Snowball Cookie Fight…

December 14, 2014 · by Carrie Trax · 4 Comments

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.

New Year’s Traditions … Bake some Good Luck!

December 30, 2013 · by Carrie Trax · 1 Comment

Sweet New Year’s Pretzel with walnuts

Even though I live here in Oregon (8 years) I am originally from a town just south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We had many great food traditions that I have not seen here in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up on Pork & Sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, Isaly’s chipped ham made into BBQ sandwiches, Holuski (cabbage & noodles), Pierogies, Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage) and many more. One of the traditions I brought with me is making a New Year’s Pretzel. This is a large pretzel made with a sweet bread dough and glazed with a confectioners sugar icing. It is said you need to eat a piece at midnight New Year’s Eve or before breakfast on New Year’s day to bring you good luck for the coming year. The recipe below makes two pretzels so I decided to make one the traditional way and to start a new tradition by making the second one with Fresh From Oregon flavors and I added cranberries and hazelnuts! Once you make these pretzels and taste them you will be making them each year and starting your own family tradition.

Divide dough in half

Shape into a horseshoe shape with
open ends towards you

Cross right side over left and
create a circle on the top

New Year’s Sweet Pretzel
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded and skimmed
1/2 cup sugar
4 ounces (1 stick) butter
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
6 to 7 cups Bob’s Red Mill flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
5-6 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup ground walnuts

Cross left side over right

Put the scalded milk, sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and let stir until the butter and sugar are dissolved. In another small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. It should begin to foam in about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, the yeast mixture and the 2 eggs to the milk mixture. Use a dough hook to mix until it is a soft, even batter. Add more flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Continue to knead until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Take the dough out on a lightly floured board and give it a few turns to form a smooth ball. Put it into a greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Turn the dough out onto the board and divide in half. Roll each half into a long rope (36″ long) and shape into a pretzel. Lay the pretzel onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and allow to rise for another hour. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes until dark golden-brown. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Make a frosting by mixing the confectioner’s sugar with the almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer) and enough water to make a spreadable icing. Pour the icing over the bread and sprinkle with the walnuts. I have seen these also decorate with the toasted almond slices and candied cherries.

Shaping a Pretzel
1. Roll into a 36″ rope
2. Shape into a horseshoe shape with open ends towards you
3. Cross right side over left and create a circle on the top
4. Cross left side over right
5. Bring ends up to the top and press into the dough

Bring ends up to the top and press into the dough

Fresh From Oregon New Year’s Pretzel
To add the Pacific Northwest to this pretzel add about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts to dough when you divide it in half and before you roll it into a rope. After you glazed the pretzel sprinkle with with dried cranberries and hazelnuts.

Recipe from: Pittsburgh Magazine

Christmas Baking Countdown

December 9, 2012 · by Carrie Trax · 2 Comments

It is only 16 days until Christmas and holiday baking and candy making has started in my house here in Oregon. I made my list and checked it twice for all my family’s favorite recipes. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest and have picked and enjoyed some of its local flavors I have added them to some of my baking this holiday. In the next few weeks I will share with you some of my holiday recipes and you will see some flavors of Oregon added to old family recipes.

Thumbprint Cookies – 3 ways

Original Thumbprints
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla together. In small bowl blend together the flour and salt and then stir in to shortening mixture. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. In small bowl beat the egg whites slightly with a fork. Dip balls into egg white then roll in the nuts. Place about 1-inch apart on a cookie sheet. Press thumb gently into the center of each. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool and fill with Icing.

Icing
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring
In small bowl whisk all the icing ingredients together and spoon into the center of each cookie.

Pacific Northwest Thumbprint
In the cookie recipe above use hazelnuts instead of the walnuts. With the icing add an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar and 3 tablespoon of marionberry jelly that has been slightly melted in the microwave. Add to the center of each cooled cookie. This makes a beautiful purple color icing.

Turtle Thumbprints
In the cookie recipe above use pecans instead of walnuts. In a small bowl melt 13 caramels and 2 tablespoons of milk in microwave about 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Add to the center of each cooled cookie. Melt some chocolate wafers and drizzle over the cookie and caramel.

Fresh From Oregon

Experience the Fresh Taste of Oregon...

Snowball Cookie Fight…

New Year’s Traditions … Bake some Good Luck!

Christmas Baking Countdown

Experience fresh food from Oregon!

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