Christmas bar cookies for a crowd

12/5/18 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

Once upon a time I loved to make Christmas cookies. Back in the day you could always count on me to bring cookies to the multiple school events, church, clubs and other parties that our family of five attended. I was busy. I worked outside of the home, volunteered on multiple levels for youth and civic groups and still had energy to bake cookies at midnight. Ah, youth

That all changed when we semi-retired and moved to Oregon. Now that the kids were grown and lived a thousand miles away, I seldom made cookies by the dozen any more. In fact, that first year Chuck made all the cookies at our new business. We opened a bakery/donut shop and remodeled a house on six acres. We were busy and tired.

Still, I wanted to entertain the neighbors at Christmas. Thus began 20 years of a Christmas Cookie party event. All the neighbors were happy for a meet and greet and brought enough cookies to share and exchange. And that was the year I discovered a cookie short cut—Bar Cookies.

If you’re going to feed a crowd, cookies baked like cake and cut into squares are nothing short of magic. You don’t have to stop and agonize over perfecting every individual cookie. You just cut and serve. Voila!

I still make a couple of favorite, tedious cookie recipes: Russian Tea Cakes and a small batch of frosted sugar cookies are a must on the Kaiser menu. And it wouldn’t be Christmas without a batch of Fantasy Fudge. Still, Bar Cookies are a lifesaver when entertaining at this busy time of year.

The following recipes are baked and taste tested by dear friends. Enjoy!

JEANNIE HAND’S CRANBERRY BARS

1 ½ cups sugar

2 large eggs

¾ cup butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ cup fresh or frozen cranberries (8 ounces)

½ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350Æ F.

Butter a 9x13” Pyrex pan

Using an electric mixer on medium speed: beat sugar and eggs until slightly thickened (about 2 min.). Beat in melted butter and almond flavor. Stir in flour; add cranberries and nuts. Bake 30 min. or until toothpick tests clean.

LOUISE’S LEMON BARS

CRUST

2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter

FILLING

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons lemon juice

1 grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon baking powder

TOPPING

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Lightly spray 9x13 Pyrex pan

CRUST: Combine 2 cups flour with ½ cup powdered sugar and mix well with butter. Pat into prepared pan and bake for 20 min. Remove from oven.

FILLING: In the meantime, combine eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind, baking powder and 2 tablespoons flour. Mix until smooth. Pour filling over cooked layer. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool. Dust with powdered sugar. If making the day before, you may have to repeat dusting.

Cut into squares and serve. Makes a lot!

JEANNIE JEWELL’S MACAROON COOKIE BARS

Heat oven to 350° F.

Grease 13” x9” pan

CRUST

1 package Pillsbury Plus Devil’s Food Cake mix

½ cup margarine, softened

TOPPING

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 cup coconut + extra for topping

1 cup pecans, chopped

CRUST: In large bowl combine cake mix and margarine. Blend at low speed until well combined and crumbly. Press evenly into bottom of greased pan.

TOPPING: In small bowl combine milk, vanilla and egg. Beat until smooth. Stir in coconut and pecans. Pour mixture over crust. Sprinkle an additional ¼ cup coconut over top.

Bake 30-35 min. or until golden brown Cool completely. Cut into bars.

MICROWAVE FANTASY FUDGE

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter

3 cups sugar

1 small can evaporated milk (2/3 cup) (not sweetened)

1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 small jar (7 ounces) marshmallow crème

1 cup nuts, chopped (I use walnuts)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Lightly grease a 13x9 inch Pyrex pan.

Microwave margarine in 4-quart bowl on HIGH for 1 minute or until melted.

Add sugar and milk; mix well. Microwave on 5 minutes or until mixture begins to boil, stirring after 3 minutes. Continue to cook 2 more min.

Mix well; scrape bowl. Microwave 5 ½ min. more, stirring after 3 min.

Microwave on HIGH 5 1/2 minutes; stirring after 3 minutes as above

Gradually stir in chocolate chips until melted.

Add marshmallow, nuts and vanilla. Mix well and quickly pour into prepared pan. Let cool. To serve, cut into small squares. Makes a lot!

Keep it simple and keep it seasonal with Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner

November? It must be pie time!

11/7/18 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

I’m a big fan of Indian Summers and I’m not yet in a winter frame of mind. So, it’s always a shock to turn my calendar over and discover that it’s November. How can that be? That means there’s still patio furniture to put away, bushes to be trimmed and gardens to be winterized. Sigh.

It also means that I should start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. But most of us don’t have to think very hard about that because our families are steeped in tradition. Mine used to be but, things have changed. We’ve added new members. A couple of our grandsons are now married and we share them with their wives and their families. Also, one of our sons and his wife are vegans.

Fortunately, our holiday meals are very similar. The basic menu for whoever comes to dinner will feast on roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce; mashed potatoes and gravy; green beans and rolls. If I’m cooking there is also a cranberry Jell-O salad and sweet potato casserole. The vegans eat Tofurky with their veggies and a big green salad.

After turkey and dressing, dessert is the favorite part of the meal. Again, every family usually has their own traditional favorite pie. I say pie, because I’ve never heard anyone talk about their favorite thanksgiving cake. There’s probably lots of them out there but people I know mostly eat pie. Let me know if you have a favorite cake.

We have two or three pies but one is always pumpkin. And we’re not alone. A national survey by Delish editors revealed that pumpkin is the reigning champ of desserts by 36% of those polled—46% on the West Coast. Pecan was a distant second, followed by apple, sweet potato and cherry.

As the longtime pie baker at Kaiser’s Country Diner in Ventura, I have made thousands of pies. Pumpkin was always a best seller and if it’s your first pie you can’t go wrong following the basic directions on a can of Libby’s pumpkin. I do change up the spices a bit but that is a personal preference. Every so often I would also make a Pumpkin Eggnog Pie. So today, just for fun, I’m including that recipe instead of the regular pumpkin.

Another customer favorite was my chocolate pecan pie. It, too, is simple to make, using a variation on the classic Karo pecan recipe. Each of these recipes call for a single unbaked 9” pie shell and a whipped cream garnish.

Before you make the pie, you should make a pie crust. I don’t have room in today’s column for my recipe but the standard Betty Crocker recipe is also good. The trick is getting the right dough consistency and then rolling it out on a floured surface. You can do it! Try it! Or use store bought. Enjoy!

BETTY CROCKER PASTRY

1-1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup+2 tablespoons Crisco shortening

¼ cup ice cold water

Sift flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until shortening pieces are the size of giant peas. Sprinkle with ice water a little at a time. Mix lightly with a fork until all the flour is moist. Add more if needed. Gather dough together with fingers so it cleans the bowl. Press firmly into a ball. Then roll out on floured pastry cloth to desired size.

PUMPKIN EGGNOG PIE

2 cups pumpkin (1 16 ounce can)

1 1/2 cups eggnog

2 eggs

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves (or less)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 unbaked 9” pie shell

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixer bowl and mix well. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Put in oven and bake 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350° F. Bake another 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the edge comes out clean. Cool and refrigerate. Garnish with whipped cream. Serves 6-8.

KARO PECAN PIE

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup light or dark corn syrup

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups pecans (more if needed)

1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In large bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients until well blended. Gently stir in pecans. Pour into pastry shell. If necessary, add more pecans so that the top is covered and there will be pecan in every bite!

Bake in oven 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool. Garnish with whipped cream. Serves 6-8.

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

Melt 4 ounces melted semisweet chocolate.

Decrease sugar to 1/3 cup.

Prepare and bake as above.

Contact Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner at 942-1317 or email bchatty@bettykaiser.com