Monday, December 22, 2008

Sister's Sugar Cookies

Sister makes these every year. She makes some special ones with me with blackberry brandy in the icing. Purple penquins are Aunt Hopie's special cookies. Just top with powdered sugar icing from the BH&G or Betty Crocker cookbook.


Sister's Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon peel
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Beat butter; add sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat. Beat in sour cream, egg, vanilla and lemon peel.

Beat in as much of teh flour as you can. Stir in rest by hand. Chill one to two hours.

Try to work it as little as possible, roll out quickly and cut into shapes. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheet. Cook at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes.

Lime Cookies

These are my favorite Christmas cookies. Mmmm. I have no problem sharing the rest of my cookies, but those? I save a bunch of them for myself. They are nice and crisp and limey. Yeah, I just made that word up. Oh and it's from some BH&H cookie recipe book.


Lime Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbs finely shreded lime peel
2 Tbs lime juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 recipe Sugar Topping

1. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally.

2. Beat in shredded lime peel and lime juice until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches aparton an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each to 1/4-inch thickness with the bottom of a glass dipped in Sugar Topping.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack until cool. Makes about 48 (yeah right) cookies.

Sugar Topping: In a small bowl stir together 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 Tbs green decorating sugar, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Pecan Tassies

I think the official name is Tea Time Tassies, but that is just too cheesy for me. Mom always made these and I love them, so I called her and got the recipe. I am attempting them for a party tonight, so wish me luck...


Pecan Tassie

Crust:
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sifted flour

Blend cream cheese and butter in mixer. Add flour and mix. Make a ball of dough, chill until moldable (vague, Mom, vague). Roll into 24 one inch balls.

Filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs soft butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup broken pecans (Mom uses chopped)

Mix ingrdients. Pour into shells.

Bake at 325 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Sweet Potato Casserole

I know this is a little late for Thanksgiving, but it's also tasty for Christmas dinner. My nephews call this stuff candy it's so yummy.

This recipe is fondly referred to as our "stolen casserole". We had been wanting to find a good version of sweet potato casserole and it was before the internet recipe explosion. Mom, sister and I were doing some Christmas shopping in the mall and decided to check the cookbook section in Waldenbooks. Well, we found what looked like a fabulous recipe, but the rest of the cookbook, eh, so not worth the money.

Waldenbooks doesn't have those cozy little nooks with chairs for you to sit, browse and drink your high dollar coffee, so we snuck around the store until we found a less crowded section. Mom and Sister stood guard while I frantically copied the instructions on a scrap of paper we found. Once done, we put the book back and made our escape, giggling the whole time.

Yeah, I know, we're wild and crazy girls.


Sweet Potato Casserole

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, cooked (we use canned, drained and rinsed)
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 lg eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix the above ingredients with mixer. Put in buttered dish.

Topping:
3/4 stick butter melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix and then crumble on top of filling.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.