Potato Chip Cookies

Potato Chip Cookies
Buttery, rich with a light crunch…Bet you can’t eat just one!
Makes 2-3 Dozen.

3/4 cup butter (not margarine)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup crushed potato chips (We recommend the kind with ridges.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup roasted, salted cashew nuts, chopped

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Mix well.

2. Add flour. Mix well. Add potato chips and cashews.

3. Roll into 1″ balls and flatten with a fork.

4. Bake at 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until light brown. Remove to a cooling rack and store in an airtight container for 1 week, if they last that long!

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Penuche Walnut Fudge

Penuche Walnut Fudge
Delicious Maple Walnut flavor…another great recipe from Julie in California!

3 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla**
1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, salt and cream. Sitr until dissolved. Cook until temperature reaches 235 degrees on a candy thermometer, or soft ball stage.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Cool to 110 degrees, or lukewarm. Add the vanilla and beat vigorously by hand until mixture loses its shine.

3. Quickly stir in the nuts and spread into a greased 9″ x 12″ pan. Chill before cutting into small squares. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed airtight container with wax paper between layers. Keeps for one week.

** Bourbon vanilla is a richer tasting vanilla extract. You can find it at Trader Joe’s Market or Cost Plus World Market.

Serving Suggestion: For a pretty treat, cut the fudge slab with a very small cookie or candy cutter like the butterfly used in the picture above.

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Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches with Smoked Almonds

Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches with Smoked Almonds
…a tasty sandwich from our dear customer, Julie E. in California!

Makes 48 tea sandwiches.

3 cups chicken broth
2 whole boneless chicken breasts with skin, halved (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup minced shallot
1/4 cup minced apple (optional)
1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh tarragon leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
24 thin slices of bread
1/2 cup finely chopped smoked almonds (about 2 ounces)
1/2 cup softened butter

1. In a deep 10″ covered skillet, bring broth to a boil and add chicken breasts in one layer. Reduce heat and poach chicken at a bare simmer, turning once. Approximately 7 minutes.

2. Remove skillet from heat and cool chicken, covered, in cooking liquid 20 minutes. Discard skin and shred chicken fine.

3. In a bowl, stir together chicken, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, shallot, tarragon & apple. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Thinly butter all slices of bread. Spread 12 slices with the chicken mixture and top with remaining 12 bread slices, butter down. Press gently together. (At this point you can wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the next day if desired.)

5. Trim crusts and cut each sandwich in half and then half again, making either squares or triangles.

6. Put chopped, smoked almonds on a small plate. Spread one or all edges of each sandwich with remaining mayonnaise and roll edges in almonds.

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Mock Clotted Cream

Mock Clotted Cream
…a good substitute!

Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups.

1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese (equal to 1/3 cup)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

1. Beat cream cheese in mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add powdered sugar and butter flavoring and beat well.

2. Gradually add the heavy whipping cream and continue beating until solid peaks form. Do not overbeat.

3. Handle gently and as little as possible. Turn very gently into a plastic container, seal tightly and refrigerate until use. Will keep in the refrigerator for 5 days.

4. Don’t put the clotted cream on the table until you are ready to serve with the scones. It will separate if it sits on the table too long.

Tip: Butter flavoring can be found in the Baking Aisle of grocery stores, near extracts.

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Brandy Fruit Sauce & Feed the Jar

Brandy Fruit Sauce
Time honored recipe to create and cultivate your own authentic brandy sauce.

Approximately 3 cups of Starter Sauce

1 can (approximately 20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) peach slices, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) apricot halves, drained & quartered
1 jar (approximately 10 oz.) maraschino cherries, drained, no stems
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brandy (regular or fruit flavored)
1. Combine all ingredients in a large, clean jar with a loose fitting lid. Stir gently with a wooden or plastic spoon.

2. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 3 weeks, stirring at least twice a week. Do not cover tightly. Safety note: As the fermentation process produces gas, it needs to escape or jar will explode.

3. At this point, you can serve the sauce over ice cream, sherbet, pound cake or angel food cake for a regal dessert, or “feed” the jar as shown below. To keep the starter jar going, maintain at least 3 cups of it in jar at all times. Store at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

Feed the Jar: Once every 2 weeks, stir in 1 cup sugar and one 14-16 oz. can of pineapple chunks, sliced peaches, sliced and quartered apricots OR maraschino cherries (10 oz. jar), well drained*. Stir gently. Cover and let stand for at least 3 days before using. Stir daily.

*Add a different fruit every two weeks to maintain a balanced mix. You should not have to add more brandy. You can delay feeding for a day or two, but you should not feed more often than every two weeks.

Share the Jar: Whenever you have more than 6 cups of fermented fruit, you may divide it into two portions of at least 3 cups each into 2 large clean jars. Do this just before a normal feeding, then go ahead and feed each portion. Give one portion to a friend with feeding instructions and keep the other.

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Cream Puff Tuna Bites (or Crab)

Cream Puff Tuna Bites (or Crab)
(Makes 30-40 puffs)

30 – 40 Mini Cream Puffs**

2-3 cups of Tuna Salad** or your favorite Crab Salad (no recipe provided)

1. Slice tops of cream puffs almost all the way through. Lift top and fill each with 1-2 teaspoons of salad.

Note: Keep cream puffs and tuna salad separate until shortly before serving. This keeps cream puffs from becoming soggy.

** See Cream Puff recipe below.

Cream Puffs
(Makes 30-40 mini puffs)

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 eggs

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add water and bring to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once; stir vigorously.

2. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that doesn’t separate. (It will pull away from the side.)

3. Remove from heat and cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition until smooth and glossy, 1-2 minutes. (The batter gets more glossy with each egg you add. Just make sure egg is completely beat into the flour mixture. Even if your arm gets tired, don’t rush this step. Beating the eggs is what makes the cream puffs rise so don’t try to beat them in all at once.)

4. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls (about the size of a quarter) onto a greased baking sheet, approximately 1 inch apart. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Puffs will be golden brown, dry and sound hollow when tapped. Store in an airtight container for 2 days until ready to use or freeze up to 2 weeks.

Tuna Salad
(Makes 3-4 cups)

3 cans of tuna, drained (6 ounce)
3-4 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
Mayonnaise to moisten (1/2 -1 cup)

1. Mix together drained tuna, lemon juice, relish, onion and celery.

2. Add mayonnaise one large tablespoon at a time until tuna is moist and creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use.

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The World’s Best Scones

The World’s Best Scones
(makes 10-12 scones, 2″ or 8-12 wedges)

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup of cream or milk
1 teaspoon grated orange peel, if desired
1/2 cup of one or two of the following if desired:
currants, raisins, dried cranberries, dried chopped cherries,
mini chocolate chips, dried chopped apricots, chopped nuts,
peeled and diced apple, etc

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients until the size of peas.

2. Add one of the above dried fruits/chocolate chips or leave plain.

3. In a separate bowl, mix egg, cream and orange peel. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.

4. Pull dough together and knead in bowl 5-10 times until dough holds together reasonably well. Turn onto a floured cutting board and pat out at approximately 1/2″ thickness with hand.

5. Cut into desired shapes and place on a lightly greased baking sheet, 1/2″ apart. Brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon if making plain scones.

6. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Best served warm with butter or clotted cream and jam. Store in airtight container if serving later in the day.

Tips for great scones: Scones are like biscuits. To get a tender, flaky scone, the dough should be handled as
little as possible and you should always use cold butter and cold milk or cream.

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Orange Clove Spice Tea

Orange Spiced Tea
serves 8

8 cups of water
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
1 stick of cinnamon, broken in pieces
9 level teaspoons of black tea
sugar to taste
1/2 cup orange juice
Juice of 2 small lemons
cheese cloth

1. Tie up cloves and cinnamon stick in cheese cloth. Add to water and bring to a boil. Pour onto the tea and allow to brew for 5 minutes.

2. Strain tea; stir in fruit juices and sugar to taste.

3. Place a thin orange slice in each cup before pouring tea.

Note: This tea can be made ahead of time and reheated over a low heat. Do not simmer or bring to a boil.

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Toad in the Hole

“Toad in the Hole”
Yorkshire Pudding with Sausage

A Delicious English Recipe!

(Makes 4 individual servings.)

4 custard cups or large muffin tins
4 Tbsp oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
1 pinch of salt
4 good quality, thick sausages

1. Precook the sausages, cut in quarters and set aside on paper towel.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the eggs and some of the milk. Mix to make a smooth paste.

3. Gradually whisk in the remainder of the milk and mix again to a smooth batter.  Allow batter to stand for 15-20 minutes.

4. Heat oven to 450 F. Place 1 Tbsp of oil in each cup and put cups on a cookie sheet. When oven reaches correct temperature, put cups in until oil starts to smoke and then take out of oven. (Watch carefully as this will happen rather quickly!)

5. Reduce oven to 400 F.

6. Place 2-4 sausage pieces in each cup. Remix the batter and quickly fill cups halfway.

7. Return to oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until batter is puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately because the puffs will deflate as they cool.

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Piquant Ham Squares

Piquant Ham Squares
(makes 32 sandwiches)

16 thin slices of whole wheat or egg bread
1/2 pound of ham, very thinly sliced
Apricot jam
Dijon mustard

1. Lay out half the bread slices and spread with a thin layer of apricot jam. Arrange ham slices on top of jam.

2. Lay out the other half of bread slices and spread with a thin layer of mustard. Place on top of the ham.

2. With a serrated knife, trim off the crusts. Cut each sandwich into 4 squares.

3. Until ready to serve, refrigerate these sandwiches in airtight container, separating each layer with a sheet of wax paper.

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