These Holiday Fruit Drops (cookies) were classified as the best cooky of 1945 - 1950 by Betty Crocker. I decided to bake them to take to Hillcrest Thrift Shop for the volunteers on Tuesday. I don't have that many more weeks before Christmas. Hard to believe, isn't it?
Because my time was limited I decided to cut the recipe in half which was probably a mistake. They are so good, I will probably be making them again to share with someone else. The recipe below is the full recipe.
HOLIDAY FRUIT DROPS
1 cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1/2 cup soured milk, buttermilk, or water (I did use buttermilk)
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups broken pecans
2 cups candied cherries, halves (I cut mine in fourths)
2 cups cut-up dates
Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs well.
Stir in soured milk/buttermilk.
Combine the dry ingredients and stir them into mixture.
Stir in pecans, cherries, and dates.
Chill at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. (I actually baked mine at 350 degrees and used parchment paper to line the cookie sheet. I just baked them an extra 2 minutes.)
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart. (I used my cookie scoop that holds 1 tablespoon of water and make it rounded.)
Place a pecan half on each cookie, if you like. (I did on some.)
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until almost no imprints remains when touched lightly. (I baked mine 10 - 12 minutes til lightly brown.)
Remove and cool completely on wire racks.
I usually just go into volunteer at Hillcrest Thrift Shop on Tuesdays. Last week Cindy asked me if I could also come in on Thursday for the middle shift. When I have an extra shift, I don't usually bring a treat for them to eat, but since I had gotten some bananas the week before that had been donated for the volunteers. I decided to make these Banana Drop Cookies.
The volunteers were surprised to see me walking in, but especially surprised when they realized I had brought a treat with me. There was only one cookie left at the end of my shift.
BANANA DROP COOKIES
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed bananas
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon (I did use nutmeg)
1 cup rolled oats (I think I could have used more)
1/2 cup nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine the oil, sugar, bananas, egg, and vanilla in a mixer bowl and beat well.
Sift together the baking soda, flour, baking powder salt, and nutmeg.
Add to the oil mixture and mix well.
Stir in the oats and nuts.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until light brown.
Remove to cool completely on wire rack.
It's hard to eat just one square! That's how it is with me with these Hello Dollies. Just like the fudge I made Saturday morning, these are super easy. I wanted to take a tray of several different "sweets" for the Dinner Club and decided these would be perfect for some variety.
This recipe also came from my from Amish and Mennonite kitchens cookbook.
HELLO DOLLIES
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers if you are making your own)
1 cup coconut, shredded (I used unsweetened shredded coconut)
1 cup chocolate bits (I used semi-sweet chips)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 can (14 - ounces) sweetened, condensed milk
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Spread melted butter on bottom of a 9 - inch square pan. (I just placed the butter in the pan and stuck it in the oven while it was preheating.)
Sprinkle the crumbs and evenly cover the bottom of the pan. (I placed 2 graham crackers at a time in a ziplock bag and crushed them using my rolling pin.)
Sprinkle the coconut over the crumbs.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the coconut layer.
Cover the chips with the chopped nuts.
Pour the condensed milk over all.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Cool and cut into squares.
Tip! If the edges are hard to cut, cut just inside the edges....like some people do brownies who don't like to have the hard edges on them.
I have only made a couple of recipes for making candy and that has been awhile. I wanted to make some fudge for the NNL Dinner Club Saturday night.
I searched through a number of cookbooks and found several that sounded interesting. Then I picked up my from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens cookbook and turned to the Candies section. The word that immediately caught my attention was "uncooked". I knew I had to try it.
I think most recipes for "uncooked" fudge would just say "easy". After reading the ingredients, I still wonder why peanut butter was omitted from the title. It is a pleasant surprise when you take a bite. If you have anyone with a peanut allergy, you could always use almond butter or soy butter.
UNCOOKED FUDGE CANDY
1 lb confectioner's sugar (4 cups)
1 cup butter, melted (2 sticks)
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Mix well.
Butter a 8 or 9 - inch square pan. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.
Place in the refrigerator for several hours.
Cut into squares.
Makes about 1-3/4 lbs of fudge.
My dil Sara sent me the recipe for this Chocolate Cake for One way back in 2009. It sounded like something I would like, but I just never got around to trying it until now. You could probably use any flavor cake mix. She used a milk chocolate cake mix and I used a Devil's Food cake mix that was even sugar free. Even though she calls it a cake for one, it actually makes a large serving of chocolate cake. The first time I made it, I forced myself to eat the whole thing. The next time, I shared half of it with my husband.
I like how it is convenient and easy to make.
CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR ONE
Combine and store in a gallon - size ziplock bag:
1 chocolate cake mix (without pudding added) (I used a Sugar Free Devil's Food cake mix)
1 (4 - serving size) dry chocolate pudding mix (I used a Sugar Free chocolate pudding mix)
To make the cake:
1/2 cup of the cake mixture
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon water
Spray the bottom of a small microwavable bowl (slightly bigger than a cereal bowl) with non stick spray. (I used my French white Corning Ware bowl that holds 2 cups of liquid)
Mix the ingredients together well in the bowl.
Smooth out
and then drop one scoop of canned chocolate frosting in the center of the batter. (I used my small cookie scoop that holds 1 tablespoon of water.)
Place the bowl in the microwave and cook on High for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Let the bowl rest in the microwave for 1 minutes before opening the door.
Remove the bowl
and place a plate on top of the bowl and then turn it over.
Shake it to release the cake.
Remove the bowl and enjoy the cake.
Here is a surprise center.
It may not be the best "looking" cake when you remove the bowl. So if it bothers you, add a scoop of ice cream. ( I didn't have the ice cream, but I am sure you can imagine it.)
Just store the ziplock bag with the cake/pudding mix, in your pantry.
Friend Sharon prepared these Candied Pecans for a Pumpkin Cheesecake that she served us at canasta yesterday. She had enough leftover that she also served the nuts separately. Friend Janice had enjoyed quite a few of them before I took my picture. The cayenne pepper gave them just the right amount of "kick".
CANDIED PECANS
1 large egg white
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup pecan halves
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the egg white, sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.
Add the pecan halves, tossing to coat.
Spread the pecans in a single layer on prepared pan.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Cool completely.
Thanks, Sharon, for preparing and serving them to us and for sharing the recipe with me to share on my blog.
When I took this Blueberry-Filled Cake in to the Community Room at Hillcrest Thrift Shop before lunch yesterday, Volunteer Mary came in and asked me what I had brought. After I told her, she sat down and cut one of the serving pieces in half and started eating it. As soon as she finished it, she preceded to take the other half and put it on her plate to eat. Then she laughed and said, "I should have taken the whole piece to begin with." Assistant Josh ate his piece before he ate his lunch. He said it had taken over as his #1 favorite of all I had brought.
Do you get the idea that this cake is out of this world delicious? When I got home from my 3-hour shift at the register, almost the first thing out of my husband's mouth was, "That dessert you made was really good."
BLUEBERRY-FILLED CAKE
3/4 cup margarine, divided and softened
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 cup lemon flavored yogurt
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (21-ounce) can blueberry pie filling
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a ( x 13 - inch pan. (I used my homemade Pan Grease.)
Cream 1/2 cup of the margarine (1 stick softened) and 1 cup of the sugar in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and yogurt; mix well.
Sift 2 cups of the flour with the salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir in the vanilla.
Spread half of the batter mixture into the prepared pan. (I used an ice cream scoop to divide the batter in half. The layer will be thin.)
Spread the pie filling over top. (This time I used a small ice tea spoon to drop dollops over the top and then carefully spread them out to cover the top. I didn't go all the way to the edge.)
Cover with the rest of the batter. (Again, I used a small spoon to drop dollops over the pie filling and then spread the dollops together to cover. It is a good idea to save a little of the batter to use in the bare places to cover it all.
Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of margarine, softened (1/2 stick) with the 1/2 cup of sugar, cinnamon, remaining 1/2 cup of flour, and nuts that you have combined in a bowl. Mix until crumbly. You can break up any larger blogs you might get when it is mixed together.
Sprinkle over the batter. It will cover the whole area nicely.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the cake test done. I didn't test it as the pie filling is going to coat the toothpick. I cooked it for the 40 minutes and just pressed the center of the cake to make sure it was done - didn't sink to touch)
Cool on wire rack.
May substitute other pie fillings, but the blueberry is absolutely delicious.
This time of year seems to bring out the people committing acts of kindness. Without thinking about it, you probably shows acts of kindness almost every day. You just aren't conscious that they are acts of kindness. You are just being yourself.
Well, this year I thought I would purposely show specific acts of kindness for the month of December. I found several sites online that would allow me to print off calendars for the month and even lists and more lists of acts to write on that calendar. I admit that that is exactly what I planned to do. PLANNED is the key word here.
At church the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the beginning of Advent. I loved the family Advent night our church always had in CA on that Sunday night. We would have soup made from peoples' leftover turkey carcass and there would many activities for the children to make Advent related items. Advent is such an exciting time - a time of wonder(ing), of expectation, of WAITING.
I couldn't get all of that out of my mind. So I got to thinking. Why not have my calendar of Acts of Kindness be more in line with Advent - of wondering, of expectation, of excitement, of anticipation, of waiting.
So how did I decide to do this, you ask? Well, instead of writing an "act" on a day on a calendar, I wrote the "act" on a piece of paper, folded it, and then placed it in my Santa cookie jar. Then each day I will draw out a piece of paper and see what "act" I will be showing that day. For the whole time of Advent, I will be wondering, filled with expectation and excitement, of anticipation, of waiting to see what each day will bring. (Yes, I know what is one the papers, but not which one I will draw out each day.)
Here is a list of possible acts that you can make your own:
1) Text a friend to say you are thinking about them.
2) Leave a generous tip to your server.
3) Take treats to the fire station.
4) Candy cane bomb a parking lot.
5) Let someone go ahead of you in line.
6) Call a relative you haven't talked to in a while.
7) Treat your dentist and his staff to Christmas cookies.
8) Donate books you no longer need (to the library or a nursing home)
9) Bring in the neighbors' trash bins.
10) Put money in a Salvation Army bucket.
11) Pay the toll for the car behind you.
12) Give a compliment to someone you don't know.
13) Feed the birds.
14) Leave a treat for the mailman.
15) Open the door for someone.
16) Pay for the coffee for the person behind you in line.
17) Give someone a hug.
18) Send a card to someone you don't see often.
19) Leave a happy note (on a post-it) on a bathroom mirror that says, "You look fabulous!"
20) Donate clothes to a thrift shop.
21) Give your hair stylist/barber a treat.
22) Call a friend you haven't talked to in ages.
23) Fulfill an Angel Tree request.
24) Do a load of laundry (or some other chore he/she usually does) for a family member.
25) Donate food to the church's food pantry.
26) Give a volunteer a special treat.
27) Give a loved one a back rub.
28) Take treats to the church staff.
29) Give a homeless person on the street corner a coupon for a free meal.
30) Leave a positive note on someone's blog.
and I could go on and on. If you need other suggestions, you can just search "random acts of kindness" and you will find many sites that will give you suggestions.
Would love to hear from you while you share this season of anticipation, of excitement, of wonder(ings), of waiting.
Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs well.
Stir in soured milk/buttermilk.
Combine the dry ingredients and stir them into mixture.
Stir in pecans, cherries, and dates.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart. (I used my cookie scoop that holds 1 tablespoon of water and make it rounded.)
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until almost no imprints remains when touched lightly. (I baked mine 10 - 12 minutes til lightly brown.)
Remove and cool completely on wire racks.
