Double Strawberry Cupcakes

Double Strawberry Cupcakes
Dorcas Annette Walker

The Easter season is the complete embodiment of spring. Several of the churches in our area join together for services focusing on the Holy week of Christ’s death and resurrection- the pinnacle point of Christianity. The earth coming alive giving a dazzling array of colors during this time of the year is a perfect example of the resurrection as nature itself celebrates for all to see. Even the baby bunnies, eggs, and chicks found in Easter baskets represent new life. No wonder we love to celebrate Easter and springtime. Our brooder in the henhouse is filled with tiny chirping chicks that only a short time before were encased inside an egg. These little fuzz balls are full of life as they peck and scratch around. Soon they will be all feathered out. Our grandchildren are coming up the weekend after Easter. Annette and William are anxious to see Grandma’s chicks. Meanwhile this Grandma is counting the days until she can hold tiny Katie Dawn once again in her arms. Ah, the wonderful mystery and celebration of new life!

One thing I always delight to see during the spring season is when the strawberry plants start blooming and begin to bear fruit. There is something enticing about the smell and tangy sweetness of fresh strawberries. Nothing compares with going out and picking a ripened strawberry out of your own patch. When you consider how some strawberry plants keep bearing and the way strawberries spread and multiply you can’t help but be impressed by its generosity to mankind. What would the world be like without strawberries? I’m glad I don’t have to find out. Meanwhile until my strawberries mature, I can buy some at the store shipped in from across the country. We truly are blessed here in America.

My Double Strawberry Cupcakes make perfect deluxe treats for this Easter season with their moist cake interior sprinkled throughout with pieces of strawberry topped by cool whip. You can use a regular white cake frosting if you prefer. These Double Strawberry Cupcakes also freeze well and can be made up ahead of time. Preparation time for my Double Strawberry Cupcakes is fifteen minutes (not counting baking or cooling time) and this recipe makes two and one half dozen cupcakes.

Double Strawberry Cupcakes

1 white cake mix
1 (3 oz) box strawberry jello
1 c mashed strawberries
1 (8 oz) container of cool whip

Prepare cake mix as directed including the jello. Fold in mashed strawberries and place batter in cupcake papers. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Let cool and frost with cool whip. Garnish with freshly sliced or whole strawberries. Store in the refrigerator!

Weekly tip: One pound container of fresh strawberries makes around two cups mashed. Store mashed strawberries with sugar added in Ziploc bags in the freezer for instant year round strawberry desserts!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

I was thinking about April Fool’s Day coming up this Sunday while outside taking photos of my blooming wisteria vine in my enclosed garden that covers a long trellis over my goldfish pond. The blossoms and fragrance of the wisteria this year is gorgeous perfuming the air with a heavenly scent. It struck me that nature itself gives us April fool’s each spring. In previous years, I have thought that the winter season was over when the earth warmed up and spring flowers bloomed only for temperatures to suddenly drop sharply and snow in April freezing all the blooms and flowers overnight- as though the weather slaps us in the face and says April Fool’s!

People certainly are fooled by the manufactures if they buy only the latest styles and trends that change yearly. I’ve noticed recently in home magazines that professional decorators are advising folk to replace their kitchen cupboards and stack their dishes and glasses on shelves. It used to be only the poor folk had to use shelves as they couldn’t afford cupboards. Just think of all the work involved keeping the dust off of everything sitting out on shelves. And you can count on it when everybody yanks out their cupboards the so called experts on style will begin decorating using cupboards again. I read about one specialist with initials behind their name recommend decorating a room only in one color while in the same magazine another professional advised throwing together all kinds of colors in one room- even advocating adding things that don’t match.

I think though the biggest April Fool’s joke is what politics has become. Has anybody noticed anymore that no matter what side of the fence the one running for president is supposed to be all the speeches and debates sound alike in their efforts to try and make sure they don’t offend any voter- while spending most of their time accusing and criticizing the other opponents? Quite frankly, if you’ve heard one you’ve heard them all. And it’s positively amazing the levels candidates now-a-days stoop too to discredit someone else not considering how it shows up their own character.

I thought I’d feature special cookies this week. Are they peanut butter or chocolate chip? They’re both; Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies in one. These nutty crunchy Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies will fool your family and friends, but once they taste one they will love them. Preparation time for my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies is around fifteen minutes (not counting baking time) and this recipe makes two-and-a-half dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c shortening
1 c crunchy peanut butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c reg sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ c milk
3 c self-rising flour
1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips

In a large bowl mix together the shortening, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, extract, and milk. Beat until smooth. Add the flour and then the chocolate chips. Mix well. Batter will be stiff. Form balls the size of a large walnut with your hands and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for ten to fifteen minutes until lightly browned. Let cool and store in an enclosed container!

Weekly tip: You can also add raisins, dried fruit, or nuts to make these cookies extra surprising!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Double Chocolate Malt Brownies

Double Chocolate Malt Brownies
Dorcas Annette Walker

To any chocaholic there is only one way to celebrate and that is by some form of chocolate with the rule of thumb being the more the better. So hang on as we indulge in more chocolate recipes for the rest of the month. After all I did manage to make it for five weeks (with the help of my leftover Christmas chocolate candy) in the New Year before I gave a chocolate recipe. I can’t remember the first time I tasted a chocolate covered malt ball, but I was instantly hooked with the unique combination of malt and chocolate as anything covered in chocolate is wonderful…uh, within reason of course.

And with the upcoming presidential election we need all the chocolate we can get to keep our spirits up as we wade through the bombardment of useless campaign promises that each time around gets larger and more convoluted- Does the average citizen really believe such jargon?- and yet it seems anymore that the candidate who promises the most and spends the largest amount of money wins. Have we Americans become that naive? What our country needs is not a politician, who upon entering office is already bound by promised handouts and positions to his own party, but an honest business man, who will be more interested in what he can do for his country instead of himself with a history of turning bankrupt companies around. Where is the man, who instead of spending billions for election in the face of the struggling financial average citizen to give towards helping the economic crisis in America instead of blowing it on publicity for him? Today’s politicians seeking the presidential office are the total opposite of the founding fathers of our country, who were willing to go bankrupt in order to create a government for the people and by the people.

Perhaps this Presidents’ Day we should take a long hard look at what our country needs for a president instead of letting politics tell us who to vote for. Ironically enough Presidents’ Day evolved out of increasing controversy due to Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays being so close together. In 1968 Congress voted to shift the three existing holidays to Monday thus also moving Washington’s Birthday to Monday. In 1999 bills were introduced to the House and Senate for Washington’s Birthday to officially be called Presidents’ Day, but both bills died in committees. Until the late 1980’s businesses were closed on Presidents’ Day, but this was gradually turned around in order to promote sales. In 1971 President Nixon proclaimed Presidents’ Day to be observed on the 3rd Monday of February honoring all the presidents. Today the spelling of Presidents Day and Presidents’ Day are both considered correct.

My Double Chocolate Malt Brownies are a luscious indulgence of soft chewy crunchy brownies topped by a fuggy chocolate frosting that will satisfy any sweet tooth. The Double Chocolate Malt Brownies make a “finger licking” snack or classy dessert garnished with strawberries or whipped topping. You can use any kind of brownie mix with added chocolate chunks or chopped nuts if you desire. Preparation time for my Double Chocolate Malt Brownies is fifteen minutes (not counting baking or cooling time) and serves twelve.

Double Chocolate Malt Brownies

1 brownie mix
1 c malted milk balls
1 (16 oz) container of chocolate frosting

Mix brownies as directed, cut the malt balls in half, and stir in. Spread batter in a 9 x 12 greased baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350º. Let cool for fifteen minutes before spreading the chocolate frosting over top!

Weekly tip: The weight of the world’s largest chocolate bar is 12,290 pounds measuring 21 feet long by 3 feet high!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Chocolate Christmas Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

In case you haven’t noticed I’ve been a bit wild over chocolate recipes this year for the holidays. In my way of thinking how else can you properly celebrate unless chocolate is involved? For those of you though, who aren’t crazy over chocolate I’m going to give you a vanilla version or what I call my Snowball Cookies that are also rolled in powdered sugar. That’s the neat thing about cooking. You can always find or change a recipe to suit your own taste buds. I feel sorry for the folk that don’t cook. They are limited in so many ways when it comes to personalizing food. When you are the chef the sky or rather the saucepan is the limit. So this Christmas don’t be afraid to try a new recipe along with the tried and true ones.

These Chocolate Christmas Cookies are very simple to make and will go fast with their soft brownie-like texture dusted with a cracked powdered sugar crust turning a plain chocolate cookie into something fancy. The Chocolate Christmas Cookies are great dipped in a glass of milk (my son’s favorite way of eating cookies and cake) or by themselves. You can add chopped nuts if you prefer or mix in some chocolate chips for a double chocolate burst of flavor. Preparation time for my Chocolate Christmas Cookies is around twenty minutes and this recipe makes two dozen cookies.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

2 c self-rising flour
1 c sugar
½ c cocoa powder
½ c shortening
2 eggs
¼ c milk
1 tsp vanilla & almond extract
1 c powdered sugar

In a medium-sized bowl mix together all the ingredients except for the powdered sugar until well combined. The batter will be stiff. You can add another drop or two of milk if needed. Take a heaping tablespoon of batter and form into a ball. Roll in the powdered sugar until well coated. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350º for ten minutes. Let cool for five minutes before removing from the cookie sheet. Finish cooking and then store in an airtight container!

Snowball Cookies

1 c sugar
1 c shortening
2 eggs
½ c milk
1 tsp vanilla & almond extract
3 c self-rising flour
1 c chopped pecans
1 c powdered sugar

Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs together. Add milk and extracts. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Take a tablespoon of dough, form into a ball, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for ten minutes at 350º. While warm roll the cookies in the powdered sugar and let cool. Makes three dozen cookies.

Weekly tip: When rolling out cookie dough or forming it into a ball the dough is often easier to work with if you chill it first. Cover and place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for about an hour until completely chilled then roll out the dough or form it into balls!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Chocolate-Mallow Bars

Chocolate-Mallow Bars
Dorcas Annette Walker

This past week we had some very interesting company at our house in the form of British folk all the way from England, whom we had never met before. As anyone who knows me will tell you I am the chatty soul who knows no stranger, but even my husband was shaking his head in amazement over how all this came to be. It started when my niece went over to England the other year as an exchange student and made friends with a girl named, Hazel. Somewhere along the line Hazel and I got connected through facebook and began emailing back and forth. Hazel became intrigued about my descriptions of the south and the Tennessee Mountains where I live. So she and her Mum decided to take a vacation touring the west then swing by our place on their way up to New York to see the Thanksgiving parade. Hazel’s brother, wife, and young child decided to come so they all rented an RV to travel in. They definitely are braver than me as I would never consider driving in a strange country on the opposite side of the road of what I’m used to. While going through San Francisco in the middle of heavy traffic they lost a side mirror and then later damaged the muffler backing up. They made it to Oklahoma when the transmission went out so were towed back to Texas spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. After spending part of a day in a garage making several phone calls to the company, who owned the RV, they at last were given another RV to continue their journey. Despite battling jet lag and coping with time changes as they traveled east, the Barrie family finally arrived at our home- only a couple days later than planned- where I had a hot supper waiting for them.

I gave a true warm Southern welcome with lots of food. We had a wonderful time during their short stay with laughter and conservation between the southern and British accents. They ate all the food I set before then with hearty appetites so I sent plenty of goodies to help see them through the rest of their journey admiring the stamina and grit of the British in their endeavors to tour the United States from coast to coast in just one month. We promised to stay in touch. Before leaving the Mum warned me that she would be asking for some of my recipes.

One of my desserts was the Chocolate-Mallow Bars. These bars have a soft bottom with a fudgy middle topped by melted marshmallows, chocolate bits, and crunchy peanuts making it a handy snack during the holiday season. Total preparation time for my Chocolate-Mallow Bars is forty-five minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Chocolate-Mallow Bars

1 chocolate cake mix
1 egg
½ c water
1 c creamy peanut butter
¼ c milk
1 (10 oz) bag of marshmallows
1 c chocolate chips
1 c salted peanuts

Mix cake mix, egg, and water together and press into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Combine the peanut butter and milk and spread over the partially baked bars sprinkling the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and peanuts over top. Return to the oven and bake for twenty more minutes. Let cool and slice into bars before serving!

Weekly tip: When flouring a pan for a chocolate batter use cocoa powder instead of flour!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Carrot Zucchini Brownies

Carrot Zucchini Brownies
Dorcas Annette Walker

I was in my veggie garden this week harvesting pumpkins and the few remaining vegetables. I’m always sad to see the brown shriveled remains of what once were growing green vines loaded with zucchini and yellow squash signaling the end of the summer season. Long ago an ancient Hebrew writer penned the words, “To everything there is a season.., a time to be born and a time to die.” Right now our household is in a time of mourning a beloved aged pet.

Years ago I agreed to let my son have a dog out of sheer frustration as personally I was a cat person. Dogs chewed things, barked at night, ran through flower beds, and were more trouble than they were worth, but ever since Dwight was little, he kept asking for a dog. It wasn’t until my son went through two knee surgeries that backfired due to internal bleeding- undoing everything done to stop his knee bleed in the first place- that I gave in. Dwight, who has severe hemophilia and averaged two to three internal bleeds a week was no stranger to pain, but this episode had lasted five months with the orthopedic surgeon pressing us for another surgery brought me to the brink of desperation. Always on the skinny side, my son had lost twenty pounds and was in constant pain despite strong narcotics. I had tried everything I could to bring the spark of life back into my Dwight’s eyes without success until the morning I mentioned the possibility of getting a dog.

As soon as people heard about our situation, we were overwhelmed with offers of dogs and advice from friends and dog breeders. I was hoping my son would pick out a small dog, but Dwight fell in love with a six month old chocolate lab pup- the color of sand- and named her Sandy. From the start Sandy was Dwight’s dog, whining at the door every morning until she saw Dwight. My son began spending his days outdoors propped up on the porch swing with pillows or sleeping in the yard using Sandy for a cushion. He’d hobble around on crutches playing with Sandy to give “her” exercise or painfully limp down our gravel road to walk his dog. Then one day Dwight wanted to ride his bike so my husband rigged it up where he could drive it with his stiffened leg. From morning until night, Sandy and Dwight were inseparable. Dwight began going longer periods without his pain medication and slowly became a lively healthy-looking boy once again.

One month later we went back to see the orthopedic surgeon, who shook his head in amazement as Dwight bent his knee back and forth without pain, asking me what on earth we had done to get more movement in a knee than expected without another surgery. I smiled and told the surgeon it was God and a chocolate lab while Dwight chattered nonstop about his dog, Sandy.

Carrot Zucchini Brownies

1 c shredded carrots
1 c shredded zucchini
1 c sugar
2 eggs
½ c vegetable oil
¼ c orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
2 c self-rising four
½ c raisins
½ c chopped pecans
1 tb cinnamon
cream cheese frosting (optional)

In a medium-size bowl mix together thoroughly the first seven ingredients then stir in the flour, raisins, pecans, and cinnamon. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350º for thirty minutes. Makes twelve brownies. Let cool before serving!

Weekly tip: Dust nuts and raisins with flour before adding to the batter as this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom while baking!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Dorcas Annette Walker

Summertime madness, as any parent brave enough to confess will tell you, is not the local grocery or department store sales, but their offspring out of school during the summer. For some reason the summer heat that drains and exhausts an adult doesn’t seem to have any effect on children. If anything it rejuvenates their systems. I shake my head over the many escapades my sister, brother, and I got into during the summer as kids. We dug underground houses that turned into forts or tepees when we hit solid rock a couple of feet down. When it rained and the holes in the ground became flooded we climbed trees swinging dangerously from the treetops or explored the surrounding countryside daring each other to jump off of dizzying heights. The fact that not one of us ever suffered a broken bone during our growing up years was not due to our prowess, but the guardian angels watching over us. I can often remember the look of shock on my mother’s face (when after a long day’s work at the local hospital) we proudly showed off our handiwork or bragged about what all we had done that day as she shook her head speechless in despair over our dirt encrusted bodies and torn clothing. Living out of state we didn’t have any close relatives to keep an eye on us and we were too poor to have a babysitter while my dad was laid up with internal bleeds. As long as we showed up in one piece for mealtime, my dad figured we were doing okay.

When I became a mother I determined that my children were not going to be left unattended to run wild during the summertime. Somehow even with close supervision my daughter, who inherited my sister’s tomboy personality, managed to wreck her bike every time I turned my back until her elbows and knees remained covered in splotches of red mercurochrome as bandages were quickly torn off in “playing”. As soon as one spot healed up Dawn had another accident. Four-year-old Dwight one summer somehow managed under his father’s nose (while working outside and “keeping an eye on his son”) to firmly nail down a decrepit looking board on top of our new wooden front porch that stuck out at a jagged angle- the first thing anyone noticed when approaching our home. Dwight had put so many nails into that one board crossing the porch in a way that my husband would have had to rip up almost half of the porch. Instead Dwight’s “diving board” became a conservation piece. Another hot summer Sunday afternoon while we were taking a nap, Dwight dug three large holes in our front yard to plant “trees”- brush that my husband was clearing on our land.

I try to look sympathetic and wait to chuckle later when my daughter complains of all the wild antics that my grandchildren get into during the summertime- even when she is keeping an eye on them. So far this summer my granddaughter has broken her arm falling off the trampoline while my grandson cut his finger playing with a pocket knife requiring stitches, blacked his eye, and stepped barefooted on a pitchfork. My daughter has been kept busy running my grandchildren back and forth between the ER and the local doctor’s office. What my daughter doesn’t realize is that with the inherited genes her children carry and summertime madness, she doesn’t stand a chance.

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 brownie mix (your choice)
1 qt vanilla ice cream

Prepare the brownie mix according to the directions- you can add more water if needed- and spread the batter into a greased rectangular cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes and let cool. Cut in half and transfer upside down into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Soften ice cream and layer over the top half of the brownie. Top with the remaining brownie. Cover and freeze until firm. Cut into eight pieces and serve!

Weekly tip: You can substitute any cake mix or use a different flavor of ice cream to make you own individualized Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches. For easier transfer line the cookie sheet with wax paper or tinfoil before baking!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies

Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

The celebration of Easter majors on life as the earth all around us rejuvenates itself with new growth and blooms overnight despite fluctuating temperatures. No matter how one celebrates this holiday everything points to the creator of the universe whose power and majesty is above and beyond mankind’s ability to reproduce. Who else but God, by the tilting of the global sphere we live on, can turn barren ground and trees into beauty that dazzles the eye? Every tiny chick that hatches out of a hard egg shell is a testimony to the power of the resurrection. Our little farm is alive this spring with peeps and chirps of chicks in all sizes filling the chicken yard with downy bodies that soon turn into feathers along with quacking baby ducks. One becomes memorized watching these fascinating little fuzz balls grow into fat waddling hens along with the anticipation of having fresh eggs appear this fall.

Along with taking care of our livestock, every chance I get finds me burying seeds in the ground in my vegetable and flower garden between spring showers. Each tiny seed that I cover with dirt is an act of faith that in the days to come the dead seeds will sprout and produce living plants. I’ve also transplanted my trailing lima beans and squash in the garden along with some of the other flowers I had started. All that remains on my dining room table now is tomato plants looking rather lonely by themselves. Soon they too will get the chance to grow outside and once again I will reclaim my dining room for eating instead of using it as a green house.

I blame all the excitement of life and new growth around me that triggered off my brain cells into another wild culinary experiment of combining a picture I had torn of out a magazine awhile back that intrigued me with another recipe I discovered while browsing through some cookbooks to create something entirely new that I named my Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies. The Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies are fun to make and remind me of when I colored eggs and made candy for Easter with my children. My Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies are delicious plain or decorated and make ideal party favors or snacks. Preparation time for my Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies is around thirty-five minutes (not counting decorating time) and this recipe makes eighteen 3-inch cookies.

Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies

2 sticks butter melted
1 c sugar
¼ c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
3 c self-rising flour

Cream butter sugar, milk, and extracts together until smooth. Add flour and mix until crumbly. Take a handful of dough; form into an egg shape with your hands, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes until lightly browned. Let the cookies sit five minutes before moving and cool before decorating!

Frosting:

2 c powdered sugar
2 tb shortening
¼ c milk
½ tsp almond extract
food coloring
candy sprinkles

Beat sugar, shortening, milk, and extract until smooth with a Wisk adding more milk if needed to make a thin consistency. Add a drop of food coloring and mix until getting the desired color. Spoon the frosting over the cookies until covered and then sprinkle with candy.

Weekly tip: When covering candy or cookies with a thin icing place the items to be covered on a rack over a waxed cookie sheet for easy clean up. Let sit until the icing is completely hardened!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Christmas Cheesecake Bars

Christmas Cheesecake Bars
Dorcas Annette Walker

As a minister’s wife a major part of Christmas holidays has always been taken up directing Christmas programs. I quickly discovered that no matter how well you plan and practice for perfection it is the children themselves that give your Christmas program its unique twist, often at unexpected moments. I’ve seen small sheep walking around on two legs instead of four, being more interested in yanking off their headdress than baaing like sheep, and wise men appearing in all their glory with gifts for baby Jesus minus their crowns. One Christmas program a fight broke out in the middle of recitations when a boy standing in line decided he had waited long enough and without warning marched up to the mike and wrestled with the boy trying to say his piece demanding, “Move over! It’s my turn now.”

My first introduction to Christmas programs going in a different direction than planned was in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Since the small church only had one switch to control all the lights, one Christmas I put candles everywhere (including along the altar) in order to give a candlelit program. All went well until the children lined up in front of the altar started singing, “Away in a Manger”. One wiggly little girl kept moving around until suddenly in the midst of our song she screamed out, “Help me, I’m on fire!” I quickly checked her- she had only felt the heat of the candle and panicked- while trying to keep the song going. My husband jumped up and ran over to investigate while “Away in a Manger” quickly faded away as all the kids crowded around the girl yelling, “Let me see! Where is she burnt? Is she really on fire?” Yet despite all the crazy things that can go wrong during a Christmas program, unfailingly the wonder of the angels appearing to shepherds on a hillside always shines through.

Today my daughter is grown and directs Christmas programs herself. Last Sunday we went out to Nashville to see her church program. I was enchanted to see one squirmy little girl’s white choir top with a gold bow become twisted until it looked like a rumpled bib while a couple of small boys, minus their choir tops, did somersaults on the platform as the older children tried to say their pieces- I told my daughter afterwards that the rowdy boys would make perfect sheep. It wasn’t until the first sound of the bells being played by the children with Christmas music that everyone’s attention was arrested. As the sound of bells rang out around the manger, once again the spirit of Christmas came alive to celebrate the miracle of a tiny babe born in a stable.

Christmas Cheesecake Bars

1 pkg graham crackers crumbled
1 stick margarine melted
3 tb sugar
3 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 c yogurt
1 tb self-rising flour
1 tsp vanilla

Mix crackers, margarine, and 3 tb sugar together. Press firmly in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake for 5 minute at 350º. Meanwhile beat together until smooth all the other ingredients adding the eggs last and pour onto the top of the baked crust. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the center is almost set. Let cool, refrigerate, and chill thoroughly. Cut into squares and decorate with decorating gels and sprinkles. Makes 18 bars!

Weekly tip: For a perfect cheesecake: soften cream cheese to room temperature before beating, don’t overbeat the eggs- will cause falling, test for doneness by gently shaking the cheesecake –don’t use a knife or toothpick- as over baking causes cracks across the top, and to cut use a sharp knife dipped in warm water!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Chocolate Oatmeal Lunchbox Cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal Lunchbox Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

Another school year has started and the Labor Day weekend is upon us- the last holiday of the summer signaling the beginning of a new school and work year. I vividly recall the days in yesteryears hurrying down a gravel road to meet the school bus each morning; walking through crisp autumn leaves hoping the bus would be late, shivering and stomping my feet on the snowy ground while turning one’s back to fierce winter gales praying that the bus would hurry up and arrive, to the delight and wonder of spotting the first blooming violet announcing that spring was on its way all while waiting for bright yellow school bus. Today children rush out the front door and hop on the school bus at their doorstep hardly noticing the weather.

Arrival at school meant reuniting with old school friends that you hadn’t seen all summer, checking out new students amidst the confusion and uproar of shouting and laughter, coordinating the labyrinth of different schedules, teachers, and classrooms, inhaling the intoxicating smells of thick textbooks that soon would become familiar companions, and writing down the first word in a brand new notebook.

But I think the biggest change today is the absence of lunchboxes. How important one felt starting out the school year with a brand new metal lunchbox without any dents or scratches. While I am thankful that today’s school child gets a free nutritious lunch, I feel a pang of sympathy for school children that don’t know the joys of trading sandwiches or cookies with other school chums during the lunch hour. Lunchboxes have become a relic of the past sitting in dusty corners of antique shops forgotten and forlorn. Even the working man and woman of today seldom carry a lunch finding it more convenient to buy from a fast food place. I know that time marches on, but in the hurried rush of today I’d love to once again snap open up a metal lunchbox, unwrap a sandwich folded in wax paper, nibble on some homemade cookies, and take a crunchy bite out of an juicy apple.

My Chocolate Oatmeal Lunchbox Cookies are a soft and chewy cookie dusted in sugar with a double chocolate taste. You can add raisins or walnuts to these cookies if you prefer. Either way these cookies are delicious and filling with a cold glass of milk. Preparation time for my Chocolate Oatmeal Lunchbox Cookies is twenty minutes and this recipe makes about four dozen cookies.

Chocolate Oatmeal Lunchbox Cookies

2 c sugar
1 c shortening
1 egg
1 c milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ c self-rising flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
3 c uncooked quick oats
6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

Cream 1½ c of sugar, shortening, egg, milk, and vanilla together. Mix in flour, cocoa, and oats thoroughly. Fold in the chocolate chips. Form dough the size of a large walnut, roll in remaining sugar, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly and bake at 350º for ten to twelve minutes. Let cool slightly and store in an enclosed container!

Weekly tip: For softer and chewier homemade cookies substitute honey for part of the sugar called for in the recipe!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Lemon Squares

Lemon Squares
Dorcas Annette Walker

I love hearing rumbling thunder in the distance signaling afternoon rain showers coming to wash away the dust and give a brief break in the humidity, even though at times I have to scramble in order to get my wash drying out on the line inside before the raindrops fall. It doesn’t take long for wash to dry on hot days so every opportunity I’m hanging some out. There is something addictive about the fresh smell of sun-dried laundry while nothing bleaches whites better than the sun in its zenith. Another thing good for bleaching is lemons. So here is another lemon recipe to enjoy as the summer days slowly wind down.

Some lemon facts:

- The word lemon is believed to have been derived from Asian language words meaning, "sour or sour fruit."
- There are two different types of lemons — acid and sweet.
- Lemons should be firm and bright yellow. Thin skinned fruit tends to have more juice, while fruit with a greenish cast is likely to be more acidic.
- You may store lemons at room temperature for two weeks; will keep for up to six weeks in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
- Lemon trees bloom continuously all year and can produce up to 500 or 600 lemons a year.
- One medium lemon has about 3 tablespoons of juice and 3 tablespoons of grated peel.
- Get the most juice out of your lemon by warming it in the microwave for 15 seconds or rolling it with your hand on the counter at room temperature.
- Use juice on fruit or white vegetables to keep their color.
- Lemon juice can remove odors from hands, pots, and pans by rubbing with a cut lemon just before washing; run used lemon peels through your garbage disposal to keep it smelling fresh.
- Lemon and salt can be used to treat rust spots, and to clean copper pots.
- Freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays or add a twist of lemon to the water in ice cube trays for added zip to beverages
- Add a few drops of lemon juice to whipping cream if it doesn't stiffen.
- Use lemon to replace salt in your recipe for less sodium.
- It is said that the citric acid in lemon juice will dissolve a pearl.

My Lemon Squares have a mild lemon flavor and look like captured sunshine ideal for lunches, snacks, or as a dessert. Drinking mint tea with these Lemon Squares enhances the flavor. For an added contrasting garnish use chocolate curls or drizzle chocolate syrup. Total preparation time for my Lemon Squares is fifty-five minutes and this recipe makes twelve squares.

Lemon Squares

1 stick margarine
2 c sugar
3 eggs
½ c lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ c shredded lemon peel
2½ c self-rising flour
2 tb powdered sugar

Cream the first six ingredients together. Slowly stir in flour beating well. Pour into a 9 x 13 greased baking dish and bake at 350º for 35 minutes. Cool and sift powdered sugar onto the top. Cut into squares and serve with a candied lemon slice and fresh mint!

Weekly tip: To make candied citrus slices or peel: bring one-fourth cup of water and three-fourths cup of sugar to a boil, add fruit, simmer for two minutes, drain, and let cool!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Snowball Cookies

SnowBall Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

I always love it when there is snow on the ground for Christmas. Snow flurries floating down from the sky turns an ordinary day into magic while a dusting of snow produces a winter wonderland of enchantment. Holidays are great for trying out new recipes. My Snowball Cookies are brand new that evolved from experimenting with two different recipes. This Christmas I decided to ensure that I would have some snow. You can too by making up a batch of my Snowball Cookies.

Cookies are small sweet finger foods that are generally flour based. There are six basic kinds of chookies: bar, drop, brownies, cut outs, molded, sliced, and no bake. Cookies can be soft, chewy, or crisp. They can be big or small, plain or fancy. They can be simple or complex, but they started out long ago, not as a treat, but as an oven regulator. A small amount of cake batter was dropped onto baking pans to test the temperature of the oven before the cake was baked. Rather than ruin an entire cake, a "little cake", or cookie, was tested first. At the time, not one thought these "test cakes" would become a treat with charms of its own.

The earlist cookie-style cakes are thought to date back to Persia in the 7th century where bakers made luxurious cakes for the wealthy. The developing spice trade, cooking techniques, and ingredients of Arabia soon spread to Northern Euorpe. By the end of the 14th century, one could buy filled wafers on the streets of Paris. English and Dutch immigrants brought the cookie to America in the 1600's. During the 17th, 18th, and 19th century, most cookies were baked at home as speical treates because of the amount of labor and high cost of sugar. An explosion of cookie recipes took place in the early 1900's, parallelling the introduction of modern ovens with thermostats.

Cookie facts: Biscotti are really just "twice baked" cookies. Americans consume over 2 billion cookies a year or 300 cookies for each person annually. Chocolate chip cookies are the msot popular kind of cookie in the United States; Massachusetts and Pennsylvania consider the chocolate chip cookie their official state cookie.

Cookie Tips:
- Flouring a greased cookie sheet will yield thicker cookies.
- Do not mix cookies too much as it will make them tough.
- Dough that is too dry will cause cookies to crack when baked.
- Too much flour and re-rolling results in tough, dry cookies.
- If your cookie dough is dry and crumbly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk.
- Cookies may spread if the dough is too soft. Chill the dough or stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour and be sure to cool and clean cookie sheets between batches.
- Parchment paper for cooking can replace greasing.
- A dark colored cookie sheet may result in over-baked cookies; always use a shinny aluminum cookie sheet.
- Most cookie dough freezes well up to three months.

Snowball Cookies

1 c sugar
1 c shortening
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla and almond extract
3 c self-rising flour
1 c chopped pecans
blue sugar crystals
powdered sugar

Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs. Add milk and extracts. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Take a teaspoon of dough and roll in blue sugar crystals. Bake for 10 minutes at 350º on a greased cookie sheet. While warm roll cookie in powdered sugar and let cool. This recipe makes 3 dozen Snowball Cookies.

Weekly Tip: Store crisp, thin cookies in a container or tin with a loose-fitting cover. Store unfrosted or frosted soft cookies in an airtight container to preserve moistness!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies

Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

I can remember when there wasn't any play dough except the kind your mother cooked up and colored with food coloring. In the summer a mixture of dirt and water made a lovely mud batter, different sized tin cans were bowls, and sticks made a perfect spoon. My sister and I would spend an entire afternoon in our bakery whipping up all kinds of cookies- small rocks were used for chocolate chips- carefully spreading rows of cookies on a long board to bake in the sun. No matter how hard we tried or how pretty we decorated our cookies with wild flowers, we never could convince our brother to sample one of our treats. I'll never forget the Christmas I received a store-bought set of play dough in colorful cans with matching plastic lids. My imagination went into overdrive with the lovely soft dough of bright colors. I would carefully put the play dough back into the cans after each use in order to keep it nice and soft. That set of play dough gave my sister and me years of pleasure.

When my daughter was still a toddler, I bought her play dough and set about to initiate her into the joys of pretend baking with play dough. Her set of play dough didn't get much use and before long completely dried out as every time I was in the kitchen baking, which was at least once a week, my daughter would perch her sturdy little body on a chair and beg to have a chance to stir. It seems like yesterday watching my young daughter carefully and with great concentration place Christmas cookies on a tray to bake and then sprinkle them with colored sugar. Invariably there were some unusual shaped stars and camels with only three legs, which make great sampling and wonderful memories. Today my daughter is grown and has a daughter of her own that loves to help in the kitchen.

This week instead of the rolled-out shaped Christmas sugar cookies that you sprinkle with colored sugar, I'm giving you an old recipe of soft sugar cookies where the batter is dropped by spoon, is easier, and faster to make. My Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies are usually sprinkled with round candy sprinkles, but colored sugar can be substituted. Preparation time for my Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies is only fifteen minutes- not counting baking time. For smaller cookies use a teaspoon. This recipe makes large hand-size four-and-one-half dozen Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies.

Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies

2 c sugar
3/4 c shortening
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 c self-rising flour

Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs together. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour until completely mixed. Drop batter by tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for ten minutes until lightly browned. Cool and then store in an air-tight container!

Weekly tip: Place a slice of bread with your stored baked cookies to help keep your cookies soft and fresh tasting!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannetttewalker.com

Davy Crockett Brownies

Davy Crockett Brownies

Dorcas Annette Walker

While up in Kentucky I came across Davy Crockett Brownies. The ingredients for these brownies are as varied as the man himself. David Crockett, born here in Tennessee, is celebrated as a legend, American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He roamed throughout most of Tennessee and parts of Kentucky as a backwoodsman, hunter, and trapper, who died at the Battle of the Alamo.

It was here in the mountains of Tennessee that my husband was introduced to raccoon hunting. A couple of fellows in our church were avid coon hunters. They raised coon dogs and competed among each other which hound was first-rate and the best spots to hunt coon. They assured my husband that it only took a couple of hours to coon hunt and they would easily be back by midnight. Invariably though, every time they went out into the woods to hunt coon they managed to get lost and wouldn’t get home until two or three in the morning after walking up and down innumerable mountainsides and wading through all kinds of brush and briars. One morning they brought home a record-breaking sized coon, but didn’t have the slightest idea where they were when they caught it. One hunter’s excuse, “When you get forty and plum and don’t know where you’re at that’s when everything happens and the dogs strike a trail.”

One of the hunters had a blue-tick hound named Ole Blue that he tried in vain to train. Ole Blue had a habit of sitting and barking at empty trees. His owner would threaten the dog by saying, “Blue, you come away from that tree or I’m going to sandpaper your rear end.” When the dog wouldn’t move his owner would calmly break off a branch, go over to the dog, and start switching the hound saying, “I told you I’d sandpaper your rear end for you if you didn’t get off that tree and come on.” Another time as they idled along an old road in a pickup waiting for the hounds to start baying signaling that the dogs had treed a coon, Ole Blue, kept stopping in the middle of the road and squatting instead of going into the woods and hunting. His owner told him, “Blue, old scudder, you stop in the road one more time and I’m going to run you over.” Ole Blue stopped and squatted again and the owner, who was driving, took off after the dog with his pickup. Ole Blue headed for the bank to escape frantically clawing its way up a steep embankment with the pickup truck roaring right behind him as his owner yelled, “I told you I’d run you over if you didn’t get out of the road and go to hunting.” The owner finally sold Ole Blue to another hunter in disgust. Ironically Ole Blue became a first-rate hunting coon dog and even won some ribbons.

My Davy Crockett Brownies are a soft moist brownie filled with chocolate chips and crunchy nuts that are quick to make up. These Davy Crockett Brownies take only ten minutes to prepare and this recipe makes twelve brownies.

Davy Crockett Brownies

In a large bowl beat together:
2 c self-rising flour
1 c sugar
1 c br sugar
½ c vegetable oil
3 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla
Then add:
1 c oatmeal
1 c chocolate chips
1 c nuts (your choice)

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together and pour the stiff batter into a 9 x 13 greased baking dish. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Cool and serve!

Weekly tip: If you always spray your baking pans or trays over the sink with your cooking spray you won’t mess up your counters!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pies

Dorcas Annette Walker

During the school year bake sales were popular years ago when I attended school. Every family would donate homemade baked items to sell to raise money for some school project. Baked sales were always exciting as us school kids had the privilege of selling the baked goods at a designated spot with a few motherly souls keeping an eye on things. Not only did the experience teach us how to count money and give change, but we learned the art of public relations, salesmanship, working as a team, patience, and the rewards of hard work. It also was an opportunity for gaining experience at home in the kitchen. Today car washes and selling Girl Scout cookies seem to have replaced the old fashioned bake sales. I feel sorry for school kids today that don’t get the chance to participate in a bake sale. One item that always was popular and a big seller at bake sales was Whoopie Pies.

Whoopie Pies are a baked item made of two, round, cake-like cookies with a sweet creamy frosting sandwiched between them. Whoopie Pies are considered a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition with its origins in the Amish Lancaster County. These cake-like goodies were considered a special treat made from leftover batter. According to Amish legend, when children or farmers would find a Whoopie Pie in their lunch they would shout “whoopee”. Whoopie Pies spread up to New England and today they are one of Maine’s best known and loved comfort foods. In Maine Whoopie Pies are about the size of a large hamburger and eaten with a glass of milk. The original and most common flavor is chocolate, but today Whoopie Pies can be made in almost any flavor of your choice. I found recipes of other flavors besides chocolate: mint, gingerbread, pumpkin, red velvet, banana, orange, lemon, chocolate chip, maple, oatmeal, peanut butter, raspberry, strawberry, and chocolate/peanut butter.

My Whoopie Pies recipe has the original chocolate flavor with a modern twist. Instead of using the old homemade recipe of several ingredients, I substitute a cake mix thus saving time. Also by using a cake mix different flavors of Whoopie Pies are instantly available and easier to make for a beginner. These Whoopie Pies have a soft chocolate texture with a creamy filling that is finger lick’n good. Preparation time for my Whoopie Pies is about thirty-five minutes (not counting baking time) and this recipe makes eighteen Whoopie Pies.

Whoopie Pies

1 Devil’s Food Cake Mix (or any other flavor)
1 c cold water
3 eggs
¼ c cooking oil

Slowly mix all ingredients until combined then beat on high for two minutes. Place heaping tablespoons of batter on a greased tray. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Transfer baked cookies on a clean towel and let cool.

Frosting:
½ c self-rising flour
1 c milk
1 c sugar
1 stick of margarine
½ c shortening

In a small saucepan cook flour and milk stirring with a Wisk until thick and smooth. Let cool. In a mixing bowl combine sugar, margarine, shortening, and cooled flour paste. Beat on high for three minutes until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Spread a heaping tablespoon of frosting between two chocolate cookies. Wrap up each Whoopie Pie in saran wrap!

Weekly tip: To transfer a heaping spoonful of batter without the batter dripping everywhere: dip the spoon into the batter until it is submerged, lift up, twist the spoon completely in a circle by rolling the handle quickly around in your fingers, and then transfer the batter to its designated spot!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

English Scones

English Scones

Dorcas Annette Walker

There is something relaxing about sitting down on my front porch in a rocking chair in the middle of a hot summer day and drinking a cup of hot tea. Just stopping for a few minutes helps reprioritize one’s schedule and enjoy the world around you. No wonder the English take their teatime seriously. When my niece, Stacy was an exchange student this past semester over in England her one professor told her that he would wait until after teatime to start the class so she wouldn’t miss her tea. Can you imagine one of our American professors doing that? I blame my English genes for feeling the need to take a short break every afternoon.

My great grandfather Smith stowed away on a ship from Liverpool England as a child and spent most of his life on the sea until he married and settled down here in America. Grandpa Smith was never able to get the knack of driving a car after years on a ship. Our favorite story was Grandpa Smith trying to learn to drive. Behind the wheel of his model T Ford Grandpa Smith would forget that he wasn’t at sea when he’d go to turn the wheel for a curve. Thinking he was on a ship he would instinctively spin the steering wheel and turn the car over on its side every time. The passengers would have to crawl out through the window flaps and help turn the model T Ford upright again.

The Duchess of Bedford is credited with being the creator of the teatime when she suffered a faint spell one afternoon and had her servants bring her a pot of tea and some breadstuff. Prior to this the English had two main meals; morning and evening. She liked her snack so well that soon the Duchess invited her friends to join her for tea and the practice was quickly picked up by other social hostesses. There are three basic types of afternoon or low tea; Cream Tea (tea, scones, jam, and cream), Light Tea (tea, scones, and sweets), and Full Tea (tea, savories, scones, sweets, and a dessert). Today in England most tea rooms serve tea from three to five o’clock.

My flat pie-shaped English Scones give a British flair to any afternoon tea with their soft crunchy texture tasting more like a biscuit rather than a cookie. These English Scones go well with any flavor of tea. You can make the scones plain; add nuts of your choice, dried fruit, or currants. My English Scones take ten minutes to prepare and this recipe makes twelve scones.

English Scones

2 c plain flour
½ c sugar
1 tb cream of tartar
¾ tsp baking soda
6 tb butter
½ c chopped nuts
2 eggs
1 tb milk

Mix together the flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, and nuts. Cut in the butter and add the eggs and milk. Form the dough into a ball and pat out into a circle on a greased 12 inch pizza pan. Sprinkle sugar on top and cut into twelve slices. Bake for fifteen minutes at 350º until golden brown. Serve with your favorite tea!

Weekly tip: A proper English tea is made by seeping teabags in hot water in a teapot. Pour the tea into china teacups adding sugar and milk or a slice of lemon!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Million Dollar Shortbread

Million Dollar Shortbread

Dorcas Annette Walker

Want to feel like a millionaire? Then try my recipe of Million Dollar Shortbread from Scotland. Since my mother’s side is English my sister always had a hankering to take a trip over to Europe. Last year Lois got her heart’s desire when she and her husband went on a tour of Ireland. Being an avid tea drinker my sister was in seventh heaven enjoying all the teas and scones. Her husband, Ted, who prefers coffee, was not quite as enthusiastic. Among their tour group was a couple from Scotland whose husband loved to cook. My sister and this Scottish chef compared different eating cultures. Before parting he gave my sister a recipe for a Scottish favorite often used at tea time. During cold winter days this rich tasting recipe will make you feel like a millionaire.

Scotland is credited with the birthplace of shortbread that evolved from a medieval-type biscuit of a twice-baked enriched bread roll. When butter was first substituted for yeast shortbread was born. The word shortbread comes from the word shortening. Although shortbread was probably made as early as the 12th century, Mary, Queen of Scotts is attributed to its popularity. Round shortbread was cut into triangles or made into individual round biscuits or rectangular shapes known as fingers. There are many varieties of shortbread, but traditional shortbread consists of three main ingredients: flour, sugar, and butter. In the beginning shortbread was a luxury reserved for holidays or special occasions like weddings. Today shortbread is an everyday favorite and enjoyed around the world.

Some quick facts about shortbread: January 6th is National Shortbread Day, in Shetland a decorated shortbread is broken over a bride’s head before entering her new home, one specialty shortbread manufacturer will put customer’s photos on their shortbread cookies, shortbread is packaged in airtight containers (often a tin box or canister) to keep its desired crispness, and shortbread was classified as bread by bakers to avoid paying a biscuit tax.

My recipe of Million Dollar Shortbread consists of a crisp cookie layered with gooey Carmel and topped with a thin layer of chocolate that will instantly appeal to anyone with a sweet tooth. This rich indulgent treat can be eaten with a cup or hot tea or coffee, milk, or hot chocolate and makes an ideal sweet snack. Preparation time for my Million Dollar Shortbread is around twenty minutes and this recipe makes 48 triangular pieces.

Million Dollar Shortbread

Mix together and press on a greased cookie sheet:
2 sticks of real butter (melted)
½ c sugar
3 c self-rising flour
Bake at 350º for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.

While the shortbread is baking bring to a rolling boil in a small saucepan:
1 stick of real butter
1 can of condensed milk
1 c brown sugar
¼ c of light corn syrup
Lower heat and cook for ten more minutes stirring constantly until thick and Carmel colored. Pour over baked shortbread and let cool for thirty minutes.

Microwave for one minute:
½ 12 oz pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Stir until runny and spread over top of firm Carmel. Let cool for fifteen minutes. Cut the shortbread into two inch squares and then in half to form a triangle. Store in an airtight container!

Weekly tip: Easy chocolate garnishes: after melting chocolate spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet, cool, and then push a metal spatula along the edge of the firm chocolate to form curls or cut out shapes with cookie cutters and refrigerate until ready to use; dip fruit or nuts partway into melted chocolate and let harden on waxed paper; or melt chocolate in a closed zipper-style sandwich bag, snip a tiny edge off the bottom corner, and holding tightly to the top drizzle over brownies, cookies, cakes or other desserts!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page and blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Dorcas Annette Walker

There are times as a parent while raising children that you wonder what they will remember when they are grown. You try to instill the right principles, make sure they are fed and clothed, and give them all the opportunities possible in hopes that they will emerge as a responsible adult. Then one day you look around and they are gone leaving behind a huge empty spot. It was years of past memories they helped me adjust after my daughter got married and started a home of her own.

When Dawn was expecting her first child she confided to me that she wanted to always keep homemade cookies on hand. I was rather shocked as growing up store bought cookies were what my kids went wild over. Especially so after finding out that during the school years my homemade cookies were traded and exchanged for more modern delights. Dawn said, “I could always count on homemade cookies and milk as a snack every day after school.”

And my mind went back to a little girl, who always begged to help every time I baked. During those days I watched a preschooler concentrate to get the right amount of dough on the spoon, carefully space the cookies, and then count how many were on a tray. In a few more years she was measuring and beating the batter with a large spoon, reluctantly letting me stir at the end to make sure that all the ingredients were mixed. What a day of triumph when Dawn made her first batch of cookies by herself. I still smile every time I think of the teenage, who tended to burn the cookies due to her nose being stuck in a book.

Every holiday was celebrated with some kind of cookie. At Christmas we went into high gear turning out dozens of cookies. I’d always make up a decorative plateful to give to the neighbors and we’d take cookies to church holiday functions. I made plenty as everyone loved to sample whatever was baking. Gingerbread men cookies quickly became a Christmas tradition and are something that today Dawn makes every year at her house. My Gingerbread recipe is already on my Creative Mountain Cookin blog that can be accessed through my website at: http://www.dorcasannettewalker.com/ Another Christmas cookie standard is an old Sugar Cookie recipe that has been in our family for years. This recipe makes six dozen cookies.

Sugar Cookies

1 c shortening
2 c sugar
2 eggs
½ c milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 c self-rising flour
Stir the dough until well mixed. The dough will be stiff. Roll out thin like pie crust on a floured surface and cut into fancy shapes. Place on a greased cookies sheets and sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake for ten minutes at 350º. Cool and store in an enclosed container!

Weekly tip: Cookie tips: Dip the cookie cutter into flour before cutting into the dough. After pressing into the cookie dough, hold the cookie cutter firmly and wiggle gently to ensure a sharp cut. To keep baked cookies soft always add a piece of bread with the cookies!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Chocolate Cream Brownies

Chocolate Cream Brownies

Dorcas Annette Walker

I’ve been busy canning green beans lately. In fact now-a-days my kitchen is like a canning factory. For the past four years I was unable to can much due to poor health and my bountiful supply of green beans became exhausted. We ended having to eat store-bought green beans. To a person who has always eaten the store variety of green beans they cannot begin to understand the quandary of going from home-canned to store-bought. There simply is no comparison. So this year I have been actively replenishing my pantry. Between loading my canner with quarts of green beans I decided to whip up a batch of brownies. Brownies are a perfect snack to give energy for canning, take along on a picnic this summer, or to have on hand for family reunions.

The first known recipe for brownies is published in an 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalogue. A demand for chocolate recipes emerged in the beginning of the 20th century when mass production of chocolate made chocolate affordable to everyone. Different companies began to aggressively advertise and promote chocolate. Folklore has it that the origin of brownies evolved from a careless cook who forgot to add baking powder in a chocolate cake batter. Since that first mistake of an unknown cook, there has developed almost as many brownie recipes as there are cooks. The name brownie comes from the deep brown color. Beginning brownie recipes and today’s classic brownies are rich in butter and melted chocolate with no leavening except for a couple of eggs and flour.

Brownies are often one of the first recipes children attempt to bake. Today there are several varieties of brownie mixes to choose from making it easy to turn out perfect brownies every time. Just be careful not to over-mix the ingredients, which can cause the brownies to be tough or over-bake the brownies, which results in dry brownies. Brownies are not considered a low-calorie treat, especially when frostings or toppings are added, but the rich chocolate mixture is an ultimate sensory delight.

My Chocolate Cream Brownie recipe evolved from wanting to jazz up a plain brown mix for a youth group. I decided to combine a jar of marshmallow cream and a bag of chocolate chips as a topping instead of my usual well-known peanut butter frosting. The rich moist chocolate with a gooey marshmallow chocolate topping was an instant hit with the teens. I have made these elegant easy-to-make Chocolate Cream Brownies several times since. My Chocolate Cream Brownies takes a total of forty minutes to prepare and this recipe serves sixteen.

Chocolate Cream Brownies

Bake a pan of plain brownies (your choice of brand) for thirty minutes at 350º.
While still hot spread a 7 oz jar of marshmallow cream on top and bake for five minutes. Sprinkle a 12 oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips on top of the melted marshmallow cream. Bake for five more minutes and smooth out the softened chocolate chips with a knife. Cool and serve. Store any leftover brownies in an airtight container!

Weekly tip: For chewy brownies always use two eggs. Also semisweet chocolate chips produce a creamier texture compared to unsweetened chocolate chips!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Ole Fashion Peanut Butter Cookies

Ole Fashion Peanut Butter Cookies
Dorcas Annette Walker

March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day! National Peanut Butter Day turned into a National Peanut Week in 1941 and expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974. Suffolk, Virginia has an annual peanut festival each October including a peanut butter sculpture contest. And if you don’t get enough peanut butter in March, hang on as National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day is coming up April 2nd. So to start out the month of March, I’m sharing an old fashion Mennonite recipe that I’ve made through the years as my kids grew up. Last Sunday night I took a batch of my peanut butter cookies to our home church’s bi-monthly birthday celebration where they disappeared fast. I was told over and over how delicious my cookies were. There are some recipes that time and age doesn’t diminish. My Ole Fashion Peanut Butter Cookies are one.

Peanuts originated in South America where the Incas were known to have made a paste out of peanuts. Today Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are the three states where peanuts are primarily grown. In 1890 an unknown St. Louis physician encouraged a food product company to process and package ground peanut paste as a vegetarian protein supplement for people with bad teeth. About the same time, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg began experimenting with peanuts and obtained a patent in 1895. This peanut butter was not as tasty as the peanuts were steamed instead of roasted. In 1903, Dr. George Washington Carver began his peanut research and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts. He is considered by many to be the father of the peanut industry. Krema Products Company in Columbus, Ohio began selling peanut butter in 1908, is the oldest known peanut butter company, and still is in operation today. In 1958, Procter & Gamble introduced Jif Peanut Butter and now operates the world’s largest peanut butter plant producing 250,000 jars per day. A jar of peanut butter, well known throughout the Pennsylvania Dutch country that is made and produced by my cousin, sits on my pantry shelf bearing my maiden name: Landis Peanut Butter.

Peanut butter today is made similar like 100 years ago. By law it must contain 90% peanuts with no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. Some brands add 7% natural sweeteners and 1% salt for taste, plus a stabilizer to keep the peanuts and oil from separating. Peanuts are planted after the last frost in April using specially grown and treated peanut kernels from the previous year’s crop. The peanut plant grows into a green oval-leafed plant about eighteen inches tall producing delicate yellow flowers. Peanuts are harvested 120 to 160 days after planting by lifting the plants from the ground with a digger, shaking the soil from the plant, and laying it up-side-down to dry in the sun for 2-3 days. Peanuts are picked from the vine by a windrow and dumped into wagons, taken to buying stations where the peanuts are weighed, graded, and inspected. From there the peanuts travel to shelling plants where they are separated by size. Peanut butter manufacturers roast the peanuts in special ovens and rapidly cool the peanuts to retain an even color and prevent the loss of too much oil. Then the outer skin is removed, the kernels are split, and the peanuts are cleaned and sorted a final time. Peanuts are ground in two stages as one long grinding process would damage the flavor. In the second stage, salt, sweetener, and stabilizer are added. While peanut butter has no artificial preservatives an opened jar is still stored on the self at room temperature. Peanut butter is known to lower blood pressure, protect against breast cancer, and fight adult-onset diabetes. Peanuts are cholesterol free and low in saturated fat. Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person each year- roughly about 700 million pounds. Two peanut farmers have been elected president: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter. One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches. One final fact: peanuts are not nuts at all- they are legumes like beans, peas, and lentils!

Ole Fashion Peanut Butter Cookies

In a large bowl cream together:
1 c shortening
1 c peanut butter (I use crunchy)
1 c brown sugar
1 c regular sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add:
3 c self-rising flour
Mix together thoroughly. Form balls from a heaping tablespoon and place on greased cookie sheets. Flatten the ball of dough with a fork. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Store cookies in an air-tight container. This recipe makes about three and one-half dozen cookies!

Weekly tip: Old fashion or natural peanut butter will separate. Stir in the oil as the peanut butter is still good!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com