Recipe Printing Information

Monday, December 19, 2011

Holiday Tuxedo Bars

My friend Sunny used to make such good tuxedo brownies.  This is a variation on that old fashioned recipe, jazzed up for the holidays.

Click here for printable recipe through google docs.
Brownie base:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon rum
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave (remember not to fully melt, partially melt then stir until the rest melts). Cool slightly.
Beat eggs and sugar, and rum and gradually add chocolate mixture.
Add flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat well. Pour in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan.  If you want to remove these from the pan ensemble to cut on a board, you may line your pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough on the edges to lift the brownies out when they are finished.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Do not underbake as the layers will fall apart.  Remove from oven and cool.
While brownies are cooling, make...
Rum/Eggnog filling
3 oz. softened cream cheese (not the whipped stuff)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 Tablespoons eggnog
1 Tablespoon rum
4 cups confectioners sugar (more if needed)
Beat first 4 ingredients well, gradually add sugar until consistency is like super-thick and fluffy frosting.  Spread on cooled brownies.  Refrigerate while making...
Chocolate Glaze
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup eggnog
Gently heat eggnog in saucepan.  When it's hot enough to melt chocolate, remove from heat, add chips and stir vigorously, briefly returning to low heat if necessary.  Spread over chilled brownies and filling.
Chill for another hour, then slice. If you cut them sort of small (and you will want to, because they are rich), you can get 48 bars.

These are an all-afternoon sort of affair, so if you make them while you have other projects going (oh, say, wrapping packages or shopping online or entertaining your 5 year old grandson), it will make for a lovely afternoon of yumminess and joy.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Cranberry/Pistachio Cookies

Printable recipe click here.
Ingredients:
1 package Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (in the cake mix aisle)
1 package (4 serving size) instant pistachio pudding mix
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries (sweetened)
1 cup vanilla baking chips
Oven 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients, beat in melted butter and eggs.  Stir in pistachios, cranberries and chips. Mix well.  Drop by teaspoon full onto pammed cookie sheet.  Bake 11 minutes.  Cool on rack or board.

This was a recipe my granddaughter and I found in a magazine.  It called for more cranberries and nuts, and no chips; since we are allergic to following recipes exactly, we decreased the cranberries and nuts and added the vanilla chips.  It suited our taste perfectly.  These really are very good cookies.