Veggie Turkey and Cookies and Candies

Not at the same time, mind you!

The Turkey

Some years back I had created a simple veggie tray with the look of a turkey, for the purpose of teaching a class. It was a hit, because everyone in the class was able to recreate it, making everyone feel good. Granted, it is simple. But, you know? Sometimes simple is the best.  So if you happen to need a veggie tray for upcoming festivities, or to take and assemble somewhere else, this one will be great for you. There is no real recipe. Just set the vegetables in the manner shown, and voila!

Turkey Crudite Platter

More veggies can be added to make a more artistic "turkey" or just to be able to serve more people. Cauliflower or broccoli florets would be a pretty addition. Also, olives, whether black, green or reddish (Kalamata) can also be added into spaces. Arrange these in a symmetric manner and there you have it.

Turkey Crudité Platter

Serves a small crowd, alongside other appetizers

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 cucumber
1 bag of "baby carrots"
1 black olive (or more, as desired) 
2 scallions
large lettuce leaves to line platter
1 large, round serving platter

A few hours or up to a couple of days ahead, cut off the roots from the scallions, then cut off the tops to leave a length about 4-inches long. Slice lengthwise down the white parts, about 1 to 1½-inches up the length of the white part. Repeat with at least one more cut lengthwise, and a third, if possible, to give the scallion the ability to curl. Set the white, cut ends of the scallion down into a jar or bowl with ample room to allow for the scallions to curl evenly. Place in the fridge to chill. Once the scallions have curled, they are ready to use.

From the bottom of a green pepper, cut off about a 1-inch thick chunk; this will be the turkey's "face." Set aside.

Slice the cucumber into rings, Cut the remaining part of the green pepper in half, lengthwise, clean out seeds and membranes and slice across into thin half-"circle" rings. Set aside. Cut the two other bell peppers in half, lengthwise, clean out seeds and membranes, then cut across into thin (about ½-inch thick) half rings. Set aside.From some of the top or bottom pieces of the red and yellow peppers, cut a long, narrow, triangular wedge; these will be the beak and wattle. 

Place lettuce leaves onto the platter, enough so they will be visible all around the edges, making a nice "frame." Begin by making the body of the turkey using the cucumber slices, layering them towards the bottom ⅔ of the platter and building them up in the center. Arrange the baby carrots neatly around the top half of the platter, making two or more rows, as needed. Layer on the red bell pepper rings nearest the top edge of the cucumbers, then the yellow pepper rings, then the green pepper rings, which should now be slightly overlapping the carrots. Set the inch-thick piece of green bell pepper on top of the mound of cucumbers. Place two black olive slices as eyes, then the yellow pepper wedge pointing downwards as the beak, with the red pepper "wattle" triangle near and slightly downwards from the beak. Remove the scallions from the cold water, draining them slightly, then set them with the green tops slipped underneath the cucumbers at the bottom, and now the scallions are the feet. And now you have a lovely turkey to dress your table.


Here are a couple of other possibilities for Christmas: Another platter, mainly broccoli in the shape of a tree and cauliflower florets to set it off, plus some little tomatoes to make it festive. The second uses a foot-high Styrofoam cone, covered in either foil or plastic film. The broccoli florets are attached by inserting toothpicks (the kind that are sharp on both ends) first into the broccoli, then placed onto the Styrofoam. Leave room to create a garland, using little red tomatoes and black olives, inserting toothpicks first into the Styrofoam, then placing the tomato or olive (trying to press these softer vegetables with the toothpick already inserted does not work well). Cut a star from a red bell pepper and insert a toothpick up into the bottom, before inserting it atop the "tree."

Christmas Tree Crudite Platters

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And, on to the Cookies!

Christmas is fast approaching. Scary thought! It is not too early to begin thinking of visitors, parties, get-togethers and such, and planning, planning, planning! And while veggie platters are all well and good, cookies are the name of the game in most houses. I have some old favorites I want to share here, and more that will be shared in another blog. Or two. I do have a lot of cookie recipes, as I have been at this a lot of years, already!

Pecan Praline Fudge

Having made a chocolate fudge using pinto beans as a base ingredient (Nutritious, Delicious Fudge), I wondered how it would be to make a white "fudge" using white beans and no cocoa? My first intent was to make the recipe Maple Walnut, but switched to Pecan Praline. Feel free to substitute maple flavoring for the pecan praline flavoring and walnuts for the pecans, if desired. These were just amazing. As I am no chocoholic, these were higher on my favorites than the chocolate variety.

Pecan Praline Fudge

Makes one 9 x 13-inch pan

Pecan Praline Fudge

1 can (15-ounce) white beans (navy or great northern)   
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons pecan praline flavoring
2 pounds + 2 cups confectioners' sugar (about 6 cups in total)
2 cups pecans, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Lightly butter a 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside.

Pour beans into a colander and run copious amounts of cool water over them until they stop foaming. Allow to drain well, then place the beans in the bowl of a food processor. Process until very smooth, stopping and scraping the sides as needed. Add in the melted butter and the flavorings and process to blend thoroughly.

Pour the mass into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the confectioners' sugar and starting very slowly, mix until the whole mass comes together. Add in the pecans and salt and mix again only just to combine. Turn out the whole mass into the prepared pan and with a spatula, press the fudge into the whole pan evenly. Refrigerate until ready to use. Cut into whatever size pieces you prefer for serving.

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Orange, Pistachio & Craisin Fudge

A variation on the above recipe, this one makes a beautiful holiday display, with red, green and yellow mixed in.

Orange Pistachio & Craisin Fudge

Makes one 9 x 13-inch pan

Orange Pistachio & Craisin Fudge

1 can (15-ounce) white beans (navy or great northern)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon pistachio flavoring, if available
2 pounds + 2 cups confectioners' sugar (about 6 cups in total)
2 cups total candied orange peel, dried cranberries (craisins) and pistachios, lightly chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Lightly butter a 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside.

Pour beans into a colander and run copious amounts of cool water over them until they stop foaming. Allow to drain well, then place the beans in the bowl of a food processor. Process until very smooth, stopping and scraping the sides as needed. Add in the melted butter and the flavorings and process to blend thoroughly.

Pour the mass into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the confectioners' sugar and salt, then starting very slowly, mix until the whole mass comes together. Add in the orange peel, craisins and pistachios and mix again only just to combine. Turn out the whole mass into the prepared pan and with a spatula, press the fudge into the whole pan evenly. Refrigerate until ready to use. Cut into whatever size pieces you prefer for serving.

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Springerle

Traditionally anise flavored and made with stamped images, these cookies can also be made with

Springerle Cookies

other flavors. I chose to make mine orange flavored. These cookies must be made at least 12 hours prior to baking, as the drying time allows the images to set and show after baking. They puff while baking, so trying to bake them too soon may result in the image being blurred.

Makes about 60 to 70 (1¼ x 2-inch) cookies

4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest
¼ teaspoon orange flavoring
3½ to 4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and lemon colored. Add in the sugar gradually while still beating, and then the butter, baking powder, orange zest and flavoring. Begin to incorporate the flour. You may not need all the flour, but the dough should come out stiff and not very sticky. More flour may be added while rolling out the dough if needed.

Flour a surface and turn out the dough. With a regular rolling pin, roll the dough to about ⅓ to ½-inch thick. Using a springerle mold, rolling pin, or cookie stamps, press the mold into the dough to imprint a clear picture. Cut apart the cookies and set them on a floured board or towel. allow the cookies to air dry, uncovered, for at least 12 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Set the dried cookies onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake them for approximately 15 minutes or until set but not brown.

NOTES: If desired, using edible colored dusts, the designs can be tinted prettily.

Springerle unbaked and baked

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Some Cookie Recipes that Fell by the Wayside

I know I have been writing blogs about healthier eating. Let's face it though, one cannot eat healthy all the time. A little indulgence here or there is just fine. 

In actuality, I meant to have these cookie recipes out on this blog before Christmas, so everyone might be able to use them for the holidays. Very obviously, that did not happen. With a Wine Tasting and Food Pairing event just before Christmas, and with guests arriving, blogging just did not happen. But, maybe these recipes can stay on the back burner until later on, or next Christmas.

One cookie recipe I had been wanting to try for years was Speculaas, sometimes also spelled Speculoos. Where they originate from is up for grabs, as far as I can tell: Dutch, Flemish, Belgian, German, French. The reason I had wanted to try making these cookies is because of the Biscoff Cookies I had tried. Mine came out more highly spiced and far less sweet than these commercially made cookies, but the recipe is delicious, and the cookies are great with a cup of coffee.

My Springerle Rolling Pin making Speculaas

Traditionally, the cookies are a highly spiced shortbread type, rolled thin and stamped with a windmill cookie mold. Any cookie mold will work just fine, or you can just roll the dough and cut out shapes. I chose to use my Springerle rolling pin, creating a lot of small cookies stamped with patterns. My Springerle pin has all sorts of animal pictures carved into it. 

The first thing needed before making these cookies was Speculaas Spice Mix. I looked through countless recipes for "traditional" Speculaas Spice Mixes and all had some things in common, while there were those few that had something different or other.  In general, something like a Pumpkin Pie Spice mixture will work, though there are some spices that are almost always a part of Speculaas that are not in Pumpkin Pie spice, namely coriander seed and white pepper.

Speculaas Spice Mix

Speculaas Spice Mix

Makes about ½ cup

3 tablespoons Ceylon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground coriander seeds
1½ teaspoons ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds

Combine all spices in a glass jar with tight fitting lid and shake well. Store in a cool dark place. Use approximately 1 tablespoon spice mix to 1 cup of flour in your recipe, according to your taste.

Speculaas Cookies, ready to bake

Next, I took a tour of the internet looking at what kind of recipe constituted Speculaas. I read in many places that these were shortbread cookies, which is generally taken to mean there are no eggs to bind the ingredients. Yet for all that, many recipes called for eggs. I opted to keep the recipe without eggs. In most places, Speculaas are described as a thin, hard cookie. To stamp the cookies with shapes, such as windmills or other, there has to be enough thickness to be able to press down on the stamp (or Springerle Rolling Pin). I opted to roll the dough about ¼-inch thick, and then rolled/pressed evenly with the Springerle rolling pin. Many recipes called for a very low oven and very long baking times, to dry out the cookies and make them crisp. Others baked them at high temperatures for shorter periods to achieve the same thing. I took a middle-of-the-road approach here. I used a 325 oven for part of the time, then lowered it even more for the rest of the time. The cookies came out wonderfully well, and very spicy and delicious, so I am quite content with the recipe.

Speculaas

Speculaas Cookies 

Made about 60 cookies

12 tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (213 g) light brown sugar, packed
⅓ cup (80 g) water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (44 g) white rye flour
½ cup (40 g) finely ground almond meal
¾ teaspoon (3 g) salt
½ teaspoon (1 g) baking soda
3 tablespoons (11 g) Speculaas Spice Mix

In a stand mixer, beat the butter with the brown sugar until very light and fluffy. Combine the water and vanilla extract, then begin adding to the butter mixture by teaspoonfuls, beating continuously and waiting until the water is completely incorporated before adding more.

Separately, whisk together all the remaining ingredients to combine. Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix on low speed until the dough comes together into a mass. Turn out of the bowl and form into a large ball or roll, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.

If using a Springerle rolling pin, or other cookie stamps, roll out the dough to about ¼-inch thick with a regular rolling pin. Use the Springerle rolling pin and dust well with flour. Roll the Springerle pin, pressing evenly over the cookie dough and leaving the dough about 1/8 to 3/16-inch thick. Cut out the cookies and set them about an inch apart onto the prepared parchment lined cookie sheets. Gather up the scraps and re-roll them as needed, to use up the dough.

If cutting out the cookies with cookie cutters or just cutting into small rectangles, roll the dough with a regular rolling pin to about 1/8 - 3/16-inch thick and set the cookies an inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets and lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees, leaving the cookies in the oven. Bake the cookies for an additional 20 minutes, until very crisp, but not browned.

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Another kind of cookies I made for this year's holidays are Chocolate Cherry Cookies. I based these on a recipe I first encountered on Facebook (see that recipe here, called "Maraschino Cherry Almond Chocolate Cookies"). My reasoning was that my husband has had a "favorite" Christmas cookie his Mom always made, and I have been making them each year since I met him, 28 years ago. These were called Cherry Bon Bons, and while tasty, they are a pain to make! The dough was difficult to work with, and it needed to be formed around a well-drained whole Maraschino cherry, then my husband liked them rolled in the little, hard "rainbow nonpareils" that ended up all over the counters and floor before I was done rolling the formed dough in them. 

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

The recipe I found seemed to have the things my husband likes best all in one cookie: maraschino cherries, cherry juice in the dough, and even better, chocolate chips, too! As I looked at the recipe, the dough part sounded very similar to the dough for the Cherry Bon Bons. Instead of wrapping it around the cherries, the cherries are chopped up instead. So far, I was really happy with this concept. I made the recipe a bit larger and changed some of the amounts by slight bits and the whole thing came out so great that I am hard pressed to think of ever going back to the Cherry Bon Bons again, no matter how cute they are!

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Chocolate Cherry Cookies 

Makes about 66 cookies

1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained, syrup reserved
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups confectioners' sugar
3½ cups all-purpose flour
3 - 4 tablespoons maraschino cherry syrup
1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make sure the cherries are well drained before starting the recipe. Set them into a sieve or colander and drain, then set them on paper toweling to wick out more moisture. If there is too much residual liquid in the cherries, this will add moisture to the cookie dough and they may not set up so nicely in the oven. Once the cherries are well drained, chop them and set them aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter with the almond extract, salt and confectioners' sugar until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, add in the flour until nearly all incorporated, then adding in 3 of the tablespoons of cherry syrup. If the dough is too dry to come together, add the remaining tablespoon of syrup. Add in the cherries and the chocolate chips. Mix just until combined.

Make 1-inch balls, or use a cookie scoop and place the balls about 1½ - 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for approximately 14 minutes, or until set but not browned. When done, slide the whole parchment sheet with the cookies onto a cooling rack. They will easily release once cooled slightly.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

One of My Traditional Christmas Cookies

Cinnamon Cookies

Somehow, in all the years since I started with my website and this blog, I have never yet entered this recipe for Christmas Cookies. I guess it is such a part of the scenery at Christmas that I just forget to share the recipe? Maybe? Whatever reason it may be, these have been overlooked, yet they have been a part of my Christmas Cookie repertoire from my earliest cookie-making days in Guatemala as a new young wife. 

I guess fiddling with recipes has been in my nature even back then when I didn't really know anything about cooking at all. The original recipe started out with my 1966 edition of The Joy of Cooking. That book was where I really picked up a love of understanding a recipe and what makes it work. The recipe I used was one with various alternatives. You could use white sugar or brown sugar. You could use cinnamon or other spices, or no spices. You could make them like "thumbprint" cookies and fill them, or not. There were so many options available, and I chose the route of using brown sugar and the cinnamon, but not making them into thumbprint cookies. And to add my own touch, I set a glace cherry on top. 
 

Cinnamon Cookies

While the recipe is not 100% original, in these days it is truly difficult to find anything that is totally original. I sat down a couple of years ago to create a cookie recipe all of my own. I took the amount of flour I thought would give me the size recipe I wanted. I added in sugar in the quantity I thought would be sufficient without being too much. I used butter, because butter is best! Egg, of course. Baking powder, vanilla extract, salt. I wrote down all the quantities I felt would be best for what I wanted. And I made them and they came out truly great. And then? I found a recipe online that was exactly the same! The same proportion of every single thing! I did no copying, no looking at other recipes. I wanted it to be my own. And someone already had the exact same recipe out there. How frustrating.

But really, there are these basic ingredients and only so many ways to alter the proportions. Not trying to justify using a pre-written recipe to build something, but it is just too easy to do. However I came to this recipe, I have been making it since my children were tiny, and we have all loved them, forever. So what are these cookies? I call them Cinnamon Cookies. Uninspired title, perhaps. But that is what they are. And if you like cinnamon, there is nothing NOT to like about these cookies; it uses a whole tablespoon of cinnamon for a quite small recipe. 

These cookies are rolled into balls, then rolled in granulated sugar, then flattened slightly, as with peanut butter cookies. Then I set a half glaceed cherry into the center, pressing a bit to adhere. Over the years, I have tried rolling the balls into green sugar granules and setting a half green glaceed cherry on top, and also used red sugar granules and red glaceed cherry half. But I think after all the experiments, they look best rolled in regular white granulated sugar and with either red or green glaceed cherry on top. The recipe is very small, at only 28 cookies, more or less. I generally double the recipe, and have even quadrupled it, when all the kids were still at home and we also had guests.

Cinnamon Cookies

Cinnamon Cookies

Makes about 28 cookies

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
- granulated sugar, for rolling
14 - 16 glaceed cherries, halved

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until very light. Beat in the egg to combine completely. Whisk together  the cinnamon, flour and salt, then add in these dry ingredients all at once and mix just until no dry flour remains. Do not over-mix. Bring the dough together into a solid mass and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or place in a zip-top bag. Chill the dough for at least 2 to 3 hours, or overnight.

*DO AHEAD: If prepping early, make the dough, wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 weeks. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using.

Preheat oven to 375. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar to completely coat, then set at least 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet(s). Use a glass or other flat-bottomed object to flatten the cookie balls to about ¼-inch thick discs. Set a half cherry in the center, pressing gently to adhere (the stickiness of glaceed cherries works well, here). Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until set and barely beginning to turn golden at the edges. Remove them immediately to a clean counter or cookie rack to cool.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.