Wonderful Gooey Butter Cookies

Gooey Butter Cookies

A clever twist on Gooey Butter Cake is making it into cookies. Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1inch balls and roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar. Place 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Alternate Recipe that I used.
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds.
Slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese mixture while continuously beating. Beat the sugar into the cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy, 1 minute.
Next, add the vanilla, whole egg, and egg yolk. Beat until combined.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the cream cheese mixture in three increments, beating in between each addition.
Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. This should not be optional.
Preheat the oven to 325-degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Have the powdered sugar ready in a shallow bowl nearby.
Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it in your hands to form a ball. Roll the dough into the powdered sugar before placing them evenly on the baking sheet.
Bake for 14 minutes. Keeping a close eye on these cookies, they should not brown in the oven. The top of the cookies will be puffed and slightly wet.
I think, no matter the recipe, you will be very pleased with these cookies. As will your guest.

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If you have any ideas, and/or recipes you have found that help you, fell free to comment.

Old Fashioned Potato Chip Cookies

Pecan Crunch Cookies (Also known as Potato Chip Cookies)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Directions:

Cream together butter or margarine, sugar and vanilla. Add crushed potato chips & pecans. Stir in flour. Form into small balls, using about 1 tbsp. dough for each. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press balls flat with bottom of a tumbler dipped in sugar. Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees for 16 to 18 minutes or till cookies are lightly brown.

Photo above from The Clara Project

The Best Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Time for a good old fashioned Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Sweet potatoes are a new world tuber, although they weren’t present at the Original Thanksgiving. Native to Central and South America, they were introduced to the North via colonists from Europe. Columbus is credited was transporting them home to the Old World, and by the 16th century they appeared in a British herbal encyclopedia, which recommends serving them “roasted and infused with wine, boiled with prunes, or roasted with oil, vinegar, and salt.”

It wasn’t until after the 1740’s that the term sweet potato began to be used by American colonists to distinguish it from the white (Irish) potato.
by 1880 Americans were enjoying some sort of variation of candied sweet potatoes. American cookbooks, such as the widely published 1893 Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer featured a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes. Likewise, in 1896 Texas Farm and Ranch published Sweet Potato Culture for Profit: A Full Account of the Origin,History and Botanical Characteristics of Sweet Potato, which included a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes.
Now you are probably hungry, and ready to make that Sweet Potato Casserole!
Ingredients:
1 (40 ounce) canbruce cut yams, drained
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 (16 ounce) bag miniature marshmallows *Note: I used the large marshmellows, and cut them in half.
Directions:
Butter 1 quart baking dish.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash yams in a large bowl and add brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, egg, and melted butter. Mix well.
Line bottom of baking dish with 1 cp of chopped pecans.
Place 1/2 mixture in baking dish. Top with a layer of marshmallows, then add remaining mixture, and top with the remaining marshmallows.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with remaining marshmallows.
Bake for another 10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned.

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Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Rice Krispies®
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup salted peanuts
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Combine sugar, and shortening, blend until creamy. Add the eggs,and vanilla.
In a separate bowl add the remaining ingredients; mix well.
Combine both bowls, and mix. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

The Famed Mississippi Mud Cake Recipe

Mississippi Mud Cake

It is thought that the basic concept of this cake was likely created by a home cook sometime after World War II, because it was made with mostly pantry staples, simple ingredients that could easily be found. The actual name Mississippi Mud Cake and the exact method, probably got attached to it a little later though, with the first known printed recipe believed to have been in a newspaper column sometime during the early 70s. Its roots, however, are surely deeply implanted in the hearts of all of us who live in the Deep South. The photo below is a newspaper clipping of unknown year which included coconut.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
10.5 oz. miniature marshmallows *(I used the large ones cut in half)
Frosting:
1/2 package powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup butter, softened
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the sugar, butter, cocoa, eggs, vanilla, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until well combined. Stir in the flour and 1 1/2 cups of the toasted pecans.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 15x10-inch pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from oven and top evenly with the marshmallows. Return to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes.
While the cake is baking, make the frosting. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until combined and smooth.
Remove cake from the oven and drizzle chocolate frosting over warm cake. *If you used the large marshmallows cut in half as I did, you will notice that it is now easier to cut the pieces. All you have to do is cut between the marshmallows.