Orange Cream Cookies

This is a Betty Crocker recipe that I found and made for Rylan’s 13th birthday. I made them to go with an orange dreamsicle cake that I was making for him. They were so good! I added just a hint more orange extract to give them some extra orange flavor and they became an instant family favorite.

Orange Cream Cookies

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix

3 Tbs butter or margarine, melted

2 tsp orange extract

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

5 drops yellow food color

2 drops red food color

1 ½ cups white vanilla baking chips

1.  Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir all ingredients except baking chips until soft dough forms. Stir in baking chips.

2.  On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough with 1 1/2 tablespoon-size cookie scoop or by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.

3.  Bake 9 to 10 minutes or just until dough is set (do not overbake). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely.

Lindsey's Margarita Jello Shots

Lindsey brought these little treats to Thanksgiving dinner this year, a twist on the traditional green jello salad.  They were a fun appetizer and very yummy for those of you margarita lovers, and I do believe she used Patron tequila so they were top shelf all the way!

Margarita Jello Shot

6 ounces Lime Jello
16 ounces Water (boiling)
6 ounces Tequila
2 ounces Triple Sec
1 ounce Lime Juice
1 ounce Water (cold)

So regular Jello Instructions tell you to dissolve Jello with boiling water. So your cold water amount is your booze amount. Place in individual small plastic (shot size) cups to set. It takes all night for these to set up in the fridge.

Cutout Cookies

Tomorrow we are taking treats to preschool and the letter of the week is "Q" so we made letter Q cutout cookies to take to school and share!

Cutout Cookies

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 heaping cup shortening
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and shortening into a dough.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix/knead the dough.
3. Roll the dough out thin and sprinkle sugar over the top and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
4. Bake cookies in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 13 minutes.
5. Frost and decorated as desired.

These are great cookies, perfect for any holiday baking so get those cookie cutters out!

Step 1: Mixing all your dry ingredients with your shortening, I used actual shortening Crisco sticks not butter or margarine. 

Step 2: Turning into dough!

Step 3: I rolled my dough pretty thin because I was using small cookie cutters. I also sprinkled sugar on the dough and then gave it another quick roll so that the sugar wasn't just sitting on top of the dough that way I could frost them easily.

Cutting out our letter "Q" cookies

All done! Do not over bake, I didn't let these brown at all that way they will stay nice and soft. 

After we got with all  Q's we needed, the kids went crazy making all sorts of shapes as you can see hearts, dog bones, flowers, and of course gingy men.  This recipe doesn't make a lot of cookies, so if you need quite a lot you may need to double it. But, since I only needed a few it was perfect and we didn't have to spend all day cutting out loads of cookies!

My trusty cookie assistant was very helpful today.

Today's cookie brought to you by the letter "Q"

Soft Buttermilk Sugar Cookies, Page 190

So just a quick clarification on this recipe.  I have been going through the cookbook this week looking for errors etc. before we place our last order next month.  There were a few duplicate cookie recipes and about five sugar cookie recipes.  This recipe is one of my cookie recipes and they are quick, super soft, and delicious but, it is more of a hybrid cookie somewhere between a sugar cookie and a snickerdoodle. It isn't really what I think of as a sugar cookie, sugar cookies should resemble more of a "cut out " type cookie. So a better name would be Cinnamon & Sugar Cookie which better describes what the end result will be.  Cissy are just enjoying a batch on this cold wintry day.

My little mermaid princess Cissy

enjoying the cookies we just made!

Recipe Correction: Helen's Dinner Rolls, Page 67

If you haven't made these rolls, you really should because they are fabulous!  But, I did make a typo on this recipe it should read: 2 1/4 cups warm water (not warm yeast) but, you do add the 2 TBS of yeast to the warm water to get your dough started.  Another trick to these rolls that Aunt Helen shared with me is to bake these rolls on parchment paper that way the rolls won't stick to the pan and it will help keep your rolls soft while baking.  Aunt Helen also placed these rolls on the pan with the sides of the rolls touching when she baked them so they come out looking like a restaurant style dinner roll. Sorry for the typo!

Grandma Shirley's Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

My amazing Husband spent most of his day Saturday organizing all of our food storage and this my friends is not an easy task. At one point I went down to see if he was still hard at work and he mentioned that we had so much oatmeal and raisins that they were coming out of our ears. It was then and there that my craving began and the search for a delicious oatmeal raisin cookie was on! So, I of course went to my trusty Guymon Family Cookbook and found several recipes that looked delicious and I narrowed it down to this one on page 191. They were pretty darn easy to make and after the first batch came out of the oven everyone devoured them! My picky Husband who's job in life is to perfect upon anything he can asked if he could add a few things and so I stepped aside and let him work his magic and he created utter oatmeal cookie perfection! He added milk chocolate chunks and around two more cups of oatmeal than it had originally called for. It was so yummy that we even hid a bowl of them from the kids just to make sure our kiddo's didn't devour them in one sitting! You need to try them out! The kids kept telling me that it would be gross to add applesauce to a cookie but have since come around and can't wait until we whip up our next batch! Just a little something to think about but I think they would be delicious with some added orange zest. That's if you would like to add upon perfection...

Red Velvet Cheesecake

The whole process is pretty easy just a little time consuming because you do have to bake 2 cakes. But each part is simple. It makes a lot of cake and tastes better the second day.

Ingredients

Cheesecake:
3 8-oz pkgs cream cheese – room temperature
1-1/3 cups sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream

Red Velvet Cake
2 Tbs butter – softened
2 Tbs shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 oz red food coloring (a small bottle)
1 cup + 2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz pkg cream cheese – softened
3-1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Spray two 9” round cake pans generously with PAM. Trace bottoms of pans onto parchment paper, cut out, and place in bottom of pans. Set aside.

For the cheesecake:
Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch with mixer. Add eggs and vanilla – beating until smooth. Add cream & beat in just until combined – don’t overmix. Pour into one of prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes – watching closely near end of baking time. Cool at room temperature, then place in refrigerator for about 2 hours. Run knife around outer edge, tapping pan to remove cheesecake onto the palm of your hand. Set in refrigerator until cold.

For the cake:
Cream butter, shortening, and sugar. Add egg, then mix in cocoa and food coloring. Scrape bowl with a COLORED spatula (red would be best to keep from staining a light colored one). Add flour and salt, then buttermilk – beating well. Sprinkle baking soda over batter, then pour vinegar and vanilla over the top. You’ll see it foam slightly. Fold into batter until well mixed. Pour batter into the other prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, or until it tests done. Cool, then remove cake from pan. Using large serrated knife, cut this layer in half when cold.

For the frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add sugar and salt, then cream & vanilla. Continue to beat until smooth and it forms peaks. Set aside.

To assemble cake:
Place first half of cake layer onto serving plate (be sure to remove parchment paper from the bottom!) Protect outer edges with waxed paper if desired. Spread generously with a layer of frosting. Carefully slice cheesecake in half in the same way as the red velvet layer, placing one half on top of red velvet cake & frosting. Add another layer of frosting. Repeat layers. Spread frosting carefully around outer edge of cake – being careful not to ‘drag’ red velvet crumbs with the knife. Now frost top of cake. Using remaining frosting, place in pastry bag with decorative tip. Pipe edge on top and bottom. *Note: This frosting contains butter, which can soften and melt in your warm hand. Work quickly, or it can make the frosting start to droop. Store in refrigerator.

Sounds like a lot but don't get intimidated! I hope you like it!