Tasty Tuesdays!

TASTY TUESDAY!

Today's recipes are my favorite holiday cookie and gift-worthy recipes. I often make little gift boxes with several of my cookie and candy recipes to give to neighbors, Sunday School and Awana leaders, and some of my friends. They are recipes my kids ask me to make every Christmas that they look forward to having only this time of year. I don't think I've ever made these outside of the month of December. It would be strange. Almost sacreligious.

My boys have grown old enough to be in the kitchen with me making these. I think they could almost run the show for me these days, they're so helpful. Far are the days when we used to make and decorate sugar cookies and it would take me hours to clean up the mess, albeit worth it. Sprinkles and colored candy decorating dots and balls would appear seemingly out of nowhere days after. My sister can verify this, just ask her about the mess they would leave. Of course, that was just last year. Just kidding.

Anyways, we were all in the kitchen yesterday making some of these recipes, buzzing around, our hearts aglow and listening to Christmas music. It's the makings for some great memories. So here are some recipes. If this just isn't enough for you, visit my sister's blog for some more great holiday recipes.

Peppermint Patties

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese

1 tsp peppermint extract

9 cups powdered sugar (2 lb bag plus 1/2 cup more)

1 (12 oz) bag semisweet chocolate chips

3 1/2 tbsp canola oil

Beat the cream cheese with the extract until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar in several additions, mixing well after each. Dough will be very stiff. Cover two cookie sheets with foil. Take pieces of dough, and shape into 1 inch balls. Place onto cookie sheet. When you are finished rolling the balls, flatten each ball into a patty with the heel of your hand. You can tidy up the edges a bit with your fingers, if needed. Refrigerate the patties for about an hour, or until firm. When ready, prepare your chocolate. Add oil to the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave on high at 30 second increments, until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir well. Take a few patties out of the fridge at a time, and dip each one in the chocolate mix. The best way to do this is to grip the patty around the edges with your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. Dip both sides, then shake off the excess. You can also drag the patty along the side of the bowl to remove excess if desired. Return to the foil lined cookies sheet. When you are finished dipping all the patties, return to the refrigerator to harden for at least an hour. When hardened, remove each patty from foil and store in ziplocs or airtight container in the freezer.

Grandma Lorrie's Cheesecake Cookies

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Combine brown sugar, walnuts, flour, and butter. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 cup of this mixture for topping. Press the remainder into a greased 8 X 8 pan, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients, and mix well until creamy (mixture will be runny). Pour over baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved topping. Bake for 25 minutes, or until set. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in the freezer.

Toffee

1 lb butter

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

semisweet chocolate chips (1/2-3/4 of a 12 oz bag, depending on how thick you spread it)

chopped almonds

In a large pot cook butter, sugar, and water, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a hard boil (about 7 minutes). Check with candy thermometer. The temperature must be 300-310. Color will go from fluffy white, to a very light tan, to a medium tan, to a deep rich golden brown and thinned mixture. Make sure to constantly stir to ensure you do not burn the mixture. When done, pour into a jelly roll pan, tilting pan to spread mixture to all the corners. Cool in refrigerator. When hardened, melt chocolate in the microwave until smooth. Working in small batches, spread the chocolate over the toffee, then sprinkle with almonds, pressing the nuts gently into the chocolate. Repeat the process until the entire sheet is covered in chocolate and nuts. Return to the refrigerator to harden. When done, use the sharp point of a sturdy knife and break the toffee into random sized pieces. Store the toffee in ziplocs in the freezer.