Chocolate Ribbon Cookies

Yes, I'm back! I have been away too long. My excuses are many. I won't bore you with them all but I was sick again with strep throat. Between being sick so much and all the preparations for Christmas, I just couldn't find the time to post here. I am sorry. But I am here to tell you that these Chocolate Ribbon Cookies are absolutely awesome. I made a double batch for a cookie exchange on Monday. Having never made them before, I was a bit nervous about making them. I had no reason to fear. I am so glad that there were some extras that Bill and I could taste-test. They didn't come out as perfectly striped as the one in the photo on the Better Homes and Gardens website which is where I got the recipe, of course! But, no matter, they taste wonderful. I can't wait to bring them to the cookie exchange and I can't wait to bring them to our Christmas get-together with my family.

Just a few thoughts on the baking process: I had to bake the cookies longer than 10 minutes. I would say that I baked the cookies at least 14 minutes so you may want to experiment with how your oven works. Shaping and cutting the cookies was easier than I expected it to be. The directions say to cut the dough crosswise into thirds and then cut into 1/4 inch thick slices but I think they neglected to mention that you need to cut each 1/3 in half again otherwise you won't get nearly the 54 cookies that the recipe promises to deliver. With my two batches of cookies, I wound up with 105 cookies which isn't too bad. I chose this recipe because it makes a LARGE batch of cookies rather than several small ones. I was just dumb luck that I found this recipe and tried it for the cookie exchange.

Here is the recipe that I want to share with you:

Chocolate Ribbon Cookies

Prep: 30 min. Bake: 10 min.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate pieces, melted and cooled
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate pieces
1/4 teaspoon rum flavoring

Directions

In a mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat until combined. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour.

Divide dough in half. Knead the melted chocolate and nuts into half of the dough. Knead the miniature chocolate pieces and rum flavoring into the other half of dough. Divide each portion of dough in half.


To shape dough, line the bottom and sides of a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with waxed paper or clear plastic wrap. Press half of the chocolate dough evenly in pan. Top with half of the vanilla dough, the remaining chocolate dough, and the remaining vanilla dough, pressing each layer firmly and evenly over the preceding layer.


Invert pan to remove dough. Peel off waxed paper or plastic wrap. Cut dough crosswise into thirds. Slice each third crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake cookies in a 375 degree F. oven about 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. Makes about 54 cookies.

Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare and shape dough; Transfer to plastic freezer bag; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. Let dough thaw at room temperature for 2 hours; slice and bake as above. Or bake cookies; cool. Transfer to freezer container; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month.


The Creative Cook

Three Bean Chili

Last week, I had to organize an October Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at my son's elementary school. It was nerve racking! I had high hopes until I walked into the teacher's lounge on Friday morning and saw that they teachers were having one of their poor Friday breakfasts, too! In September, I had "nicely" asked if they could reschedule those breakfasts or let me know when they are scheduled so I could reschedule my lunches but, apparently that never happened. Last month, I had a pizza party on the same Friday as their poor Friday breakfast and I wound up with 5 left-over pizzas! I hate to waste food not to mention the fact that all the money comes from the PTA. When I do a chili and casserole luncheon all the parents cook and bake and deliver their goodies to the school. That means if we have a bunch of wasted food, the parents have done all that work for nothing. Needless to say, I was upset and this time I wasn't very nice. I told them that I wouldn't be doing any further luncheons at all. I changed my mind by the end of the luncheon, though and pretty much had to "eat my words." Almost every bite of food that we put out was eaten. There were two partially eaten casseroles and a small batch of vegetarian chili left out of 8 casseroles and 4 crock pots of chili. There were quite a few desserts left but somebody cleaned those out by Tuesday morning when I went into school and checked the fridge. After all the talk about chili and casseroles I decided that I definitely needed to make some chili for myself. I couldn't believe that I had 4 crock pots of chili under my nose and I couldn't even taste a bite. I did eat some chili at the Halloween party we attended on Saturday night but I still wanted to make a batch of chili. One of the moms made a 3 bean chili for the teacher appreciation luncheon which really interested me. I found a recipe for 3 bean chili online and I made it. It was really delicious. These are the changes I made: I substituted pinto beans for Lima beans because I have a terrible aversion to Lima beans; I reduced the amount of meat in this recipe to about 3/4 pound of meat. and I used a combination of organic ground beef and ground turkey; I didn't use the oil to cook the meat and I left out the salt altogether. Try this chili on a cold fall day!


Three Bean Chili

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 pounds ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (16 oz. ) can red kidney beans
1 (16 oz. ) can cannellini beans or Lima beans or pinto beans
1 (16 oz. ) can Great Northern beans
1 (15 oz. ) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15 oz. ) can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chili sauce or ketchup
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Drain and rinse all beans. Brown ground beef or turkey with vegetable oil; drain. Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker. Cover and stir occasionally. Put on low heat, can be fixed ahead and left on all day.

The Creative Cook