Drop Cookies: Granola Bar Cookies

Granola bars are great. They're delicious and at least a little healthy. But it's even better when the granola bar becomes a cookie. A little flour, a little butter, and boom, Granola Bar Cookie. Make these for a crowd.


You can use either chocolate chips or raisins. Or do a batch of each, depending on who you're serving these to.


Ingredients


¾ cup all purpose flour
1½ cups rolled oats
½ cup wheat germ
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
¼ cup chocolate chips or raisins
¼ cup almonds, chopped
⅛ cup sesame seeds
⅛ cup shelled sunflower seeds


Preparation


Heat oven to 375°F. Cream together brown sugar, butter, and honey in a large bowl. Add vanilla and egg and blend well. Gently mix in all other ingredients until you have a consistent cookie dough. It may be a little dry, and that's okay.


Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, until the edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets, cooling on wire racks. Cooled cookies can be store for up to 5 days in an airtight container.


This recipes makes about 2 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookies.

Yeast Breads: Cracked Wheat Bread

Wholesome and delicious, Cracked Wheat Bread is excellent fresh out of the oven or toasted a couple days later. The raisins in this loaf are optional, so if you don't like raisins, leave them out.


Ingredients


¾ cup cracked wheat
½ cup raisins (optional)
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 cup very hot water
1¼ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
½ cup water
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1 egg, slightly beaten


Preparation


Combine cracked wheat, raisins, brown sugar, butter, and hot water in a large bowl. Allow to cool 5 minutes. Add water, salt, flour, and yeast. Mix well until a loose dough forms. Turn dough out onto a flour surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic ball forms. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover loosely, and let rise in a warm location until doubled in size, about 1 hour.


Punch down the dough to remove all air bubbles. Shape into a round loaf with a smooth top, about 8-10 inches in diameter. Place loaf on a prepared baking sheet and cover loosely. Let rise in a warm location until doubled in size once again, this time it will take about 45 minutes.


When the dough has fully risen, heat oven to 375°F. Using a bread lame or very sharp knife, score the top of the loaf in a crisscross fashion, creating the lattice pattern on the top. Brush entire loaf with beaten egg. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped.


Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Drop Cookies: Chocolate Raisin Cookies

The raisins in this recipe give the cookies a moist and chewy texture. You could frost these cookies, if you wanted to, but they're delicious just as they are.


Ingredients


½ cup sugar
⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
⅓ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt
⅔ cup raisins


Preparation


Heat oven to 350°F. Cream together sugars and butter. Add vanilla and egg and blend well. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until all ingredients are well combined. Fold in raisins.


Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, until edges are set. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then cool completely on wire racks. Store for up to a week in airtight container.


This recipes makes about 18 cookies, depending on the size.

Pastry: Parmesan Pastry Twists

If you're having soup or salad, these cheesy pastries are a delightful and light accompaniment. They're also a great after school snack and are easy to pack for picnics. These are made with puff pastry, which you can make yourself or you can buy frozen at your local grocery store. Either way will work.


Ingredients


1 recipe for Easy Puff Pastry
¼ cup parmesan cheese
¼ tsp garlic powder
¾ tsp basil leaves, dried
1 egg, slightly beaten


Preparation


Heat oven to 425°F. In a small bowl, combine parmesan, garlic powder, and basil. Roll out the puff pastry dough on a floured surface until you have a 10x14-inch rectangle. Square up the corners as best you can.


Brush the dough with the egg, covering the surface completely. Don't cover the very edges. If you cover the edges (or parts where you've cut the dough) it may not puff correctly. So cover the surface fully, but don't cover the little edges. Sprinkle with the cheese mixture.


Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough so you have 2 5x14-inch rectangles. Cut each rectangle into 28 strips that are ½-inch wide. You can go a little wider if you like, but you'll get fewer strips.


Twist each strip 3 or 4 times and place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on wire racks, then store in an airtight container for up to a week. Or just eat them. That's what we do.


This recipe makes 56 strips or less, depending on how wide you cut them.

Drop Cookies: Chocolate Brownie Cookies

These cookies are completely delicious, mostly because they're basically brownie batter dropped on a cookie sheet. Delicious. They're also quite sticky, so use a nonstick liner or parchment paper to bake these cookies on. Don't be tempted to use wax paper. It might be nonstick, but it smokes when used in the oven.


Instead of using a saucepan, you can use a chocolate melter or fondue pot to melt the chocolate and butter together. It's simple and you definitely won't burn the chocolate.


Ingredients


¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
⅓ cup butter or margarine
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup milk chocolate chips
¾ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)


Preparation


Heat oven to 350°F. In a small saucepan or chocolate melter, melt semi-sweet chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.


In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs at a medium speed for 3 minutes. Blend in melted chocolate. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently fold in milk chocolate and walnuts, being careful not to crush the walnuts too much.


Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, until cookies are just set. Let cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then cool completely on racks. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Pastry: Easy Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is actually very easy to make, if you have the time. While it doesn't take any particular skill, it does take all day. There's a lot of folding, a lot of rolling, and a lot of spreading butter on the dough, not to mention the time the dough will spend chilling in the refrigerator. It's worth the effort if you like to bake things from scratch.


The real secret to this dough is keeping it cold. Refrigerate it between steps and use ice cold water in the dough itself. You might even want to use a metal rolling pin that has been refrigerated overnight. The dough will turn out all the better for it. Just don't substitute anything for the butter. No margarine, no shortening, nothing. Just butter.


When you work with puff pastry, make sure to keep it cold. Refrigerate the portions you're not working with. Puff pastry should go from the fridge to the oven for best results. If you're going to reroll puff pastry that you've cut, don't roll it up into a ball first. Layer it instead, then roll, or your pastry will not puff properly.


Ingredients


3 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup ice water
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups butter, softened


Preparation


This dough is relatively simple, so throw everything except the butter into a large bowl and mix until you have a soft dough that you can manipulate. Add a little extra water if you have to, but not so much that you end up with a sticky mess. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll into a 12x15-inch rectangle.


Spread with ¼ cup butter, but stay about an inch away from all edges. Fold into thirds so that you have a 12x5-inch rectangle, making sure to fold over the butter. Pinch edges sealed and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.


Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out again until it is a 12x15-inch rectangle once more. Spread with another ¼ cup of butter. Fold into thirds, pinch edges until they're sealed, cover, and refrigerate for another hour. Continue to repeat this process until you have no more butter. Make sure you have folded, sealed, and rolled out the dough into a 12x15-inch rectangle.


At this point, you can use the puff pastry immediately for freeze for future use. If you're freezing it, place the entire 12x15-inch rectangle between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll up the dough gently and freeze.


Before you use the frozen dough, let it thaw on the counter for at least 2 hours.


This puff pastry can be used in any recipe calling for puff pastry.

Twisted Rye Bread

This rye bread has two different flavors twisted together. One half is a more traditional rye bread, the other is flavored with cocoa powder. The trick here is to basically make two half-portions of dough. So there will be two separate ingredients for Twisted Rye Bread.


Ingredients


For the Rye Half
¾ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
½ rye flour
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup milk
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp butter or margarine




For the Cocoa Half
¾ tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
½ rye flour
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup milk
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp anise seed


Preparation


You're basically going to make 2 smaller batches of dough. Their both made in much the same way. Combine the ingredients for the first batch in a medium bowl. Blend until a loose dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and elastic. Repeat with the other batch. You now have 2 portions of dough.


Place each dough in its own oiled bowl and cover. Let both rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down both portions. One at a time, roll them out with your hands until you have 2 14-inch ropes of dough. Lay these ropes side by side. Pinch them together at one end, then twist them together loosely. Pinch the ropes together at the unsealed end.


Place the twisted loaf on a prepared cookie sheet. Cover loosely and let rise in a warm location until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.


Heat oven to 375°F. Bake loaf to 25 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped. Cool at least 2 minutes before cutting.