Saltine Toffee Candy

Sounds kind of weird, but let me tell you....the salt from the crackers along with the sweetness of the toffee and chocolate is pure heaven.

1 Sleeve Saltine Crackers
3/4 Cup Butter
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 Cup Chocolate Chips (I like Milk Chocolate, but you can use what you like)
3/4 Cup Chopped Nuts (again, you can use what you like, or omit)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment that you have greased. Line the crackers along the sheet.

 In a saucepan combine the butter and sugar. Bring to a boil, and then time it, about 3 minutes.
Immediately pour over the crackers, and put in the oven for about 5-6 minutes. Once you pull out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the cracker/toffee mixture. Once the chocolate chips start to melt, spread across the cracker with a spatula or butter knife.

If you are going to sprinkle with nuts, do so now. I drizzled mine with white chocolate.

Let stand at room temperature, (or you could speed it up in the fridge) and then break apart.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

One of my fave's...again, who can resist chocolate and peanut butter!! I make these look a little more festive for the holiday by putting red and green decorative sugar on top.

1/2 Cup Crisco
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (lightly packed)
1 Egg
1 Tbl Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/8 Tsp Baking Soda
1 3/4 All Purpose Flour (If dough is too sticky to roll in your palm, add a little more)
Hershey Kisses (about 24 to 30 depending on how big you make your cookies)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter, crisco, both sugars, egg, vanilla, and milk together. Then add dry ingredients. Roll dough into little balls, and dip in sugar, put on baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Once you pull out of the oven, immediately press Hershey kisses in the middle.

Thumb Print Cookies

These were my all time favorite growing up!

1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Crisco
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar (packed)
1/2 Tsp Almond Extract
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Egg Yolks (save the white's)
2 Cups Sifted Flour
You will also need some chopped nuts to roll the cookies in. I use Pecans.
Beat the butter, crisco, sugar, egg yolks, and both flavorings together. Then sift in the flour. Dough will look like picture below.

Take the egg whites that you saved and beat them a bit to make frothy. Take a bit of dough, roll it into a ball, and then dip in egg white, and then dip in chopped nuts. Put on your cookie sheet, and press down lightly in the center of the cookie with your thumb. Then put what ever kind of preserves you like. I used Apricot.

This is how your cookie should look before you bake.
Put in a preheated oven at 350 degrees, for 12 to 15 minutes or when bottom is golden brown.

Gingerbread People

This is the first time I have made gingerbread cookies....I did a whole lot of research, and this seemed like the best recipe!
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/8 Tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 Cup Butter (softened)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Molasses
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 Cup Fresh Grated Ginger
Beat the butter with an electric mixer about 30 seconds, then add the sugar, egg, molasses, and the vanilla. Once combined (will be a light tan color) Start adding your dry ingredients. I sifted all dry ingredients together and then added to the bowl, you can still use the electric mixer, but once you put in all the flour, you will have to switch over to a wooden spoon. Cover and chill the dough at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, then on a lightly floured surface roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness.
Cut the dough with which ever cutouts you like to use. Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for about 5 to 6 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned.

You can decorate how ever you wish....I used Royal Icing, it sets up hard so you can package or stack the cookies, plus it just makes them look so pretty!

Peanut Butter Munchies

These little cookies have a very rich cocoa flavor with a sweet peanut butter filling....Who could resist Chocolate and Peanut Butter?
*For Cookie
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Butter (softened)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tbl Milk
*For Peanut Butter Filling
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
3/4 Cup Powder Sugar
You will also need about 2 Tbl Granulated Sugar for the top of each cookie before baking....
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl mix up your peanut butter filling and set it aside. It will be a very stiff mixture, and once it sits for a bit the fat from the peanut butter really sets into the powder sugar.
Next  beat the butter, both sugars, and the peanut butter. Once that is all mixed add the egg, milk, and vanilla. Now you can sift in all of your dry ingredients. Instead of using a wooden spoon, I actually used my hands to bring the dough together. You are going to have to use your hands any way, to make each dough ball, so I figured why not dig in!!
Now, take some of the chocolate dough, roll into a ball in the palm of your hands, and then flatten it a bit so you can stuff the peanut butter mixture inside. Roll the cookie back up so the peanut butter is completely covered with the chocolate dough. Take each filled ball and put on a lightly greased cookie sheet, then take a bottom of a glass dipped in the extra sugar and flatted just a bit.

Bake for about 8 minutes, or until they slightly start to crack. Remove and let cool.

Italian Style Dressing (stuffing)

1 Lb. Italian Sausage (bulk, or remove from casing)
1/2 Cup White Wine (Chard or Pinot)
1 Medium Onion Diced
3 Stalks Celery Diced
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
1 Tsp Spn Fresh Sage and Thyme
Salt and Pepper
4 Cups Bread Cubes or Croutons
3 Cups Chicken Stock
2 Eggs Beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet brown the sausage along with some butter. Once browned, add the wine to deglaze pan, and then transfer to a plate or bowl.
In the same pan add a little more butter and saute the onion and celery. Once they start to turn translucent, add the garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme and the croutons.
Turn off the heat and mix in the chicken stock to moisten all. Let it cool a bit and then mix in the eggs (you want it to cool off so you don't scramble the eggs)

Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake in the oven about 30 minutes, or until a bit crispy, but still moist in the center.

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

This is more of a chunky sauce, than the jell that comes out of the can....I have made this in the past, and will be making it again this year.

1/2 Pound Cranberries
1 Tbl Spn Orange Zest
1 Tsp Spn Lemon Zest
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Sugar (if you don't like it that sweet, do a little less)
1 Tsp Spn Vanilla
2 Cups Water
3 Tbl Spn Cornstarch

Add all ingredients except only use 1 1/2 cups water (reserve the rest along with the cornstarch to thicken)
boil for 8 minutes. You will hear the cranberries pop, and everything will marry together. It is a beautiful smell at this point!!

Mix the rest of the water with the cornstarch and add to the mixture, turn the heat down and simmer until it thickens. This can be made up to 4 days before and refrigerated. It is best served chilled.