Papas Cutting Board

Lemon Zucchini Drop Cookies

My neighbor gave me a lot of zucchini from his garden. I made these for him. I will make these again.

Instead of using lemon peel – I used lemon zest which I bought from the King Arthur site. These cookies are easy to create, you can freeze them (I freeze the balls of dough – flash freeze on dish, and then drop the balls into a ziploc freezer bag which is marked with name, temp and time – for later baking)

Lemon Zucchini Drop Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
1 tsp lemon peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts

Lemon Glaze: 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 or more Tbsp lemon juice – enough to make a glaze

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, zucchini, and lemon peel. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in raisins and walnuts.Drop by Tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes – or until lightly browned. Here in Indiana, on an overcast day – it took about 14 minutes.

Remove to wire racks to cool.

For the glaze, combine sugar and enough lemon juice to achieve a thin spreading consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Apple Brownies

The house smells wonderful! This recipe is very easy to put together. The brownies are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I gift these often

Apple Brownies

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup chopped apples
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans recommended), and optional
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Note: This recipe may be doubled in which case you should use a 9 x 13-inch baking pan

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg, and mix well. Stir in the chopped apples and chopped nuts. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Mix well.

Pour the batter into an 8-inch square pan. Bake in the 350 F oven for 40-45 minutes.
Makes 8 servings.

I peeled the apples –
Jim keeps eating them and saying, “oh honey, these are perfect”

Looks like I’ll be making more soon

Eggnog Tres Leches Cake

Eggnog Tres Leches Cake

1 package (18-1/4 oz) white cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 egg whites

2 cups eggnog

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

½ cup 2% milk

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

¼ cup sugar

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, water, oil and egg whites; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Using a skewer, poke holes in cake 1 in. apart.

In a large bowl, combine the eggnog, sweetened condensed milk and 2% milk. Pour a scant ¾ cup mixture over cake, let stand for 20-30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Repeat four times. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.In a large bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar, beat until soft peaks form. Spread over cake. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note: I put this back in the refrigerator between each liquid absorption setting up stage.

Tip: This takes some time to prepare – several waiting stages – this is delicious, and it is rich. I think it is a great snack cake for a party with small pieces added to dishes.

White Chocolate, Peanut, and Caramel Candy Cookies

White chocolate, Peanut, and Caramel Candy Cookies

(what to do with leftover Halloween candy)

Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 eggs, large

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups uncooked regular oats

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

3 (1.7 oz) packages chocolate covered caramel candies, chilled and chopped (I used Rolo)

2 (4 ounce) white chocolate bars, chopped

1 ½ cups unsalted peanuts, chopped

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy, add sugars, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until blended.

Process oats in a blender or food processor until finely ground. Combine oats, flour, and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in chopped candy, white chocolate, and peanuts. Chill dough 1 hour, if desired.

Shape dough into 1 1/2 “balls, and place on lightly greased or parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Tip: 1.7 oz of Rolos is equal to 10 candy rolo coins. Also, these cookies do spread so keep that in mind when placing on the pan. I froze half the dough balls for later baking. I did refrigerate this dough in between baking to help it hold it’s shape. You can also make this with other candies like snickers, etc.

Cinnamon Chip Scones

These scones are easy to put together. The flavor is delicious. They are not over the top on sweet. You can add cream on the side, but I prefer these just like they are.

I divided the dough in to 3 balls as the recipe stated. After I scored each one in to triangles, I froze half of the triangles for later baking. (I share that ziploc freezer bag idea in one of the photos)

I would make this again. I will add these to my cookie trays this holiday.

Pay attention to my tip on the flattening of these

https://www.hersheys.com/…/r…/easy-cinnamon-chip-scones.html

My tip is to make sure you measure them when flattening them in to a circle – I keep a plastic ruler in a kitchen drawer – I just pull it out and lay it over the disk to be sure I have right measurements – this has insured even baking for me (meaning, with scones, if they are not same thickness, you will have uneven baking on some)

– all you need to be sure of once you cut the dough in to equal 3rd s – is flatten each into a 7 inch circle – that will insure even baking –

Lime Shortbread with Dried Cherries

I’ve made this recipe many times over the years and today I decided to add something – 1/8 tsp of extract to compliment – see note at the bottom

1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbsp graded lime peel
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
½ cup chopped dried cherries

In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until blended. Beat in lime peel and extracts. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in cherries.

Divide dough in half; shape each into a 7-in-long roll. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until firm
Unwrap and cut dough crosswise into ¼-in-slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Tip: Very important to place in fridge for several hours.

Note: My add in: I wanted to try Cranberries and Orange because I had both. I did not have enough zest on the orange to create 1 Tbsp (I had used part of it in another recipe earlier) so I added 1/8 tsp orange extract. Be very careful with the amount of extract – it is powerful, and can be too much. Think of adding extract like you would a recipe that calls for a pinch of salt.

These are so delicious! I’m thinking white chocolate drizzled over would be tasty as well. But these do not need help, and they taste even better after they have been sitting in the container for a day or more.
For the cherry/lime – I added 1/8 tsp lime extract – I just the extra zing the extracts have added to these cookies. For the Lemon lime Kiwi – I added a combo of lemon and lime oil to equal about 1/4 tsp.

To differentiate the two while sitting in the fridge – I pressed the cherry log on each side so that it resembled a square/cube. You can tell the difference in taste, of course, but not right away looking at them side by side.

These logs freeze well. Just wrap in saran wrap; wrap a paper tube around to hold shape; put in ziploc freezer bag with name; oven temp; and baking time. When you pull the log out of the freezer – let it sit for about 15 minutes; I do this while the oven is warming.

Makes about 5 dozen

the square ones are the dried cherries; the round are the dried cranberries

this is how I store them – paper towel or gift wrap tubes – helps hold their shape and protect them against bumping in the refrigerator

Apple Crisp Crescent Cookies

Yield 3 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup cold butter

1 egg, separated

2/3 cup sour cream

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup finely chopped peeled tart apple

1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

¼ cup raisins, chopped

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk, sour cream and vanilla, add to crumb mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Divide dough into thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 10-in. circle. Combine the apples, walnuts, raisins, sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle ½ cup over each circle. Cut each circle into 12 wedges.

Roll up each wedge from the wide end and place point side down 1 in. apart on greased baking sheet. Curve ends to form crescents. Whisk egg white until foamy, brush over crescents.

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Apple Zucchini Bread

I’ve made this many times this past month and given as gifts. I like to buy dishes throughout the year from yard sales, thrift stores, etc and put home made food in the dishes. They make nice presentations and the recipient can use the dish in the future.

There is just a hint of zucchini flavor in this bread. This is a delicious breakfast treat. I’ll share the recipe and the book it came from.

This book has several recipes I’ve made from ingredients which are already found in the kitchen. Every recipe I have tried has been created again and again. If you come across this book at a great price (I did) – buy it – it is based on apple recipes, which we have an abundance of in the fall, and the recipes are fun, flavorful and interesting. So far, I have made the Zucchini Apple Bread, Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies (these freeze well), Apple Brownies, and the Peach Cake. The dishes were all delicious, and I created them many times over.

This is a beautiful hard bound book with lovely photos. The stories shared by each farm are interesting and the recipes are easy to create.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

These are delicious. I made a couple dozen, and then I added cranberries and walnuts to a dozen. The cranberries and walnuts are yummy in this recipe, however, they did take away from the apple flavor. I will stick with the original recipe, and not add to it. This made a lot. I was able to freeze a couple dozen cookies in the dough form as I like to smell them baking the day of.

A tip I have, the dough is almost dry, but not quite because you are able to squeeze and form this. I like the rustic look of them when I don’t form a ball. I scooped each one in to the palm of my hand, and slightly squeezed as I did so to keep it from falling apart. If you form balls, you’ll want to press them slightly (flatten slightly) once on the cookie sheet, or they won’t cook all the way through.

The recipe calls for 10 minutes. Mine took 15 minutes. Watch for them to turn slightly brown, and then pull them out to finish baking as they cool down. I left these on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, and then transferred to a cookie cooling rack.

I will include the recipe below. This recipe is from the New England Orchard Cookbook. Yes, I would make these again.

This is how I freeze cookie dough for later baking. I enjoy trying new recipes and freezing 1/2 the batch for adding to cookie trays during the holidays. Put cookie dough balls on dish; freeze for about 15 minutes; drop the dough balls in to a labeled ziploc freezer bag. The label shows the name of the cookie, the cooking time and the temperature.

This recipe comes from this book: The New England Orchard cookbook. I have made many recipes from this book, and each one has been a winner.