S'more Cookie Dessert

*Submitted by Sara Seipert
a recipe for "what to do with left over S'mores ingredients from Scout campouts"

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (just use 1 package of graham crackers)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars
1 cup marshmallow creme (large marshmallows also work, enough to cover the size of the pan)
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup ( I added this for "oo la la" on top!)


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan. (I doubled the recipe and used a 9x13 pan)

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.

3. Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.

4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.

5. Drizzle with Chocolate syrup to make it look EXTRA good.

Cake Decorating

We used these tutorials:

Baby Booties
Balloons
Chicks Sitting
Dog
Figure Piped Baby Heads
Teddy Bear
Fondant Blue Bird
Pig Laying Down
Half Rose

Wilton Buttercream Icing

Our Buttercream Icing recipe is perfect for spreading or decorating. Follow our instructions to make it the ideal consistency you need.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing. (Medium Consistency)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
2. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
3. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.
4. For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.
5. For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

Easy Tuscan Pasta

*Submitted by Kathryn C.
*Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 TBSP Olive Oil
• 3/4 cup Carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 28oz. jar Garlic & Onion Spaghetti Sauce ( don't use a sauce with cheese in it)
• 1/2 tsp. Crushed red pepper (optional)
• 1 19oz. (1 use 15oz) can white beans - drained & rinsed
• 3 cups Penne Pasta ( I use 1 lb. of what I have - my family likes Fusilli or Rotini)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large skillet over medium, heat oil: add carrots and onion. Cook 5 min stirring occasionally, or until tender.
2. Stir in pasta sauce (and crushed red pepper), heat to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer covered for 5 minutes.
3. Add beans - heat through.
4. Meanwhile cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain.
5. Spoon sauce over hot pasta, grate Romano or Parmesan cheese over the top. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Treasure Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup uncooked quick rolled oats
• 1 cup corn flakes
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream together shortening and sugars.
2. Beat in eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda - mix thoroughly.
4. Stir in remaining ingredients.
5. Drop by rounded spoonfuls on un-greased baking sheet.
6. Bake at 375 F for about 10 min.
7. Do not over bake!
8. Remove immediately from baking sheet.

No Bakes

In a medium bowl, combine:

• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups Quick Oats Oatmeal

(It doesn't have to be mixed together. It will blend better with the other ingredients. Just have it to the side ready to go.)

Bring to boil over medium heat the following:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter

Stir constantly. Allow to boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Combine all ingredients. Stir until it's well mixed. Quickly scoop out onto foil or waxed paper to allow to cool.

Chocolate Snowball Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup shortening
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup cocoa
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream shortening and sugar then add all other ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Put in fridge for two hours or overnight.
2. Roll into balls and then roll into powdered sugar.
3. Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 2/3 cups (10 oz) cinnamon chips
3/4 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350F
2. Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla: beat well. Combine flour and baking soda. Add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in oats, cinnamon, and raisins (batter will be stiff)
3. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute: remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Yield 4 dozen
Variation: try with golden raisins and toasted pecans

Russian Tea Cakes

Submitted by Jocelle Burdett

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter softened
12 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups almonds (finely chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Mix butter, sugar and vanilla. Add flour, salt and nuts to the other ingredients until dough forms. Shape dough into 1" balls and place approx 1" apart on an un-greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are set and just starting to brown.
When cookies come out of oven, roll in sifted powdered sugar. After cookies are completely cool, roll in sugar again.

Jocelle's tips: Always put these cookies on top rack of oven. Then tend to burn on the bottom.

Caramel/Chocolate Fondue

• 8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Nestle Ch. Chips and some random melting chocolate mixed together- you can use any kind and it's all good)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz can)
• 1 jar caramel topping (12 oz jar)

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat, stir in constantly. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping; heat through. Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm over a fondue burner. (for best results, use water in the fondue pot, put your ceramic fondue bowl on top of that, and pour the chocolate into the ceramic bowl so the water is what's keeping the chocolate warm.) The great thing about this fondue, though, is that it stays liquid even if you just transfer it to a table bowl because of the caramel in it... so if you don't have a fondue pot, you can still make it!

*submitted by Ela

Cheddar Fondue

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (plus extra to coat cheese)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Bread cubes, ham cubes, bite-size sausage and/or broccoli florets

Directions:
Mix shredded cheese and flour until well coated. In a saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour, salt if desired, pepper, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened. Reduce heat. Add the cheese; cook and stir until melted. Transfer to a fondue pot or slow cooker; keep warm. Serve with bread, ham, sausage and/or broccoli.

Classic Cheese Fondue

• 1/2 lb Emnenthaler Cheese (shredded) – toss in flour
• 1/2 lb Gruyeye (shredded) – toss in flour
• 1 clove Garlic
• 2 cups Dry White Wine
• 1 tbs Lemon Juice
• 2 tbs Flour
• 3 tbs Kirsch
• 1/4 tsp White Pepper
• Nutmeg and/or Paprika to taste

Directions:
• Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the garlic clove - add clove to pot or disgard
• Heat up the White Wine & Lemon Juice - should be hot but do not boil
• Reduce heat to low and slowly add cheese while stirring
• Slowly add remainder of ingredients while stirring
• If fondue is too loose add more cheese
• If fondue is too stiff add more wine

Sara’s Must-Know Fondue Tips

* Because we like our cheese stinky!

Must Know Fondue Tips covers all the fondue bases. From how much food to prepare, to fondue etiquette, to choosing the right fondue wine, cheeses, and fondue pot, it's all here.

8 Tips for a Successful Fondue Party

Fondue Tip #1:
Figure just how much food you'll need.
• One person can eat about 20 one-inch cubes of bread (1/2 to 1/3 of a loaf of French bread), 8 ounces of meat, 6 ounces of fish or seafood, 4 to 6 ounces of cheese, 6-8 ounces of vegetables, before trimming, 6-8 ounces of fruit, before trimming, 2-4 ounces of dried fruit, 4 cookies, 2 to 3 ounces of dessert sauce. Figure a total of 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of food per person.

Fondue Tip #2
Serve bite-size food. All fondue food should be served in one or two bite pieces to allow for easy skewing or hand-dipping. Strawberries, large marshmallows, small cookies, medium shrimp, large scallops, etc., are perfect as they are. Thick bread and cake should be cut into 1-inch cubes. Cut meats into 1/2 to 1-inch cubes.

Fondue Tip #3
Use the right fondue pot. Ceramic fondue pots for cheese, chocolate, or other dessert fondues. Metal fondue pots for broth, oil, wine or beer fondue recipes in which the food is cooked in the pot. Combination pots are the most practical and are usually very elegant.

Fondue Tip #4
Use the right liquids. Flavorful liquids only, such as broth, beer or wine. Never water. When adding wine to a cheese fondue recipe, use a dry or semi-dry wine. This helps the proteins in the cheese melt more smoothly.

Fondue Tip #5
Cook your fondue recipe on the stove; serve in the fondue pot. Easy fondue recipes are even easier when you prepare your recipe in the kitchen and transfer it to a fondue pot when ready
.
Fondue Tip #6
Never let your fondue recipe boil in the pot. Keep cheese and dessert fondues at a low temperature, just enough to keep them warm, about 120 degrees. Use a very low flame or tea light candle to warm the pot. Oil for frying should be kept at about 375 degrees. At that temperature, a cube of bread will brown evenly in about 20 or 30 seconds.

Fondue Tip #7
Observe fondue etiquette. Remember you are dipping and swirling from a communal pot; try not to touch your lips or tongue to a fork that goes back into the pot. When cooking in the pot, skewer meats onto your fondue fork in such a way that the tines protrude slightly. That way, the meat will not stick to the bottom of the fondue pot. Important: Remove the cooked meat from the fondue fork before eating. The fork will be much too hot! Long throw-away bamboo skewers are an alternative, and you can cook more than one piece of meat or seafood on them, too.
• Serve raw meats on a small, separate plate for each of your guests. Provide another plate for eating, and individual dishes of seasoning for the meat, to be applied before cooking. Compartmentalized fondue plates are very handy here, and they can double as appetizer plates.
Note: For practicality and safety, reserve hot oil and broth type recipes for sit-down style dinner parties, to reduce the risk of an accident. Modern fondue pots are very sturdy, but, nevertheless, mingling guests or curious children might upset an unattended pot.

Fondue Tip #8
Mix cheeses of the same family. Creating your own cheese fondue recipe? Great. But some experts say only one family to a pot! Here are some examples of cheese families, in case you're not a rule-breaker.

Cheese Families:
• Cheddar, Colby, Longhorn, Monterey Jack
• Emmentaler, Gruyere (Swiss cheeses)
• Edam, Gouda
• Provolone, Mozzarella, Scamorze
• Blue Cheese, Roquefort
• Parmesan, Romano
• Cream, Neufchatel, Cottage, Ricotta
• Camembert, Brie, Brick, Muenster, Bel Paese, Port du Salut, Limburger

Fondue Tip #9 ( From Darlene M.)if you add a teaspoon of vinegar it will add a
zing to the mixture.

COOKING TIPS
1. If your fondue is too thin, turn up the heat and add a little cornstarch dissolved in wine or kirsch, and stir.
2. If your fondue becomes too thick, turn up the heat, add a little white wine and stir like crazy!
3. If your fondue starts to curdle, put the pot back on the stove and add a teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in a little white wine, and a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Mix it all in thoroughly and bring to the boil briefly while praying fervently.
4. Don’t drink water with your fondue. - The cheese will congeal into an enormous ball in your stomach; you won't be able to sleep, go to the toilet, or dream of ever eating another fondue as long as you live. ;P You’re supposed to drink wine, but um, we can’t, so try something acidic like a soda or something else.

20 Minute Tomato Sauce

WARNING: NO FRESH TOMATOES ALLOWED
Dresses 3/4lb pasta Serves 3

*If you use whole canned tomatoes, avoid those packed in a sauce or puree, which results in a dull relatively flavorless sauce without the interplay of sweetness and acidity. If you use diced tomatoes, use the cans entire contents, without discarding any liquid.

* If you double the recipe, simmer the sauce for an extra 5-6 minutes to simmer the sauce to thicken it. If you don't have a garlic press, mince the garlic very fine and saute it for 1 minute rather than 2.

* Note: The salt in this recipe is added in two batches. If you are adding the sauce to something other than pasta, simply salt to taste rather than adding the 2nd quantity of salt. Although 3/4 lb pasta seems like an odd quantity, a full lb of pasta will dilute the sauce, resulting in a lack of flavor.

INGREDIENTS:
1- 28oz can diced or whole tomatoes (not packed in puree or sauce)
2 medium garlic cloved peeled (1 tsp = 1 clove)
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves (about 8 leaves)
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 lb pasta

DIRECTIONS:
1. If using diced tomatoes, go to step 2. If using whole tomatoes, drain and reserve liquid. Dice tomatoes in a food processor. - tomatoes should be coarse, with 1/4 of the pieces still visible. IF necessary, add reserved liquid to make it total 2 cups.
2. Press garlic in a garlic press into a bowl. Sir in 1 tsp water. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil and garlic in a saute pan over medium heat, until fragrant (not brown) about 2 minutes. Sir in basil, sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt.
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Reserve a 1/4 cup cooking water: Drain pasta and return to pot. Mix in reserved cooking water, sauce, remaining oil and salt. Cook together over medium heat for 1 min, stirring constantly - serve immediately.

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:
(enough veggies to cover bottom of 2 baking sheets)

• 4 carrots cut into small sticks
• 1 each, zucchini, yellow squash, grey squash, cut into sticks
• 1 onion cut into half moon
• olive oil to coat the veggies
• spices (dill & Italian Seasoning)
• 1 16oz pkg of penne pasta ( or shape you like)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss veggies in olive oil and spices on baking sheets.
3. Bake for 35-45 min depending on desired firmness of vegetables.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
5. Toss veggies with cooked pasta and add extra olive oil if desired.

* You can use any vegetable that bakes well in the oven for this recipe.

Green Chicken & Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large can Green Enchilada Sauce - (Las Palmas brand is good)
• 3-4 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 lbs chicken breasts
• 1lb great white northern beans, dried
• 1 cup diced onion (1 medium onion)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Rinse and sort white beans and put into pressure cooker with water. Cover and cook in pressure cooker for about 45 minutes, or until beans are soft and tender. Drain and let cool while you cook the chicken and broth.
Empty the pressure cooker and saute diced onions at the bottom of the pot. Add the enchilada sauce, broth, and chicken breasts to the pot then cover and cook for about 30 min or until you can shred the chicken with a fork.
Shred chicken and return to pot. Place half of the beans into the food processor with some of the chicken broth and puree. Add bean puree and the remaining beans into the pot. Stir in spices and let simmer, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes to let the flavors mix.