Cookies Candies & Bars

COOKIES, CANDIES & BARS Editor Kiley Cruse Designer Christine Zueck-Watkins Photo Imaging Jolene McHugh Contributing Editors Johnna Hjersman • Dan Sullivan Executive Editor Mike Reilly President and Publisher Terry Kroeger Intellectual Property Manager Michelle Gullett Director of Marketing Rich Warren Director of Photography Jeff Bundy Photographers Nichole Askamit • James R. Burnett • Kiley Cruse • Rebecca S. Gratz Chris Machian • Matt Miller • Alyssa Schukar • Kent Sievers • Ryan Soderlin Production Manager Bryan Kroenke Production Coordinator Pat “Murphy” Benoit Reprint Information Omaha World-Herald photos are available from the OWHstore. Call 402-444-1014 to place an order or go to OWHstore.com.

Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior consent of the publisher, the Omaha World-Herald.

Omaha World-Herald, 1314 Douglas St., Omaha, NE 68102-1811 First Edition ISBN: 978-0-692-79878-2 Printed by Walsworth Publishing Co., Marceline, MO

Baking is a love

passed from generation to generation. I got my

passion for the kitchen from my mom and great-grandma. Cookies, candies, pies, cinnamon rolls — you name it, they could make it. Now my children have picked up the baking bug, and I often come home to the wonderful smells (and tastes) of the sweet treats they have created. • The recipes in this cookbook were shared by World-Herald readers. Many of them told us their recipes are family favorites that were passed to them from parents, grandparents and friends.

• In recent years, the World-Herald Living section has featured “12 Days of Cookies” contests near the holidays.

That left us with so many great recipes that designer Christine Zueck-Watkins cooked up the idea for this book.

In 2016, we asked our readers for their best candy and bar recipes. They certainly didn’t disappoint — they showered us with many great ideas. • Christine and I and other World-Herald staff members tested every recipe in this book in search of the best treats. Our baking notes are included. (We also had many colleagues who eagerly volunteered to taste-test the goodies!) We hope the recipes included in “Cookies, Candies & Bars” make your holiday (and anytime) baking as sweet as they have made ours.

Kiley Cruse, Editor

PEPPERMINT MELTAWAYS For the cookies: 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar ½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract

(not imitation)

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in peppermint extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on parchment covered baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

For the frosting: In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, milk, peppermint extract and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies. You may want to lightly press candies into the frosting.

Store in an airtight container.

Makes: 3½ dozen.

For the frosting: 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature 1½ cups powdered sugar

Tester’s Notes

2 tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon pure peppermint extract

(not imitation)

2 to 3 drops red or green food coloring (optional)

Cookies

½ cup crushed peppermint candies

56

The dough is very soft; we used a small cookie scoop to make it easier.

They’re delicate, so don’t make them too big or they will disintegrate when you try to frost them. When crushing peppermint candies for frosting, place them in a heavy-duty zip-top bag and crush with a mallet.

I leave some of the pieces a little bigger so they show up better on the frosted cookies.

Kelly Crotty Omaha

“Nothing says Christmas like these delicious light peppermint melt-in-your-mouth cookies topped with peppermint butter cream frosting and crushed candy canes!

I started making them a few years ago, and they soon became a favorite of friends and family.�

CHERRY MASH 2 cups sugar

½ cup (1 stick) butter

Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk and marshmallows in heavy-duty pot. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add cherry chips. Let cool.

⅔ cup evaporated milk

Melt the chocolate chips, add in peanut butter and peanuts.

12 large marshmallows

Put half of chocolate mixture in bottom of a greased 9-by-13-inch pan.

Freeze.

6-ounce package of cherry chips 1 11.5-ounce package milk chocolate chips

Put cooled cherry mixture on top. Add rest of chocolate mixture on top and refrigerate.

1 16-ounce package salted peanuts, crushed

¾ cup peanut butter

Tester’s Notes

Candies

We used a food chopper to chop the peanuts. We also had plenty of mini marshmallows on hand so we used a conversion of 10 minis to one large marshmallow.

68

Rhonda King Kearney, Nebraska

“I made this for the first Christmas I was married (43 years ago).

My father-in-law loved it so much it became a family tradition even after his passing.�

CINNAMON SQUARES 2 packages refrigerator crescent rolls 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese 1¾ cups sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon cinnamon, more or less to taste

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Unroll one package of crescent rolls and put into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Cream together cream cheese, vanilla and 1 cup sugar. Spread over the top of rolls. (If desired, fruit filling can be added at this time.)

Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, remaining sugar and cinnamon. Crumble this mixture over the top of the crescent rolls.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cut into squares when cool.

Fruit filling, optional

Tester’s Notes

Bars

The aroma of this baking in the oven was heavenly. No doubt these have been a family favorite for the person submitting the recipe, and I suspect they would have been for me growing up. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve eased back on the sugar and fats, so if I were to make these again, I would use half the cream cheese and about one-third the sugar. Then I’d probably add some dark chocolate to give it an edge (instead of the suggested fruit filling). I’m using an oven that I’m still getting used to, so that may have played a roll in the uneven baking. The top turned out a dark golden color, while the bottom seemed undercooked, a little doughy.

108

Lois Chapman Bentz Omaha

“I love making this recipe, because it reminds me of a dessert my mother made years ago using her leftover pie dough. This modern version is much simpler, because you can use refrigerated crescent roll dough instead.�

The Omaha World-Herald asked readers for their best cookie, candy and bar recipes, and they came through with a wide array of tasty treats. Try their recipes for yourself and enjoy the mouth-watering results.

$14.95

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