Cool Bloggers Cookie Swap

Suzanne is hosting a cookie swap this week, and I am here for it. I have 4 recipes for you. I will link to 2 recipes that I have shared before, and also share 2 ‘new’ ones. I say ‘new’, because when I search my blog, I have never written them up, though I have linked to them in the past.

First the links to past cookie recipes:

• Mulder’s favorite peanut butter dog cookies (for the dogs in your life! Remember, be careful of xylitol, which is in some peanut butters and is extremely toxic to dogs) – Very crunchy, very loved. Not tasty for humans.
• Tea Cake Sandwich Cookies – Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit magazine. Delicious and very pretty. Jam filled, lemon glazed. Kind of worky but worth it.

Now for the ‘new’ recipes.

When I was growing up, my mom always made fudge for my grandpa, who had the biggest sweet tooth in the family (perhaps more than my Aunt Flo even, though that’s difficult to fathom). The recipe was on the back of the Nestlé Toll House chocolate morsels. Then Carnation and Nestlé merged, and eventually the recipe migrated to the evaporated milk label. Then they started selling fudge kits, which I guess is fine but I find weird. I looked at the kits online, and apparently they don’t have marshmallows, which is strange because that’s definitely part of the recipe. But marshmallows are basically sugar with some gelatin, so maybe they just put extra sugar in the kits? Anyway, I use that same recipe, though I use better chocolate than Nestle my preferred chocolate chips (Not to yuck on a Nestlé fan’s yum). This is the recipe that I printed out in 2009 and have been using since then. When I look online, I find two versions. The US website matches what I have below, and the Canadian website has more sugar and salt. Do Canadians like their fudge sweeter and saltier than their US counterparts? Is it somehow because the Canadian website has the measures in weight rather than cups, and something got lost in translation? I have no idea! My friend Neva’s husband loves this fudge, and every year I make a batch for him.

Mom’s Fudge (aka, Toll House Famous Fudge)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
2/3 cup evaporated milk (1 5oz can)
2 tbsp unsalted butter 
1/4 tsp salt 
2 cups miniature marshmallows 
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Guittard and my next choice is Ghirardelli)
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional*)

* My grandpa once requested that my mom make it without nuts since they got stuck in his dentures. She did, and he said that sadly it wasn’t the same, he would prefer to deal with the nuts. My grandma and Aunt Flo loved nuts so much, I always at least doubled the nuts for them. Really I don’t think that 1/2 cup is enough, so I use 3/4 cup.

Directions
Line 8-inch (2 L) square baking pan with waxed paper; set aside.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium saucepan; bring to rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture starts to thicken*. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, chocolate chips, vanilla and nuts (if desired) until marshmallows and chocolate melt and blend.

Pour into prepared pan. Chill until set 4 hours or overnight. Cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) squares. Store in refrigerator in sealed container.

* Watch this. I have gone the full 4 to 5 minutes and if it goes too long the fudge comes out gritty. I tried measuring by temperature this year and it made me nervous to go to the temp I found online, so I pulled it off a bit before. It looked like the sugar had completely dissolved and it was shiny and glossy looking. Neva’s husband said it was my best batch ever.

Next are these delicious raspberry streusel bars, which I made once back when we still celebrated my favorite holiday, ‘Baking Day’, which was the cookie swap that Ted’s family used to have, and generally ended with a dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I miss Baking Day, but people have moved, and other people are pre-diabetic, and other people aren’t as spry as they used to be, so it has become just a happy memory. Anyway, these bars are really good. Full disclosure: I used mixed berry preserves instead of raspberry because I am very picky (what a shock) about my preserves, and for some reason no one has the only acceptable brand of raspberry preserves in stock right now. They are awesome and I fully support this substitution if needed, though I think raspberry is always best.

Raspberry Streusel Bars

Ingredients 
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces and softened (1 and 1/4 cups), divided
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup pecans toasted and chopped
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup raspberry jam
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with a foil sling and then grease the foil (have the foil over hang the edges so that you can remove the bars to cut and serve).

Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add 16 of the butter pieces (1 cup, save out 2 tablespoons). Use an electric mixer (or a stand mixer) and beat on low until the mixture starts to resemble wet sand, about 2 minutes. Remove 1 1/4 cups of the mixture and place it in a seperate bowl (reserve for topping).

Place the rest of the butter and flour mixture in the baking pan and press it into an even layer with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until it starts to smell good and the edges begin to brown, 14 to 18 minutes.

While the crust is cooking mix the reserved flour mixture, oats, nuts, and brown sugar together. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and pinch the mixture between your fingers to make large pea-sized streusel.

In a small bowl mash the jam, berries, and lemon juice together, leaving a few chunks of raspberry.

Spread the berry mixture evenly over the hot crust, sprinkle on the topping. Bake until filling is bubbling and the topping is a deep golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes.

Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack for 2 hours. Remove from the pan using the foil and then cut into squares and serve.

Recipe originally from America’s Test Kitchen, but I found it here.