Cinnamon Hot Cocoa

When February rolls around and winter has set in, give this delicious hot cocoa recipe a try. MDS and I always prefer hot cocoa made with milk. It results in a richer and tastier treat. And this recipe adds cinnamon, which adds excellent flavor.

Mom's recipe calls for using hot cocoa mix, but you can easily use unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar. Also, you could use chocolate bars, instead, and just experiment with how much to use. You can modify the amount of sugar if you like your cocoa sweeter or less sweet. By making your own cocoa, rather than relying on a premixed package, you can make cocoa for your preferred taste.

Cinnamon Hot Cocoa

• 2 cups milk
• 4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Heat milk in a saucepan on the stovetop. Whisk in cocoa, sugar, and cinnamon. Heat until dissolved and the desired temperature. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a recipe that likely has its origins in the rise of canned pineapple from Hawaii about 100 years ago. With delicious pineapple available year-round throughout the country, it is no wonder it was put to use in delicious cakes like this one. It is an upside down cake because the pineapple that tops the cake is baked on the bottom of the pan.

I found three different recipe cards for Pineapple Upside Down Cake among Grandma's recipes. I am not sure if she ever used one more than the other, or any at all. But, I decided to give this cake a try. The recipe I have assembled below is somewhat a combination of the three recipes. For the pan, I used an eight-inch round pan, but a nine-inch round or square pan could work. I used brown sugar in the pan with the butter to give the cake a better caramel topping, but regular sugar would work. Next time I make this recipe, I will use more maraschino cherries.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake 

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• sliced pineapple
• maraschino cherries
• 6 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 egg,
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp. pineapple juice
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup flour

Preheat over to 350. Prepare the batter by softening 4 tablespoons of butter in a mixing bowl. Add the egg, sugar, milk, and pineapple juice. Mix well. blend in the baking powder and flour.

Place 2 tablespoons of butter in an eight-inch round cake pan and melt the butter in the oven. Add the brown sugar to the pan and dissolve the sugar. Layer four pineapple slices in the pan and add maraschino cherries. Spoon the batter over the pineapple. Bake about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool for about 5 minutes on a wire rack. Carefully invert onto a plate. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Our new neighborhood farmer's market is at the Park at Wrigley Field. Thursday nights in the summer (unless the Cubs have a home game), various vendors set up along the Clark Street side of Wrigley. This summer, MDS and I tried a Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie from one of the vendors. I loved the cookie and knew I could make my own. Then, I was looking through Mom's recipe box and came across this recipe. It was meant to be.

These cookies are just delicious. The version we had at the Wrigley farmer's market were so large, they required both hands to hold. But, I decided to go with the small cookie version in Mom's recipe. I made these to bring to Noah and Jen's fifteenth anniversary party. I used strawberry jelly because that was my favorite as a kid. Chris liked the cookies, but thought they would have been better with grape jelly. Mom said that we had both grape an strawberry jelly when we were kids, but I guess we each had our preference. One change to Mom's recipe is that I added the jelly before baking the cookies, but the recipe says to add the jelly after baking. I think the jelly sets a little better by baking it with the cookie, but it does require more time to cool.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies 

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Favorite Jelly

Stir together flour, butter, peanut butter, sugar, egg, and salt until smooth. For each cookie, roll one teaspoon of dough into a ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. With your finger (dip in water if it gets too sticky), make a dent in the center. Fill hollow with jelly. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool. Enjoy!

Grandma Holmes's Toffee Bars

I found this recipe among MDS's Grandma Holmes's recipes. MDS does not specifically remember it, but when he tasted the resulting bars, he said that Grandma probably loved this recipe because it is so buttery. This recipe is very similar to a Toffee Squares recipe from Mom, only that Mom's recipe had the addition of a layer of chocolate on top.Whether you make the chocolate frosted version or not, you will love these delicious buttery treats.

When I made these bars to bring to Mom's for a Saturday night and celebration of Tim's 18th Birthday, I decided to use two smaller pans so I could make one version without nuts and one version with nuts. Both versions were delicious, but the version with nuts (I used sliced almonds) got stuck in the pan. It could have been because I used a ceramic pan instead of a metal pan. The almond toffee bars were delicious, but very messy and crumbly. So, I only brought the bars without nuts to Mom's house. They were also delicious and a hit with the Birthday Boy.

Toffee Bars 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 egg separated
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts

Cream together the sugar and butter. Add egg yolk, vanilla, and flour. Mix well. Pat dough evenly into a 15 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch cookie sheet. Beat egg white slightly and brush onto the top of the dough. Sprinkle with nuts and press slightly into the dough. Bake at 275 degrees for 45 minutes until top is golden brown. Immediately cut into squares. Allow to cool in the pan. Enjoy!

Maple Gingerbread

This recipe results in a delicious non-traditional gingerbread. Although it can be made any time of year, I made this for Christmas this year. I found this recipe in Mom's cookie recipe box. The recipe is a type of quick bread recipe, rather than cookie recipe. But when made in a large pan, it can be cut into cookie-sized pieces and included in a holiday cookie plate.

The recipe uses maple syrup instead of molasses or dark brown sugar, which gives traditional gingerbread its darker coloring. So, this gingerbread is lighter in color and does not appear to be gingerbread. But it is a delicious variation of gingerbread. Next time I make this gingerbread, I might try a cream cheese frosting. This time, I added chopped candied ginger, which added a nice extra zing to the gingerbread.

Maple Gingerbread 

• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 1/3 cup flour
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger

Combine syrup, sour cream, butter, and egg; beat well. Gradually add in flour, baking soda, ginger, salt. Beat until smooth. Blend in the candied ginger. Turn into a greased 9X13 pan and press to even the dough. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until done. Allow to cool before cutting. Enjoy!

Orange Drop Cookies

This recipe is a terrific Christmas cookie recipe. Although I found the index card for this recipe in Mom's recipe box, it is not her handwriting, so I suspect she got the recipe from someone after tasting these tasty cookies. The orange flavor is delicious and festive for the holiday season, but could be delicious any time of year. This recipe yields a lot of cookies, about six dozen. The cookies freeze well, so they can be saved for later.

The recipe is quite simple. I used all butter, instead of shortening and margarine. The recipe does not specify which type of nuts to use. I used hazelnuts, but many other nuts could be used or you could leave out the nuts completely. Also, next time I make this recipe, I might add in dried cranberries. Also, I only frosted about half of the cookies. These cookies are terrific with or without the frosting.

Orange Drop Cookies 

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 2 Tbsp.  grated orange peel
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking pwoder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Orange juice and grated peel to taste

Cream 1 cup butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, peel, orange juice, vanilla, and milk. Add in flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend in the nuts. Drop by spoonful onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 to 13 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting. To make the frosting, blend the softened butter with the powdered sugar. Add orange juice and grated peel to taste and to spreading consistency. Spread the frosting on the cookies. Enjoy!

Maple Cookies

I found this recipe in Mom's cookie recipe box. I made these cookies for Thanksgiving this year, which was celebrated at Rich and Christen's house. These cookies are so delicious, it was hard to stop eating them. But, the recipe yields a whole lot of cookies, so this is a great recipe when you need to feed a bunch. The cookies are a variation on sugar cookies, with a bit of maple flavor. The dough is a rolled out, so you could use any type of cookie cutter. I used a basic circle cookie cutter.

The recipe below is just a little different from Mom's recipe pictured below. I did not have maple extract, but I did have maple syrup, so I just reduced the sugar from the original recipe and added a little vanilla. Like other sugar cookies, you could frost these cookies. I would consider trying a maple glaze frosting, using maple syrup and powdered sugar. Whether you frost these cookies or eat them plain, you will love these tasty cookies.

Maple Cookies 

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 eggs

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Blend in butter, sugar, vanilla, maple syrup, and eggs. Beat until well blended. Chill dough overnight.

Roll out a small amount of dough on a well-floured board until 1/8 inch think. Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes on greased baking sheet. Allow to cool. Enjoy!