanilla (do not use nuts).

(Adapted from Cookies & Cups)

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Tagged as chocolate, christmas, Cookies, frosted, recipe, Texas sheet cake

December 5, 2015 · 3:55 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Caramel Christmas Chex Mix

DAY 5: Caramel Christmas Chex Mix

Not a cookie, but a fun treat to make for family and friends. And maybe slightly addicting. Just a friendly warning.

RECIPE:

Caramel Christmas Chex Mix

1 cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup light or dark corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
14 0z box Chex cereal (Rice and/or Corn)
1 ½ cups dry roasted peanuts
1 ½ cups whole cashews
½ cup Christmas sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 1 large or 2 medium rimmed baking sheets with non-stick foil.

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and then vanilla (mixture will foam).

Place cereal and nuts in a very large bowl. Pour caramel over the cereal/nuts and gently stir with a large rubber spatula. Spread mixture onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes. Let mixture cool in pan for 2 minutes. If your sprinkles DO NOT melt when heated, stir them into the mixture now. Let Chex mix cool completely in pan, stirring 2-3 times as the mixture cools. If your sprinkles DO melt when heated, wait until mixture is cool to touch, and then stir in the sprinkles.

Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Easy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

DAY 4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These should be called “Super-Easy-One-Bowl-No-Mixer-I-Forgot-To-Make-Cookies-For-The-Bake-Sale-Tomorrow-Don’t-Even-Have-To-Soften-The-Butter-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Bars”

They are that easy.

These cookies will stay nice and chewy (without burnt edges and soggy middle) if you bake them in two 8×8” pans instead of one 9×13” pan.

Since we have one non-chocolate eater, I usually prepare the batter without the chocolate chips, put half of the batter in one pan and sprinkle the top with cinnamon/sugar. Then stir some chocolate chips into the remaining batter and put the chocolate chip version in the other pan.

RECIPE:

Easy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1 cup butter
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8” square baking pans (or spray with Baking Pam).

Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Stir sugar and brown sugar into melted butter until incorporated. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pans.

Bake at 350°F for 28-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely and then cut into squares.

Makes 32 bars

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Tagged as bar cookies, chocolate, chocolate chips, christmas, dessert, easy, no mixer, one bowl, recipe

December 3, 2015 · 2:56 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

DAY 3: Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

Sometimes you just can’t wait a whole year for those cute little Girl Scouts to knock on your door selling contentment in a box. If you absolutely must have Thin Mints before cookie selling season comes around again, this recipe is for you.

You could also dress them up for Christmas by adding some crushed candy canes.

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RECIPE:

Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
10 Tbs butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
about 2 pounds dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low, and add eggs and peppermint extract. Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated.

Divide dough in half and place on two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using plastic wrap, shape dough into 2 logs about 2″ in diameter. Wrap logs securely in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1-2 hours, or several days.

When ready to bake, unroll plastic wrap from dough logs. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 1/4” disks. Gently reshape edges into circles, if necessary. Place cookies on lined baking sheet, keeping unused dough in the refrigerator until ready to slice. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, or until dry to the touch. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool.

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave or in a double boiler (melt chocolate slowly). Dunk cookies into melted chocolate. Use a fork to turn the cookie over in the chocolate. Pick up the cookie with the fork, let excess chocolate drip off, and gently scrape bottom against edge of bowl. Place on parchment (or waxed paper)-lined baking sheets. Let chocolate harden before storing.

TIME SAVING NOTE: You can also just use your fingers to hold the cookie and only dunk the top and sides of the cookie, gently scraping the excess chocolate off of the top of the cookie before placing it on the parchment paper

Makes 4-6 dozen, depending on the size of your cookies

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Filed under Cookies, Desserts

Tagged as chocolate, chocolate covered, christmas, Cookies, copy cat, girl scout cookies, mint, recipe, Thin Mints