race to the finish

I had good intentions of doing a post before Christmas giving you recipe ideas for holiday baking, appetizers and recipes that would make wonderful homemade gifts, but time slipped away from me.

​I did, however, manage to bake about a half dozen varieties of cookies, mostly biscotti. I also found a recipe for ricotta mini cakes in my late aunt’s recipe file. I don’t where she clipped it from, but it was submitted to a magazine from Chris White of Bordentown, NJ and I had just enough ricotta left in my refrigerator to make these cookies.

upFor the recipe you’ll need, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, one stick of butter, sugar, an egg, 1 cup ricotta and vanilla extract. There’s also a glaze on the cookies which required confectioners’ sugar and milk.

The dry ingredients are sifted together. Softened butter is beaten with the granulated sugar until blended. The egg, ricotta and vanilla are added and beaten until combined. Finally, the dry ingredients are mixed in. The mixture is dropped by spoonful’s onto lightly greased baking sheets (you can also line baking sheets with parchment paper). Once the cookies are cooled, the tops are dipped into the glaze.

My son said they were his new favorite cookie. The cookies have a cake like texture, tight crumb, yet light tasting. This was a wonderful addition to my holiday baking.

My husband and I went to our daughter’s house for Christmas dinner. I offered to bring something for the meal and my son-in-law found an appetizer recipe that he wanted me to make, Garlicky Shrimp Cocktail. He found the recipe on the website delish.com.  The recipe serves 6 and takes 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes in the oven.

For this delicious recipe you’ll need 1 lb. raw shrimp, extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, freshly minced garlic, grated Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley. All the ingredients are mixed together in a large bowl. The shrimp are spread on a large, foil lined  baking sheet. The shrimp are baked in at 400° for 8-10 minutes. Although the recipe suggested serving with a marinara sauce, the shrimp were perfectly fine on their own. We all enjoyed the shrimp. Have some sliced Italian bread handy to sop up some of the pan juices. If I were to make this again, I might had a sprinkling of red pepper flakes to amp up the heat a bit. This would make a terrific New Year’s Eve/Day appetizer. 

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Ricotta Mini cakes
Recipe from Chris White
Source/Date: Unknown
 
Makes: 3 dozen
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: @ 350° for 14 minutes
 
Ingredients
 
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1-stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup whole or part skim milk ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Glaze
 
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons milk
 
Cookies
 

1. Heat oven to 350°. Coat 2 baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray or parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together; set aside.
2. Beat butter and granulated sugar together until blended. Add egg, ricotta and vanilla, beating until combined.
3. On low speed, add flour mixture and beat until blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Let cool on sheets 3 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely.

 
Glaze
 
Beat confectioners’ sugar and milk together until well blended. Dip tops of cookies into glaze and set aside until glaze has hardened.

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Garlicky Shrimp Cocktail
by Rian Handler 
December 7, 2016 

Yields: 6 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
​Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb. raw, tail-on shrimp, cleaned and deveined
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Marinara sauce, warmed, for dipping

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Place shrimp on baking sheet and roast until golden and cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Serve with warm marinara sauce.