Baking With Mom

Yesterday was my perfect pre-Christmas day.  I was able to spend the day with my mom and we baked up a storm!

Every Christmas, we get together and make nutroll.  It's a recipe handed down from my great-grandmother and is my grandpa's very favorite thing.  It didn't look like we were going to find the time this year.  My mom gives any spare time taking care of her ailing mother.  Last year, we had Gram come over while we made nutroll.  That would not be a possibility at all this year since time with her is typically spent preventing her from running out the door.  My mom knows this will be her last Christmas with her mother around so she's trying to spend as much time with her as possible, making as many memories as possible.

Somehow, my mom found time to take a day off and spend it with me.  It was due partly to the fact that her car was in the shop getting some dings repaired and that she was recovering from having a skin irritation removed the day before.  We made nutroll, chocolate crinkles, chocolate fudge, and buckeyes.  After we were done, I had to run home and finish up some iced sugar cookies that people had ordered from me.  Note To Self:  Do not agree to make iced sugar cookies for people right before Christmas.  You are too busy.  Plus, you are not charging nearly enough!  The cost of butter alone eats up half the profits!  Raise your prices or get a backbone!  (Sorry, I had been meaning to have that chat with myself for a while now.)

After all that, my house is a wreck.  I still have cookies to decorate and peanut butter balls to dip in chocolate.  The kids are home on Christmas break and the presents aren't all wrapped yet.  I'm going to have to find somewhere for the kids to go when it becomes present wrapping time.  For now, I think it's time to turn back on some Pandora Christmas music and get this house back into shape.  You know me, I won't be able to enjoy Christmas at all if my house isn't clean.  Anyone want a cookie?

Here's my Christmas Gift to you- my nutroll recipe.  This is a family heirloom so you should consider yourselves lucky!  (Warning:  this recipe isn't for novice bakers.)

Nutroll

Bread Dough:
1/2 lb. butter (cold)
5 egg yolks (save whites)
3/4 C milk (warm)
2 T sugar
4 C flour
1 envelope yeast
pinch of salt
1 t vanilla

With your hand, work cold butter and egg yolks together. (It will look a bit like scrambled eggs when it's ready.) Add yeast to warm milk and sugar. Let stand until yeast swells in milk, about 5 minutes. Add flour and salt to to egg and butter, then add milk and yeast mixture. Add vanilla. Knead like bread dough. Cover and let stand 20 minutes.

Put on pastry board, work out a little, cut into 4 pieces, and let stand 20 minutes.

Roll each piece and fold over several times. Let stand 20 minutes more.

Roll thinly and fill each piece with nut filling.

Nut Filling:
5 egg whites
4 C powdered sugar
1 lb. walnuts (ground)
1 t vanilla

Beat egg whites until stiff.  Add nuts, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Spread 1/4 of the filling on dough and roll like a jelly roll.  Pinch ends to make sure filling doesn't seep out.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Repeat with other three.

My Notes:
*  We buy bread bags from our grocery store's bakery to store the nutroll in.
*  Nutroll freezes well.
*  If making more than one batch, be sure to wash the bowl and all the tools well that are used to make the filling.  The egg whites will not become stiff if there is reside from the last batch still in the bowl.
*  Specialty shops sell nutroll pans.  They are about the size of a cookie sheet but are curved to help shape the rolls.  We found several at an Amish shop and have used them for years.  You can bake them on a cookie sheet but they will flatten out a bit.

Christmas Recipes

I know Christmas is past, but here are a few more dessert recipes that are good year round.

Grandma's York Mint Brownies

3 sticks butter, melted

3 C sugar

5 eggs

1 C cocoa

1 t salt

1 T vanilla

2 C flour

1 t baking powder

24 (1 1/2") York Peppermint Patties

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13" baking dish. In a large bowl, stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs, stir until blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Blend well. Reserve 2 C batter; spread remaining batter in pan. Arrange patties in single layer over batter, about 1/2" apart. Spread reserved batter over patties. Bake 50-55 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1/4 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C Butter, softened
1 egg

1 1/2 C Flour

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

Heat oven to 375. In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, and egg on medium speed. Stir in flour, soda, and baking powder. Shape dough into 1” balls; roll in additional granulated sugar. Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Immediately press 1 candy in center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Red Velvet Cake

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C Crisco

2 eggs

1 oz. red food coloring

3 1/2 T cocoa

1 t vanilla

pinch of salt

1 t baking soda

1 T vinegar

2 1/2 C sifted cake flour

1 C buttermilk

Cream together sugar and Crisco. Add 2 eggs. Make a paste of food coloring, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. Add to first 3 ingredients. Add baking soda dissolved in vinegar. Add flour. Lastly, add buttermilk. Pour into 2 round cake pans. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or 12 minutes for cupcakes. Do not overbake.

Make a paste of 2T flour and 1 C milk. Cook until thick; cool completely. Add 2 sticks softened butter, 1 C powdered sugar, and 1t vanilla. Beat at high speed until light and fluffy. (If icing looks curdled, it may be too cold. Microwave for 5 seconds. If it looks runny, it may be too warm. Set bowl in a sink of ice water for a few minutes.)
Buttercream Frosting

Cookie of the Day

I jokingly refer to my new baking adventure as Cookie of the Day. It seems like there is a new cookie almost every day because of how quickly they are disappearing. But my generous nature of sharing them with the entire neighborhood is partly to blame.

Yesterday the kids had a snow day so I decided to whip up something fun and different. We made Monster Cookies. I hadn't tasted a Monster Cookie since I was probably my kids' age. When I was little, a family friend would often have us over to her home. I remember her always making Pizza Burgers and Monster Cookies. I don't remember if the cookies were really that enormous or if I was just little. But the first bite brought back memories of my long gone youth. If you've never tasted them before, hopefully you'll enjoy them.

Monster Cookies
6 eggs
2 C sugar
1 lb. brown sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 T vanilla
1 T light corn syrup
4 t baking powder
1 1/2 lbs. (24 oz.) peanut butter
21 oz. quick oats (about 8 C)
1 (12 oz.) bag chocolate chips
Plain M&Ms

Mix eggs, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, corn syrup, baking powder, and peanut butter with a hand mixer in the order listed. Stir in oats and chocolate chips with a sturdy spoon. Drop by ice cream scoop onto a cookie sheet and press down to form round cookies. Garnish each cookie with 6 M&Ms.

Bake 9 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Take care not to over or under bake cookies. Let cookies sit for 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks. Cookies stay moist and delicious several days.

*My Notes:
- I only had old-fashioned oats, not quick oats. They seemed to work fine.
- I baked each tray of cookies for 11 to 13 minutes. My stoneware pans took longer than my aluminum sheets.
- I made about 70 fairly large cookies. I think the recipe could be cut in half if you don't have the need to feed an army.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Well, we had a short lapse in fresh, homemade cookies due to the fact that the Chocolate Chunk Cookies didn't even make it 24 hours. My parents and brother got wind of the fact that I was attempting to have homemade cookies constantly this month. So they helped speed the process along.

This recipe has to be my family's favorite. My mom always made them around Christmastime when I was growing up. They were too special to have all year round. (Which means they were time consuming and somewhat pricey to make.) So when I make them around here, it is cause for celebration. They're not that much work, you just have to plan ahead. I'm sure I will be posting another recipe soon...these are bound to go quickly!

Chocolate Crinkles
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 C flour
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate*
2 t baking powder
2 C sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t vanilla
4 eggs

1/2 C + powdered sugar, set aside

In large bowl, mix oil, chocolate, sugar and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover; refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray aluminum foil lined cookie sheet with Pam.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat and shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake 12 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Store tightly covered.

*I use Nestle pre-melted unsweetened chocolate that comes in a yellow box. It's much easier!

Cookie Tradition & Softened Butter

I read a post that suggested a home should not be without homemade cookies in the month of December. I couldn't agree more. So I am attempting to keep freshly baked cookies on the counter through Christmas. It may be a challenge, however, because I know how quickly these cookies are likely to disappear.

Last night's cookies were good, old-fashioned chocolate chunk. My recipe is just a tweak of the Tollhouse Cookie recipe, but I'll share it anyway.

Many recipes called for softened butter. There is a great difference between softened and melted butter. The consistency of the butter can dramatically alter your finished product. If you are prepared in advance, you can leave the sticks of butter on the countertop for a couple hours. But that never happens in my house. Luckily, I learned how to soften it in the microwave without melting it. You must reduce the power on your microwave. I had never done that before so wasn't even sure how to do it. But once I figured it out, I learned that 2 sticks of butter take 40 seconds at 20% power in my microwave. Yours may vary. Too long and it's liquid. It's better to try 10 seconds at a time and keep checking it.

Now that I've got this power application down, I've started to microwave my popcorn at 90% power. It seems to help more kernals to pop without burning. So there's your cooking tip for the day! Now, on to the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 C flour
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
dash cinnamon
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 eggs
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon. In a large bowl, mix butter, sugars, and vanilla by hand. Mix in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture without over mixing. Add in chocolate.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until edges are brown. Cool on the tray for a couple minutes then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.