1

Mercer Girls

Holiday Tea Party &

Cookie Recipe Exchange

“Wishing you more happiness Than all the words can tell, Not just for the holidays,

But for all the year as well.”

2020

2

Almond Buttercups Rosemary Barker Aragon Crust:

2 cups flour ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup sugar ½ cup softened butter 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Almond filling: 1 egg

¼ cup sugar ½ tsp. almond extract ½ cup almond paste

1. In large mixer bowl, combine all ingredients for Crust. Blend well. Line bottoms and

sides of tiny muffin cups or tart pans.

2. Prepare Almond Filling by beating egg in small mixer bowl until foamy. Gradually add

sugar and almond extract, beating until thick and ivory colored. Blend in almond paste; mix well. Fill each tart shell with one teaspoon Almond filling.

3. BAKE at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before

removing from pans. Makes 36-42 cookies.

No Bake Cookies Melissa Larson Family favorite from my mother in law Jan Larson Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 tbsp. baking cocoa powder 1 stick butter 3 cups quick cooking oatmeal 1 cup peanut butter

1. Combine sugar, milk, cocoa & butter in a saucepan over medium heat for approx. 10 min (until it boils).

2. Remove from heat and immediately add oatmeal and peanut butter.

3. Stir until blended and then quickly drop teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let 'set-up'.

Makes about 3 dozen.

3

Rum Babas Roberta Tower Ingredients:

8 oz. can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup butter or margarine softened 1 egg yolk 1 tsp. water

Syrup:

2/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup water ¼ cup rum (to substitute for rum, increase water to ½ cup and cook syrup as directed) Stir in 1 tsp. rum extract

Candied fruit and sliced almonds if desired.

1. Heat over to 375. Generously butter 12 muffin cups. Separate dough into 4 rectangles.

2. Overlap long sides of 2 rectangles to form a 7” square. Firmly press perforations and

edges to seal. Repeat with remaining 2 rectangles.

3. In a small bowl blend ¼ cup sugar and butter until smooth; spread half of the creamed

mixture on each square. Roll up into a log and seal the seam.

4. Cut each roll into 6 slices. Place rolls cut-side down into the muffin cups; press down. 5. In small bowl, beat the egg yolk and 1 tsp. water. Brush over the rolls.

6. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

7. While rolls are baking, in small saucepan, combine 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water (1/2

cup if substituting the rum). Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil gently for 5 minutes; remove from heat, stir in the rum.

8. Transfer hot rolls to a shallow dish. Prick each roll lightly with a toothpick. Spoon hot

syrup evenly over the rolls. Let cool 30 minutes basting several times with the syrup in the dish.

9. Serve plain or decorate with candied fruit and slivered almonds. Place in paper muffin

cup liners if desired.

4

Almond Chocolate Brittle Sharon Storbo Ingredients:

2 cups whole unsalted almonds (or another option is to use 2 cups Blue Diamond lightly salted almonds) 1 cup (2 sticks), unsalted butter, cubed ½ cup warm water 1 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp. salt (only add if you use the unsalted almonds) 1 tsp. light Karo corn syrup 1 cup chocolate chips (either dark or semi-sweet or a mix of the two)

Other equipment needed:

pastry brush candy thermometer

If you are using the unsalted almonds, heat oven to 300 F. Spread the almonds out on a baking sheet and bake/toast for 15 min, stirring twice during that time. Remove from oven and let cool. If you use the Blue Diamond salted almonds you do not need to toast them.

1. Cut about 1¼ cups of the almonds in half. Chop the other ¾ cup (save these for spreading on top.)

2. Next, line a 12x17” baking sheet or pan with a silicone mat if you have one, or use

parchment paper (if using parchment paper coat with a light layer of butter).

For the brittle:

3. Melt the butter over medium heat in a 3-qt heavy-duty saucepan (need to have straight sides and taller than wide). Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon as the butter melts.

4. Once melted, add the water, sugar, salt (if not using the Blue Diamond lightly salted

almonds) and corn syrup. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves, then brush down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush moistened with water.

5. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, do not let it touch the bottom of the

pan (this is the reason for a taller but not too big in diameter pan). Stir as the mixture comes to a boil. Once it starts boiling, stop stirring.

6. Rapid bubbles and a slightly darker color forms around the 235 F mark.

7. At 265 F (hard ball stage), stir in the cut in half almonds. (If the mixture separates when

you add the nuts, remove from heat, take off the thermometer, and stir vigorously until it comes back together). Reattach the thermometer.

5

8. Cook and stir the candy until it reaches 290 F (soft crack stage).

9. Turn off the stove, remove pan from heat and pour the toffee out onto the parchment

paper in the pan. Smooth until you have an even layer. Toffee should be thick enough not to run all the way to the edge of the pan. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.

10. Sprinkle the chocolate pieces across the top and allow to soften (takes about 1+ minute),

then spread it into an even layer. Sprinkle with the ¾ cup of chopped almonds and press them in a bit to adhere them.

11. Refrigerate the toffee for about 20 minutes to set the chocolate. Once set, slice into pieces

with a sharp knife or break into small pieces.

NOTE: This time I used a wide-bottomed pan so my mixture wasn’t very high up and got pretty dark before I realized it was at the stage I needed to take it off. It was still very delicious!

6

Here’s To Your Health Cookies! Suzanne Woodruff Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together:

3 Mashed Bananas (ripe) 1/3 cup Applesauce 2 cup Rolled Oats 1/4 cup Almond Milk 1/2 cup Raisins or Dark Chocolate Chips 1 tsp. Vanilla 1 tsp. Cinnamon

1. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, 1½ “apart.

2. Bake for 15-20 minutes on middle rack.

Yummy! Very Easy Peanut Butter Cookies Karyl Boxmeyer Ingredients: 1 egg 1 cup creamy peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup chopped peanuts 1 tsp. vanilla Heat oven to 350 degrees

1. Beat egg in large bowl until foamy. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

2. Shape into 1” balls. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.

3. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1minute.

4. Remove to wire racks, cool completely.

7

Greek Honey Cookies (Melomakorona) Margaret Volchek Dough:

4 Pound butter, softened to room temperature 1 cup corn oil 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 egg yolks 4 cup orange juice 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 pound box Swan’s Down cake flour

Preheat oven to 375 F.

1. Cream butter briefly in a large mixer. Continue creaming butter with oil, sugar and yolks. Blend in orange juice.

2. Spoon flour into sifter and sift once with baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon into

a large bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in two parts, slowly blending after each additional until you can handle the dough by hand. Use a very low speed on the large mixer and stop to scrape bowl as needed.

3. Shape dough into small ovals (do this by rolling into a small ball then forming into a little

log) and bake in a reheated oven on ungreased cookie sheet for about 14-15 minutes or until light brown. Leave a little space between cookies when placing on cookie sheets. When baking two pans at the same time, rotate pans on upper and lower oven racks half way through baking to allow for more even cooking. Place baked cookies on a cooling rack.

Coatings:

3/4 cups honey 3-4 tablespoons of water Ground walnuts

1. To measure honey, use a Pyrex measure lightly sprayed with cooking spray. In a wide

fry pan with good depth, blend honey and water to a simmer and keep warm.

2. Place wax paper below cooking racks. Place the slightly warm cookies, top down, into

the honey liquid for 20-30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and return to the cooling rack, sprinkle lightly with walnuts.

3. Store when cooled, with the wax paper between layers. This will make about 50 cookies,

they freeze well.

8

Million Dollar Fudge Joni Wishaar Ingredients:

3 small pkg. (3 cups) chocolate chips 3 large Hershey bars (1/2 lb. each) 1 pint marshmallow cream 1 lb. walnuts, coarsely ground 1-1/3 (1/3=9Tbs) cans pet milk

1. Chop Hershey bars in bowl, add chocolate chips and marshmallow cream.

2. Boil together for 4 minutes 4 ½ c sugar, 1 tsp. salt, pet milk, ½ cube butter. After 4

minutes, remove from meat.

3. Add chopped nuts. Pour into greased pan, score with knife ~1 inch squares.

4. Place in freezer until set. Cut and put into containers.

This was a must have treat for Christmas—very rich and very smooth. Bon Appetite!! Baker’s Dozen (or so) Delights Melodie Baker

9

Ritz Cracker Cookies Dana Langworthy First Place Winner, Easy – Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest 2006

“This recipe caught my attention as my Mother would never buy Ritz Crackers growing up; we had Carr’s Water Crackers. I would go across the street to our neighbors, The Howes, who did allow these delicious buttery crackers into their home. These ‘cookies,’ at least for me, represent a combination of low-brow and genteel… both sweet and savory, not pretty, but absolutely delicious. Recipe not mine, however story and photo credit are!” Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1 (8 ounce) box chopped dates 1 cup chopped pecans 2 sleeves Ritz crackers (see note) 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened ½ cup (1 stick) margarine 4 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Combine condensed milk and dates in a saucepan over medium–high heat and boil for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.

2. Remove from heat and add the pecans and spread on crackers.

3. Place the crackers on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 5 minutes. Remove and allow

to cool.

4. Meanwhile, mix the cream cheese, margarine, powdered sugar and vanilla together.

Spread over top of cracker cookies. You’ll have this ‘icing’ leftover.

Makes 60 cookies. NOTE: A 12-ounce box of Ritz crackers contains 3 sleeves.

Photo credit - Dana Langworthy

10

Rice Pudding (Riskrem) Kristine Ekman “I had a 100% Norwegian grandmother, and every Christmas eve she would make a big batch of rice pudding. In it, she would hide a whole almond, and sometimes broken almond pieces for misdirection. The person that got the whole almond supposedly was going to be lucky in the New Year. If it was a woman of a certain age, it meant she was going to get pregnant. My grandmother (mormor) passed in 2000, but for the last 10 years or so, I have been making this version of rice pudding which actually comes from my Swedish side of the family. Everyone loves it, and always tries to find the almond when they are dishing up.” Ingredients:

6 cups milk ¾ cup long-grain rice 1 cup whipping cream ¾ cup sugar 3 large egg yolks 2 tsp. vanilla extract ¼ tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon ground 1 whole almond (optional)

1. Rinse medium saucepan with cold water, and do not dry. Pour in milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in rice and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until rice is tender (about 55 minutes). Stir occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, combine cream, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Set aside.

3. When rice is tender, stir in cream mixture until completely combined. Heat to a boil.

4. Remove from heat and pour into two quart serving dish. Sprinkle surface generously

with cinnamon.

5. Chill at least four hours.

Enjoy!

11

Chocolate Chex Mix Barbara Fogarty “This is a great recipe to share with others at a party. It can be served in a large bowl or split into smaller individual bowls. It is addictive!” Ingredients:

8 cups Chocolate Chex mix (1 box) 3/4 cups packed brown sugar 6 T butter 3 T light corn syrup 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1 cup mini Reese's Peanut butter cups or peanut butter chips 1 cup miniature marshmallows 1/2 cup caramel bits 1 T heavy cream 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 1 tsp. coarse sea salt

1. Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper or foil.

2. In a large microwavable bowl, measure cereal. Set aside.

3. In a 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup on high for 1-2 minutes, stir after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda. Pour over cereal and stir until evenly coated. Microwave coated cereal on high for 3 minutes, stirring every minute.

4. Spread on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the salt. Let cool.

5. Sprinkle peanut butter cups and marshmallows on top.

6. In a small microwavable bowl, microwave caramel and cream on high for 1 minute or

until caramel can be stirred smooth. Drizzle on the Chex. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the salt.

7. Microwave the milk chocolate chips in 20 second intervals; stir between each until smooth. (Do not overheat!) Drizzle over the Chex. Sprinkle with final 1/3 of the salt.

8. Microwave the white chocolate chips, in 20 second intervals; stir between each. (Try to

microwave as little as possible as the white chocolate will thicken and not melt if it is overheated). Drizzle (or smear) onto the Chex.

Refrigerate until set. Break apart and store in a covered container. Can be kept at room temp or refrigerated for several days (I think I've had it up to a week).

12

The Best Fudge Ever! Barbara Fogarty Ingredients:

2 eggs 1 pound powdered sugar 1 pound butter 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips 1 tsp. vanilla extract nuts (optional)

1. Beat eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and mix in.

2. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips with the butter.

3. Add the egg-sugar mixture. Add the vanilla. Add nuts.

4. Pour into a 9x13" pan lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate until set. (Can be easier to cut

if cut when partially set)

Tea Cakes Antoinette Luchessa Ingredients:

1 c. butter or margarine 1/2 cup sugar 2-1/4 cup flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup finely chopped nuts confectioner’s sugar for coating

1. Cream butter with sugar, work in flour mixed with salt.

2. Add vanilla and chopped nuts.

3. Shape into 1” balls.

4. Bake on an ungreased baking pan in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Roll in confectioner’s sugar, cool. Roll in confectioner’s sugar again. Makes 3 dozen.

13

Basic Haystack Cookies Toni Fox Ingredients:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 11 ounces butterscotch chips 4 cups crispy chow mein noodles, (32 oz.)

1. Line 2 cookie sheets with waxed paper.

2. Combine the semisweet chocolate chips and the butterscotch chips. Melt in double boiler

or cook in the microwave, on high, for 45 seconds. Take the bowl out of the microwave and vigorously stir the chips. If needed, microwave at additional 15-second intervals, stirring (yes, vigorously!) between each interval, until the chips are smooth and melted.

3. Add chow mein noodles and gently fold until they're evenly coated.

4. Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto the prepared cookie sheet.

5. Place in the fridge, 10-15 minutes, or until cookies are set.

Variations:

• Use only 24 oz. on semisweet chips, delete the butterscotch.

• Use white chocolate chips instead of semisweet chips.

• For the Holidays add about a cup of Craisins, great in dark or white chocolate.

• Add about a cup of chopped nuts and/or mini marshmallows.

14

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Lynn Junell Ingredients:

3/4 cup oatmeal 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 c. peanut butter 2/3 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 2/3 cup chocolate chips flakey sea salt for top

1. Mix together oatmeal, baking soda, set aside.

2. Mix together peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.

3. Mix in dry ingredients, fold in chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 350 degrees on parchment lined cookie sheet, for 11 minutes.

5. Remove from oven when edges look barely golden brown, cookies will look undone, but

will continue to bake.

6. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt (after baking).

7. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.

8. I used a large cookie scoop, bigger than #70.