Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 tablespoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)

1 cup unsalted, roasted peanuts OR raisins

Place chocolate chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Stir in peanuts.

Drop by teaspoons into 1-inch diameter candy or petit four papers. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. About 2 dozen candies.

~From Hershey’s website.

Chocolate Chip Biscotti

I've been craving biscotti for a while now. And I love chocolate chip cookies. So, today, I made both:

Here are the loaves...ready to go in the oven...

And the cookies, sliced and dried...

Chocolate Chip Biscotti
2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

Pinch ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold margarine or butter

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup semisweet-chocolate mini chips

1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. With pastry blender or 2 knives used scissor-fashion, cut in margarine until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Spoon 1 tablespoon beaten eggs into cup; reserve. Add chocolate chips, walnuts, vanilla, and remaining beaten eggs to flour mixture; stir until evenly moistened. With hand, knead mixture a few times in bowl until dough forms.
On floured surface, with floured hands, divide dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a 9" by 2" log. Place logs crosswise, 4 inches apart, on 2 large cookie sheets. With pastry brush, brush tops and sides of logs with reserved egg. Bake logs 25 minutes. Cool logs on cookie sheet on wire rack 10 minutes.
Place 1 log on cutting board. With serrated knife, cut warm log crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices. Place slices upright, 1/4 inch apart, on cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining logs. Turn oven down to 250.Bake slices 15 minutes to allow biscotti to dry out. Cool completely on sheets on wire racks. (Biscotti will harden as they cool.) Store biscotti in tightly covered container.

Calories 65; Total Fat 3g; Total Carbohydrate 9g; Dietary Fiber 0 Protein 1g
From Good Housekeeping magazine

Yields: 5 Dozen biscotti Total Time: 1 hr 30 min Cook Time: 40 min

Pivec Stuffing

This stuffing recipe involves a lot of prep. We often chop the onions and celery the night before and then break apart the bread to leave it in bowls overnight.

Here's a picture of the leftovers the next day...way too much going on Thanksgiving Day for me to snap a picture...

Pivec Stuffing

4 loaves of white bread, broken into bite size chunks
2 sticks of butter
1 package of celery (with leaves chopped in as well), stalks diced.
1 large onion, diced
2 eggs
1 can of chicken broth
4 cans of sage

Break the bread into bite size chunks the night before. Cover bowls with paper towel and let sit at room temp overnight to dry them out a bit.
Dice the onion and celery. Simmer the butter, onion and celery until celery is tender.
Mix eggs into the bread. (We end up with three big bowls of bread and put 1/3 of the eggs into each bowl.)
Mix the celery/onion into the bread. (We actually do this 1/6 at a time, so each bowl gets two separate mixes.)
Add in the broth (again, 1/6 for each bowl. Each bowl twice.)
Add in the sage. (We do 1/3 of a can in each bowl; mix; next 1/3 of a can in each bowl; mix...on through all four cans. Dan is very specific about doing small batches and making sure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in.)
Put all the stuffing into a 13x9 pan or stuff the turkey and put the rest of the stuffing into a pan. Bake 350 45-60 minutes depending on amount in the pan.

Peanut Butter Scotchers

I found this recipe in mom's collection. I think I've had a very similar bar that had one more layer on top...a layer of melted chocolate chips. Definitely a bar to try this Christmas.

Peanut Butter Scotchers

1/3 c. butter

1 ½ c. sugar

½ c. evaporated milk

2 eggs

1 ½ c. flour

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tb. Grated lemon rind

Melt butter. Add sugar and milk. Blend well. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in dry ingredients and lemon rind. Mix well. Pour into a greased and floured 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool. Spread topping on. Let stand until set. Cut into bars.

Topping

Melt 1 cup butterscotch chips in double boiler. Remove from heat. Stir in ¾ cup crunchy peanut butter and 2 cups crushed corn flakes.

Turkey Cacciatore

Grilled Tomatoes on Peasant Bread

Chocolate Banana Pudding Pie