Berry Cobbler Cookie Bars (Cookie Exchange Quantity)

Unlike the other ladies on this blog, I did not try a bunch of recipes before the annual cookie exchange and I didn't even TRY my cookies until we were at the party! (I had a quantity screw up and didn't know if I needed every last crumb to meet the number of bars I was supposed to bring).

Four days before the party, I got an email that I had won four tickets to The Nutcracker in Chicago that coming Saturday.  TWO DAYS before the party, my husband emails me to inform me that I am indeed not only invited to his new job's company holiday party, but encouraged to come...THAT NIGHT! (Don't they know we need time to prepare for these things?!) So I found myself searching online two days before the party for a quick, easy bar recipe since I had to scratch the more time-consuming toffee I had planned to make.  When I found this on good ol' Betty Crocker and it had "Cookie Exchange Quantity" in the title and had nothing but good reviews I was done!  Betty calls them "Linzer Torte" bars and while I know what a Linzer torte is (a tart-like pastry traditionally with raspberry preserves on top and almonds in the crust), I wasn't sure how much of the general population would. The recipe called for using raspberry or strawberry preserves  -- I made one with cherry and one with raspberry -- and using ground walnuts in the crust. I kept the ground walnuts but added some almond extract. (I think if I could add almond extract to every baked food and bacon to every savory food, I would -- and I did actually just recently make cookies with bacon in them!).

These were super easy to make (except for cutting in the butter--I HATE cutting in butter...especially since I realized I hadn't replaced my accidentally mangled pastry cutter I had thrown out). But the ease of the rest of the recipe made up for the stupid butter cutting.

They were  a favorite at the cookie exchange and I have to say I just completely lucked out on this one!

~Leah

Berry Cobbler Cookie Bars (Cookie Exchange Quantity)

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Leah (adapted from Betty Crocker)

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour


• 3 cups powdered sugar


• 3 cups ground walnuts


• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened


• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


• 2 teaspoons almond extract


• 2 cups cherry,raspberry or strawberry preserves


• Additional powdered sugar, if desired

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and extract. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, two knives, or use a large capacity food processor to pulse until crumbly. Reserve 2 cups of the mixture for topping; press remaining mixture in bottom of ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan.


2. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Spread with preserves. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture; press gently into preserves.


3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows for 48 or 12 rows by 6 rows for 72.

Notes

You absolutely can cut these into 72 bars but they will be pretty small...however, they're pretty rich and sweet so that size is probably just about perfect. I had mistakenly cut mine into 48 but I realized that I personally would not have wanted to cut them much smaller anyway for the exchange so I stuck with 48 for my second batch also.

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Pretzel and Potato Chip Cookies

Ah, cookie time!

At no other time of year can I randomly whip up batches of baked goods, and do it guilt free. I used to think Wendy was crazy for experimenting with so many new recipes before her annual cookie exchange. And maybe I still do just a little. ;)

But this year I took a page from her book and made a few recipes, all in the name of science (or perhaps competition?). My favorite place to look for recipes is in the December issue's of Cook's Country magazine. It features the winners and runners up of their annual cookie contest. I am in awe of the people who are WINNING this thing! It just seems like the ultimate baked good success story. I dream of having a recipe THAT good and totally original coming out of my kitchen. Sigh.

Until then I am borrowing from another's creative genius, and hopefully coming to the party with a crowd favorite. This year I brought these Potato Chip and Pretzel Cookies with Caramel frosting. If you are a salty-and-sweet-in-one-package fan, then this is the cookie for you. I left the recipe as is, except for bumping up the quantity of pretzels just a bit. They aren't a chewy cookie...it's more of a crisp, shortbread texture. In other words, fantastic with a cup of tea. They are super easy and they definitely travel well after frosting is allowed to set. Enjoy!

~Erin

 

Pretzel and Potato Chip Cookies

Author: Erin (adapted from Cook's Country)

Ingredients

• Cookies


• 12 T. butter, softened


• ½ c. sugar, plus ¼ c. more for rolling


• 1 t. vanilla


• 1/8 t. salt


• 1 ½ c. flour


• 2/3 c. crushed potato chips


• 1/3 c. crushed pretzels


• Frosting


• ½ c. brown sugar, packed


• ¼ c. heavy cream


• 3 T. butter


• Pinch of salt


• 1 c. powdered sugar


• ½ t. vanilla


• ¼ c. pecans, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.


2. Beat together butter, ½ c. sugar, vanilla, and salt in a mixer till light and fluffy.


3. Reduce speed to low, and add flour in 3 additions. Scrape down bowl as needed.


4. Gently mix in potato chips and pretzels.


5. Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in sugar. Use the bottom of a greased measuring cup to press balls to approximately ¼” thick.


6. Bake for about 15 min until edges are golden. Let cookies cool on tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack.


7. FOR FROSTING – Bring brown sugar, butter, cream, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Cool for about 20 minutes before spreading on cookies.


8. Sprinkle cookies with pecans and allow frosting to set.

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Peanut Butter Secrets

Its "Cookie Week" on Three Lucky Husbands! This year we're going to share the three recipes that we made for my annual cookie exchange. I've been hosting a cookie exchange for the past 5-6 years. Every year I make small changes to how things run. This year we only did 1/2 dozens, thank the Lord. When you have 10+ ladies in attendance it can get CRAZY to make full dozens for each person. The only downside is that when you have so many EXCELLENT cookies (like we did this year) 6 is nowhere near enough to take home! For those of you not familiar with cookie exchanges, you invite between 8-14 friends over. Each of you makes one type of cookie, bringing one dozen (or 1/2 dozens in our case) for each person coming. At the end of the party you exchange your cookies and end up leaving with one dozen from everyone else- in other words, lots of cookies!

The other change this year was a friendly competition. We voted on the best tasting cookie, the most creative cookie and the cutest/best looking cookie. I'm happy to say that 2 of the 3 winners will be shared this week! We might even invite winner #3 to guest blog her recipe. :)

This recipe came from the Pillsbury site. When I made them, I made the cookie balls a little too big. I would suggest forming the dough around the peanut butter cup so it barely covers the chocolate. That way each bite will have some of the candy in it! Other than that, its pretty simple. Enjoy your holidays this year!

~Wendy

Peanut Butter Secrets

Recipe Type: Cookies

Author: Pillsbury

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 37

Ingredients

• cooking spray


• 1 c. vegetable shortening


• 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar


• 1/2 c. granulated sugar


• 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter


• 1 large egg


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 2 c. flour


• 1 tsp. baking soda


• 1/2 tsp. salt


• 40 to 45 chocolate-covered miniature peanut butter cups


• GLAZE


• 1 tsp. vegetable shortening


• 1 c. (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips


• 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

Instructions

1. HEAT oven to 375ºF. Coat baking sheets lightly with no-stick cooking spray.


2. COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter in bowl of electric mixer; beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla.


3. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Mix into shortening mixture at low speed until just blended. Form rounded teaspoonfuls of dough around each peanut butter cup. Enclose entirely. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.


4. BAKE 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are just browned. Remove immediately to cooling rack.


5. COMBINE shortening, chocolate chips and peanut butter in microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on MEDIUM (50% power) 1 minute. Stir. Repeat until smooth.


6. DIP cookie tops in chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is set.

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Bread Ring

Here's a great way to take what's typically an afterthought to one of the star attractions of any holiday meal. How pretty is this bread? For the last few Thanksgivings I've been in charge of the bread/rolls and butter. I've spent most of my time experimenting with the butter (and actually found a great honey butter recipe). This year I spotted this unique bread recipe in a Food Network magazine and decided to try it. I was a little skeptical. Usually when something looks this pretty in a magazine its a total disaster in my kitchen. This one actually worked out.

I'm not a huge fan of olive oil. I don't love the taste, I don't dip my bread in it at Italian restaurants and I rarely cook in olive oil unless it calls for small amounts. I made this bread twice on Thanksgiving day and for my 2nd attempt I lowered the olive oil content and drizzled the finished product with melted butter. Much better. :)

Its very easy and can be adapted to your tastes. I chose to roll the dough in almonds, sesame seeds, parsley and cheddar cheese. You could easily use basil, parmesan, pecans, poppyseeds, etc... there are so many options! Its great for a holiday party and perfect for Christmas. Hope you like it!

~Wendy

Bread Ring

Recipe Type: Bread

Author: Adapted from Food Network Magazine

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2 cans refrigerated breadstick dough


• 1/2 c olive oil


• 1/4 c butter, melted


• 1/2 c each of chosen toppings (sliced almonds, shredded cheddar cheese, sesame seeds, chopped parsley)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brush a tube pan with olive oil and set aside.


2. Put each topping in a separate ziploc bag.


3. Form the breadstick dough into small balls, put them all into a large bowl. Pour the olive oil into the bowl and gently stir the dough balls until evenly coated with olive oil.


4. Divide the balls up between the ziploc bags. Drop them into the chosen bag and shake until covered with the topping.


5. Remove from the bag and press into the tube pan, alternating dough balls and toppings.


6. Bake until golden, 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the melted butter.


7. Let cool for 4-5 minutes and remove from the pan. Serve on a platter for best presentation!

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