Kris Krinkle Cookies

 Hello friends!  I am sorry it has been this long between recipes, but I think it is "game on" again, and nothing is in my near future, but baking and cookies, I mean cooking.  Craft show season is over, and the holidays are upon us!!  I LOVE Christmas!

At a recent show, my daughter in law bought some crinkle cookies and I, in my old age had completely forgotten about crinkle cookies!  Oh they were so good, my memory just went back to my childhood!  I remember one of the nuns at CCD made these often, and I loved it.  See, I KNEW before my life ended I would find something nice to say about Sister Michaeline.  My mom would be so proud.  Anyway, I found an old recipe and wanted to make it a bit more festive and into a "Red Velvet" sort of cookie . I mean, Santa's suit IS red velvet, and it would only be fitting to leave a red and white cookie out for him to eat on his travels, right?  This would be an awesome one to make for my "NO BROWN" cookie trays!  I have discussed my disdain for brown cookie only cookie trays, in case you are new.  You know the ones, right?  Someone delivers them and they all look like they could be dried up poo, but nobody wants to try one to make sure.  You know it now......

One more thing.  I can tell you this dough can be refrigerated for days.  Don't ask me how  know.  Ok, do.  I mixed up the dough on Monday evening.  Maybe it was Tuesday.  Crap.  Anyway it is Friday and I just baked them off.  SO, keep that in mind if you are doing weekend baking, mix up one kind of cookie every night and have the dough all ready!  This one will stand up for sure!

When you roll these out, make sure to pop the dough into the fridge between batches.  It gets a bit messy when it warms up but isn't impossible.  They are so worth it!

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/2 cup oil
6 T cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
red food coloring (gel or paste)
2 cups flour
PINCH of salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder together, set aside.  In a large bowl combine the sugar, oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and eggs.  Mix until combined well.  Add in milk and continue to mix.  Carefully add in the flour mixture and mix until it is completely combined and smooth.  Now, add in your food coloring, you can add a bunch at once or go little by little until you reach the read you like but I can assure you, it will take quite a bit!  Once you get there, cover your cookie dough and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Place your powdered sugar in a bowl.  Roll your dough into about 1 inch balls, and roll in the powdered sugar and place on to a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake for approx 10 minutes and let cool on the cookie sheet 2-3 minutes before removing.  Remove to cooling rack and carry on with the rest!

ENJOY!

PS My dough doesn't look very red.  Ugh.......it was!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Biscuits

Tis the season for quick recipes, am I right?  Christmas parties, school programs, office parties, shopping, baking, ack!  Who is done shopping?  I am NOT.  I am usually done before Thanksgiving, but this year has been far to full of "life" surprises to get done yet so I am still working on it.  I am doing craft shows up until the weekend before Christmas and frankly, I am to exhausted for huge meals this month!

These little biscuits were suggested to me by my husband.  I think he anticipated them to be for a snack or appetizer, and while they can certainly fulfill those titles, they could also be a great lunch or dinner.  They turned out a bit bigger than I anticipated which was NOT a bad thing.  These are easy to do, with easy ingredients and I bet the kids would enjoy helping.

You are welcome to use canned chicken, or chunks of chicken, I poached and shredded mine.  Ham, you can use the packaged thin sliced variety or have the deli counter slice it thin, just above shredded.  I used a block of Swiss but if you want to use shredded, it will work perfectly.  Make sure to use the BIG OL' biscuits, with the bits of butter and flaky.  This recipe is for 16 of these bundles of love!   Now, on with the show!

2 containers of large biscuits (16)
8 ounce block of Swiss cheese cut into small squares to fit inside
1 lb thin sliced ham (16 pieces)
2 lg chicken breasts poached and shredded
3 T. melted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt

Preheat your oven to the temperature on the biscuit container.  Prep all ingredients.  Take one biscuit and using a rolling pin or your hand make it thinner, and bigger.  We need to make these big enough!  Now wrap a piece of chicken and cheese in a piece of ham and lay it on one half of the biscuit.

Now grab the center and seal it over the ham to the other side. Then seal all the way around using a fork to ensure a good seal!

Repeat with all of your biscuits.  Here is what they will look like or should look like before baking.

Bake for the time recommended on the biscuit containers.  When they are done, immediately brush with melted butter, Parmesan cheese and sprinkle with a pinch of salt!

ENJOY!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars

All I had to do was the type the title, and I went and grabbed another one.  You guys, seriously, these are amazeballs.

My daughter in law and I have been doing craft shows nearly every weekend.  WELL, 2 weekends ago we happened to be set up straight across from the bake sale people.  Whhaattt?  She brought two of these over and I went to a place so happy in my mind, I had to go home and figure it out, find a recipe, find a place to buy them or better yet, track down the nun who made them and beg for her recipe.  Well, none of those things really happened, but, I did find a couple of recipes online.  I tried them and neither were just the way "the ones" were at the bake sale.  So I started combining, adding, taking away, dancing the Na' Na' in between and it all just seemed to be the perfect mix.  So I baked them up, they looked and SMELLED perfect, I let them cool 10 minuted and waited for that glorious moment I was going to have another one of these in my chops and BAM.........not done all the way.  WHAT?  What kind of cook, someone who has been food blogging for 5 years, makes THIS kind of mistake?  Me.  So, I just looked at them, like, like a dog who ate a 20.00 steak off of the counter.  I threw them in the fridge, after all, almost raw dough is good to, and started again.  This time, was going to be different, I was going to bake them longer, and let them sit a bit longer, and waaaaaa-laaaaa!  Here is what I got!  I love the texture of these, which you might find a bit, almost "creamy" but not.  Cookie like but not.  Oh, just make them.  They are indescribable!

I think these would be an awesome addition to your table of holiday desserts, or just a nice snack to have sitting around the house so you can  wait for your next physical appointment and find out you have gained 5 lbs since April and then come home and eat more all the while............OMG...........sorry, small tangent there.

Here is what you need for these undeniably sweet treats!

2 2/3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 eggs
3 T. granulated sugar
3 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease your 9x13 baking pan.  In a bowl mix together flour, bakng powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a mixer bowl or a larger bowl cream together butter and sugar until smooth.  Add in eggs and whisk to combine.  Add this mixture to your flour mixture, or, as it may be your flour mixture to THIS mixture and mix until combined.  Pour into your baking pan and spread out evenly.

Now mix together your sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle liberally over the top.  Do it from high above, make it RAIN my friends!

This is the important part.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  DO THE TOOTHPICK TEST on the center.  I can't deny that chilled half cooked cookie dough isn't delicious, but, shoot for the moon, and cook it all the way!


Much love to you all.  I sometimes forget to thank you often enough for your support, not just here on my website, but my social media as well.  Your kind emails, your recipe requests, I do my best to return them all!  I am forever grateful for all of you, my friends

ENJOY!