Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

First of all, I want to thank my friend Stacey for sharing this recipe with me several years ago. Her mother was visiting and had made dozens of Christmas cookies so Stacey very nicely brought some to the office to share. I had never had biscotti before and am actually surprised I tried it. A picky eater, I am not good about trying new things. But in this case, I am glad I did! Because the cranberries are red and pistachios green, this is a good cookie for Christmas. So, since I have now shared this recipe with a couple of family members, and I know at least one has made them, I decided to add it to my family recipes on this blog. I can’t take credit for it though. I didn’t have the recipe Stacey’s mom used but googled it and found one on the internet that was just as good. My version of Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti is below. You can find the original version by Gerry Meyer on the allrecipes.com website.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup light olive oil
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (Gerry used 2 teaspoons vanilla and ½ teaspoon almond extract)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• 1 ½ cups shelled pistachio nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 300° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the olive oil and sugar together until well blended. Stir in vanilla, then the beaten eggs. You can use a wooden spoon to do both steps, no mixer required.

Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually combine with the above mixture. Fold in pistachios and cranberries using a wooden spoon or your hands if necessary. It will be thick.

Wet your hands with cool water (it will be sticky) and divide the dough in half. Form each half into 12x2-inch logs and place side by side on a cookie sheet. 

Bake 35 minutes in a preheated oven (until light brown). Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275°. Cut the logs on the diagonal into 3/4-inch-thick slices. 

Lay the cookies cut side down on a second cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake 10 minutes until dry. 

Cool and store in a sealed container.

I made a gluten free version this past Fall for my brother-in-law and it turned out great. Just substitute the all-purpose flour with your favorite gluten free flour and add a little extra olive oil—just a couple of sprinkles. My brother-in-law and sister liked it so much, she is now making it herself. Since she doesn’t like to cook, that says something!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas to all! 

Making fruitcake with Mama

I recently watched Trisha Yearwood’s Food Network Ugly Christmas Sweater episode and it reminded me of the many times Mama (Fay Lankford) visited me in Virginia for Thanksgiving. She always asked to see any new cookbooks I had and then spent hours paging through them looking for new recipes. Once she found something that looked interesting, we’d turn on the Christmas music and head into the kitchen. Of course, singing was involved while we cooked.

This fruitcake recipe was one we made several times, although I can’t be sure if she found it in one of my cookbooks or had already discovered it at home and wanted to share it with me. After all, we both had some of the same cookbooks. Whatever the case, her handwritten notes dated November 25, 2001 are written beside this recipe in my cookbook so I know we made it together. This recipe comes from the 2000 Taste of Home Annual Recipes cookbook.

Miniature Fruitcakes

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped mixed, candied fruit (about 4 ounces)
2 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Halved candied cherries

In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Combine egg yolks and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Fill greased and floured muffin cups two-thirds full. Cover the muffin tin tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake at 275° for 1 hour. Uncover; top each fruitcake with cherries. Bake 5 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of each cup; remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 1 dozen.

Below is a photo with Mama’s handwritten notes.

It appears she made the adjustment to use the mini-muffin tins which would be nice for a party or gift giving.

Although Mama didn’t include anything in her notes, we would have changed this recipe. I never had walnuts in the house but always had pecans at Thanksgiving time. She also didn’t care for citron so we would have just used candied cherries and pineapple instead of the fruit mix sold in stores. Mama even made a gluten free version for my brother-in-law and nieces. My sister Vanessa remembers the fruits being expensive for Mama’s budget, but she refused to let Vanessa pay for them. Vanessa said Mama was determined to let them taste a good fruitcake. So instead, Vanessa said she’d sneak cash into Mama’s fanny pack. My guess is Mama knew that though—she always knew what was in her fanny pack. I can see her holding the money up when she found it, shaking her head, grinning all the while. The photo at the top is Mama cutting up candied fruit at Vanessa's house. 

My immediate family wouldn’t consider this an heirloom recipe, but I’m sure Vanessa does. It brings back sweet memories for me so I know I do!

Mama as she arrived on her last trip to Virginia

Cranberry Salad

Earl Murphy
December 2014

I was looking through my recipes this morning and came across this one for cranberry salad. My father-in-law Earl Murphy found it somewhere although I have no clue where. He never used a computer so it could have been in a magazine, newspaper, or even on a Jell-O box. He loved it though and it became his contribution to Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinners. When he got to the point where he no longer cooked, my sister-in-law or I made it for him. My husband and sons never liked it so I haven’t made it since before my father-in-law passed away in 2015 but thought it appropriate to share with my heirloom recipes. I altered the original recipe a little so am sharing both versions. Hope you enjoy.

Cranberry Salad 

Original version

1-pound cranberries, fresh

2 boxes cherry Jell-O, three ounces each

3 cups water, 1 very hot

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 large can pineapple, crushed

1 cup pecans or walnuts, crushed

Mix Jell-O and water. Chill until partially set. Grind cranberries, drain off juice. Add sugar. Drain crushed pineapple (can use one cup of juice in place of one cup water). Mix cranberries, pineapple and nuts with chilled Jell-O and refrigerate.

Altered version

1 can whole cranberries

2 boxes cherry Jell-O, three ounces each

3 cups water (2 very hot)

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 20 ounce can pineapple, crushed

1 cup pecans, crushed

Mix Jell-O, water, and sugar together. Chill until partially set. Mix cranberries, drained pineapple (use with water), and pecans together and stir into partially set Jell-O. Refrigerate until set.

The Murphy clan together on the last Christmas we shared with Earl
December 2014

An old family favorite recipe — Carrot Cake

Photo shared by Kathy Griffith

With the holidays coming up, I thought it appropriate to share an old family favorite recipe. This one is from the kitchen of my mama, Fay Lankford. It’s actually one of the few recipes I have from my childhood.

Mama’s recipe calls for a glaze versus frosting but I’m sure it would taste just as good with a cream cheese frosting. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Carrot Cake

1 ½ cups vegetable oil

2 ½ cups sugar

4 egg yolks

5 tablespoons hot water

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 ¾ cups grated raw carrots

1 cup chopped pecans

4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 10” Bundt cake pan. Cream oil and sugar until well mixed. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beat well. Beat in hot water. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat into egg mixture. Stir 1 ½ cups carrots, then pecans into batter. Beat egg whites until forms soft peaks, fold into batter. Bake 60 – 70 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, remove from pan.

Glaze

¾ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over cake. Top with remaining carrots.

Sweet potato casserole

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “thankful.”

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and one of the dishes on my table was this sweet potato casserole. It’s one that for years has graced many a Thanksgiving table in my family. I remember Mama making this sweet delight when I was growing up in Atlanta, but we called it a souffle instead of a casserole.

Now you might ask what this has to do with this week’s “thankful” theme. That’s easy—every time I make this casserole, I’m reminded of the years Mama came to Virginia and spent Thanksgiving week with me. She’d arrive the weekend before, we’d plan the Thanksgiving meal, and then I’d go shopping. On Wednesday, we’d crank up the Christmas music and spend the day in the kitchen preparing anything we could make in advance for the big feast. We laughed and had a good time while we worked. It was always so much fun. I hadn't made the casserole myself, thinking it was complicated, so Mama taught me how on one of her visits. And it couldn’t have been easier!

Being able to include this dish on our menu yesterday was great, but the true treasures are the rocking chair memories it brings to me every time I make it. And for that, I’m thankful. 

Casserole before baking

Sweet Potato Casserole
2 c. cooked sweet potatoes (about six)
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. butter, melted

Bake the sweet potatoes in a 400-degree oven until soft. Once cool enough to handle, peel, and cut up into a large bowl. Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, butter, and spices then mix together with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients together and spread on top of the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly on the edges.

Notes:
If you don’t like pecans, replace the topping with miniature marshmallows (my own family’s preference). If you do that, put the marshmallows in during the last few minutes, turn the oven to broil, and bake until browned. Don’t walk away though. It doesn’t take long and if left too long, the marshmallows will burn.

This is a great recipe to make the day before. Prepare the potatoes according to the recipe and store them in a large Ziploc bag. The next day, pour the potatoes into a buttered casserole dish, add the topping, and bake.

If you look hard, you'll see five little heads in this car.
Mama started making rocking chair memories with us years ago.

Christmas baking

Like many people, I’ve made my share of Christmas cookies over the years—mostly for work or to give as gifts to family and friends. I have several recipes I like to use but at some point, settled on two that were always well received—pecan tassies and coconut macaroons. What’s funny is that I’m not a fan of pecans or coconut so don’t eat either. I guess you could say that’s a good thing though! I thought it was time to share the recipes for these two favorites. Enjoy!

PECAN TASSIES

Shells
1 cup butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in 2 cups of all-purpose flour with a spoon just until the mixture forms a ball. Divide the dough into thirds, wrapping each portion. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. Roll the dough out, one third at a time, 1/8-inch-thick on lightly floured surface. Cut out with 2 ¼ inch round cutter. Gently press dough rounds into ungreased mini-muffin pan cups. Refrigerate shells until ready to fill and bake.

Filling
2 eggs
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups finely chopped pecans

Prepare shells according to the recipe. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl using a wire whisk, lightly beat the eggs. Whisk in brown sugar, butter, and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Stir in the pecans. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the filling into each unbaked shell, filling about half full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until bottoms of pastries are crisp and light brown. Let cool 10 minutes in pans on wire racks. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen tassies.

• The ingredients are simple—just make sure the cream cheese and butter are softened. 
• A stand mixer comes in handy.
• Separate the dough into disks, wrap in Saran Wrap, then refrigerate. I usually make the dough one night and do the rest the next night.
• You can buy chopped nuts or chop them yourself in a food processor.

• I chop the pecans up pretty fine.
• It's handy to have two large tins. I fill one tin and pop it in the oven. While the first batch bakes, I prepare the second batch. The timing is just about right.
• You don't need to butter the tin. 
• Only take one disk of dough out of the refrigerator at a time. Chilled dough is easier to work with.
• Before making, I trim my fingernails to avoid my nail digging into the shell as I press the dough into the tin.
• I never roll the dough out. I always take the chilled disk of dough and cut it into squares small enough to fit in the tin with a butter knife. Do what works best for you.

• I bought a Mini-tart Shaper from Pampered Chef and found it very helpful in pressing the dough into the tin. You still have to form the dough with your finger but this gets it started for you. Before pressing the dough, I dip the Shaper into water.

• You don't need a mixer to blend the filling. A whisk works just fine.  
• I use a butter knife to pop the tassies out of the tin.

COCONUT MACAROONS

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flaked coconut
12 candied cherries, each cut into fourths

Heat oven to 300. Grease cookie sheet lightly (or use parchment paper). Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a medium bowl until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not underbeat. Fold in almond extract and coconut. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Place a cherry piece on each cookie. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or just until edges are light brown. Cool 10 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Pickle pinwheels

Pickle pinwheels on my mother-in-law's vintage plate

It became clear to me last weekend that my pickle pinwheels have become a family tradition. People often walk into a party asking for them. We’ve been enjoying this savory appetizer for a long time now. It’s one that we make year-round when the family gathers together.

I got the recipe from a co-worker in the 1980s. Once a month, his wife sent treats in for the entire department. They were mostly sweet treats but on one occasion, she sent these pickle pinwheels. Everyone loved them so we asked her to share the recipe.

This appetizer is very easy to make. I like them because they can be made the day before so that all you need to do the day of the party is slice and plate them. When slicing, don’t throw the end pieces away. They may not look pretty but they taste the same. Store them in the refrigerator and pull them out later for a nice treat.

If you like pickles, you’ll love this appetizer. They’re addictive. But let me offer a warning—they’ll give you a bellyache if you eat too many. My husband can vouch for that—one might say he deserved the bellyache though.

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try them sometimes.

Pickle pinwheels

8 ozs. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Dash of garlic salt of powder
Mayo (not salad dressing)
Buddig Sliced Beef (thin sliced)
1 jar Claussen whole dill pickles

Drain the pickles and set aside. Combine the cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic with enough mayo to make it spreadable. Lay two slices of beef down, overlapping them slightly (I use a small amount of the cream cheese mixture to glue the pieces together on both ends and in the middle). Lay two more slices of beef on top of the first layer (again glue them together). Gently spread a layer of cheese mixture on top of the layered beef. Place a pickle on one edge of cheese and roll up so it is encased in meat covered cheese. Refrigerate, covered, at least two hours or overnight. Just before serving, cut into ¼ inch slices.

Note: The Buddig meat used to come in squares but now it’s round. It was nicer looking when it was square but it still works.

A nutty Christmas tradition

Today was a day off for me although I was very busy so it didn’t really feel like a day off. But it was a fun day, spent baking eight pounds of cinnamon sugar pecans. Every Christmas, I bake a boatload of these treats to gift to family. It’s become a family tradition. It actually started years ago because I wanted to give my boss a Christmas gift. Etiquette told me that it wasn’t expected that I give my boss a gift but if I did, food would be appropriate. I knew he liked nuts so after Mama shared her cinnamon sugar pecan recipe with me, I decided they would fit the bill. And he loved them. I made enough to share with co-workers and they enjoyed them as well. My mother-in-law loved snacks and liked pecans so I decided they would make a nice gift for her. She loved them too. Then at some point, I decided the nuts would make a good gift for my nephews so I made some for them. They loved them and it turns out their wives loved them as well. So, I finally started making small individual bags for the entire family to pass out at our annual Christmas party. They always seem happy to be handed a bag. We’re having our party tomorrow so I’ll likely make a few people happy.

My brother-in-law told me last weekend that he’d like a big bag this year. He said those little bags just aren’t enough.

By the way, I’ve never eaten a single pecan. I don’t like them. I know, that sounds sinful being as I was born and raised in Georgia, but I just don’t like them.

The recipe is very easy—you just need to allow plenty of time if you’re cooking a lot of them. Each batch needs to cook for an hour—so turn on some Christmas music and wrap a few presents while they bake.

Here’s the recipe if you would like to try them. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

½ cup white sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 lb. shelled pecan halves

½ tsp. cinnamon

2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large Ziploc bag.

Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy.

Stir in the pecans. 

Once coated, add the pecans to the Ziploc bag.

Seal the bag and shake to coat with the cinnamon mixture. 

Spread the pecans on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.

Bake one hour at 225 degrees. Remove the pecans from the oven, cool, then break apart.

Wilton makes these nice treat bags (with ties) to package the pecans in.