Pepper Cookies, Marinated Mushrooms, and Waffle Sandwiches (It's a Crazy Mixed Up Day)

It has come to the time of year when we have impromptu "mini parties".  You know, a couple friends drop by, and you pull out whatever you have in the pantry. We make some mixed drinks, or brew a pot of coffee,  and viola, you have a party.
I love having a well stocked pantry, because it affords me the tools necessary to entertain in a pinch.   I have pickles and salsa and pickled vegetables, cans and jars of olives, spiced fruits I have canned, dried fruits, a bowl full of fresh fruits.  We keep flavored crackers, and dried soup mix.  I stock up on cream or Neufatchel cheese, and keep sour cream on hand for making hors d'oeuvres. 
I have gotten my Christmas platters out, and washed them.  They are stacked at the ready in my white cupboard in my pantry.  Thanks to my decision to bake for the holidays this year, I have a ready stash of cookies.
It's not so much about what you serve to company, but how you serve it.  If you are well stocked, you can lay out a spread, and be relaxed in doing it.  It makes people feel at home, whether it's salsa and tortilla chips warm out of the oven, or a scones and honey butter, and people will enjoy themselves. My mother made me a quilted nine patch table cloth out of Christmas fabric.  In the center of the squares, she quilted snowman, and bells and gingerbread men.  That and a few candles in the window, and already it feels like a party.  It's those things that make the holidays seem cozy.   
We spent our Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin's house.  I took a couple cold salads, and a red hot apple jello.  I also took a jar of these quick marinated mushrooms.  You could use whole mushrooms, but I always have a couple containers of sliced mushrooms in the fridge. 

Marinated Mushrooms

1 boxes fresh sliced button mushrooms
Equal parts fat free Italian dressing, rice wine vinegar, olive oil.  I started with 1/2 C each.
Fresh thyme leaves

In a clean quart canning jar, stuff as many mushrooms as you can.  Heat marinating liquid in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.  Pour over mushrooms.  Press down mushrooms to release air, and add more mushrooms, then marinade if necessary.  Let stand at least 2 hours or longer.  After marinating, I spooned out the mushrooms into a covered jar, and topped with a little of the marinade.  We are enjoying the leftover marinade on salads, it is an excellent dresssing.  The mushrooms will keep a good week in the fridge.

This next recipe uses the waffle iron.  To heck with Pannini presses, I've already got a waffle iron!  My old iron does have removeable plates that reverse to a flat surface, but I like the look that the waffle iron makes on the bread. 

Waffle Sandwiches

Small rounded loaf of wheat bread
1 brick Cream cheese (goat cheese, boursin cheese, etc)
1 T Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning
Sliced fresh pears or apples
Thinly sliced ham or turkey

Heat waffle iron.  Butter one side of the bread pieces.  It will take 8 slices to fill the waffle iron.  On the other side of four slices, spread cream cheese that you've mixed with seasoning.  Add sliced fruit and meat, and top with the other four slices of buttered bread, butter side out.  Grill until golden brown and crisp, and cut into triangles. Really good served with some homemade jelly, or cranberry relish.

Spiced Black Pepper Cookies

2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 C shortening
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 C sugar
1/3 C molasses
1 egg
1 T milk
Raisins or currants

Sift dry ing.  Cream shortening and spices with sugar.  Add molasses.  Beat in egg and milk.  Add dry ingredients, and drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheets.  Top each with a raisin and bake at 350*F for fifteen minutes or until browned around the edges.  Cool on wire racks.  Makes 3-5 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the spoonfuls.

I've Washed My Cookie Jar, and Vow to Keep It Full

I have decided to devote time this month to baking cookies.  It 's almost hard for me to say.  I am not a baker of cakes and cookies.  It is fussy work, all that measuring and such.  It's not that I'm not a good baker, I just avoid doing it.  I have a conventional stove, much to my distress as I THOUGHT it was convection (at least that's what the wretched salesman told us before we bought the dang thing and hauled it all the way home).  That means, it only bakes well right on the center rack, so it takes a coons age to bake a batch of cookies.  Oh, that and I usually burn myself handling cookie racks.
I think if you don't stretch and grow past your comfort zone, you miss out on so much in life that is good. You would have never discovered certain things just staying in your safe way of living.  Maybe I am missing out on something by avoiding baking cookies, as it seems to be a popular thing to do.  Also, my daycare bunch is getting a little older, and they are starting to notice that Nanny Tina never has any goodies like that.  My Nilla Wafers, and graham crackers are getting old for them.  
Since I always make my own gifts at Christmas time, I have decided this year to have that be cookies.  I don't eat cookies, I'm diabetic, but I sure do appreciate the plates of cookies and fudge etc...that friends give our family.  It is such a commitment in time to bake those different varieties of cookies, and hey, it takes the pressure off of me!  I will be baking and freezing to keep them fresh until time to assemble my gift platters. 
I have rehomed all the dried fruits that have been living in my saddle shaped cookie jar, and have it washed and ready for use. This cookie jar was the one my mother used as I was growing up. I think my auntie Letha had one just like it as well.  I swear even when it's clean it still smells like Winter's Gingersnaps, and Snickerdoodles (my personal favorite as a child). The horn was broken off and glued back on years ago, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My dear sister Nancy used to let me help her bake, and I have treasured memories of standing on a chair, looking at the cool pictures in the Betty Crocker Cookie Book, and helping her make cookies to fill that old cookie jar. She has passed on, but I still have those memories, and my childhood cookie jar to remind me how wonderful and sweet she was.
So I invite you to join in my quest for the true meaning of baking!  I'm kind of easing into this, and I have posted my Snowflake recipe before, but I started my Christmas baking with this recipe.  It is kind of "fake baking", in that it is made from a mix, and only has a few ingredients and none of them really need measured (my kind of cooking for sure!).  My mother gave me a new recipe for a similar recipe, so I'll post it here also.  It only has three ingredients.  :o)

Lemon Snowflakes

1 lemon cake mix (best without pudding in it)
1 egg
2 1/2 C whipped cream or cool whip
some powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350*F, and spray cookie sheets with butter cooking spray. 
Combine the first three ingredients and drop by spoonfuls into some powdered sugar.  After coating with powdered sugar, place on greased cookie sheets.  I can fit a dozen on each of my airbake sheets.  Bake until slightly browned.  About 10-12 minutes.  Cool on a rack.

I am so out the door to buy some spice cake and pumpkin to try these today! Thanks Mom!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Spice Cake Mix
Canned pumpkin (smaller size can make sure it's not pie filling but just plain pumpkin)
Raisins 

Preheat oven to 350*F, and spray cookie sheets with butter spray.  Mix all ingredients, and drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool on racks. 

My Kind of Baking!

I have a few favorite baking recipes, that are easy and not fussy at all.  This is what we're up to today:  A chocolate brownie/cake for supper, and cookies for later in the week.  I will also throw in my pie recipe.
It is lazy baking, I know, but you won't miss the work when you eat it!
Don't be afraid to use premixed baking mixes as a base for your own creations.  

Chocolate Cherry Cake (Brownies)
1 chocolate cake mix.  (I don't have a particular favorite, just what's on sale on shopping day.)
1 can cherry pie filling
Mix the dry cake mix with the pie filling and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. You can add an additional egg if you like fluffier cake rather than the dense moist cake you get from the lack of egg.
If you want brownies rather than cake, top the batter with a package of semi sweet baking chips.
Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes, or until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. 

Lemon Crackle Cookies
Lemon Cake Mix
1 C Rice Crispies
1 egg
1 stick of real butter melted
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Shape into balls, and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes until set.  Cool a bit before transferring to a wire rack. Also good with white cake, or for kids, the kind that has confetti sprinkles.

Lemon Snowflake Cookies
1 Lemon Cake Mix
1 C of Cool Whip
Powdered sugar

Mix cake mix and cool whip.  It should not be a stiff batter, so you may need to add a little more cool whip until a soft batter is achieved.  Handling the dough gently, make into soft 1" balls, and roll in powdered sugar.  Bake on a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, 10-12 minutes at 350F.  When these bake, they spread, and the powdered sugar makes them look like snowflakes.  I have also made these with spice cake, and chocolate devil's food with good success.

Poor Man's Pie
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick of melted butter
1 C of self rising flour
1 can of pie filling
In a glass 9 inch pie pan, mix the melted butter, milk and flour with a fork until well blended.  Into the middle of the batter, pour a can of pie filling.  Bake at 350 F until the batter is springy, and pulls away from the sides. Scoop out servings with a big spoon, and serve with vanilla ice cream.
If you don't have self rising flour, just add a pinch of salt, and a tsp of baking soda and 1/2 tsp of baking powder to a C of flour.