Brown-eyed Orange Bars

I made these bars for this year's Christmas cookie bags. I am not sure how well they will survive the bags, but these bars are a delicious holiday treat. I just love the orange and chocolate flavor combination. The brown-eyed in the recipe name refers to chocolate chips. It might be better to call these Chocolate Chip Orange Bars.

Making these bars is quite easy. The recipe calls for grated orange rind, which is not too hard with a hand grater or could be left off. But I think it enhances the orange flavor, so I recommend keeping the grated orange rind in the recipe. When I made these bars, I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 to use a 9x13 pan instead of a 9x9 pan. The use of dry milk powder adds a nice richness to the recipe.

Brown-eyed Orange Bars 

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup instant dry milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 egg
• 2 tsps. vanilla

Orange glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange rind

Sift the flour, dry milk, baking powder, and salt together. Add butter, sugar, orange rind, orange juice, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in a greased and floured 9x9 pan. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until bars pull away from sides of pan. Make the orange glaze by blending the powdered sugar, orange juice, and grated orange rind. While warm, spread with orange glaze. When cool cut. Enjoy!

Peek-a-boos

Christmas cookies are often fancier than cookies made during the rest of the year. These cookies fit the bill by requiring rolling out the dough, cutting them just so, and assembling the cookie. The recipe card suggested using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, but I used a slightly smaller round cutter which worked out find. For the star pattern for the top cut-out, I just used a butter knife to cut a star pattern that created just enough of an opening for the cookie.

The flavors used in these cookies could very easily be adjusted to meet your needs. The recipe uses lemon extract, but other extracts could be used for a different flavor. The filling is a fruit preserve. I used strawberry preserves to compliment the lemon cookie, but other flavors could be used, such as blueberry preserves or raspberry preserves.  

Peek-a-boos 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. lemon extract
• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup fruit preserves

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and lemon extract. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; and gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Chill dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll part of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2 inch round cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Drop a teaspoon of preserves in center. Cut a star pattern into another cut cookie. Center the star-cut cookie on the preserve-topped cookies. Seal outer edges by pressing with a fork. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool. Enjoy!

Brittle Cookies

When December comes around, I look forward to trying out new cookie recipes from Mom's recipe box. There are always certain favorite cookies that I make each December, but I love trying out recipes that are new to me. This Brittle Cookie recipe is one such new-to-me recipe that is terrific and easy. I actually made this for Thanksgiving. These cookies were a hit. The cookies are crunchy with a nice balance of chips and nuts.

This recipe gets its name from brittle candy, which is made as a large flat sheet that is then broken up into irregular pieces. These cookies are made as a large sheet, then broken into pieces. When I made this recipe, I used white chocolate chips rather than semi-sweet chocolate chips. These cookies are the right balance of sweet, salty, and crunchy.

Brittle Cookies 

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour; beat thoroughly. Stir in chips and 3/4 cup nuts. Press into an ungreased 13x10x1 jelly roll pan. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top; press in gently. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Cool; break into irregular pieces. Enjoy!