The newspaper staff enjoys their winter deserts. (From left to right): Alex Lamoreaux, sr., Bubba Wilson, sr., Zac Shields, so., Kyle Rosenkrance, jr., Sidney McCollum, so.
Favorite Winter Recipes
Alex:
I made Chocolate Chip Cookies for class. It’s a very simple recipe that doesn’t consume too much of your time. Most of the ingredients are laying around the kitchen so all you really need to buy is chocolate chips which conveniently has the recipe on the back. I would be very willing to make cookies again.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.
SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Kyle:
As my other fellow writers chose their desserts to make for our critique day, I came down to two choices: cinnamon…or mint. Personally, being a fan of mint, I went with the latter. Going home later that day and doing a bit of research I came to a sudden realization. What in the world do I make? Sure, there are lots of minty desserts out there but they all seemed to be a bit complex. For example, I thought about the Hershey’s mint chocolate bars and making something like that. But I think was a little out of my skill level. I finally came to a conclusion and decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a minty frosting! The recipe I used is as follows:
Ingredients
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with the mint frosting when cool.
As for the frosting, I used this:
• 8 Tbsp butter at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 1/4 teaspoon mint extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
Now don’t be afraid to add a little more mint extract to give the frosting more flavor, but don’t use much more than a ½ teaspoon total or it won’t taste as good. This recipe took quite a bit of time for me, as it was my first time making it and took me about an hour and a half. It shouldn’t take to long though if you are used to baking. Otherwise, expect about half an hour to an hours work. This makes about 16 cupcakes and I found it to be worth the time if you’re feeling like a minty chocolate dessert!
Ms. Turner:
Cinnamon Rolls
- 4 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 2 large Hershey bars (14-16 oz. total)
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 pint marshmallow creme
- 2 cups nuts (optional)
Supplies:
- 1 tall sauce pan
- 1 large spatula
- 1 large, buttered sheet cake pan (a large cookie sheet will work)
- a friend to help with stirring and pouring
- cookie cutters in desired season shape (optional)
Cooking Prep:
Begin by greasing the top two inches of a large, tall sauce pan. Please ensure that you're using a TALL sauce pan, because the fudge greatly expands in the pan during baking. not doing so could lead to an overflow, which is first and foremost a waste of fudge (and a saftey hazard too, I suppose). Then set your tall sauce pan on one oven-top burner set on 70-90% heat.
While the pan is heating, quickly butter a large cookie sheet and break up two large Hershey's bars (approx. 14-16oz. total). Also, measure out approx. 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Hint: The measurements on the chocolate don't have to be exact. This is fudge, after all.
Mixing:
Once done with this, add 1 tablespoon butter, 4 1/2 cups sugar, and 1 can evaporated milk to your sauce pan. Stir frequently until the mixture has reached a rolling boil. when a rolling boil has been established, turn the heat down a few notches and stir vigorously for 5 minutes. You will need to stir longer is you're cooking in humid weather.
After stirring for about 5 minutes, remove the pan from heat. quickly add the chocolate that you measured out earlier, 1 pint marshmallow creme, and nuts (optional). Note: If you want to make half a batch of regular fudge and half a batch of nutty fudge, don't put in the nuts at this time. Stir the mixture quickly until smooth and creamy. This requires one person to hold the pan down and one to stir. (Another) Note: you will need to stir this mixture very quickly and vigorously or it will set in the pan!
Once a satisfactory texture has been reached, carefully pour your fudge into a buttered sheet cake pan to cool. Leave to set out for several hours, covered by plastic wrap to keep the fudge moist.
Instructions for a half-&-half batch:
Pour out about half of the fudge into half of the pan while a friend adds nuts. Immediately after pouring the desired amount of fudge for nuts, pour the remainder in the other half of the pan. The rest is the same.
After allowing the fudge to set, yyou can use festive cookie cutters to add a creative touch. This delicious recipe will surely satisfy your family's sweet tooth! Another plus is the large batch it provides.
Final step:
Enjoy!! :-)
