Stay tuned for my Favorite Holiday Gifts Guide and lots of giveaways coming up in a few days! 

We’ve never been fruitcake fans, but we do love our fruitcake cookies! Dried fruit layered with cinnamon, brown sugar, and just enough flour and butter to hold it all together until it reaches your mouth! Mama has made fruitcake cookies each year for as long as I can remember. She goes shopping for the candied fruit each year *after* Christmas, when it is on sale, and stores it in her freezer until the holidays roll around again and we all get to craving the brown sugar/fruity goodness of these yummy cookies.

Mama’s recipe is traditional and wonderful, but this year I worked up a simpler version with less fuss. I sent a platter of them to my mother’s house for her approval and she called this morning to get the recipe. She said she’s gonna make my version instead of hers this year to give herself a little break because “They taste every bit as good and sure are a lot easier!”.

So here is my easier version. No dropping dough or cookie sheets. Just pat it all into one pan, cook and let it cool and rest overnight, then cut into little bites and enjoy. Because we all have Christmases when we really want the fruitcake cookies, but a little break would be nice, too!

You’ll need: Baking Mix, Margarine, Chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, raisins, dark brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, one egg, and Candied Fruit Mix or chopped candied dried fruits of your choice.

Notes about ingredients and substitutions: 

Baking Mix – Some folks aren’t familiar with “Baking Mix”. Bisquick is a brand of baking mix and that usually strikes that note of recognition with them Bisquick is not my favorite baking mix. I prefer House Autry (which can’t be found where I live) or Pioneer Brand. I do get Bisquick if I have to make a really large quantity because it comes in larger boxes, or if I can’t find the other two that I prefer. You can also make your own homemade baking mix by using one of the gazillion recipes found on the internet

Nuts - I’m using chopped walnuts because they are so much cheaper than pecans. Feel free to use whatever nuts you have on hand.

Dried and Candied Fruit – My mother doesn’t like the fruit cake blend of candied fruit as much as I do so she uses only candied cherries in her fruit cake cookies. I love the added citrus fruits in the candied fruit mix Please tailor this to your own preferences and taste.

Brown Sugar - I’m also using dark brown sugar because I just really like dark brown sugar. You can use light if you prefer.

Margarine - You can substitute butter for margarine in this recipe but I prefer margarine in this one. These cookies have a longer shelf life and ship very well thanks to the margarine. Note: If shipping, be sure and let them sit for at least a day before cutting and package in a single layer so they have less chance of being smooshed.

Vanilla - I’m using real vanilla because someone gave it to me. For those of you purists, enjoy this picture but don’t get too comfy. You’ll see me using bargain imitation vanilla again soon enough I’ll cheerlead your personal choice all the way but we’re running on a two way street here

Melt your butter in a large mixing bowl.

Add in baking mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, egg, and vanilla.

Stir that up until well combined.

Now add in all of your nuts and dried fruit. 

And stir that up really well.

This will take some elbow grease (just a little bit) to get it all incorporated because your batter will be absolutely

filled with chunky goodness but that’s what is going to make it taste so stinking good!

Now spray an 8×8 pan really well with cooking spray.

Yes, this only makes one 8×8 pan, lol. We’re going to cut them in little squares though so it will end up with a lot.

Dump in all of your dough. 

Pat it out a bit with your hands to fill the pan.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Allow to cool completely.

Let rest overnight before cutting.

“Its a good day to have a good day!”

Thanks to LAuren for submitting this quote. Click here to read more (there are over 1400 so far!) and add your own!

Please read the post below to see why I’m calling this “original” mud hens, and then try them soon! Have a GREAT day!

Gratefully, Christy

I have spent a considerable amount of time in the kitchen lately trying to come up with a shortcut recipe for my original Mud Hens recipe from My Cookbook.

No matter what I did, I ended up a little disappointed. The “shortcuts” weren’t nearly as good as the original. I normally don’t post recipes on SouthernPlate.com that are exclusive to my cookbook but when I found myself online looking to see if anyone else had come up with a good way to shortcut Mud Hens, I immediately came across over ten websites featuring the recipe from my cookbook ~laughs~  So I decided that if they can post my original recipe, I certainly can, too!

So forget the shortcuts. This recipe is simple and easy as it is. Once you taste it, I’m sure you’ll think it is worth the effort  

You’ll need: Shortening, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, baking powder, and all purpose flour. 

You’ll also need: Chocolate Chips, Marshmallows, and Brown Sugar

Note: Use dark or light brown sugar, whatever cranks your tractor.

You don’t have to use mini chocolate chips but that is what I had on hand.

Begin by separating two of your eggs, whites in one bowl and yolks in the other.

Make sure you don’t get any of the yolk into your whites because we’re about to make an amazing brown sugar meringue and if any of those yolks get in there our meringue won’t beat up right.

Now put your butter, shortening, and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Add in your 2 egg yolks and the additional whole egg and beat again. 

Like this. 

At this point you should get out a separate bowl and place your flour, baking powder, and salt in it and stir together.

You really should do that.

I’m not, I’m going to just add in my flour, baking powder, and salt into the batter.

But you should really mix them up in a separate bowl first and then dump them in.

Unless you’re not in the mood to. In that case just put them into your batter separately like I did.

Mix that up until well combined and you have your dough.

Pat into the bottom of your greased 9×13 inch dish.

If you need to you can put a little flour on your hands to help keep it from sticking, like I did. 

Top with chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Now we need to make our brown sugar meringue topping.

My mouth started watering just typing that..

Place your egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat the mess out of it until stiff peaks form.

Like this  

Add in your brown sugar…

And stir with a spoon until it’s well combined like this.

Now this contains raw eggs so you shouldn’t taste it..

~She says as she licks the spoon and sets it aside for the next photo~

Pour your meringue over the top of your marshmallows and spread it around to the edges.

Like this.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Oh how pretty!

Allow to cool completely and then cut into bars.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

“Opportunity is always knocking.

The problem is that most people have the self-doubt station in their head turned up way too loud to hear it.

~Brian Vaszily

ENTER NESTLE’S BAKE AND SHARE HOLIDAY TREAT CONTEST

I’m teaming up with Nestle to help promote their Bake and Share Holiday Treat Contest! Click here to visit their Facebook page and get details on how you can enter your recipe for a chance to win $5000! We have some AMAZING cooks in the Southern Plate Family and I’d love to see one of you win this!

No matter how much I love cooking, there is always a special thrill when I make something that I know has one of my kids or auntlings are going to get excited about. That’s why I love these cloud cookies so much . They got their name from my nephew, Austin, about eight years ago. I’ve always been a fan of meringue cookies and I whipped up a batch when Austin was over at my house and decided to stir some chocolate chips into them before baking. Austin waited patiently while they cooked and then took one bite and declared them just like clouds – with the added bonus of chocolate chips!

So if you want to be the cool aunt/mama/grandmama/daddy/uncle who knows how to bake chocolate chips into clouds…I got ya covered today!

You’ll need: Chocolate Chips, two eggs, sugar, Cream of Tartar, a bit of salt, and some sprinkles if you’d like to add a little sparkle to your clouds...I mean cookies.

Crack your eggs and separate the whites from the yolk. Add in a pinch of cream of tartar and your salt.

There are all sorts of gadgets that do this but I just use my hands. Usually, I crack the egg and just gently tilt it until the white pours off, saving the yolk in the shell. You can also pour the entire egg into your hand and spread your fingers slightly to allow just the white to slide through while the yolk remains.

Or you can get one of those gadgeterators that lets you pour the egg into it and the white comes out of little spout on the bottom.

Whichever way you go, make sure you don’t get any of the yolk (the dark orange part) in this because our meringue won’t fluff up if we have yolk in it.

Beat your egg whites until soft peaks form.

Okay so what this means is that you need to beat them on high with an electric mixer for a few minutes. They will start out getting frothy and then begin to get foamy, and eventually turn white like this. As you keep on beating, they will start to hold their shape a bit, meaning you’ll see ripples remain in them where the beater has been.

Stop your mixer and pull your beaters up. Where your beaters came out of the egg whites a point will come up.  If that droops back down again (kinda like the top of a dairy queen ice cream cone), you have soft peaks.

Add in your sugar and beat it some more, unit the sugar is well incorporated.

It will get thick and glossy like divinity.

Oh my, I need to do a post on how to make divinity, don’t I? Oooh Mama has a great recipe for it…

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Stir in your chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls onto the greased baking sheet.

I do about a well rounded teaspoon…or whatever size I’m in the mood for

A lot of my cooking is centered around my mood. Good thing I try to pick good moods out of the bucket each morning!

Allow your clouds to cool completely and then store them in an airtight container, or just hand them to the kids in your life and watch them disappear!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

I’m teaming up with Nestle to help promote their Bake and Share Holiday Treat Contest! Click here to visit their Facebook page and get details on how you can enter your recipe for a chance to win $5000! We have some AMAZING cooks in the Southern Plate Family and I’d love to see one of you win this!

Some people are so poor that all they have is money.

~Unknown

Thank to to Ticha for submitting this one! Add your quote to our ever growing collection or go get inspired by some others by clicking here.

And don’t worry about whether or not your quote has been submitted already. The good ones bear repeating!

If you’re on Facebook and could click that little “like” button up there I’d sure appreciate it!

Today I’m going to attempt to keep this blog post short and sweet. Well, the recipe makes it sweet but the only way we’re gonna make it short is if I’m not quite so chatty. Yeah….good luck with that one. But I have pies to bake, errands to run, and books to write so I’m gonna make an attempt. It’s the thought that counts, right?

These cookies are the ones you most likely remember from your childhood. We usually had them in chocolate form (click here to view my mama’s tutorial on how to make the chocolate ones) but I somehow ended up with an entire family who LOVES peanut butter. Anything Peanut butter. Seriously.

We go through one of the HUGE jars each and every week. They love PB&J sandwiches, peanut butter on toast, Peanut butter balls (which I try to always keep in the freezer), Peanut Butter Cookies, oh! And of course Yellow Cake with that Peanut Butter Fudge Icing. There is a cute story about that, too. When I did the 700 Club, I made seven different cakes and talked about The Seven Cakes of Christmas story from my family (You can watch all of my tv clips by visiting this page).

Well lo and behold I arrived back in Alabama that night and my whole family met me at the airport, including a very exuberant Katy Rose, who hugged me and immediately started craning her neck to look around at my luggage.

She said “Mama, where is that peanut butter cake? I know you made that one for me!” Bless her heart, she had watched me with that peanut butter cake on tv and since it was her favorite, she just knew I had made it to bring home to her! Needless to say, that child got Peanut butter cake for breakfast the next day

So what are we waiting for? Oh, yeah, we’re waiting for me to stop talking and get to the recipe, huh?

Alrighty then, do I need to tell you how good these are? Fudgey, chewy, and every kid’s favorite. I think we’re all about due for a batch today!

You’ll need: Sugar, oats, peanut butter, vanilla, butter (or margarine), and milk. 

Place your sugar, butter, and milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan. 

Stirring constantly, bring it to a boil over medium heat.

Once it reaches a full rolling boil, continue to stir and boil for one minute.

I usually boil for a minute and a half to be on the safe side. 

After it’s boiled for a minute, remove from heat and add in peanut butter and vanilla. 

Stir until smooth, creamy, and all of the peanut butter is melted. 

Like this  

Now add in your oats and stir those up really well. 

I love oats…

Like this. 

Don’t you just love seeing pictures of cooking? I think it makes us more likely to actually make a recipe because by the time we’re at the end of a post, having looked at al of the photos, we’ve already made it in our head so it doesn’t seem so daunting

That’s just my theory anyway. I love looking at the photos but I’m not too terribly into taking them, as you can tell by looking at mine. So many food bloggers take these gorgeous photos of all of their food but I’m kinda just more into cooking it, telling the story behind it, and then feeding people.

Okie Dokie, now pour that into an 8×8 pan that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray and let sit until cool.

Of course, if you want you can drop these by spoonfuls onto waxed paper like we did back in the old days. I just prefer the pan method because it is so much less work and they make cute little cookie bites when you cut them.

You can speed up the cooling process by placing your pan in the fridge.

Oh goodness, these are good!

Did you have these as a kid?

Who made them for you?

The recipe for the chocolate version of these cookies can be found by clicking here. 

If you’d like to watch some of my national tv appearances, I have a few on on my Media/PR page, click here to go there and just scroll down to see all of the videos.

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are

conscious of our treasures.”

– Thornton Wilder

Submitted by Jenny. Submit your quote by clicking here.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/09/peanut-butter-no-bake-cookie-bites.html/feed 119 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/04/pecan-chewies.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/04/pecan-chewies.html#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:20:58 +0000 staceylittle http://www.southernplate.com/?p=14076 Pin it

Special thanks to my friend Stacey Little of Southern Bite for providing a guest post today! I’m working on getting our forum up and running and finishing the details of the 2011 Southern Plate Basket so Stacey gave me a little extra time to get all that done. I hope you enjoy this post and I *know* you will enjoy these pecan chewies!

Gratefully, Christy

Hey folks!  It’s me again!  (Isn’t that awesome that I got asked to post again!?)  It’s like hosting Saturday Night Live… I feel like I’m important or something being asked back!  You know – a guy could develop a complex.  Hmmm.  Anyway,  it is such a pleasure and an honor to be able to share another one of my most favorite recipes with y’all.  When I first got to meet Christy, it was on her book tour in Birmingham.  I took a little “thank you” basket to her that had some Diet Dr. Peppers (of course) and these Pecan Chewies.

I be John Brown if she didn’t open those suckers up right there in the middle of Books a Million and share them with all the other folks.  It was awesome!  I included the recipe for her and she asked if I minded if she shared them on Southern Plate.  I said of course not.  Now, low and behold, I’m the one sharing them on Southern Plate!

Let me also express a little appreciation for all the Southern Plate love after my last post.  The response was overwhelming, to say the least!  It’s just so great to be among such an amazing group of folks who share my passion for food.  Y’all enjoy!

Okay, here’s what you’ll need:  2 sticks of butter (you can use margarine here, but I suggest you splurge and go for real, unsalted butter – come on, you’re worth it!), 1 cup of white granulated sugar, 1 cup of packed light brown sugar, 2 eggs that have been beaten (poor eggs), 2 cups of self rising flour, 1 cup of pecans, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

First, melt the butter and combine the butter and white and brown sugars in a large bowl.

Next, add the beaten eggs.

Gradually add the flour, stirring well.  Then add the pecans and vanilla and combine.

The batter is going to be rather thick and hard to stir, but keep going. 

Scrape the batter into a greased and floured 9X13 inch baking dish.

Spread to cover bottom of dish with fingers or a spatula dipped in water (or a little melted butter -hee hee).

Bake approximately 40 to 50 minutes being cautious not to over cook.

You want them to remain chewy, hence the name!

Treasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we shall have each other.

~Joshua Liebman

And now a little something fun from my son Brady (who requested I post this)

I want to thank Teresa Clifton for her kindness and for inspiring today’s post. She is one of the many positive people who have come into my life thanks to Southern Plate.

You know the expression, when life gives you lemons make lemonade?

Well, we all do that, every day. Each day we’re handed a basket of lemons and each day we go to our little lemonade stands and set up shop. Folks come by our stands throughout the day and you’re serving up your own special recipe whether you realize it to not. The cashier at the grocery store, waitress at a restaurant, your kids at the breakfast table, friends who call, people who read your facebook status. You serve them your lemonade all day long.

So it is very important to me to pay careful attention to the recipe I’m using and make sure it is a good one.  The easiest thing to do, of course, is take the lemons I’m handed and just serve them up straight, but the end result would be sourness and leave folks shuddering after an encounter with me. Instead, I take care to add sweetness to them, bringing out the wonderful flavors of the lemons. Isn’t it amazing how something so sour can taste just like sunshine if you prepare it right?

We’re all guilty of serving up our bad moods, negative attitudes, and disgruntled thoughts straight from time to time, but I try to keep in mind that other folks are drinking that in. I wouldn’t serve my kids straight, acidic lemon juice so I certainly don’t want to go splashing it about willy nilly with no thoughts as to what I’m putting out there that others can’t help ingest.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I fully realize and know for a fact that attitudes really are contagious, and I would much rather spread sunshine than the plague.

I haven’t always been like this though. I used to not realize the effect my mood and attitude had on others. But you know, a strange thing happens when you start to sweeten your lemonade. Not only does it taste better to others, but it tastes an awful lot better to you, too.

Here is another great thing you can do with those lemons life hands you, make my Mama’s Lemon Blossoms. With spring on it’s way, these cookies are the perfect way to have a taste of sunshine!

If you want my recipe for lemonade, it is in the Southern Plate Cookbook on page 38.

You’ll need: Lemon juice, Sugar, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt, Flour, and butter or margarine.

I have no idea where my butter ran off to when I was taking this photo but obviously it objected to being photographed for some reason or another and we gotta respect that. After all, it was it’s last wish and all because we’re fixin’ to send it to a better place

Place your softened butter or margarine in a mixing bowl with your sugar. Mix well.

Yes, I’m using real butter today. I bought a pound of it for this recipe and one more that I made so the next two posts y’all will see the real thing!

WOW, how Christy finally come around?? Has she seen the light!!?? Will she now convert to only using real butter in her recipes???

Pfft. I’ll convert when real butter costs 75 cents a box like margarine does.

Until then, y’all are just gonna have to love me as I am, glaring character flaws and all

In this low lighted bowl, place your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Stirry stirry.

Oh look, our butter and sugar have made friends!

And formed a centrifuge of sorts around the outer sides of the bowl…

Now pour in your lemon juice.

And ever so gradually and delicately add your flour mixture.

JUST KIDDING!

Thats what the original recipe said, or something to that effect. Here at Bountiful, we just dump it on in all at once!

Live dangerously with me.

Now mix that up until it is all doughified and such.

Then get it out of your bowl and moosh it into a ball and put it in a plastic bag or some other covered container to place in the fridge for an hour.

(Again, the recipe said refrigerator for an hour. I just stuck it in the freezer for about ten minutes)

~giggle~

When I make cookies I like to line my counter with waxed paper.

Sprinkle flour all over the top of that and have a little more in case you need it to keep dough from sticking.

Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thick, or just until you get tired of rolling it out.

Then cut out with a small cookie cutter.

I am using a 1-1/2 inch circle one and it will easily yield about three dozen cookies.

You can use a larger one if you prefer though.

No one is the boss of you in your own kitchen

Place on ungreased cookie sheets about an inch or so apart.

Bake those at 400 for about eight minutes.

I really should have taken a photo of the cookies by themselves when they got done but I forgot so close your left eye and just look at those cookies on the right side of this photo for effect.

Now, lets make us some icing for these puppies.

First of all let me tell you that Mama’s recipe said this is enough glaze for the cookies but I’m much more generous with my glaze and ended up making double. I’m going to start you out with Mama’s quantity though because it is so easy to make more if you need it.

In a bowl place a cup and a half of confectioner’s sugar.

Add three tablespoons of lemon juice. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring if you like. Stir until smooth and creamy.

Like this.

I added a little yellow food coloring (a little too much!)

Now just spoon a little glaze into the center of each cookie and smear it arund a bit.

Here they are all done. I like to leave a few with no glaze for folks who don’t want the added sweetness.

I added a lot less food coloring to my second batch of glaze

Let those dry for an hour or so and then you can stack them.

During that time you can enjoy this photo of the beautiful flowers I got for my birthday.

I didn’t even have to get married or have a baby to get them, either!

Here are our beautiful lemon blossoms, served up on an Anchor Hocking Old Colony Lace plate!

Lemon Blossoms

• 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Butter or margarine, softened
• 1/3 Cup fresh or bottled lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze

• 1-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• few drops yellow food coloring (optional)

In large mixing bowl combine butter and sugar. Mix well until creamy and combined. In separate bowl stir together with a spoon flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. To the butter mixture add lemon juice and dump in flour mixture. Mix well until dough forms. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on floured surface. Cut with small circle cutter (I used 1-1/2 inch). Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake at 400 for about 8 minutes. Remove to cool.

Combine glaze ingredients and stir with a spoon until lumps disappear. Spoon a little bit into center of each cookie and spread around with the back of a spoon. Make more glaze if needed. Allow to dry for an hour or so and then stack cookies and store in cookie jar.

If you or someone you know is an engineer (or some other form of overly-analytical, mathematical type),

you might enjoy clicking here to see what my husband did last night.

The simple truth is that we are all motivational speakers.

It is just that some of us are motivating folks to jump off a cliff.

~Sayeth Me, Christy Jordan

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/02/lemon-blossoms.html/feed 83 http://www.southernplate.com/2010/12/oreo-balls.html http://www.southernplate.com/2010/12/oreo-balls.html#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:01:42 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=12885 Pin it

Time is flying and Christmas is nipping at our heels. I’ve had a busy week with school parties and behind the scenes Southern Plate work so in order to help me get caught up on the work involved in getting my own family ready for Christmas, my friend Jyl of The Post It Place has graciously offered to guest blog for me today. Now I just need her to follow up this blog post by bringing me some of these Oreo Balls when I see her this weekend… Thank you, Jyl! Gratefully, Christy

Jyl says: This is one of the most requested treats that has made its way out of my kitchen. Everyone that has tasted them wants more and every year I get asked hundreds of times when I am making them again. For them to be so good yet so easy is almost sinful.

To make these, you’ll need: oreos, almond bark, and cream cheese.

Christy’s Note: Jyl! You bought generic oreos. I’m s’proud I could jes cry!

~sniff~ I just love it when people are cheap. Gets me right in the heart!

Crush up your Oreo cookies very fine, filling and all.

I know it doesn’t look like I crushed up the filling in here but I promise I did.

I use a food processor for this step but if you don’t have one you will need to put your cookies in a sealable bag and hammer the heck out of them.

You will then add your softened cream cheese to the crushed cookies.

I use my hands to mush it all together until you have a dough but you can use an electric mixer if you like. Once you have it mixed really well shape a spoonful into bite-sized balls.

While all of this is happening you want to have your almond bark melting in a double boiler or whatever you have. I don’t have a double boiler so I make my own by placing a glass bowl on top of a pan with some water in the bottom pan. I keep mine on about medium heat to keep the almond bark from scorching.

Then dip each ball into the melted almond bark until it is totally coated. I use a toothpick to dunk mine and pull them out. Once you have them all dipped and they have completely set you will want to store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Mmmm, these don’t last long at all at my house so I have to make a TON! But one batch will make about 60-70 balls.

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Oreo Cookie Balls- 3 Ingredient Easy!

Ingredients

• 1 package Oreos (or generic)
• 1 brick cream cheese, softened (8 ounces)
• 1 package white almond bark

Instructions

1. Crush cookies very fine either by using a food processor or by placing them in a sealed bag and crushing them with a mallet or rolling pin. Using an electric mixer, add softened cream cheese to crushed cookie mixture and mix until well blended. Scoop out and form into one inch balls and place on waxed paper until ready to dip.
2. Melt Almond bark either by using a double boiler (Christy just uses the microwave, heating for 45 seconds at a time and stirring in between until completely melted). Dip each cookie ball into almond bark and place back on waxed paper to cool completely. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. YUM!

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world

in a conspiracy of love.
 

~Mabi. Submit your quote by clicking here.

Cut Out Cookies For Santa

(click cookie name for recipe)

I’ve had a lot of folks ask what my favorite cookie recipes are for Christmas cookie exchanges so I’m putting them together in one handy, dandy list to help you with your holiday get togethers. My favorite thing to do is have other families each make one type of cookie and then get together for a big cookie exchange. By making a few dozen of one type and exchanging them like this, we can all end up with a big holiday cookie variety without the mess and also get to enjoy the delicious baking skills of our friends!

For more Christmas treats that are a must have in my family, check out Grandma Lucy’s Coffee Can Bon Bons (p.160), Creole Candy (our version of a praline p.159), Microwave Peanut Brittle (p.162), and Sugared Pecans (p.143) in the Southern Plate cookbook!

Fruitcake Bar Cookies

Candied and Dried fruit layered with cinnamon, brown sugar, and just enough flour and butter to hold it all together until it reaches your mouth!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the cookies that, according to both of my children, make me the absolute best mother in the entire universe.

Chocolate…chocolate…enough said.

Chocolate Chip Cloud Cookies

My nephew took one bite of these cookies years ago and declared them to taste just like clouds! Crisp and delicate meringue wrapped around chocolate chips – it’s all good here!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Nothing like a good old fashioned peanut butter cookie and a big glass of milk!

Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

If you make these, my mailing address is P.O. Box 2308….

and I love you.

~wink~

Mama’s Milk Dunkin M&M Cookies

Mama always made these growing up and let us decorate the tops with M&M’s before putting them in the oven. We got to use exactly three M&M’s per cookie…

Santa loves ‘em

Mexican Wedding Cookies

I love baking from scratch, but I also love being able to turn out cookies as wonderful as this using boxed white cake mix!

Dishpan Cookies

This is one of my personal all time favorites. I like to make ‘em really big and put each one in it’s own little bag with curling ribbon at top to give out as treats.

Oatmeal Raisin Scotchie Bars

This is my go to bar cookie recipe, with the addition of butterscotch chips and raisins to make a cookie that is a favorite of my husband.

Pecan Nougat Cookies

Oh. My. Goodness. So. Good. Please don’t leave me alone in the house with them! ~whimper~

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bakes

Always a classic!

Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons.

This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Mary Jo F for winning and please enjoy the recipe. Thanks!

This is an old fashioned candy recipe that I’ve received a lot of requests for. Mama said her Mama Reed used to make it around the holidays for all the kids. Mama Reed had ten children herself, but was known for her hospitality and open table policy: If a meal was being served, you were welcome to come join them. She made her potato candy a little different than how I’m making it here, but there are so many ways to customize this recipe that I’m sure you will be able to make it your own as well.

Mama Reed liked to divide her dough into two batches, tinting one pink with red food coloring and leaving one white. She’d then pinch off bits of dough and roll it into balls, storing the balls into the refrigerator until ready to serve to the younguns or whatever guests happened by. I’ve also seen folks roll out little balls of potato candy and dip them into melted chocolate to serve as a sort of poor man’s bon bon. Either way is delicious.

Now if you’re thinking potato candy sounds weird, I can see where you’re coming from so I’m gonna let you know what to expect : Old Fashioned Candy Heaven. This candy is kinda in the same taste category as Fudge or Divinity. It is just that good! You won’t be disappointed!

The ingredients for this are simple ones, my favorite kind! Peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, and a potato.

You can add a teaspoon of vanilla if you like, but you don’t have to. Y’all know I like things as simple as possible.

You can also leave the peanut butter out and just roll it into balls like Mama Reed did, but oh my goodness, I love the peanut butter!

You could also use nutella or a soy butter or such if you need to substitute.

Peel and slice your potato and cover it with water. bring to a boil and cook until tender.

Drain your potato water and place the cooked potato in a mixing bowl.

Beat it up real good.

Add about half of your confectioner’s sugar and mix it up well again.

Until you have a pulpy, liquidy, mess.

Dump in the rest of your sugar.

Sure you can add it “gradually” if you have all day but it’s just as good to dump it all in there and get on with making some candy.

After that second mixing, you’ll have yourself a good stiff dough, like the consistency of cookie dough, only maybe a wee bit stiffer.

You may need to add a little more sugar, depending on the size of your potato, to get this stiff consistency.

Now, because we don’t have all the time in the world to clean our kitchens and because we want this to be as easy as possible (so we enjoy it more, of course!),

place a big old sheet of waxed paper on your countertop.

If anyone is feeling particularly technical today, I think this is like…18 inches long – ish.

*I have a strict policy against unnecessary math in my life so go with an estimate here.

Put some confectioner’s sugar on that to keep your dough from sticking like tar.

Dump your blob of dough on that. You’ll have to scrape down the sides a bit to get it all.

Dust the top with some more sugar.

Okay, I didn’t dust, I just put a handful on there but sometimes I worry that y’all will think I have no grace at all so I throw out dainty little words like “dust”. While I was typing this I was drinking iced tea at the same time and just to help emphasize my supposed daintiness, I lifted my pinky as I held the glass.

~takes in a deep breath then a big old swig of tea~

Okay, I’m over that now.

Roll that out until it is about a quarter of an inch.

~tilts her head sideways and squints one eye~ Hold your head like this and it will look like a more even-ish blob.

Smear some peanut butter on that.

I have no idea how much peanut butter you’ll need so just go with your gut here.

You can do this because you are awesome!

Now roll that up log style, like you’re rolling up cinnamon rolls.

until you have this.

Now since we have the waxed paper already out there anyway, roll your log up in your waxed paper.

To make life easier, I cut my roll in half.

Then they will both fit in a gallon zipper bag. Place this in the fridge until thoroughly chilled.

When ready to serve, remove waxed paper and slice into inch slices.

Makes about forty pieces of candy.

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Old Fashioned Potato Candy

Ingredients

• 1 small potato
• 2 pounds confectioner's sugar
• peanut butter

Instructions

1. Peel and slice potato. In small sauce pot, cover potato slices with water and cook over medium heat until soft. Drain potato and place in mixing bowl. Beat until mashed. Add 1/2 sugar and mix well. Mix in remaining sugar, scraping down sides as needed.
2. Line a countertop with a sheet of waxed paper dusted with confectioner's sugar. Scrape out dough onto waxed paper and dust top with more confectioner's sugar. Roll out to a thickness of about 1/4 of an inch (don't go getting a ruler here, just eyeball it. This isn't rocket science). Spread dough with peanut butter and roll up like you are making cinnamon rolls. Once you have rolled up into a log, roll log up in your waxed paper and cut in half. Place halves in a gallon zipper seal bag and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
3. When ready to serve remove waxed paper an slice into 1/4 inch slices. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

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This post is part of the Nestle Family Holiday Exchange, which means one person who comments will win a great prize pack courtesy of the Nestle Family.

Today’s prize pack is a Baking Package, great for a fun evening of baking with your family!

Baking Prize Pack Includes:

• VIP Coupon for free Carnation Evaporated Milk
• VIP Coupon for free Toll House Morsels
• VIP Coupon for free Refrigerated Cookie Dough
• $25.00 Visa gift card to cover other baking supplies.

This contest closes at midnight, Thursday December 9th. Winner will be notified by email and announced on this post Friday December 10. Please note that I will be out of town during this time for my Friday appearance on The 700 Club so the winner will not be announced until late Friday night.

To enter, leave a comment below sharing your favorite holiday recipe (you can just tell me the title of the recipe or include the whole thing if you like!). You can also visit Nestlefamily.com and tell me a recipe there you’d like to make this year.

Check out the Very Merry Cookie Wreath idea while you’re there!

“Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.”

~Hugh Downs

Disclaimer: I have partnered with Nestle Family to be a part of this holiday exchange series of posts. I have not been paid for a positive opinion and all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

I love these things. They are only available seasonally (thank goodness) but I find my buggy steering towards them each year soon as they make their first showing in the grocery store. I’ve always wanted to make my own and wondered if they would be even better at home. Well the good news is, I FINALLY got a recipe for them from Mama! Woohoo!

Bad news is that as much as I like the store bought ones, the ones at home are even better. ~sighs~ And they know how to call my name in such a piteous longing fashion that I can’t prevent myself from visiting them just…one…more…time.

My only complaint is that the name is silly and misleading to us normal folks. People with culinary degrees and such may realize that “nougat” applies but the rest of us think about the chewy filling inside a candy bar and so don’t realize that this is just a yummy buttery shortbread with finely chopped nuts inside. So when I tell my kids what they are, I just say Shortbread Snowballs. It works.

No matter what you call it, these cookies are evil. Evil, I tell ya. Evil – and man are they good.

You’ll need: Flour (all purpose), Sugar, vanilla, butter, finely chopped nuts of your choice, and salt.

That little whooha on the left hand side is an antique grease jar but its far too pretty to use as a grease jar so I use it as a little salt crock and set it beside my stove. It was made by Fire King and the pattern is called “tulips”. Ain’t it purty? Makes me happy just to look at it.

Disclaimer: the real vanilla pictured in the photo was just the result of a really good deal. I promise I’m not gonna go all crazy and start tossing out money on things like real vanilla. The real butter, however, was on purpose. These cookies really need real butter but y’all know if I could eek by with margarine I sure would! And yeah, I’m mortified at how many pecans I’m using in this considering how expensive pecans are.

Just so ya know-M o r t i f i e d.

Place your softened butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and cream it til it’s git up and go done got up and went.

Like this

This is where the original recipe said to sift the flour. Pfft. Right.

I have a sifter and it sits up on a pretty little shelf in my kitchen where it collects dust.

I don’t sift. It is against my personal convictions.

Just dump your flour in there. Be rebellious with me.

Pour in your vanilla.

The recipe calls for two teaspoons but y’all know I just kinda pour and leave it up to the good Lord how much ends up in there.

It’s called divine baking – and I just made that term up. How cool is that? Stick with me, we’ll be the cool kids, even if no one knows it but us! ~winks~

Oh, you’re gonna need to scrape down the sides of your bowl some but you’ll figure that out…

Dump in your pecans.

Puh-kawns.

I just thought I’d spell that phonetically for anyone who may not know.

I know I just impressed you with that two dollar word, now didn’t I?

Oh, now you need to mix it all up again until well combined.

Like this.

Go ahead and get you a pinch of that dough and taste it.

Be sure to save some to bake though…I know it will be tempting.

I used my little cookie dough scoop and made some pretty generous sized cookies. you can just make them with your hands and make little one inch balls and have twice as many as I did but I was in a lazy, cookie dough scoop kinda mood and when I’m in those moods I try not to deny myself the pleasure of indulging in the easy way out.

Oh who are we kidding, I’m always in those moods but just for the sake of appearances lets both act like its a once in a while thing with me, k?

Now bake ‘em.

This is what they look like when they are done.

Unless you rolled them into little balls because if you did yours will be smaller and neater than mine…and more plentiful.

I made about thirty but you can easily make fifty or so instead.

After they cool roll those little puppies in confectioner’s sugar..

or “confectionary sugar” as one of my grandmother’s calls it.

Oh, here is me and two of my grandmothers at Thanksgiving.

I got Grannies coming out my ears so there are actually more.

If you’d like to see more of my Thanksgiving photos, click here. Yes, you’ll see my kitchen dirty, too. See how well I know you? Reading your thoughts and all that. Dirty dishes in the sink, junk on the counter, all part of my “keepin’ it real” policy!

Now tell me something, you see that puffy bubble vest thing I’m wearing? Can you honestly see one of those and NOT think Michael J Fox? I couldn’t resist. I gave into peer pressure. Everyone else jumped off the cliff and got one so I got one too…mine was $15.00 at Target so it wasn’t that bad.  

~Begins singing Huey Lewis~

I need to learn how to say “finished” in some foreign language so I can do it with a real flourish here.. .~goes to look it up in Italian~

Hmm, well that was kinda dull. Maybe we should just use a Southern Saying here.

Well if them thar cookies don’t beat all I ever saw! They sure look good!

They are absolutely, melt in your mouth, delicious.

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Pecan Nougat Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups finely ground nuts of your choice (I'm using pecans)
• Confectioner's sugar

Instructions

1. Cream butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add flour and vanilla, mix well, scraping down sides as needed. Add nuts and mix until well incorporated. Shape into one inch balls (mine are bigger because I use a little cookie dough scoop) and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 325 for twenty minutes, but don't let them brown.
2. Cool cookies. When cooled, roll in confectioner's sugar.

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“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over….

it became a butterfly!”

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