No-Bake Cookies

These are little sugar bombs. There are lots of recipes out there for this, but this is the right one!  Many others are too dry.

Makes: almost 5 dozen
Calories per cookie: ~100

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1½ cups dessicated coconut
• 3 cups quick or porridge oats

Combine the cocoa, sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Melt together over low heat.  Bring to a boil over low/medium-low heat, then allow it to boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.

Add peanut butter, coconut, and oats and mix well.  Drop by small spoonfuls onto wax or baking paper and let cool.

Philippine Polvoron

1 cup flour
½ cup powdered milk
just under ½ cup melted butter
½ cup sugar

You will also need a way to mold them into shapes (typically a polvoron mold).

Toast flour in a pan on the stovetop for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until light brown.  Transfer to bowl.  Add powdered milk and toss for 3-4 minutes.  Add sugar and butter and mix well.

Push batter into molds, press in with a spoon, then release.  If the batter is too loose, add more melted butter.

Chill in the fridge until firm.

Wrap polvoron in cellophane (or, in Germany, I used Butterbrotpapier) - I wrap a piece around and twist the ends like candy wrappers.  Store in fridge.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 3-4 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

• 350 grams rhubarb, cut into ½-inch (1-cm) pieces
• 300 grams strawberries, halved
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• ¾ cup flour
• ½ cup brown sugar (American)
• ½ cup quick oats/Haferflocken
• ½ cup cold butter

Preheat oven to 200'C.

Crust:
Mix flour and salt.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients (it's best to use a pastry knife or food processor for this step in order to keep the butter from getting too warm, but it can also be done with fingertips).  Add three tablespoons cold water all at once to mixture and mix with a fork just until the dough comes together and forms a semi-homogeous dough (this step can also be done with a food processor).  Press dough into a ball, wrap in baking paper, and chill in fridge for >1 hour.  When dough is cool enough that it is no longer tacky, roll out pastry on a floured surface.  (Makes one 9-10" crust--can probably be stretched to make a 12" pastry.)  Carefully place in pie pan.

Filling:
Beat egg.  Add sugar, flour, cornstarch, and vanilla and mix well. Fold in fruit and pour into pie shell.

Topping:
Combine flour, brown sugar, and oats.  Cut in the butter.  The mixture should look crumbly.  Sprinkle it over the fruit.

Bake at 200'C for 10 minutes, then bake at 175'C for another 35 minutes or until brown and bubbly.  Cool on a rack. Let it completely cool before cutting.

Great Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

Makes: ~ 4 dozen

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups milk, lukewarm (traditionally scalded then cooled to lukewarm, these days that process is not necessary but you can do it if you want)
• 2 packages yeast
• ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ cup sugar, ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, butter for spreading, softened
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ~6 cups flour, 6 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed

 In a container large enough to allow for rising, dissolve yeast in ½ cup warm water.  Add ½ teaspoon sugar. Allow to rise.

Meanwhile, in a very large mixing bowl, combine ½ cup butter, ½ cup sugar, and salt.  Add lukewarm milk, followed by the risen yeast and eggs.

Add flour gradually while stirring.  Start from around 4 cups and continue adding until the dough is soft and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Plop it on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Cover the dough with a towel and set it in a warm area away from drafts and let rise until doubled.

Meanwhile, mix the filling - cinnamon, brown sugar, ¾ cup sugar, and 6 tablespoons of flour - in a small bowl.  Use a sifter or strainer to attain a fine texture.

After the dough has risen, take it in sections and roll out each section to a thickness of about ½ inch (~1 cm).  Spread the surface with butter and filling and pat it well onto the dough.  Carefully roll the dough tightly into a log, tuck in the ends and pinch the edges together.  Cut into 1-inch (~2cm) slices.  Place the slices in a greased pan, cover with a towel, and let rise again until doubled.

Bake at 350'F (~180'C) 25-35 minutes.  Let cool and frost (or don't) as desired.  (Cream cheese, buttercream, glaze, plain butter, etc all taste great on them!)