Using a cookie press you can create little shortbread type Holiday cookies [Spritz] that are typically decorated with icing, sprinkles, and colored sugars.
There are two separate recipes above. One for white cookies, Another for Chocolate cookies. Mix them separately. Bake them separately. If you make both recipes you will end up with about 90 cookies in total
Mixing/Baking the White/Plain/Vaniliia Cookies
Heat oven to 375°F
In large mixer bowl combine sugar, butter, egg, salt, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture is light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add flour. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed, 2 to 3 minutes.
Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Mixing/Baking the Chocolate Cookies
Preheat oven to 375 F
In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars, and vanilla, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In another bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Shape dough into a log and place in your cookie press.
Press cookies out onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Layered Vanilla & Chocolate Cookies
Used press with wide saw toothed die and lay out a long strip.
On top layer a long strip of white/vanilla
Variation use crushed candy, (Crushed candy canes work good) between the layers.
Cut the strips in bite sizes and bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
Decorate with white or colored icing and sprinkles.
To make pinwheels
Roll a Layer of the Vanilla dough out on wax paper. On a second piece of wax paper roll out a thin lay of the Chocolate dough. Flip the chocolate layer over on top of the white. Press dough together slightly. Peel off the top layer of wax paper. Roll the double layer of white and chocolate into a log removing the bottom wax paper. Cover the dough log with wax paper. Then cover in foil and chill in the fridge for about an hour. Then remove foil and wax paper, and slice disks off the log about 1/4 inch thick. Arrange on cookie sheet and bake as directed above.
A simple great way to dip and decorate Pretzels, Oreo Cookies, Graham Crackers, Animal Cookies, and many other snacks. Commonly used to create Holiday decorative goodies. This sauce sets up when cooled to add a decorative touch.
For every 8 oz of Chips (Chocolate, White, Etc) add 2 Tbsp. of Crisco Shortening. In the microwave or double boiler heat and stir until silky smooth.
Dip your items in the melted chocolate and lay out on waxed paper. You can speed this up by using chilled cookie sheets.
Dipping a second time after the first dip has cooled, will create a thicker layer of chocolate. Either way, before chocolate has hardened, you can drizzle with sprinkles, or colored sugar.
Note: 2/3 Cups of Pumpkin is half of a 15 oz can of canned Pumpkin. So instead of wasting a partial can, plan on making a double batch (2 Rolls). The recipe above is for a single batch (1 Roll).
Heat Oven to 350°F. Prepare a greased 10x15 jelly roll pan (cookie sheet). Line the bottom with wax paper, then lightly spray the wax paper with a spray oil such as Pam.
Lay out on your counter, a thin towel, sized at least the size of your jelly roll pan. Sprinkle it liberally with powdered sugar.
In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs. Gradually beat in the sugar, beat until thick and light yellow. (4 to 5 minutes of beating). Add the pumpkin and lemon juice and beat on low until blended.
In a separate bowl, combine/sift the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Whisk until well combined. Spread the batter onto the prepare Jelly pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes. The cake should spring back when lightly touched with your finger. Start checking at 12 minutes, and at 1 minute intervals after that. Remove the cake from the oven and run a knife along side all edges to help release it from the pan. Immediately flip the cake/pan onto the powdered sugar covered towel. Gently lift the upside down pan away and the cake should remain behind on the towel. Gently peel away the wax paper and discard it.
Starting on the narrow end of the cake, roll the cake and the towel up together to form a log. Place this on a wire rack to cool.
Filling
While the cake is cooling prepare the filling. In a small bowl sift the powdered sugar and set it aside. Using a mixer, Beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Gradually beat in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
The Filling & The Rolling
Once the cake roll is cool (needs to be cool to avoid melting the filling), carefully unroll the cake. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the entire surface of the cake. Then roll the cake and filling (not the towel this time) into a log, or roll. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour in the refrigerator before serving. These can be made ahead and frozen.
Slice the cake and filling roll into 1 inch slices. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.
Submitted by Rick Beach. Homemade All-Purpose Biscuit Mix. Make your own Bisquick or All-purpose mix. For use in any Dutch Oven Recipe calling for Bisquick or other similar commercially available product. Better because you make it homemade. You know what ingredients are in the mix. You can alter the Shortening to use Crisco or Butter, or a combination of the two based on your preference. Mix up a dry batch at home. Store for several days in zip lock bags. Great to prepare at home for camping trips.
Just add cold water, or cold milk for richer biscuits. To prepare to bake. Add small amounts of liquid until you reach your desired consistency. Never over mix any type of biscuit dough.
All-Purpose Biscuit Mix (Better than Store bought)
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Sift together 2-3 times in a large bowl.
Cut in shortening with two knives or pastry cutter until the mixture is the consistency of cornmeal.
Add Powdered Buttermilk and Powdered milk and mix uniformly to create your dry All purpose mix. Store in a Zip Lock Bag and keep in the fridge for 2 weeks
Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix. Add small amounts of cold water, cold milk, cold buttermilk, or other liquid required in your Dutch Oven Recipe.
For Regular Biscuits: To get your desired biscuit consistency, use cold milk, cold water, or cold buttermilk. Canned milk and reconstituted powder milk work too. (Milk makes richer biscuits) Don’t over mix.
Form biscuits. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes to rise a little before baking.
Bake biscuits in a pre-heated “hot” oven at 450° for about 15 minutes or until golden brown
[Original Recipe by: Rick Beach] Serves 20-30 depending on how many side dishes are available. This is a great recipe for catering, receptions, parties, and large groups. It half fills a 1/2 size steamer tray. A stainless steel tray 12x10x4 inch size. A double batch with fill a 1/2 sized steamer tray. A stainless steel tray 12x10x4 inch size.
We suggest not substituting the Buttermilk with regular milk adding lemon juice or vinegar until you have mastered producing fluffy biscuits with this recipe. If yours seem dry or clunky increase the Buttermilk slightly until you know the perfect mix for your area and oven.
There is a definite knack to baking light and fluffy biscuits. A couple of secrets to good biscuits is very cold Butter and Buttermilk, not mixing the dough much, and folding and patting the dough several times.
Properly mixed biscuit dough almost looks like it hasn't been mixed all the way. The other secret is a very moist mix.
Never use an electric mixer or dough machine when mixing up biscuits. Use a fork, and use it as little as possible.
Also old stale Baking Powder (opened and on the shelf for awhile) looses its ability to create the bubbles required to raise good light biscuits. Pitch the old stuff and use fresh.
Mix your dry ingredients together with a wire whisk.
Shave the cold butter with a potato peeler or other type of cutter. Then stick it in the freezer while prepping. When cold or frozen, break up the shavings. Keep very cold until ready to mix in.
Then stir in the cold shaved butter into the mixed dry ingredients. Alternatively to shaving the butter, you can "cut" it into the dry ingredients using a tool made for that, or two knives. All pieces should be pea size or less.
The buttermilk in this recipe is part of the leavening (makes the bubbles) The acidity of the Buttermilk reacts with the Baking Powder & Soda. Don't substitute the buttermilk with something else for this ingredient if you are new to making biscuits.
If you don't have buttermilk on hand I suggest you use a different recipe known to work with the ingredients you have. In a pinch, lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar can be added to regular milk. The acid in vinegar or the citrus juice sours the milk and works as the leavening with the baking powder and soda. Stir the milk and vinegar/juice together and allow it to sit a few minutes before adding it to the dry ingredients. But know the formula. I recommend Buttermilk if you want killer biscuits. But I often use a concoction of regular milk, sour cream, feta cheese and lemon juice in place of buttermilk. It depends on what is in the fridge. Start experimenting after you master getting fluffy biscuits that raise well.
The dough should be sticky. Probably more sticky than you think. Mixing the ingredients too much, or too dry is the killer of soft and fluffy biscuits. Plop the sticky dough out on an extremely well floured bread board.
Flour your hands. Don't roll dough out, but pat or gently flatten with your well floured hands (about 1 1/2 inch thick. Fold the dough in half over on itself and gently pat the dough to 1 1/2 inch thick. Repeat the fold and pat two more times.
Cut biscuit rounds and place them on a baking sheet or in a Dutch Oven. Cover with a towel and let the biscuits rest for 10 to 15 minutes before putting them in the oven, or putting the heat to the Dutch Oven. Biscuits placed next to each other will rise much higher than those placed with gaps between them. The closely placed biscuits will also be much more moist when done.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (Dutch Oven Coals for 400°F-Don't pre-heat the Dutch Oven)
Stir dry ingredients together. Whisk or sift
Cut in Butter (broken up frozen shavings)
Mix in the first 1 1/2 cup of Buttermilk gently (Do not over mix) using a fork. If dry add more in small amounts until dough is almost too sticky to handle (flour your hands)
Dough Mixture should be almost sticky and mixed so little it looks roughly combined. Don't keep mixing
Turn out on floured board and pat gently to 1 1/2 inch thick (Do not roll or pound down with hands)
Fold dough over and pat to 1 1/2 inches thick, three times.
Cut rounds with biscuit cutter or top of a small drinking glass, can, etc.
Place rounds on cookie sheet or into the bottom of the Dutch Oven up against one another
Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until golden brown on top in your Kitchen Oven
Bake 14-18 minutes in a covered Dutch Oven (Coals for 400°F)
Recipe Notes
It is assumed you know proper coal/heat techniques for Dutch Oven baking Click this link if you need help with Dutch Oven Coal counting? We prefer the 3 uppy-down rule! Serve hot with butter, jam, gravy, etc.
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich. This is a southern style sweet BBQ that is not spicy hot. Recipe & Images by Rick Beach. Award winning recipe by Rick Beach. Took First Place "Main Dish" in the "Old Mormon Fort Dutch Oven Cook-off Competition", held in Las Vegas, Nevada (March 2017). If you have the means to smoke this. I often prepare and cook it as shown. Then using a smoker on about 250°F. Smoke the Meat mixture uncovered. I lay on smoke for an additional 2 hours. Stir once about mid way. Watch your moisture content so you don't dry it out. The taste will be incredible.
Optional ingredients such as additional Sriracha Sauce, or various peppers, could be added to the basic sauce to spice this up. Add in very small amounts and cook at least 30 minutes then taste test before adding more. Hot spices tend to intensify as cooked. It is easy to overdo hot spices and ruin a batch for the majority of your guests. A double batch (about 7 lbs of meat) can be done in a 14 inch Dutch Oven.
The basic sauce has always been the most popular in large groups. Spicy is not. You can multiply this recipe based on the group you are serving. The BBQ can be made ahead and put in the freezer for later use. This is served on hamburger buns. A stack of coleslaw on the BBQ before adding the top bun makes for a killer BBQ sandwich. This recipe makes approximately 24 standard hamburger sized bun servings.
Place the chunked up Meat, Bay Leaves, Onion, Celery, and Garlic, in a greased heavy pot with lid for baking. Preferably a Cast Iron Dutch oven is used. Meat is slow cooked with lid on. If using a Dutch Oven, and coals, use coals for 325°F heat. If using your kitchen oven use 325°F also. Use a pot sized to be at least half filled to avoid burning.
Bake for 2 hours then stir the meat chunks to rotate the bottom pieces to avoid burning. There should be plenty of liquid remaining at this point and the meat just starting to shred apart. If liquid is completely gone add 1 cup of very hot water, cover, and bake for 1 more hour. Stir again and check for liquid. If the meat is falling apart it should be ready to shred. If not, bake an additional hour but make sure there is some liquid. I have never had to go more than 4 hours baking. Remove lid and keep on heat or in kitchen oven just until all liquid is absorbed or evaporated. Check and stir often during this process…don’t burn it.
Once the meat is falling apart easily, remove the bay leaves and discard the leaves. Use 2 forks to shred the meat….I like to use a potato masher to speed up the shredding. Break apart the meat until it is all completely shredded.
In a large mixing bowl place the remaining ingredients. Add the Soup, Water, Worcestershire Sauce, Liquid Smoke, Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Mustard, and Ketchup. Whisk until combined. Then pour liquid mixture into the baked & shredded meat mixture. Then stir and fold to combine.
Cover and bake for 1 more hour. Ideally the finished mixture is a sloppy joe consistency that doesn’t run. If you’re finished BBQ is too thin/watery, cook/bake with lid off, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. Cook/Bake uncovered until it reaches your desired consistency.
Optional: Additional smoking process. Leave the mixture slightly wet. Using a Smoker set on 250°F lay on smoke for an additional 2 hours with the meat mixture uncovered. Stirring once about mid way through the smoking process. Watch that the mixture does not dry out. The smoke enhanced flavoring is incredible.
Set Bread machine to “Quick” and “Dough” (Traditional dough making methods can be used)
Dry mix the Flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Pour into bread machine. Pour to create a volcano type peak of flour. Spoon the yeast into a little depression in the peak of flour. Gently pour the warm water around the base of the flour. Start bread machine and let it cycle through the mix and rise cycles (Normally 45 minutes)
In a separate bowl mix the Apple Pie Filling, 3 Tbsp Sugar, Cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.
When the bread machine dough mix and rise cycles are complete remove the dough. Let dough rest on a lightly floured surface.
In a large pot bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Cut dough into 9-12 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball. Flatten balls. Poke a hole in the middle of each with your thumb or finger. Twirl the dough on your finger, thumb, or knife handle, to enlarge the hole to the size you like. Do not over do it though.
Cover the shaped bagels with a clean cloth, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Cover cookie sheet (or Dutch Oven) with wax paper and lightly spray oil. Sprinkle covered cookie sheet (or Dutch Oven) with cornmeal. Set oven or coals for Dutch Oven for a baking temperature of 375°
Transfer the raw dough bagels to boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turning half way through. Drain briefly on clean towel. Arrange the boiled bagels on the prepared cookie sheet or the Dutch Oven. Brush tops with egg white. Spoon a generous glob of Apple Pie filling into the center hole of each bagel.
Bake in a preheated 375°F oven or Dutch Oven, for 20 to 25 minutes, until well browned.
Best served warm with butter melted. Pulled wax paper and bagels off the cookie sheet and onto a wire rack to cool. Remove from baking wax paper when cooled with a spatula (don't loose the apple filling) and place on clean waxed paper. Seal in zip lock or small loaf bags once completely cooled. To serve, warm first (microwave about 25 seconds) and serve with melted butter on top.
Recipe Notes
This is a basic Bagel Dough recipe. You can experiment with whole wheat flour, Agave in place of sugar, and a variety of toppings and ingredients such as cheese, seeds, raisins, cranberries, etc.
Recipe and Photo’s submitted by: Bruce Tracy
Editor Note: From time to time we get recipes that even the name gets everyone's curiosity going. We believe this is going to be one of them!
This dish looks hard to do but it is really very easy. Just get all of the ingredients on the counter before you start. Then all you have to do is reach and add. Many versions of this recipe use seasoned sausage. I don’t think that is necessary.
Cut four pieces of bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and fry to your preference. Set aside to drain.
Lay a sheet of parchment paper on your counter and place the ground pork in the middle.
Spread with your hands until you have about a 10 by 10 inch square about 1/2 inch thick.
Spread the cream cheese over half of the pork and add the bacon bits, onions and bell peppers. Gently roll it up from the cream cheese side. Set aside.
Make a 5 by 5 lattice with 10 pieces bacon. Googling bacon lattice will give you several “you tube” videos, it’s way easier than you might think. Place the pork roll with the seam toward you on the edge of the lattice closest to you. Roll it on the bacon, picking up the lattice as you go. Remember where the seam ends up.
Place cooling rack on a cookie sheet or inside a Dutch Oven. Place a piece of parchment paper on it. Place the bacon encased pork roll on the paper, seam side down. Brush liberally with bbq sauce.
Roast for about 75-90 minutes at 425 degrees. Check with a meat thermometer at 75 minutes.
When it reaches 155 brush one more time with bbq sauce and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.
When it’s done let it sit for 15-20 minutes so it can set up.
Recipe Notes
Bruce Tracy December 2013 Follow Bruce on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bruce.tracy.5 Interested in Bruce's hardcover Dutch Oven Cookbook? Just in time for Christmas? One of many sources to purchase "Dutch Oven Baking" by Bruce Tracy
