Because I'm all about sharing, here are some that I routinely make each year... tasty and easy once you get the hang of them!
Cream Cheese Walnut Cookies -- from Martha Stewart
Makes 4 dozen cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 pound butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
Put butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in sugar and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Mix in toasted walnuts.
Transfer dough to a clean work surface. Divide in half; shape each piece into an 8 1/2-inch long log, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap each log in parchment paper and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Remove one log from freezer. Roll in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, coating completely. Cut log into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Transfer rounds to parchment-lined sheets.
Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until cookies are golden around the edges, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely. Repeat process with remaining dough using cooled baking sheets.
Mrs. Repetti’s Cupcakes
Makes 3 to 4 dozen
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 12 oz pckg miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
Combine softened cream cheese, egg, sugar, and salt; mix well. Blend in chocolate chips, set aside. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Stir in water, oil and vanilla. Line mini-cupcake pans with paper liners. Fill each cup 1/3 full with cocoa mixture; top with 1 teaspoon cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
Peanut Clusters
1 lb. white almond bark
1 c. chunky peanut butter
12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb. spanish peanuts
Melt almond bark and chocolate chips over double boiler. Remove from heat.
Add peanut butter and spanish peanuts. Drop by teaspoonsful onto waxed paper. Store in the refrigerator.
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2 comments:
How do you soften cream cheese? Is there a cheese softening section we can consult? In fact, since butter also needs to be softened, perhaps you could open a softening foodstuffs section for those of us who don't know about these things.
R
All I do is let it sit out on the counter... not very technical but it works!!! Same with butter. I learned in Europe that butter doesn't need to live in the refrigerator -- so even if you take it out to soften and then don't get to your baking, it can just stay in the cupboard. A bonus not true for cream cheese, though. Good luck,
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