newbie here!

[nuzzmark]

Hi! I am from Massachusetts. I'm 63 & have been married for 45 years. We have 3 kids, all married, 5 grandkids & 3 step grandkids.
I am Italian & love to cook & bake!
I also do lots of crafts...right now doing cards & altered art. I still work part time & wish there were more hours in the day.....like everyone else! lol
It will be nice getting to know everyone.
Clara aka nuzzmark

 

[Zhizara]

Welcome to DC. Lots of fun and great recipes here. Jump right in.

 

[Kathleen]

Welcome to DC! What kinds of things do you like to cook and/or bake?

 

[LindaZ]

Welcome - I'm a relative newbie myself, but am enjoying my time here. very informative a lot of things.

 

[Rocklobster]

Hello, and welcome. I will accept leftovers.

 

[nuzzmark]

Hi everyone & thanks for the warm welcomes!
I cook mostly Italian , but like other stuff too. I will experiment while cooking & sometimes if I don't write down what I did, I'll forget the ingredients I used! lol
I've been baking cookies forever it seems. Last year I made 20 different varieties!!! must have been loco! I think when I start, I can't stop! I told my friend that we should start a group...Bakers Anonymous!
I'm not making that many this year, although I'm up to about 12.
If you'd like, I can post a recipe for Fruitcake Cookies that is my very favorite...well at least until I can master those pistachio cookies! I got the recipe a few years ago online....something like suite101?? I did change it a bit. Funny story...it calls for apricot brandy. We didn't have any, so I grabbed a bottle of plain brandy..or so I thought. I told my husband & he wanted to see what I used. It was cognac!!! And I've used it ever since! I don't use candied fruit & neither did the guy who wrote the recipe.
just let me know...
Happy cooking & baking!
Clara

 

[Kathleen]

If you'd like, I can post a recipe for Fruitcake Cookies that is my very favorite...well at least until I can master those pistachio cookies! I got the recipe a few years ago online....something like suite101?? I did change it a bit. Funny story...it calls for apricot brandy. We didn't have any, so I grabbed a bottle of plain brandy..or so I thought. I told my husband & he wanted to see what I used. It was cognac!!! And I've used it ever since! I don't use candied fruit & neither did the guy who wrote the recipe.
just let me know...
Happy cooking & baking!
Clara

Clara, I would absolutely love your recipe for fruitcake cookies! Truly, I'm not much of a baker, but I could change my mind for cognac-soaked fruitcake cookies! Please share!

~Kathleen

 

[nuzzmark]

recipe for fruitcake drops

Hi Kathleen!
Sorry I didn't get back to you until now...had to work
Here's the recipe:
Fruitcake Drops………………This is a doubled recipe & makes about 5 dozen

It would just not seem like the holidays unless I had a few fruitcake cookies in each box of cookies. I do not make traditional fruitcakes since a little fruit cake really does go a long way, but a soft cookie with the flavor of fruitcake is always most welcome. These cookies are great plain, or you can drizzle white chocolate on top of them as described below. I also prefer to use apricot brandy in these cookies, but any plain or flavored brandy can be used. I prefer not putting chopped citron or citrus peels in these cookies, it makes them more kid friendly.

The above is what the guy who gave out this recipe said.

1 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 tablespoon apricot brandy-I used B&B Liqueur
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans…..Sometimes I use walnuts…
1/2 cup chopped almonds
2 cups chopped red and green candied cherries
1 6 oz. pkg Tropical Medley (dried fruit), chopped
3 ounces high quality white chocolate *

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, brandy, extracts, and eggs until smooth and creamy. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and oats. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. Fold in the raisins, pecans, almonds, and cherries until combined. Drop 2 inches apart by the tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until set. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. In the top of a double boiler or microwave melt the white chocolate until smooth. Drizzle a little bit of chocolate onto each cookie.

* I didn't do this step
Enjoy!
Clara

 

[babetoo]

hi, glad to meet you. enjoy d.c.

 

[Kathleen]

The cookies sound great! Thank you!

 

[nuzzmark]

made the cookies.....

they came out very flat. That was the 1st sheet. The 2nd just about spread all over the cookie sheet. I took the rest of the dough & mixed some flour, bkg. pdr & 1 egg white. They are in the oven right now. I don't get it!!!!
I think I'm done with trying to make them. Soooooo aggravating!!
Clara
I'll let you know how the last sheet came out

 

[nuzzmark]

last sheet of cookies

actually the last 2 sheets. Well these came out a little better, but still about the thickness of a chocolate chip cookie. I took them out when the bottoms were light golden. They taste good, but look nothing like the picture in my first post.
I'm not going to try them again right now, but when I do, I'm going to add the baking powder & some flour & maybe another egg white. Now let me ask something. What would be the difference between beating the egg whites till stiff, not dry & folding in or just beating till frothy & pouring in while mixing?

Clara

 

[Zhizara]

I don't have an answer for you, but just wanted to say welcome to DC, where we share your failures as well as your successes. You're in good company here.

Your problems are the kind that stopped me from making cookies. Too many failures. I can get a big batch of perfect oatmeal cookies from Walmart for $1. I don't need stress.

 

[nuzzmark]

I know what you mean! I should just get a pkg of oreos & dip them in melted white chocolate & add sprinkles!!!!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Hello Clara!

Welcome to DC. It's been a couple of years, but I used to do marathon cookie baking, too. I don't eat cookies, but there are plenty of fathomless pits at work who will eat anything!

Have fun!

 

[Kathleen]

Your problems are the kind that stopped me from making cookies. Too many failures. I can get a big batch of perfect oatmeal cookies from Walmart for $1. I don't need stress.

It took a good decade of baking failures to realize why I am not a good baker: You need to measure. I *never* measure when I cook. Estimate, yes. Measure, no. I've decided that bakers are "kitchen chemists." As a science major, chemistry was my least favorite because....I had to measure.

~Kathleen

 

[Zhizara]

It took a good decade of baking failures to realize why I am not a good baker: You need to measure. I *never* measure when I cook. Estimate, yes. Measure, no. I've decided that bakers are "kitchen chemists." As a science major, chemistry was my least favorite because....I had to measure.

~Kathleen

My ongoing problem was substitutions. That doesn't work either. Nor does forgetting the sugar in one batch. Yeech.
I was only getting about 50% good when I decided to quit.

 

[Kathleen]

My ongoing problem was substitutions. That doesn't work either. Nor does forgetting the sugar in one batch. Yeech.
I was only getting about 50% good when I decided to quit.

LOL...yes, forgetting sugar is sometimes unforgivable. When I was in junior high, my math teacher politely declined a biscuit made by a classmate and me by saying he was on a diet. My classmate Candy replied, "No problem, we forgot the sugar and the salt." The biscuit looked and felt like a hockey puck.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

LOL...yes, forgetting sugar is sometimes unforgivable. When I was in junior high, my math teacher politely declined a biscuit made by a classmate and me by saying he was on a diet. My classmate Candy replied, "No problem, we forgot the sugar and the salt." The biscuit looked and felt like a hockey puck.

Shrek worked with a baker who mixed up the sugar and salt measurements in a 200 pound batch of bun dough, once. There was absolutely no way to save it.

 

[taxlady]

I keep forgetting the cookies (and granola) in the oven and burn them. We solved the problem. I mix up the cookies or granola and stick it in the oven. Then my DH takes over. He has way more patience than I do.