Christmas Goodies

These are tasty and pack well.  They're fine without glaze too, and pack even better!

White Chocolate Cappuccino Raisin Bars
36 bars, 350 degrees


½ C. butter or margarine
1 C. (6 oz.) white chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. instant coffee granules
1 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 C. flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ C. raisins (dried cherries or cranberries also work!)

Heat together butter and choc.,‘til just melted.
Dissolve coffee in 1 Tbsp water.
Stir into melted mixture with sugar, vanilla, and eggs.
Combine dry ingredients; add to mixture. Stir in raisins.
Spread in greased 9”x 13” pan.
Bake 30 minutes or until set in middle. Cool.
Drizzle with glaze.


Glaze:


Stir ¼ tsp. coffee granules in 4 tsp. water to dissolve.
Add 1 Tbsp. melted butter.
Mix in ¾ C. powdered sugar.

These are pretty much everyone's favorites every year.

Toffee Squares, from Forum Feasts

easy yield 3 dozen 350 degrees
can be frozen bake 20 minutes


1 C. butter (to soften, nuke 5 min at med heat)
1 C. light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 C flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.
Add egg yolk and vanilla.
Add flour and mix well.
Spread onto a 16” x 11” sheet with sides.
Bake at 350* for 15-20 min. Watch carefully.


½-1 C semi sweet choc chips (nuke 2-4 min to melt)
½-1 C chopped nuts


While crust is baking, melt chocolate chips. Gently spread chocolate on dough gently while it is still hot.
Sprinkle with nuts, and press them into the chocolate.
Cool slightly (10 minutes?) and cut into 2” squares.

This is store-bought marzipan rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate.  It was gross.

2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Regrettable Oreo Truffles

Ugh.

Pretty, right?  Ugh.  These little monsters are made from one package of oreo crumbs mixed with one package of cream cheese rolled into balls and dipped into melted chocolate. I zigzagged over the with melted white chocolate in a ziplock bag with the tip cut off.

I made them for my roommates for Valentines Day and while they look charming, eating just one walnut-sized truffle will make you feel like you are staring into the icy cold face of death. Tasty, but too intense.  Uncomfortably rick.  We've got pretty low standards around these parts, and these puppies actually went unfinished.

I always mix my leftover melted chocolate with whatever I can find laying around to make a tasty bark- granola and/or dried fruit and/or nuts.  I piped little hearts out of the leftover white chocolate, which one of my roommates used to spruce up his homemade V-Day dinner for his squeeze!

On a related note, some white chocolate melts and some doesn't.  I don't know what the difference is (I think I always buy tollhouse?) but if you know, please enlighten me! I can never tell till I'm mid-project.

Lion Cake!

Roar!  Bake a regular cake and use a cupcake or circle slice of a second layer to make the snout of the lion.  Draw your desired embellishments on a piece of paper and tape it to a cutting board, then tape a piece of waxed paper on top of it.  Pipe melted chocolate (use a ziplock bag with the tip cut off for a piping bag!) onto the designs you drew and then let them harden.  Peel them off and place them on your cake.  Tastier and less tongue-stain-y than most decorating frostings!