The Other Woman Cooks

Nobody seems to have nailed down who came up with the idea of lacy nutty fruity crisps, sometimes coated on one side with chocolate. They are a favorite of Austrian bakers but considered a Tuscan specialty. With or without the chocolate candy glaze they are delish! It was a tough call to give creative credit until I tasted my version of the the yummy little discs (pictured here both with and without the chocolate) with a luscious Tuscan Vin Santo for dessert. As far as I'm concerned that sealed the historical origin ... Italy wins! DEBBY'S CRANBERRY FLORENTINES 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1/3 cup raw sugar (white sugar works too) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or low cholesterol margarine suitable for cooking) 1/2 cup ground almonds 1/2 cup sliced almonds 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon finely chopped dried cranberries  1 teaspoon finely chopped dried apricots 1/2 teaspoon zest of lime 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips to melt (optional) In ...

Yup, it's another day of no school, skeleton crews and shoveling here in western Massachusetts. This time, I'll be watching for the plow guy and ready to run out in my penguin pants, furry jacket and morel boots holding my snow shovel and looking as pitiful as possible so he'll not dump the entire street full of snow bank in front of our house! It's also a perfect baking day.  What could possibly be better on a cold snowy evening than a cup of hot cocoa and a citrusy sugar cookie? These crunchy treats are made with ingredients from favorite vacation spots: reminders of pleasant sunny beach days to come. I should call them Cape Cod Key West Hawaii Cookies! CRANBERRY MACADAMIA LIMEYS 1 cup sugar (I like to use Florida crystals but any sugar will do.) 3/4 cup butter flavored shortening 1 large egg 2 cups white whole wheat flour (King Arthur makes this, but all-purpose flour will do) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, choppe...

Gingerbread people have long been holiday staples around our house. My sons loved decorating as much as they enjoyed eating the sweet treats. But these days we're a house full of grown ups and it seemed like a good idea to create a slightly more sophisticated version of our old favorite. We used mini-cutters from Williams Sonoma for crisps to top holiday flan, but two inch rounds make a tasty accompaniment for a nice cup of afternoon tea. Hope you like them ! GINGER BRANDY COOKIES 3/4 cup butter 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1 package vanilla instant pudding 1 egg 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 shot ginger brandy FRUIT CRUMBLE 1/4 cup dried fruits (I used pineapple, mango and papaya bits) 1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon white sugar 4 ounces white chocolate chips (to melt for for dipping) Put fruit bits, flour and sugar in a mini-processor until finely ground. If mixture is sticky add a little more flour and sugar i...

Oh yeah -- sweet treats from Flat Belly Diet! I played with the recipe just a tad to lower the calorie count so I could have more of them! Page 232 says to make it a meal with 1 cup of nonfat cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of pineapple tidbits or mandarin oranges for an under 400 calorie meal, great for breakfast. Try a snack pack with 2 cookies and 1 cup of cold skim milk poured into an ice cold frosted glass ... super yummy! Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies 2 cups quick oats 1/2 cup oat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour) 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon dash of salt 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup olive or canola oil 3 large egg whites 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped 1 cup walnuts, chopped 1/2 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, oil, vanilla and egg whites unt...

I know, I know ... Christmas is over and my Christmas swap cookies are long gone. But there was one traditional gem that nobody made this year. It just didn't set right with me not to have a few peanut blossoms on that cookie tray. So I broke down, prowling the candy aisle at Stop & Shop for Hershey Kisses this morning. Horror of horrors, the shelf was bare of the milk chocolate kind. But the holiday wrapped dark chocolate variety was half price. I decided to go with the flow and try something new and I am very glad that I did. Mmm... mmm... good! BLACK-EYED PEANUT BLOSSOMS ½ cup granulated sugar ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature ½ cup chunky peanut butter 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla Dash of salt 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ cup granular (brownulated) brown sugar (raw crystallized sugar works well too) 24 dark chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, butte...

Facebook friends from Washington, DC to New York City posted more snow warnings than The Weather Channel all last night. Today, my pals in eastern Massachusetts report near white out conditions. Here in western Massachusetts, it fizzled to a dusting at best. So I made up a batch of brownie cookie bites topped with peppermint snow and we had our own blizzard right in our kitchen. The best part? Peppermint snow is a pleasure to shovel ... into our mouths. But this IS New England -- who knows what tomorrow will bring! MINT COCOA BLIZZARDS 1/2 cup butter or margarine 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup cocoa 1 large egg 2/3 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup chocolate chunks 1/8 cup of peppermint snow (crush 4 or 5 mini candy canes into a coarse powder) Sift dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat in on medium. Add dry pre-sif...

Nothing sweetens the season like holiday cookies! The name comes from the Dutch koejke which translates to "little cake" -- the perfect single serving treat. Cookies have been part of cooking history for more than a thousand years and nearly every culture has a bite sized sweet that qualifies as a cookie. Every year I try to come up with a new twist on an old favorite to celebrate the season for my annual cookie swap. These tasty morsels are my version of rugelach , a traditional Jewish pastry filled with nuts, raisins or apricots, cinnamon and sugar wrapped in a flaky crust. A few good friends sharing a bottle of bubbly then going home with the bounty of a platter full of homemade cookies and the recipes. Lots of fun and yumminess, too! RUGELACH Dough 2 cups all-purpose flour Dash of salt 1 tablespoon white sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese 1/3 cup plain or lemon flavored yogurt Filling 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 cup finely...

Oatmeal, dried plums, honey and various spices in English Christmas pudding was the beginning of the Christmas fruitcake tradition. By the 16th century, the oatmeal was removed and some of the familiar ingredients of cake were added, such as eggs, butter and wheat flour. The concoction was then boiled into a plum cake, often with no plums or any dried fruits at all. Wealthy families with ovens baked the “Christmas Cake” adding more expensive dried fruit and spices. The cake celebrated the Wise Men bringing exotic spices to the Christ child. And here’s where it gets all Dickensian. The English upper class would give out pieces of fruitcake to the poor, who sang Christmas Carols in the streets in the late 1700's. By the end of the 18th century, there were actually laws saying that plum cakes (generic for dried fruit) could only be consumed at Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings, and funerals. Seems to me the masses were tricked into believing that having fruitcake was special. ...

Counting the weeks to my annual cookie swap with friends. I have six really good cookie recipes and there are just about six weeks to swap day. Once a week, I'll share a cookie recipe with you and by the time the holidays roll around, you'll be too confused to choose one and possibly five pounds heavier. LOL When our younger son was little, he wouldn't eat anything that remotely resembled a living thing. Gummy bears, chocolate bunnies, and gingerbread men were banned. We ate jelly beans, chocolate balls and I made wreath cookies instead. Now that he's all grown up and living in New York I'm free to use my favorite cookie cutter to bake up the cute little guys. And there are no tears or fears when I bite off a head! It's a pain that this dough needs to be refrigerated before rolling but the good news is that it can be rolled and rerolled without toughening up the second batch and, while the cookies do puff up some during baking, they hold their shape pretty well....