These are a drier biscotti, but are wonderful with hot chocolate or tea.
Gingerbread Chai Biscotti
Pistachio, Cranberry, White Chocolate Biscotti
Andrea decided we needed some biscotti for our tea. Instead of using plain white chocolate, she caramelized some. She found many different recipes for caramelizing white chocolate online. It made the biscotti extra good, but the cookie was a little sweeter than we liked. Next time we make this, we plan to reduce the sugar some.
Canadian Moose Fart Cookies
We are studying world history and geography this year. As part of geography, we look for unique international recipes that we can try. While looking, I found a few recipes for “Moose Fart” no bake cookies. It seems they are from Newfoundland, but other places have similar recipes with different names.
These are good, but very sweet. We tried adding more graham cracker crumbs and less coconut, but they were dry and not so good. They would be extra good with nuts, so we added optional pecans to the recipe. When we shared the original recipe with friends, they disappeared very quickly.
To make the chocolate version, check out the notes.
Custard
Allan has always enjoyed custard and often used a mix to make it. However, with a little more work, we now make home made custard for desserts. This is not the pourable dessert custard (also called “creme anglaise”), but very similar to vanilla pudding. Only much better.
Baked Beignets
This is one of the recipes Andrea made in Culinary Class this week. I think we all agree it may be our very favorite recipe so far this year. (Ummm, schoool year 🙂 )
“Frantic Mother Cookies”
I have no idea where Mom found this recipe years ago. I am pretty sure it was in a “how to Mom” type book. We rarely made chocolate chip cookies growing up, but we made these often. Usually we made them drop cookies, but bar style gets them done a lot faster! They are a dryer, crispier cookie, so add a little extra water if desired.
While you can use any type of cereal, corn flakes or rice cereal is the best. One day I made them for the family I was babysitting and used Cheerios. Dom informed me that I could put most anything I wanted into the cookies I made for them, but NEVER use Cheerios again 🙂
Use 1 cup of your favorite “fillings”. Growing up we usually used half unsweetened coconut flakes and chocolate chips. But mix and match with walnuts, pecans or other favorite nuts, raisins, craisins or dried cherries (or other dried fruit sliced in small pieces) and your favorite chocolate chips.
Cream Cheese Truffles with Variations
When we first started learning to make desserts, this is one of the first, and easiest truffles we learned. Have fun experimenting with your own variations!
Caramel
This is our favorite caramel recipe. We have tried a few other ones, but always come back to this.
Angel Food Cake
This last weekend, we were able to buy a bunch of eggs on sale. Once I returned home, I realized that I already had a few dozen in the refrigerator. Not wanting to waste eggs, I asked Andrea to please make this recipe, twice.
When I was first given this recipe, by another para I worked with, I did not make it. I had been told that angel food cake was hard to make and finicky. A few years ago, Andrea and I started making it together. It is not a super hard recipe to make, but works best on dry days and when you have a little extra time to let it cool properly. Be sure not to get any yolk in with the egg whites and the pan you use is not greasy.
We almost always use an angel food pan for this recipe. If your pan does not have a removable bottom, line your pan’s bottom with parchment paper. We have also made this with a small lined bread pan with success.
This cake is good plain, for strawberry shortcake, with custard and with ice cream. It also freezes well if you have extra.
Cowboy Cookies
Allan and I discovered this recipe in Grandma Reble’s collection when I went to Colorado with the McGuire’s for the first time. Since getting married, we go to Colorado every few years and usually make at least one recipe from Grandma’s collection.
As you can see from the notes, Grandma thought they were “very good”. We still make them often because they have always been one of our favorite cookies. Years later, Oma gave Andrea a very similar recipe.
In our family, we do not use butterscotch chips. If we use chocolate chips, they are “Cowboy Cookies”, but if we use M&M’s they are “Cowgirl Cookies”. I can not remember who insisted on that name change, but it was probably Andrea.
