Category: COOKIES, BARS & CANDY

GINGERBREAD BARS
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons molasses
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 ounces crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped candied lemon

OPTIONAL frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter. room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and ground ginger. 
• Toss flour mixture with lemon and ginger pieces. Set Aside.
• In a large mixing bowl combine butter, sugar, molasses and egg, beating until creamy.
• Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture until well blended.
• Press dough into an un-greased jelly roll pan. (15x10x10).
• Bake 16-24 minutes or until evenly golden brown.
• Top with powdered sugar or cream cheese frosting.

My cousin who is quite a few years younger and her husband were in town this week with their 4 young children (ALL boys ages 7 months to 10 – God giver her strength) and we had dinner with them, her dad and another cousin I don’t get to see very often so all was good with that night.  My uncle grilled burgers, I made pasta and potato salads and Jenn brought fruit salad and tater tots for the boys.

While we were setting up Suzy was entertaining the boys and started telling them all about the strange words Jenn made up as a kid for foods – like calling hamburgers hinkleburgers LOL.  When Jenn and her sister, Michelle were little they could not say “m”s.  As a result I became better known as Tby for quite a long time, in fact Suzy (we’re the same age) still calls me that.

Jump to today when I made up a new cookie recipe and I asked hubby what I should call them.  He suggested Monster cookies because they are so full of things, but that name has been done so much as has Kitchen Sink so he suggested Tby’s Cookies.

I’ve also incorporated some unusual techniques to infuse the flavors I wanted.  I hope you give them a try and let me know what you think.  When Jenn was little I visited often. I baked a lot of cookies back then.  I liked walnuts in my cookies, but my uncle hated them so I began grinding the peanuts and incorporating the flour into the cookies for flavor.  HE NEVER CAUGHT ON! LOL

TBY’s COOKIES aka MONSTER COOKIES or KITCHEN SINK COOKIES
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons quick oatmeal flour – see note – this is easy
1 tablespoon peanut flour – see note – this is easy
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (high quality)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

• Sift the above ingredients together and set aside. 
• Preheat oven to 350°.

2 cups butter (high quality)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons PURE vanilla

• Cream butter with sugars until smooth and creamy.
• Add eggs one at a time, blending until incorporated after each one.
• Add vanilla, blending well.
• Add flour mixture gradually, blending well after each addition.

Now on to the good stuff!
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup small walnut pieces
1/3 cup caramel baking balls, cut in half (Kraft)
1/2 cup Heath bar pieces
8 ounces dehydrated pineapple, chopped small
1 cup coconut rum soaked golden raisins**

• Add the above items while the mixer is running.  I like to add a little of each one in a rotating manner so that the ingredients get well dispersed into the dough and there are no big clumps of any one item. ADD THE RAISINS LAST AND SLOW THE MIXER TO THE SLOWEST SPEED TO NOT BREAK THEM TOO BADLY.
• Drop by small scoop or small spoonfuls to a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silpat on it.
• Bake 11-12 minutes.

NOTE: Using a cuisinart junior blend oatmeal or nuts until they become powdery.

**About an hour before I plan to bake I pour about 1/4 cup of Malibu Coconut Rum over the raisins and then stir them periodically.  I start draining them as I begin to cream the butter.  While you want nice plump raisins you do not want to add a tone of liquid moisture so draining these well  is a key step.

BEIGNET is typically a French pastry made of  deep-fried choux pastry but is synonymous in English with the term, fritter, or fried dough.  Choux pastry is a pastry made of only butter, water, flour and eggs and does not use a leavening agent. Instead it uses a high moisture content to create steam during cooking to puff the pastry. Ironically the chef given credit for the original recipe is Chef Pantarelli from Florence Itlay and the original name was pâte à Pantanelli from 1540. He left Italy with Catherine de’ Medici and her court when she married King Henry II and became queen of France.

As with all things over time, the dough recipe evolved, and the name was changed to pâte à popelin, which was used to make popelins, small cakes made in the shape of woman’s breasts. Then, Avice, an 18th century pâtissier created what were then called choux buns with the same recipe and the name of the dough was changed to pâte à choux, as Avice’s buns resembled cabbages.

This recipe however uses a more traditional dough with baking powder.  But, only a true connoisseur can tell the difference though and they disappear just as fast as any French made pastry.

BANANA BEIGNETS & CREAM CHEESE DIPPING SAUCE
makes 2 dozen
BEIGNETS
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 JUMBO egg
1 cup mashed bananas (2 large)
1/2 cup WHOLE milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 CRISCO stick for frying

• In a small bowl whisk together the FINISH sugar ingredients ans set aside. You will be using this last.
• In a large bowl mix sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt. Set aside.
• In medium bowl whisk egg and milk until well blended. 
• Add oil and mashed banana blending well.
• Fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just blended.
• Drop by small spoonfuls into HOT oil.  DO NOT CROWD PAN!!!!! Fry about 1 minute each side until golden brown. 
• Drain on paper towels.
• Roll warm beignets in Finish sugar an cool on rack.
• Serve with Cream Cheese dipping sauce.

FINISH SUGAR
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup PACKED brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE DIPPING SAUCE
4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Powdered Sugar
½ tsp PURE vanilla
5-6 teaspoons whole milk

• Mix together softened cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. 
• Add vanilla and 5 teaspoons of milk, stirring until incorporated and smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add an additional teaspoon or two of milk, until you reach desired consistency.

CINNAMON PECAN BRITTLE
Parchment paper
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/4 cups butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso (Yuban instant coffee)
1 tablespoon dark unsulphured molasses
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 cups Fisher cinnamon pecans
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels

• Line a 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper, and lightly coat with cooking spray.
• Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, espresso, molasses, salt and 1/3 cup water. 
• Cook, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer registers 290° (soft crack stage), about 17 to 20 minutes. 
• Remove pan from heat, and stir in pecans. 
• Immediately pour mixture into prepared pan spreading in an even layer, and sprinkle bittersweet and semisweet chocolate morsels over top. 
• Let stand 5 minutes and then spread and swirl the chocolate pieces using an offset spatula. 
• Chill 1 hour or until firm. 
• Break toffee into pieces. 
• Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 7 days. 
• Serve cold or at room temperature.