Kolaches

Both of my in-laws were great cooks.  My mother-in-law made the world's best potato salad and chocolate chip cookies. My father-in-law made pork chops that were out of this world. He told me his recipe one time and I really wish I would have wrote it down!!  Kolaches, potica (nut roll), pierogi and Slovenian sausages were almost always on the "menu" when we went to Cleveland to visit.  I have tried to make both potica and pierogi and the end results have not been pretty.  I'm not even going to attempt to make the Slovenian sausage :)  Kolaches, on the other hand, are more up my baking "alley." Back a handful of Christmases ago, I was turning my house upside down looking for a kolache recipe because my mother-in-law was coming over to visit from her assisted living facility where she lived and we had promised her we would make kolaches.  She didn't know her recipe off the top of her head, so I was really scrambling to find a recipe that didn't use yeast! I finally found one in a Christmas cookbook and the hubby, Lauren and my mother-in-law had a good time baking together.  Good memories for sure:

My mother-in-law cut the dough into squares, but I found a 2-inch round biscuit cutter works just as well. My father-in-law will be gone nine years in April and we just passed the three-year anniversary of my mother-in-law's passing in January.  Even though my hubby doesn't talk about it much, I know that he misses them.  I'm going to surprise him when he comes home from work tonight with these kolaches.  Maybe it's time to try again to make potica and pierogi!!! I'll let you know how it turns out :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups white flour

Strawberry preserves

1 tablespoon powdered sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray two cookie sheets with non-stick spray.  Set aside. In medium bowl, put the butter and cream cheese and mix well with electric mixer or by hand until smooth.  Add the flour and combine well.  On a lightly floured counter or board, knead the dough about 10 times and then roll out to about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out 24 circles with the round cutter and put 12 on each cookie sheet.  Put 1/4 teaspoon of strawberry preserves in the middle of each circle and fold the opposite sides together, pressing gently. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the bottoms of the kolache are starting to brown. Remove immediately to wire rack.  When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.  Makes 24 cookies.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

One of my favorite things to do is to post a picture on Facebook of something I have baked or cooked and then have my family and friends try to guess the "mystery" ingredient.  Last week, I put a picture of these biscuits on and while there were many good guesses, no one was able to figure out they were made with sweet potatoes!!!!  FINALLY, I stumped them :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
1 1/2 cups white flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
3/4 cup milk


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and set aside. In a large bowl, put the sweet potato, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.  Mix well with a large spoon and then "cut" in the cold butter with two knives.  When the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, add the milk.  Combine well with the spoon and then put on a lightly floured board or counter.  With lightly floured hands, knead the dough about 10 times and then press out dough to about 1/4 inch.  With a biscuit cutter make 12-14 biscuits. Put on the cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the biscuits are starting to turn lightly brown. Remove from oven and put on wire rack to slightly cool. 

No Bake S'mores Bark

Well, once again we have snow today where we live.

My husband was telling me this morning that behind the storm we are getting today, there are two more heading this way in the next week. Wonderful. Since I wanted to make s'mores and our snow depth outdoors makes that impossible, I did the next best thing and made them indoors yesterday evening! I put two of these on a plate on the kitchen counter for myself shortly after lunchtime and then went into the living room. When I came back into the kitchen a little while later, the plate was empty.  I asked the hubby if he had eaten both and he said yes!! He's a sneaky one :)

Ingredients

24 squares or 12 rectangles of graham crackers
2 cups mini marshmallows 
24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray with non-stick spray, set aside.  In large bowl, break the graham crackers into small pieces.  Add the marshmallows and mix together with a large spoon.  In a saucepan or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips.  Pour the melted chocolate chips over the graham crackers and marshmallows and mix well with the large spoon.  Spread evenly into the prepared pan and put in the refrigerator for at least one hour.  When ready to eat, break off into pieces with your hands and enjoy! Keep stored in the fridge in a covered container.