Gingersnaps

 I love gingersnaps! We made these for Christmas with pretzel antlers and a M&M red nose and brown eyes. These are also amazing with pumpkin ice cream.

Ingredients:
 

¾ C butter          1 C Sugar

1 egg                     ¼ C Molasses

2 ¼ C Flour         2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt             ½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cloves        ¼ tsp. ginger

Make into balls and roll in sugar.  Bake 375˚ 7-9 mins. (Unless you have a crazy oven you really don't want these to bake much longer than the 9 minutes. They need to be a little under-baked looking so they turn out soft in the middle when they're cooled)

Royal Icing

This recipe comes courtesy of Alton Brown and foodnetwork.com. We used it as icing for gingerbread houses and it worked really well. It dried fast and held even the heavy candy on really well. My favorite part was it was very water-soluble and much easier to clean out of the frosting bags than a Crisco-based birthday cake frosting. Happy Decorating!

Ingredients

• 3 ounces pasteurized egg whites (the ones that come in a carton are pasteurized)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Soft Rolls--For Thanksgiving!

1 3/4 C warm milk
1/2 C butter or margaring
1 T yeast, softened in 1/4 C warm water
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C instant dry potatoes
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
4-5 C bread flour (enough for a soft dough)

Mix in order given. Knead for about 8 minutes. Let rise 1 time. Punch down. Divide into two and roll into 10 inch circles. Brush circles with butter. Using pizza cutter, cut dough into about 18 triagnles. Starting at the wide end, roll up like a crescent roll. Let rise and then bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. Makes around 3 dozen rolls. These also freeze well if you freeze them individually on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag.

Simple Truffles

These are so simple. They look elegant but truly take no talent. I love to make them and give them as a gift for VT and neighbors. You can't tell the filling is oreo cookies. It tastes like some lucscious truffle filling.

1 pkg (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (16.6 oz) Oreo cookies, finely crushed (about 3 Cups)
Approx. 2 to 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
Shape into (1-inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (To melt chocolate put in microwaveable bowl and microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes or until the chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 seconds.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in fridge.

Sister Brenda Carlos (Melissa's Mother-in-law)
Philippines Cauayan Mission

Crumb Topped Apple Pie

This is a recipe copied from Taste of Home Magazine. It came from a lady named Virginia Olsen who makes about 500 of these pies each holiday season! Luckily this recipe only makes one. It really was the best apple pie I ever had. Hope you enjoy it!

CRUST:
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C shortening
1/4 C cold water

FILLING:
5-7 large tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced (I always think apple goods taste better when you mix a few varieties of apples together)
2/3 C sugar
5 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

TOPPING:
2/3 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C cold butter

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in the shortening until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This makes the crust much easier to handle.

2. Roll out crust to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Trim and flute the edges.

3. Combine all filling ingredients and transfer to the crust. I said 5-7 apples in the ingredients because it really depends on how high you want your pie to turn out. Remember that the apples will shrink considerably when you cook them, so I like to use more apples.

4. For topping combine flour and sugar in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 50-60 minutes longer or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Make sure you have vanilla ice cream nearby!!

The Best Sugar Cookies Ever

These are the best sugar cookies. We roll them a little thick and they stay soft for days! Be careful not to over bake them (you really don't want them to brown at all). Enjoy!

7 C flour
2 t soda
1 t salt
1 C margarine or shortening
2 C sugar
2 egg
2 t vanilla
1 C sour cream

Mix dry ingredients together. Cream wet ingredients. Add all together and roll out, cut into shapes. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Frosting:
1/3 C soft butter
1 1/2 t vanilla
3 C powdered sugar
about 2 T milk

Blend butter and sugar. Add vanilla and milk and desired food coloring. Beat until smooth.

Gingersnaps

This makes delicious soft gingersnaps that are perfect plain or with pumpkin ice cream!  It makes around two dozen.

¾ C butter           1 C Sugar

1 egg                    ¼ C Molasses

2 ¼ C Flour         2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt            ½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cloves       ¼ tsp. ginger

Make into balls and roll in sugar.  Bake 375˚ 7-9 mins. Do not overbake or they will be too hard and more like the store bought kind.

---