Blog - Fresh From Oregon

Cowboy Candy Poppers

January 29, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Quick and easy, these Cowboy Candy Poppers are perfect to serve at your next gathering. Only three ingredients make up these mouth watering poppers that you can make ahead or assemble, cook and serve. Surprise your guests at the upcoming Superbowl game and serve these sweet & spicy poppers but make sure you have plenty of beverages to serve with them.

Cowboy Candy Popper
1 package Wonton Wrappers
1 batch Cowboy Candy Dip
Canola Oil

Open wonton wrappers but make sure to cover with plastic wrap they dry out quickly. Fill a small bowl with water, you will need to wet around the wontons to seal them. Take one wonton and with your finger wet around the outer edge with water. Place a heaping teaspoon of Cowboy Candy in the center of the wonton. Bring back of wonton up and over the filling. Now take both sides and fold in, finish by rolling wonton forward to seal. Make sure the wonton is completed sealed or the cheese will melt out when you are cooking. Place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet. In a deep skillet or pot heat about 1-inch of canola oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Add one Cowboy Candy popper to check if the oil is hot and popper starts to fry. Add more to the skillet or pot about 8 total and cook about 1 to 2 minutes or until a golden brown. Using tongs flip over and cook the other side. The first batch always seems to take the longest to cook. Cook remaining poppers but watch these will brown up much faster. Place finished poppers back on the paper towel-lined baking sheet. They are ready to serve and you need no dipping sauce for these poppers. If you would like to serve later, cool poppers on paper towel. To reheat remove paper towel and place in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 3 minutes or until they are hot.

Crisp™ Zester + Oranges = Perfect Marmalade

January 16, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

What’s NEW in kitchen gadgets that every home cook needs to have in the kitchen? Crisp™ “Tools for Healthy Eating”. I received several of their new hand tools to try and since it was January, one of the best times to make homemade marmalade I opened up the Crisp™ Citrus Tool first. The first thing I loved was the ergonomic handle with rubber soft grip, which fits perfect in your hand. I made a double batch of orange marmalade and zested a dozen pieces of citrus so I gave this tool a real workout. Another great feature is it’s a 4 in 1 tool, it has a scoring blade, channel knife, and two zesting blades.

I wanted larger pieces of zest, about 1-inch long, for my marmalade so I used the top zester on my oranges and lemons. If you wanted a finer zest this tool has a second fold out zester blade built right into the handle. It has premium stainless steel blades and is dish washer safe. This multi-use Crisp™ Citrus Tool will become one of your favorite tools in the kitchen. So bring out the Zest in your Kitchen! Check out some of their other tools: Herb Mincer, Wavy Knife, Corn Stripper and so much more!

Orange Marmalade
4 medium oranges
2 medium lemons
2 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 box powdered pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter
5 1/2 cups sugar

Remove the colored part of the peel from oranges and lemons using the Crisp™ Citrus Tool. Place the orange and lemon peels, water and baking soda in a large saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the inside fruit of the orange and lemon and cut into small pieces and save any juice. Add to the peels after it has simmered 20 minutes. Cover and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Stir pectin into prepared fruit and add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

Carefully ladle hot marmalade immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids and screw bands on. Process jar in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.

Marmalade is perfect on your morning toast, bagels or English muffin. Add some marmalade to cream cheese and it’s perfect for stuffed french toast!

The recipe above is perfect to make Blood Orange Marmalade, just substitute 6 blood oranges for the regular oranges and lemons.

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Bread Pudding Mission

January 4, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

For 2015 I have set myself some goals; learn how to sew an apron, take more hikes, photograph an amazing sunset, give back to others, enjoy my new granddaughter and search for and make bread pudding recipes. Bread pudding is one of the comfort foods that takes us back to our grandmother’s kitchen. Bread pudding is just the combination of bread with an egg custard mixture which is then refrigerated for several hours and baked, but the combinations can be endless. You can use Challah bread, croissants, french bread and brioche bread. You can add the flavors of chocolate, sweet potato, vegetables, fruits and liqueurs. Do not forget the sauce on top; whiskey, vanilla, rum, caramel the list is endless. I have set myself a goal to find and try two new bread pudding recipes each month and of course add some of my Fresh From Oregon taste to them. Lets start off the first one with an Old Fashion Bread Pudding recipe that will please everyone in your family! Read more about the history of bread pudding here…

Old Fashion Bread Pudding
7 large eggs
3 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound loaf of challah bread or brioche bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raisins (optional)
Vanilla Sauce ~ recipe below

Butter a 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish, set aside. Whisk eggs in large bowl until blend. Add milk, sugar, whipping cream, vanilla and cinnamon; whisk until blended well. Stir in the cubed bread making sure all the bread has soaked in some of the egg mixture. If adding raisins mix in at this time. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake pudding uncovered until puffed and golden, about 1 hour. Cool slightly (pudding will fall).

While cooling, prepare the vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of heavy cream or whole milk
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk all other ingredients in except the vanilla; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat, add vanilla, whisk and drizzle over bread pudding.

Bread pudding is always best served warm so heat a piece for about 40 seconds in the microwave and then pour on some vanilla sauce. Refrigerate any left over pudding and vanilla sauce.

Deep South Dish & My Knotted Life

New Years Traditions ~ What’s yours?

December 30, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

What’s your family’s favorite New Year’s food tradition? Around the world many people celebrate the new year with many food traditions. On New Year’s eve you will smell a prime rib roast cooking in my oven. At midnight my family will share a piece of a New Year’s Pretzel. New Year’s Pretzels are said to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year and are to be eaten at midnight or before breakfast on New Year’s Day. There are a few different stories about the origins of the New Year’s Pretzel. Some say that the New Year’s Pretzels were fashioned after the way in which German monks prayed. By crossing arms across the chest in the traditional prayer style, the German monks would pray for peace, health and prosperity for everyone in the surrounding village.

On New Year’s day a pork roast covered with my homemade sauerkraut will be slow roasting in my dutch oven pot. I will serve the pork roast with creamy mashed potatoes. This is a tradition both my husband and I have celebrated since we were children. We were always told this would bring us good luck for the coming year.

This year I wanted to try a recipe the southern branch of my family prepares every year, black-eyed peas. I had a ham hock left over from Christmas and this will be perfect to flavor the dish. According to Southern folklore, the first food to be eaten on New Year’s Day for luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead are black-eyed peas. The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. Here are some ways people serve them:

Served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, which varies regionally), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. In some areas cabbage is used in place of the greens.
Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold.
For the best chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat at least 365 black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.
Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.
In some areas, actual values are assigned with the black-eyed peas representing pennies or up to a dollar each and the greens representing anywhere from one to a thousand dollars.
Adding a shiny penny or dime to the pot just before serving is another tradition practiced by some. When served, the person whose bowl contains the penny or dime receives the best luck for the New Year, unless of course, the recipient swallows the coin, which would be a rather unlucky way to start off the year.

How ever you serve them they are tasty and will be on my table this year.

Black-Eyed Peas with a Ham Hock

1 pound dried black eyed peas

1 ham bone or ham hock

2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning*

salt to taste

Sort the beans and remove any stones or bad beans. Rinse with cold water and set aside. In a stock pot, bring ham bone or ham hock and 1 quart of stock to a boil; simmer for 1 hour before starting to cook beans. Add the black-eyed peas into pan with ham hock and add the other quart of stock and enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Add onion, garlic, pepper and creole seasoning. Bring back to a boil and simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Add salt. (If you are using ham hock, omit the salt. The ham hock will give the peas a more complex flavor and enough salt.) Allow beans to rest for @ 30 minutes before serving.

* I did not have this creole seasoning so I made my own up using this recipe ~ Creole Seasoning

There will be plenty of extra left so save to season chicken, seafood or your favorite southern dish.

Sources ~ About Travel and Just a Pinch

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

December 15, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

This is my first year as a participant in the 4th annual The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Just around 566 food bloggers (That’s a Big Cookie Swap) from across the United States and 6 other countries participated this year. We each sent out 3 batches of our home baked cookies and received 3 batches of cookies from other bloggers in return. Not only do you get boxes of homemade cookies delivered to your door, but you also get to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The cookie swap raised over $12,000 this year! These great sponsors matched all of our donations so a big thank you to OXO, Dixie Crystals, California Olive Ranch and Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle. OXO sent everyone who participated an 8 piece Baker’s Silicone Decorating Bottle kit. I did not use it for the cookies I made for the cookie swap but I did use it a few days ago to frost my “Gingerbread Cookie’s Gone Wild”. I also received a beautiful tin and coupon from Dixie Crystals and already the tin is filled with cookies.

If you are a food blogger and would like to participate next year, be sure to sign up to be notified when things get going for 2015.

I packaged 1 dozen of my Pacific Northwest Snowball cookies in cute snowman tins with a jar of my homemade marionberry jam and tayberry jam and sent to 3 bloggers. That Dang Cook from Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Jordan’s Onion from Texas (Congratulations on the new baby) and Mamal Diane Keeping Life Simple from Dayton, Ohio. All three have created some great blogs with interesting recipes, you should check them out!

The first batch I received was from Lisa at Blogghetti. She sent Peanut Butter Snickledoodle Bits. They were packaged up so cute in a cookie tin. The smell of the peanut butter and cinnamon as I opened the box were just mouth watering. The next batch I received was from Lynne at Hearts in my Oven. She sent yummy Red Velvet Butter cookies sprinkled with jimmies – so fun! My third and last batch was from Sara at Confectionary Tales. Her melt in you mouth Brown Butter Shortbread cookies were amazing!

Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1 cup marionberry jam or tayberry jam
Confectioners sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixer. In small bowl combine flour and salt and add the the butter mixture until just combined, mix in hazelnuts. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and use a sharp knife and cut in half. With your thumb make an indentation in each half. Fill with about 1/2 teaspoon of marionberry or tayberry jam. Press the two halves back together and press around the seam to seal. Gently roll back into a ball. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.

Snowball Cookie Fight…

December 14, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

One cookie with so many names… Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cookies and I am sure there are more names. Whatever you call these delicious buttery, melt in your mouth cookies they are always in my cookie tin. These cookies are rolled twice in powdered sugar but there are many versions. You will also see them rolled in coconut, cocoa powder or glazed. There are also many things you can hide inside this cookie like cherries, chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, mini chocolate chips or just use your imagination and create your own combinations. I did that this year and created my Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie. I added hazelnuts to the cookie dough and hid some marionberry and tayberry jam inside. With one bite you will have the sweet flavor of jam combined with the buttery hazelnut dough melting in your mouth. Another combination I made this year was a Glazed Snowball Cookie with a cherry inside. I then drizzled chocolate on top and it tastes just like eating a chocolate covered cherry. The last version I made was one that my mom makes every year and that is just adding mini chocolate chips to the snowball cookie recipe. But my mom calls them Russian teacakes so let the Snowball Cookie fight begin!

Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Confectioners sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixer. In small bowl combine flour and salt and add the the butter mixture until just combined, mix in nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe above and use hazelnuts instead of pecans or walnuts. After you have rolled the dough into a 1-inch ball use a sharp knife and cut in half. With your thumb make an indentation in each half. Fill with about 1/2 teaspoon of marionberry or tayberry jam. Press the two halves back together and press around the seam to seal. Gently roll back into a ball. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Glazed Cherry Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies using walnuts. Drain one jar of maraschino cherries (20 cherries) and lay cherries on a few layers of paper towel. You want to dry them off as best you can. Roll dough into a 1-inch ball and flatten. Add a cherry to the center and with your hands fold dough around the cherry. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. (Do not roll in confectioners sugar). As the cookies are cooling make the glaze. In medium size bowl sift 1 cup of confectioners sugar and mix in 1 tablespoon of milk. Once the cookies are cooled place on a wire rack over a piece of parchment paper. With a spoon pour about 1 teaspoon of glaze over each cookies and let the glaze drip down the sides. Once the glaze is dry melt some chocolate and drizzle over the cookies.

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Mom’s Russian Teacakes with Mini Chocolate Chips
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies and add in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips with the nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled. When I made these this year instead of rolling them in just confectioners sugar I added some baking cocoa to the confectioners sugar to give them a light chocolate color.

Gingerbread Cookies Gone Wild!

December 13, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

Gingerbread cookies in my house have “Gone Wild” this year. Living in the foothills of Mt Hood, Oregon I was inspired to make my gingerbread cookies shaped from nature. On a family trip to Yellowstone my husband surprised me with these animal shaped cookie cutters of a deer, salmon, bear, duck and tree. This gingerbread cookie recipe has a mild flavor of ginger so I added an almond flavored royal icing to top them off. This was also a great opportunity for me to try the OXO 8 piece Baker’s Silicone Decorating Bottle Kit that was send to me. OXO is one of the sponsors for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and they sent everyone participating this amazing decorating kit. When I first opened the kit I thought this is a small bottle how is this going to work. To my surprise almost a whole batch of royal icing fits in the bottle and this was the easiest way I have ever decorated cookies. This would be great for kids to use they will still get a little messy but the bottle really keeps the icing from oozing everywhere. With the decorating tip making these gingerbread cookies was a snap to frost.

Gingerbread Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses, egg and water. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until easy to handle. Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and continue to cut out cookies until the dough is gone. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yields about 2 dozen.
Recipe from ~ Taste of Home

Almond Royal Icing

1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

In a medium bowl add confectioner’s sugar and milk and blend with a whisk until smooth. You can also mix with a stand mixer on low for about 1 minute. Add corn syrup and extract and continue to blend until smooth for about 45 seconds – 1 minute. If it’s too thick, add milk by the drop (a little goes a long way). If it’s too thin, add more confectioner’s sugar.

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To decorate the cookies first outline around the edge of the cookie with a thin line of icing and let dry a few minutes. Add a little more milk to the icing to make thinner, I added about 1 – 2 tablespoons. Fill in the cookie with the thinner icing, let dry for 1 hour before packing in a air tight storage container. I layered parchment paper between each layer of cookies in the container.

Oatmeal Cookie ~ Trio

December 9, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

Oatmeal cookies are a must at Christmas time at my house… that’s what my husband tells me. This is his favorite cookie there is always a batch baking in my oven throughout the year. He prefers dried cranberries in his cookie instead of raisins so this year I decided to dress his oatmeal cookies up a little. I took the basic oatmeal and cranberry cookie and dressed it up with a dip in some white chocolate and a sprinkle of pecans. Dipping a cookie halfway in white or milk chocolate and adding some accents like nuts or jimmies will make a plain cookie into an extraordinary cookie. Remember to always leave a few plain for the ones who just like them just plain. Oatmeal cookies come in all shapes and sizes, chewy or crisp so another recipe I am sharing below is for a crisp oatmeal cookie glazed with a confectioners sugar icing. Both are easy and simple to make for your holiday cookie tin.

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
1 cup salted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups uncooked quick cook oats
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecan pieces
12 oz white melting chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars together until well combined. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon and mix until well combined. Add oats and mix until a thick dough forms. Stir in cranberries and pecan pieces. Place heaping tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes. Cookies may look a little undercooked in the center, but they continue to cook and firm as they cool. Do not over bake. If cookies look cooked (not a little undercooked) when you take them out, they are probably overcooked. Let cookies cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling. Once cookies are cool, melt white chocolate in a small bowl. Dip cookies, one at a time, into white chocolate and shake to remove excess white chocolate. Set on parchment paper and sprinkle with crushed pecans before the white chocolate dries. White chocolate dries fast so I dip three cookies and then sprinkle on the pecans before dipping more.

Recipe from ~ Live, Love & Sugar

Iced Oatmeal Cookie
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour oats into a food processor and pulse until partially ground, about 15 seconds. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground oats, for 30 seconds. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter, granulated sugar and light-brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined (scrape bottom and sides of bowl as needed). Allow cookie dough to rest 10 minutes at room temperature. Scoop dough out about 2 Tbsp at a time and drop onto a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven 11 – 15 minutes. Allow cookies to rest on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a mixing bowl whisk together powdered sugar and milk and dip tops of cooled cookies in icing and allow excess to run off or alternately spread icing over cookies. Return to wire rack and allow icing to set. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe from ~ Mother Thyme

Peanut Butter Cookies

December 7, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

One batch of dough equals three ways to make some delicious peanut butter cookies. Peanut butter cookies are one of my youngest son’s favorite cookies. I am always looking for a way to make them a little different but keep that peanut butter flavor he loves. Here is a way to create a variety of cookies and you only have to make one cookie dough. You can make old fashion peanut butter cookies, peanut butter thumbprint cookies and a peanut butter sandwich cookie. I used strawberry jam but you can use any jelly or jam that your family likes, the combinations are endless. If you double the Old Fashion Peanut Butter Cookie recipe below you can make 2 dozen of each peanut butter cookie out of one bowl of dough. The recipe for the old fashioned peanut butter cookie is a good one, I have placed 1st for three years in a row at my county fair!

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies ~ makes 3 dozen
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cups peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
extra sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In large bowl beat butter, peanut butter and vanilla until combined. Add brown and white sugar and beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time until mixed. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Roll into 1 1/2 -inch balls and then roll in the extra white sugar. Using a fork, flatten cookie and make a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cookies cool on baking sheet 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Take two of the baked peanut butter cookies above add 1 teaspoon of jelly or jam on one cookie. Place second cookie on top and press down to squeeze the jelly or jam evenly inside the cookie.

Peanut Butter Thumbprints with Jelly
One batch of Peanut Butter cookie dough
1 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup favorite jelly or jam

After making the peanut butter dough roll into 2-inch balls. Roll in the chopped peanuts and place on baking sheet. With your thumb make a deep indentation. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on rack for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of the jelly or jam to the center of the cookie.

The Cookie Tin

December 6, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

Seeing a cookie tin around the holiday is one of the most exciting presents of all. Your first thoughts when you see it are what delicious cookies are inside? Then when you open it all the memories of Christmas come rushing back. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, buttery spritz, thumbprints, snowballs, sugar cookies the list just goes on. All the old time favorites you remember from year after year. Step into my kitchen for the smell of cinnamon and fresh dough baking in the oven, I started baking a few days ago to fill my Christmas cookie tins that I will give to family and friends. I will have all the old favorite cookies in the tin but this year but I am adding some different twists on some of these favorite cookies. Oatmeal cranberry cookies dipped in white chocolate, peanut butter thumbprints with strawberry jelly, snowball cookies with a marionberry jam filling, buckeyes with honey pretzel peanut butter to name just a few. I will be posting cookie and candy recipes for the next two weeks and maybe you can add some new cookies to your recipe box. If you have any favorite family Christmas cookies send me the recipe, I would love to bake some.

Some fun facts about cookies:

In the year 1871 cookie cutters became available for purchase being imported from Germany
It is believed that the tradition of leaving milk and cookies out for Santa Claus began in the United States during the 1930’s
The Dutch are considered to be the first to bring Christmas cookies to the United States in the 17th century
German Lebkuchen, honey spice cookies are the ancestor of gingerbread
Animal crackers are also rich in holiday tradition, Polish people would make large cookies in the shape of different animals

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