Grandma's Hello Dolly Cookies: aka Magic Cookie Bars

 

My Grandma Duple--and my aunt, apparently--used to make these, especially at holiday time.  My college (go Williams Ephs!) served a semi-giant version all-year-round.  They are delicious, gooey, and extra-easy to make.  In fact, you don't even need a bowl and can just make the whole thing in the pan.  Perfect for 2020, the year of not even wanting to wash a bowl! 

In celebration of Grandma, I decided that they would be the perfect recipe for my 2nd annual holiday-card recipe.    

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup graham cracker/vanilla wafer crumbs
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup nuts (pecans are the classic)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Put melted butter into square pan (9x9 or 10x10)
2. Stir in crumbs and press into bottom of pan
3. Layer chocolate chips, then coconut, then pecans
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top and spread to edges
5. Bake at 325°F for 30 minutes
6. Cool before serving
   

Hints:

• Refrigerating makes them way easier to cut
• Cut smaller for a candy tray and larger for a cookie tray
• Waxed paper between layers will keep them from sticking
• Swap out ingredients to experiment (different flavored chips, different nuts, etc.)
• Don't use twice as much butter by accident (they were very tasty, but unsurprisingly overly buttery)

The handwritten card below is my mom's copy, photographed and sent to me this year.  Gotta see if I can find Grandma's copy in her recipe box...

Holiday Baked Fruit: Perfect for a Crowd

 

With a 4-day work holiday for New Years, I'm working to get caught up on a bunch of stuff: sleep, housework, recipes, etc.

This is an old favorite from my mom's recipe cards, labeled as being from "Taste of Farmland" magazine.  You could swap out whatever fruit you want and use the fruity liquor of your choice.  For example, I couldn't find pineapple chunks this holiday, so I used an extra can of pears.  And I didn't have any orange liquor, so I used Chambord.  Oh, and I added dried strawberries, just for kicks!  

Also, while it makes a huge batch, it keeps well.  I had several servings over the Christmas week, but I have some in my freezer for later.  It can be served warm or cold, but my favorite is warm.      

Ingredients:

• 1 can apple pie filling
• 1 can cherry or strawberry pie filling
• 1 can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 can pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 can pear halves or slices. drained
• 1 can sliced peaches, drained
• 12 oz. pitted prunes
• 2 to 4 Tbsp. butter or margarine
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup orange liquor or brandy (optional)
• dash of salt

Directions:

1. Combine fruit
2. Place in greased 13x9 baking pan
3. Sprinkle with a smidge of salt, and dot with butter and liquor/brandy
4. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

Peppermint-filled Chocolate Bundt Cake

Since it is blizzard-ing outside, I'm catching up on a few winter recipes.  This one is for a really nice winter cake.  I mean, I suppose you could make it anytime you wanted, but the chocolate-peppermint combo is pretty classically winter-y.    

Every year at the holidays there is a pot-luck party at work, held by the Collections Department on level A.  But they invite us in Reference and people who have retired, too, and it is usually a lovely time.  They even have a white elephant gift exchange.  Side note on the white elephant exchange: One year I got a cherry-pitter called a "cherry chomper."  It looks like a little cartoony guy with an open mouth.  You put a cherry in his mouth and push down on his head and it pits the cherry.  This  small and hilarious item pretty much changed my life during cherry season.  Fresh cherries in greek yogurt are amazing!

Anyway, for the lunch party in December 2017 (a few months ago) I made a chocolate-peppermint bundt cake.  It was based off this one, but I subbed out the white peppermint bark ganache.  It was super yummy.  My advice would be to do the glaze and topping right before serving.  I did it the night before and it wasn't as cute as for the party as I hoped.    

Ingredients--Cake:

1 regular chocolate cake mix

1 regular package chocolate pudding (just the dry mix)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

Optional: If desired add 1-2 tsp of pure peppermint extract (be sure it is peppermint, not just mint.)

Ingredients--Peppermint Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 egg (at room temperature)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp pure peppermint extract

2 tbsp crushed candy canes

For Topping:

chocolate frosting in a can 

crushed candy canes 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine all cake ingredients until combined.  
3. Spray bundt cake pan well with non-stick spray.  (If you have problems with cake sticking in your pan, "flour" the pan using cocoa powder.)
4. Combine filling ingredients (except candy) and mix until creamy.
5. Stir in candy canes.  
6. Spoon 1/3 of batter into pan
7. Carefully spoon filling in a ring, try not to let the filling touch the pan on inside or outside. 
8. Spread the rest of cake batter over filling
9. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean
10. Allow to cool and top as desired  Suggested topping: Heat up frosting in the microwave until it is a glaze-like consistency (it only takes a few seconds, and be careful not to burn it).  Drizzle over the cooled cake and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.  
11. Keep refrigerated

  

Chocolate-filled Croissants: Valentine's Treat #2

Since a package of cinnamon rolls only makes 8 treats--and I wasn't sure of success--I decided to make another type of small-batch, easy treat.  This is something I've made before, and they are fast and easy.

The only rough part is that they call for nutella or other chocolate spread.  Which isn't terrible, but then I have left-over nutella.  Which means that at some point I end up eating a spoonful out of the jar.  Again, not a terrible hardship.  But it is a little shameful, and a little bad for my healthy-eating goals.  In this case, however, I already had a partial jar, so this recipe was actually helpful.

All you do is unroll the Pillsbury crescent rolls, spread with a spoonful of nutella, roll up, and bake.  Be sure to roll from the wide end toward the point, and to put the point on the bottom before baking.

Heart-Shaped Cinnamon Rolls: Valentine's Day Treat #1

I was looking for something festive, but easy to make to share with my co-workers on Valentine's Day, obviously I went on Pinterest.  Well, not obviously.  But that *is* a good place to just see a bunch of ideas in one place.  I saw this recipe's photo, followed it to the Pillsbury site, and thought: "Dang!  Easy, cute, cheaper than bakery cinnamon rolls.  A winner!"  

Well, it turns it it wasn't as easy as I thought.  "But, why?" you might ask.  Well, apparently the Pillsbury people make several different kinds of cinnamon rolls and they are relatively different...and the vital preliminary task of unrolling the cinnamon rolls is made significantly harder if they are not technically rolled in the first place.  Yep, somehow I managed to buy the type of rolls that are more of a solid roll with cinnamon stuff on top.  

"Ok.  No problem," I thought.  I can do this.  And I did!  They turned out pretty cute, actually.  Here's what I did:

1. Take a cinnamon roll and rip it in half.  Then stretch each half out and pinch ends together to made one long piece.  (Now, if I'd really been thinking, I would've just cut a spiral myself.  But did I do that?  Uh, no.)

2. Fold long piece in half and pinch bottom together.

3. Roll under loose ends to make a heart-shape

4. Spray an 8 or 9 inch round pan with non-stick spray and place hearts around edge, points to the center

5. Bake according to the package directions

6. Separate the rolls and then use frosting that came in package, if you like.  (I left mine plain and brought the frosting and a knife, so that people could add as much or as little as they liked.)

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses: Perfect for a Decorating Party

Since I moved into my house I have worked really hard to build my own traditions in my home. (After all, why should it be only the married and the parents among us that get to celebrate and build?)  One of those traditions is family Christmas Eve at my house.  The others are entertainments at my house for friends: a Halloween party and a holiday, gingerbread decorating party.  

The main issue with the gingerbread party is having houses (or other stuctures) for people to decorate.  I've tried baking them and I've bought tiny village kits to put together.  Both are good options, but the first is time consuming and the second can be expensive.  This year I decided to go with a 3rd option: making houses from graham crackers.  Still takes *some* time, but it was really affordable and made houses of a nice size for decorating.  

Here's how I did it....

Each house requires about 6.5 full-sheet graham crackers.  (Probably more, though, due to the chance of breakage while working.)

For each house, cut 2 of the crackers like this:

Then you will have main pieces like this:

Make a batch of royal icing and then load it into a frosting bag with the tip cut off.

Pipe frosting along two sides of one cracker:

Stand up the crackers on edge and attach a side wall piece:

Attach the other side wall piece:

Pipe frosting on the other long wall piece and attach it:

When frosting is partially set up, pipe frosting along cut edges of the side walls and the top of the long walls:

Put roof piece on, and repeat on other side. If your graham crackers are like mine, you'll have a space at the top where the roof doesn't meet:

To fill it in, frosting-glue two partial cracker-quarters (you might have to cut one to make it a bit shorter:

Also, you may want to frosting-glue the house down to a piece of foam core from the beginning.  It not only helps with stability but also gives a "lawn" for decorating!  

  

This year's graham crackers were really awesome!