Chex Mix

This is my mother’s recipe for Party Mix.  I believe it came from my grandmother.  It’s me & my brother’s favorite chex mix.  We start looking forward to it each Fall.

Chex Mix

recipe by Cindy Faulkner (my mom)

Ingredients

1 box Rice Chex cereal

1 box Corn Chex cereal

1 box Wheat Chex cereal

1 box Cheerios (optional)

1 bag Pretzel sticks

1 can (2 cups) mixed nuts or pecans (optional) 

1 lb butter

2 t garlic salt

2 t celery salt

4 T worchestershire sauce

3 – 4 T tabasco sauce

Red pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. 

In two large pans (preferably 12 x 18 cake pans), pour half of the cereals, pretzels and nuts into each pan.  Gently combine the mix. 

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on medium – low. Add the remaining spices.  Stir then pour half on each pan of mix.  Stir the mix gently to coat.

Place the pans in the preheated oven.  I usually place one pan on the top rack and the second pan on the next lower rack.  Bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove the pans, gently mix the party mix.  Place pans back in the oven on the opposite racks so that they are rotating oven position each time.  Bake another 15 minutes.  Repeat this process until the mix has baked 2 hours.

Cool and enjoy!

Store in airtight containers.

Cut-out Sugar Cookies

This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe. 

 

Rolled Sugar Cookies

by Glorious Treats

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
Parchment paper

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  This should take about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.

Add the flour mixture slowly.  (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)

Blend until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a piece of parchment paper. 
Using your hands, knead the dough a few times.

Place the dough in a large plastic (ziplock type) bag and refrigerate for about 2 hours.  If you want to speed up the chilling process, place the bag of dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Just don't forget it in the freezer, or it will become to firm to work with (and then you'll have to wait for it to thaw). 

When it's almost time to remove the dough from the refrigerator (or freezer), preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). When the dough has chilled and is firm, take out about half of the dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator (until your ready to work with it). 

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Roll out the dough to about 1/3 of an inch thick. 

Place cookie shapes on a prepared baking sheet. Make sure to only put cookies of similar size on each bake sheet.  If you try to bake smaller cookies with larger ones the small ones will be over done before the large ones are baked. 

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the cookie.  Bake until they are just barely beginning to take on a golden tone.  They will continue to bake as long as then are on the pan, so don't let then get too brown.  Cool for just a minute or so on the pan, then carefully remove cookies from the baking sheet and place on a cooling rack. Once cooled, the cookies can be decorated with frosting, royal icing or rolled fondant.

This recipe yields about 30, 2 1/2 inch cookies or 16, 3 1/2 inch cookies.

Here are a few shots of the process:

I

I have been learning how to decorate sugar cookies.  Its so much fun. 

 

My little helper. 

Make sure to check out Glorious Treats blog.  She has great recipes and tips.

I also recommend University of Cookie for great cookie making/decorating videos.  There is also a list of cookie websites for lots of inspiration.  My current favorite is Sweet Sugar Belle.  Her work is beautiful!

 

This a simple easy candy to make as gifts during the Holidays.  Its a popular recipe on the internet.  Here is the recipe I use. 

Rolo Pretzel Turtles

recipe by Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 20 small mini pretzels (I prefer the Synders butter squares)
• 20 chocolate covered caramel candies (i.e. Rolos)
• 20 pecan halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place one chocolate covered caramel candy on each pretzel.
3. Bake for 4 minutes. While the candy is warm, press a pecan half onto each candy
4. Cool and enjoy!

The dressing recipe

This is my husband’s family recipe for dressing.  He learned how to make it from his mom and his mom learned it from her mother.  Its a holiday tradition.

 

Bake cornbread as directed on package. Bake biscuits as directed on can.

Spray a large roasting pan with Pam and crumble the bread and biscuits into small pieces into the pan. 

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and celery. Cook until onions are translucent and celery is tender.

 

Add box of chicken broth. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped eggs and remove from heat.

 

Add liquid mixture to bread mixture one cup at a time until desired consistency. Dressing should be wet, but not soupy.  If additional liquid is needed, add chicken broth from can a little at a time.

 

Season with salt, pepper, and sage to taste.

Bake at 350F for approximately 45 minutes and golden brown.

Granny Jo’s Dressing

2 corn-kits

1 can biscuits

1 onion, chopped

½ - ¾ cup celery chopped (incl. leaves)

1 stick butter

1 large box chicken broth & 1 can broth

2 hard boiled eggs chopped

Salt

Pepper

Sage

Bake cornbread as directed on package. Bake biscuits as directed on can. Spray a large roasting pan with Pam and crumble the bread and biscuits into small pieces into the pan.

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and celery. Cook until onions are translucent and celery is tender. Add box of chicken broth. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped eggs and remove from heat.

Add liquid mixture to bread mixture one cup at a time until desired consistency. Dressing should be wet, but not soupy.  If additional liquid is needed, add chicken broth from can a little at a time. Season with salt, pepper, and sage to taste. Let rest is desired.

Bake at 350F for approximately 45 minutes and golden brown.

Baking Cinnamon Rolls

When you have a day to burn and a desire to bake, I would recommend these cinnamon rolls.  You can give away the extras or freeze them.

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls (My Way)

Ingredients

• 1 quart Whole Milk
• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
• 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• 2 cups melted butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/4 cup Cinnamon

FROSTING:

• 5 cups Powdered Sugar
• ½ cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat, remove from heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm (about 120 – 130 degrees), but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 13 to 17 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Enjoy!

You can buy Pioneer Woman’s cookbook at my favorite store if you want to see all her wonderful photos and delicious recipes.

Top Secret Chocolate Cookies

I started making this recipe last year at Christmas time. It is an absolutly delicious cookie.

by Paula Deen
Ingredients2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
White Sanding sugar, for garnish

Directions
In a large bowl, add the butter and sugar and cream together with a mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients and continue mixing until incorporated.

Roll the dough into 2 logs that are about 2-inches high and 1-foot long. Wrap them in waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Once thoroughly chilled, slice the cookies into 1/2-inch thick rounds and cover with sanding sugar. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.