What a marathon cookie baking day yesterday was. Got five batches done and ready for giving. All of them I had never made before - I was really tired of making the same cookies for over 40 years! (the kids can just learn to make them themselves for a change)
1. Sageland’s Port Truffles - A gal at Sagelands gave me her recipe for truffles the last time we visited the winery last spring and I just got to making them yesterday. I think these are the best I've ever tasted. Instead of asking if anyone wants the recipe, here it is -
Rhonda's Sageland’s Port Truffles
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter
12 oz. semisweet chocolte chips (I used a mixture of Lindt 70% Intense Dark and Chocolate Santander 75%)
1/4 cup Sageland’s Port (didn’t have any, so used Single Leaf El Dorado Port ’95 –wow, is this goooooood!)
Ghirardelli sweet ground chocolate and cocoa for dusting
In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the cream and the butter. Stir until the butter melts and the cream simmers. Remove from heat.
Add the chocolate chips, and stir until melted and smooth. Mix in the Sageland’s Port, then pour into a bowl.
Cover and freeze just until firm enough to run a smaller cookie scoop through the mix.
Scoop the truffles in mini-baking cups, then dust with the ground chocolate.
2. Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies (from the online recipes from C@H) – Very good. Someone mentioned the recipe not calling for molasses, but since I’m not that big of a molasses fan, these were perfect for me – ginger and the chocolate together, really good. No trouble chilling and rolling and cutting out at all. I’ll do these again.
For the next three, I finally opened the Holiday Cookies C@H book I got a year or two ago – never even opened it before; still had all the throwaway crap in the book.
3. Butterscotch Chip Spice cookies – we both liked these, especially good with coffee and wine. The only thing I didn’t like about the recipe is, it calls for the cookie balls to be rolled in powdered sugar before baking and the cookies now have little clumps of sugar here and there and it just doesn’t look right.
4. Gold bricks with crushed salted peanuts – These are O.K. Lot of work for not a spectacular flavor. Plus – peanut butter chips do not melt for drizzling (at least for me); so I put them in a bowl, mixed with a little milk and that made the consistency perfect. Really thought there were just too many flavors going on. BUT, the cake, all by itself is one of the most flavorful, light and fluffy cakes I’ve ever tasted. Will have to think of things to do with it.
5. Chocolate Chip Cookies with Crispy Rice Cereal – my favorite of the day! But, I’m a chocolate chip cookie fanatic, so no wonder. But what the rice Krispies did for the texture was just wonderful!! These are the ones I’ll have to be careful making, ‘cause I won’t be able to keep them in the house!
I didn’t make the Oatmeal-Cranberry cookies – just ran out of time, will try to make these today or tomorrow if I have time.
So, it was fun to make cookies that I hadn’t made before and all of them turned out well enough to be given as gifts. Whew!
1. Sageland’s Port Truffles - A gal at Sagelands gave me her recipe for truffles the last time we visited the winery last spring and I just got to making them yesterday. I think these are the best I've ever tasted. Instead of asking if anyone wants the recipe, here it is -
Rhonda's Sageland’s Port Truffles
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter
12 oz. semisweet chocolte chips (I used a mixture of Lindt 70% Intense Dark and Chocolate Santander 75%)
1/4 cup Sageland’s Port (didn’t have any, so used Single Leaf El Dorado Port ’95 –wow, is this goooooood!)
Ghirardelli sweet ground chocolate and cocoa for dusting
In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the cream and the butter. Stir until the butter melts and the cream simmers. Remove from heat.
Add the chocolate chips, and stir until melted and smooth. Mix in the Sageland’s Port, then pour into a bowl.
Cover and freeze just until firm enough to run a smaller cookie scoop through the mix.
Scoop the truffles in mini-baking cups, then dust with the ground chocolate.
2. Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies (from the online recipes from C@H) – Very good. Someone mentioned the recipe not calling for molasses, but since I’m not that big of a molasses fan, these were perfect for me – ginger and the chocolate together, really good. No trouble chilling and rolling and cutting out at all. I’ll do these again.
For the next three, I finally opened the Holiday Cookies C@H book I got a year or two ago – never even opened it before; still had all the throwaway crap in the book.
3. Butterscotch Chip Spice cookies – we both liked these, especially good with coffee and wine. The only thing I didn’t like about the recipe is, it calls for the cookie balls to be rolled in powdered sugar before baking and the cookies now have little clumps of sugar here and there and it just doesn’t look right.
4. Gold bricks with crushed salted peanuts – These are O.K. Lot of work for not a spectacular flavor. Plus – peanut butter chips do not melt for drizzling (at least for me); so I put them in a bowl, mixed with a little milk and that made the consistency perfect. Really thought there were just too many flavors going on. BUT, the cake, all by itself is one of the most flavorful, light and fluffy cakes I’ve ever tasted. Will have to think of things to do with it.
5. Chocolate Chip Cookies with Crispy Rice Cereal – my favorite of the day! But, I’m a chocolate chip cookie fanatic, so no wonder. But what the rice Krispies did for the texture was just wonderful!! These are the ones I’ll have to be careful making, ‘cause I won’t be able to keep them in the house!
I didn’t make the Oatmeal-Cranberry cookies – just ran out of time, will try to make these today or tomorrow if I have time.
So, it was fun to make cookies that I hadn’t made before and all of them turned out well enough to be given as gifts. Whew!
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
www.achefsjourney.com
If you care to post the rice crispy recipe..... 
