Cheddar Off Dead (23 page)

(Italian Christmas Waffle Cookies)

For this recipe, you need a pizzelle baker, similar to a waffle iron, which imprints a beautiful, snowflake-like design on each cookie. The dough takes only minutes to prepare, and the cookies themselves can be hot on your table in less than half an hour.

My sister-in-law, Serafina Bellini Drake, assures me that these cookies, when made with love and just the right amount of butter, taste like Christmas itself, whatever that means.

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1½ sticks (¾ cup) butter

3 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract, if you prefer)

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

First preheat your pizzelle baker.

Mix flour and baking soda and set aside.

Melt butter and mix with
eggs, sugar, and vanilla
in blender until smooth.

Add the flour mixture until you have a sticky dough.

Check to see that your baker is ready; spray the inside lightly with a baking spray to avoid sticking.

Place a rounded teaspoonful of dough on each of the pizzelle pattern grids.

Lower the lid and hold for 30–40 seconds (you may have to experiment with timing).

Lift and gently pry up the cookies with a fork tine or thin knife, then set cookies on a baking rack to cool.

When cookies are finished, sift powdered sugar over them to create a lacy, holiday effect.

Your finished pizzelles will be thin, delicate, snowflake-like cookies that are sweet and addictive.

Lilah's French Toast Casserole with Gingerbread Flavor

(Adapted for Christmastime)

INGREDIENTS:

1 loaf of soft French bread (or soft rolls)

8 large eggs

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Salt to taste

STREUSEL TOPPING:

(This can vary, but here's one option.)

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

¼ cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

Slice bread into twenty slices (or separate ten rolls) and lay out in buttered baking dish.

Blend all of the ingredients and pour them over the slices of bread, making sure that the wet mixture gets under and in between the slices, and that all of the bread is saturated.

Cover the mixture with tinfoil and refrigerate overnight. In the morning,
make the streusel mixture and
spread on top of the saturated, chilled bread; bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with pats of butter and maple syrup. (Gingerbread also tastes delicious topped with whipped cream.)

Be ready for a scrumptious surprise to share with friends or family! Toby's five children love this recipe, but adults love it, too!

Lilah's Henry-Bear Chocolate Chip Cookies

Made Exclusively for Henry of Weston

This particular recipe is sure to please any cookie-grubbing small people in your environment. Since children have surprisingly large hands when it comes to taking cookies, you might consider doubling the recipe so that you have plenty on hand.

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup light brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Chopped walnuts to taste (For those with a nut allergy, these can be omitted or replaced with a candy substitute. Check candy bag to make sure it is nut-free.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine sugars, vanilla, and eggs (use a blender for a smooth dough). In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Gradually fold into the blended mixture. Finally, stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if you choose.

(If a tiny child is present, he will try to eat the dough at this early stage—watch for little fingers.)

Capture dough between two teaspoons and flick balls onto greased baking sheets. (Alternatively you can buy cookie patterns in various child-friendly shapes. Henry is fond of the knight patterns.)

Bake for 12–15 minutes or to desired crunchiness.

This recipe is also excellent aromatherapy, as it fills your house with the smell of chocolate and sweet cake.

Take cookies off the pan (they might continue baking slightly) and put on wire racks to cool. Seal cooled cookies into airtight containers.

Freeze half the batch so that you can have them fresh and ready when company comes.

Henry's rating: Five Batmans (the highest number possible)

Julia Buckley
is the author of the Undercover Dish Mysteries, including
The Big Chili
, and the Writer's Apprentice Mysteries, including
A Dark and Stormy Murder
. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Romance Writers of America, along with the Chicago Writer's Association. Julia has taught high school English for twenty-eight years. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband, two sons, three cats, and a rambunctious Lab puppy named Digby, who is a lot like Mick. Visit her online at juliabuckley.com.

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