kattitudes

Spritz cookies or cookie press cookies are quintessential Christmas cookies. Rarely a Christmas passes that a package of these do not end up at the house and I know that I have actually worn out a cookie press in my time making them each year for others.

The variations on the basic spritz cookie recipe are endless, and adding a drop or two of food coloring in the different batters is also traditional (it is a great way to tell the different flavors apart). These cookies are a lot of fun to make and honestly, pretty hard to completely ruin. They are great for a beginner and if you do not have a cookie press yet, you might want to consider investing in one.

The cookie presses come with disks that fit in the end of the tube that you fill with cookie dough. Each disk makes a different cookie shape. I always forget which disk makes which shape cookie, so I always have to reference this photo to remember which disk to use. Now you can use the same picture to pick which shapes you want to include in your Christmas cookie packages.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 1 large egg
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter, shortening, and sugar until fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Add almond extract.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to creamed mixture gradually.

Press cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 7 to 8 minutes. Cool butter cookies on a wire rack.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries
3/4 cup shelled green pistachios
2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup sugar

Layer ingredients and store in airtight container.

Attach a tag with the following instructions:

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti Mix

Combine the following until well blended:
1 package mix
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs

Divide into 2 loaves on cookie sheet, chilling if necessary to make dough easier to handle. Each loaf should be about 9 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on sheet for 1 hour.

Cut each loaf diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices using a serrated (bread) knife. Place slices on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 325°F for 8 minutes, then turn over and bake for 8-10 minutes more or until dry and crisp. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Oh nummy! What a wonderful idea from BHG and this is an oh so easy Christmas present to whip out at the last minute.

Take those wrapped caramels, unwrap, melt a variety of the different chips that you have in your pantry and dip your caramels just a little (or a lot, depending on how much you like the extra flavors).

After you dip your caramels into your melted chocolate or melted vanilla or melted cinnamon or so on, you can then dip them in chopped nuts or cake sprinkles or chopped candy or whatever strikes your fancy.

This would make such a fast gift, especially if you are short on time. As long as you have what you need in your pantry, you could put this together in no time at all.

And you know, you would not really need to keep this just for a gift. This is the season for holiday parties, and this would make a fantastic take along treat or cocktail party sweetie.

Pulling taffy used to be a family or party activity, but it is something that you absolutely can do by yourself. As an germ-o-phobe, I much prefer to do my own taffy pulling rather than having eleventy dozen people touching my candy, but still, I can see the fun in making candy in a group.

Even I, as a confirmed germophobe, can see the absolute fun in coordinating a taffy pull one night to have your children make a batch of homemade candy as a holiday gift for their friends or a special teacher.

The directions sound a little complex, but actually, if your kids play with their bubble gum, then they are ready to pull taffy. It is the exact same process.

Ingredients:

2 cups unsulfured molasses
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cider or white vinegar

Butter a platter or baking sheet. In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients.

Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees F (the hard-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a ball that is hard enough to hold its shape yet is pliable.

Pour onto the platter. Using a spatula, turn the edges toward the center to speed cooling. Pull taffy.

Before you begin, grease a pair of scissors and have on hand squares of wax paper for wrapping.

Let your cooked taffy sit just until it is barely cool enough to work with (if it gets too cool, you can warm it in a 350 F oven for 3 to 4 minutes).

Coat your hands well with cornstarch or butter. Form the candy into one or more balls and start pulling.

Working fast, pull a lump of candy between the fingertips of one hand and the other until it is about 15 inches long.

Double it up and pull again. Continue pulling, as above, until the candy is porous and hard to pull.

Stretch the candy into a rope about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Cut with the greased scissors into 1-inch pieces. To prevent sticking, wrap each piece of candy individually in a square of wax paper; twist the ends to seal. Keep the wrapped candies in a tightly closed tin.

This is an interesting taste combination. The orange zip of the astronaut’s Tang Drink (and if you do not get that reference, go read your American space race history, starting in the 1960s) tastes great combined with the vanilla of the chips as opposed to the ubiquitous flavor of chocolate chips that always go into everything.

Of course, having said that, if you cannot find vanilla, white chocolate would make a great counterpoint to the orange flavor.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Tang Instant Breakfast Drink powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups vanilla chips
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Layer ingredients and store in airtight container.

Attach a tag with the following instructions:

Tangy Cookie Mix

1 package cookie mix
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg slightly beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla Mix

Roll heaping tablespoonfuls into balls. Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375F degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until tops are very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet.

On Sunday I talked about chocolate dipped pretzels with all types of variations. Today I wandered to BHG and found the same idea, but instead of using pretzels, they used peppermint sticks. It looks as if they used just chocolate and rolled it in chopped nuts, much like some of the pretzels examples I showed.

What a great combination! Can you imagine using both for a quick and easy present? If you need to put together a Secret Santa gift this season, how about a couple dipped pretzel rods and a dipped peppermint stick wrapped together in a coffee mug.

This would also be a fantastic idea to produce en masse if you need to put together a large number of gifts for a small expense.

An absolutely wonderful highly popular (semi) homemade holiday kitchen gift given at Christmas time is is the chocolate dipped pretzel. People love these things. The combination of crunchy and salty and sweet chocolate is just addictive.

Dipped pretzels have become such a popular gift that large bags of dipping pretzels are regularly sold at most grocery stores now, so it is quite easy to find any type of pretzel you wish to make these gifts.

Also, you are not limited to just melted chocolate for your dipping material. Think of all the types of chips out there these days: caramel, butterscotch, peanut butter, white chocolate, cinnamon, and so on. There are so many options available that the choices are almost getting insane.

And after you make your choice for the dipping medium, you then can decide if you want to cover, roll or sprinkle anything on the wet pretzel for decoration and/or additional taste delights. Some suggestions include:

miniature chocolate chips
white chocolate chips
caramel candies then pecans then chocolate
peppermint candies
miniature m&m candies
nuts, finely chopped
cake sprinkles
dried coconut
honey roasted peanuts
toffee candy
macadamia nuts with white chocolate

Ingredients:

2 (12 ounce) bags cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup fresh orange juice
zest of 2 oranges

Streusel topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup hard unsalted butter

Combine cranberries, sugar and orange juice in saucepan. Simmer until cranberry skins pop. Cook 7 to 10 minutes, just until tender (don’t let them lose their shape.) Add orange zest.

Knead ingredients for streusel topping until coarse crumb-like. Empty cranberry mix into 9 x 13 casserole or pan.

When cool, cover with topping and pop under broiler for about one minute or until browned.

Tastes utterly fantastic with ice cream.

2 large navel oranges
1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups white (granulated) sugar
1 cup orange juice
2 to 4 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Grate two teaspoons of peel from the orange and set aside. One fantastic way to infuse orange into the recipe would be use a zester to remove the peel, then use your food processor to combine the orange peel with the granulated sugar.

Section the oranges, being careful to remove all of the white pith. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the cranberries, orange juice and grated orange peel and sugar.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar.

Reduce heat to low and simmer until the sauce is thick and the cranberries have burst (about 10 - 15 minutes).

During the last few minutes, stir in the orange sections. If you prefer smaller orange pieces, you can put the orange slices into your food processor and chop coarsely before adding, then cook them along with the cranberries.

Remove from heat and stir in the Grand Marnier.

Cool completely and serve chilled (or serve at room temperature).

2 pounds fresh string beans, cleaned and ends trimmed
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 fresh clove garlic, finely minced
4 tablespoons chopped, toasted almonds
4 tablespoons Locatelli (Romano) cheese, grated
1 tablespoon finely minced onion
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/6 teaspoon salt
2-4 tablespoons butter
a sprinkling of paprika

In separate bowl combine almonds and cheese. Mix well and set aside.

Steam green beans until just tender. Run under cold water to cool and drain thoroughly and place in a buttered casserole dish.

In a cruet or small jar with a lid, mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, onion and garlic. Shake well. Pour over beans and mix well. Top with almond/cheese mixture. Dot with butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, toss and serve.