Monday, December 14, 2009

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. (325 for glass pans). Spray a 13 x 9 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place stick of butter in pan. Place pan in oven until butter is melted. Remove and sprinkle graham cracker curmbs over melted butter evenly. Lightly press into butter.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips, then nuts, then flaked coconut. Pour one can of Eagle Brand milk over top of all ingredients.

Bake for 25-30 min. until lightly golden on top. Cool and cut into bars. Keep in refrigerator for a week. Serve at room temperature.

VARIATIONS: You can add 1 cup of butterscotch chips for 1 or the chocolate chips. You can also use peanut butter chips or even the colored Christmas chips. I prefer the origonal recipe, but the others are good too.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Russian Tea Cakes

Mix together thoroughly:
2 sticks soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Stir in:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Mix in:
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Chill dough about an hour. Roll into 1" balls. Place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 min. until set, but barely brown on bottom. While still warm, roll in powdered sugar. I put a long strip (about 4 paper towels) on the cabinet and put the cookies on that after I roll them the first time. Allow them to cool completely and then roll again in powdered sugar. Cookies can be stored in airtight plastic container and frozen for up to 3 weeks. You may want to sprinkle a little fresh powdered sugar on them when you take them out and serve them.

Note: I use my Kitchen-aide for the whole recipe. It makes it go a lot faster.

Spritz Cookies

2 sticks butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract or almond extract
3 egg yolks
2 1/4 cups flour
food coloring
colored sprinkles or sugar

Cream butter, sugar and extract till light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Stir in flour until dough forms. Divide dough. Mix food coloring into each half. Force through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Decorate with colored sprinkles or sugars. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 min. until firm but not brown. Remove to wire rack to cool. Can be frozen up to 3 weeks before Christmas.