Recipe: Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-2/3 cups rolled oats
1 10-ounce package miniature milk chocolate kisses

1. Beat butter and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric
mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar,
brown
sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat until combined, scraping
sides
of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in
flour. Stir in rolled oats with a wooden spoon. Stir in chocolate kisses.
2. Drop dough from a #50 or #60 scoop, or from a tablespoon, 3
inches apart
onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Slightly flatten dough with your hand,
if desired. Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 8 to 10 minutes or until
edges are lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks and cool. Store in an
airtight container or plastic bag at room temperature up to 3 days.
Makes 60 to 72 cookies.
Make-Ahead Tip: Cool cookies completely. In an airtight or freezer
container, arrange cookies in a single layer; cover with a sheet of
waxed paper. Repeat layers, leaving enough air space to close
container easily. Freeze up to 1 month.

Recipe: Mocha Fondue

Update chocolate fondue with a hint of coffee, and serve it with
meringue cookies as crispy dippers.
1 4-ounce package sweet baking chocolate, broken up
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup light cream or milk
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur
Assorted fruits (such as star fruit slices, pineapple chunks, kiwi
fruit wedges, strawberries, pear slices, banana slices)
Meringue cookies

1. In a heavy saucepan combine chocolates, cream, sugar, and coffee
crystals. Heat and stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove
from heat; stir in liqueur. Pour into a fondue pot; keep warm over low
heat. Serve with fruit and cookies. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Recipe: White Chocolate Pretzels

1 pkg. long pretzel rods
1 pkg. almond bark, or vanilla candy coating
Decorations, such as red and green sprinkles, holiday M&Ms or crushed
up candy canes

Place the candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl. Make sure you do
not get any water in the bowl. Any water at all will cause the candy
coating not to melt properly and separate.
Microwave the candy coating for 1 min., then stir and microwave an
additional min., until it is completely melted and smooth.
Stick a pretzel rod into the chocolate, and with a spoon, cover about
3/4 of the pretzel with chocolate. Let the excess drip back into the
bowl.
Sprinkle the chocolate with either red and green colored sprinkles,
crushed up peppermints, or stick red and green M&Ms to the
chocolate.
Place the decorated pretzel on a piece of waxed paper or aluminum
foil, and let it dry completely, about 1 hr. Gently pull the pretzels
off the paper.

Recipe: Chocolate Cake In A Jar

1 stick plus 3 T. butter or margarine
3 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1 T. vanilla
2 c. applesauce, unsweetened
3 c. white flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt

Prewash 8 pint-sized wide mouth canning jars (be sure to use the kind
that have no shoulders) in hot, soapy water. Rinse well, dry and let
them come to room temperature. Grease insides of jar well with
butter.
Beat together butter, and half of sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and
remaining sugar, vanilla and applesauce.
Sift dry ingredients together, and add to the applesauce mixture a
little at a time. Beat well after each addition.
Pour 1 c. of batter into each jar, and carefully remove any batter
from the rims.
Place jars in a preheated 325 oven, and bake for 40 mins.

While cakes are baking, bring a saucepan of water to a boil, and
carefully add jar lids. Remove pan from heat, and keep lids hot until
ready to use.
When the cakes have finished baking, remove jars from oven. Make
sure
jar rims are clean. (If they're not, jars will not seal correctly)
Place lids on jars, and screw rings on tightly.
Jars will seal as they cool.
Cakes will slide right out when ready to serve.
Eat within 1 month.

Recipe: Caramel Apples with Chocolate

Makes 8 apples
1 piece of Styrofoam
1 apples
8 ice cream sticks
12 packages (14 oz each) creamy caramels
2 tbs. water
3/4 cup pistachios, chopped
8 foil cupcake liners
3 ounces semisweet chocolate

Place Styrofoam on a flat surface. Lightly coat
baking sheet with cooking spray. Remove stems
from apples. Insert wooden stick into stem of
each apple. Place caramels in saucepan. Add the
water, heat stirring until caramels are melted.
Working quickly with one apple at a time, and
keeping caramel over low heat, dip the apple into
the caramel, turning to coat the apple, remove
the apple from the caramel and gently shake. Pat
pistachios onto top of apple, place on prepared
sheet. Refrigerate until caramel is cool. Heat
chocolate in top of double boiler, until melted.
Drizzle chocolate over apples. Press apples
sticks into Styrofoam. Refrigerate until the
chocolate hardens. Remove from Styrofoam to foil
cupcake liners

Recipe: Babe Ruth Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
6 cups cornflakes cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup peanuts

1 In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine
the peanut butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and
white sugar. Cook stirring occasionally until
smooth. Remove from heat and quickly mix in the
cornflakes, chocolate chips and peanuts until
evenly coated.
2 Press the entire mixture gently into a buttered
9x13 inch baking dish. Allow to cool completely
before cutting into bars.

Recipe: Chocolate Anise Truffles

1/4 cup Anise liquor
1/2 cup butter
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 cups pulverized anisette cookies


In a double boiler melt the chocolate, constantly stirring with a wooden
spoon. When the chocolate has melted, add the butter and slowly stir
it into the chocolate as it melts. Continue to stir for another minute
until it is well mixed and smooth. Add in the Rum and stir until well
mixed, then sprinkle in the pulverized anisette cookies (a little at a
time, as sometimes it takes less) until the mixture is slightly thickened
but still smooth. You want the mixture to remain as a thick sauce at
this point.
When you have thoroughly mixed in the anisettes, rest the top of your
double boiler in a bucket of ice and WHISK the truffle mixture slowly
until it has cooled (about 15 minutes). Do not stop whicking or the
butter and rum will separate out of the chocolate-anisette. When the
sauce is completely cooled it should have a soft but solid consistency
which you can then spoon out and form into truffles and coat with
chocolate powder or confectioners sugar.