Cheese Biscuits (Cookies)

Ingredients

• 8 ounces butter, melted
• 10 ounces self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated ( use tasty, sharp, strong)
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut ( shredded)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Melt butter in a large bowl. I do this in the microwave.
3. Add flour, cayenne and salt. Mix well. You can use a hand mixer at this stage.
4. Add grated cheese and mix well. You may need to use a wooden spoon to mix. Please use a nice cheese that has some bite.
5. Shape dough into one-inch balls.
6. Roll in coconut.
7. Flatten each ball slightly with a fork.
8. Place on a cookie sheet and bake until golden -- about 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them, especially if your oven runs hot.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Toffee Brittle

Ingredients

1 roll (16.5 oz)  refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup toffee bits

3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Add flour, 3/4 cup of the toffee bits and 1/2 cup of the pecans; mix with spoon or hands until well blended. Place on cookie sheet; press or roll into 12x10-inch rectangle.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and crisp. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake 1 minute; spread melted chips evenly over cookie. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup toffee bits and 1/4 cup pecans; press into chocolate. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Break into pieces. Store in airtight container.

Croquembouche (puff, christmas tree)

Ingredients

Puffs

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 6 eggs

Carmelized sugar

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 16 glace cherries, halved

Directions

1. To make Puffs:preheat oven 400f.
2. Bring water, butter,sugar & salt to a roiling boil in a large saucepan.
3. Add flour all at once, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan clean. Remove from heat.
4. Beat in eggs, one at at a time with a wooden spoon until paste is shiny& smooth Drop pastry by well rounded teasp, 1 1/2" apart on 2 ungreased cookie sheets Bake 35 minutes or until puffed and golden.
5. Cool on a wire rack.
6. Prepare carmelized sugar:.
7. Heat sugar & lemon juice in a heavy medium sized skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sugar is melted and light golden brown.
8. Do not let it burn Remove from heat.
9. Putting it together:.

10. Place 14 puffs in a 9" circle on a platter.
11. Fill in the center of the circle with about 5 more puffs.
12. Working quickly and carefully dip the bottom of remaining puffs in the carmalized sugar (don't let it touch your skin), one at a time and place each on top of the base puffs in a slightly smaller circle Fill in the center with puffs.
13. Continue making each circle smaller to form a tree shape.
14. Drizzle the remaining sugar over the tree and decorate with the cherry halves You may refrigerate for 1-2 days.

Crescent Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

1/2 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1/4 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (1 oz)

1 can (8 oz)  refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz)  refrigerated Crescent Dough Sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon sesame seed

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in barbecue sauce; cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot. Stir in cheese.
2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles. Press each into 8x4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles. Press each into 8x4-inch rectangle. Cut each in half crosswise, making 8 squares.
3. Place about 2 rounded tablespoons beef mixture on center of each square. Fold dough over filling, forming triangles; press edges with fork to seal. With knife, cut small slits in tops for steam to escape. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with egg; sprinkle with sesame seed.
4. Bake 11 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Kitchen Sink Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 roll (16.5 oz)  refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (from 11.5-oz bag)

1/3 cup milk chocolate toffee bits (from 8-oz bag)

1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

14  chewy caramels in milk chocolate, unwrapped (from 12-oz package)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line large cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
2. In large bowl, mix all ingredients except caramels until well mixed.
3. Shape 2 tablespoonfuls cookie dough around each caramel. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
4. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Christmas Cookie Trees

Ingredients

Trees

1 roll (16.5 oz)  refrigerated sugar cookies

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 containers fluffy white whipped ready-to-spread frosting

Yellow paste food color

Green paste food color

Decorations, if desired

Yellow sanding sugar

Red and white candy sprinkles

Coarse sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. In medium bowl, knead cookie dough and flour until combined.
2. On floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. With 11/4-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 5 stars. With flower-shaped cookie cutters in 5 different sizes (3 1/2, 3 1/4, 2 3/4, 2 1/4 and 1 1/2 inch), cut 25 cookies, 5 of each size.
3. Place stars and smaller flowers 1 inch apart on one cookie sheet. Place larger flowers 2 inches apart on second cookie sheet. Bake smaller cookies 6 to 8 minutes, larger cookies 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.
4. In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the frosting with yellow food color. Frost star cookies with yellow frosting; sprinkle with yellow sugar. Set aside.
5. In medium bowl, mix remaining frosting with green food color. Spoon frosting into resealable food-storage plastic bag; cut off one corner of bag. To assemble each tree, pipe green frosting on one large flower cookie; stack with 4 cookies, largest to smallest, piping frosting on each cookie. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Decorate with candy sprinkles. Top each tree with star cookie

Fluffernutter Bars

Ingredients

1 roll (16.5 oz)  refrigerated peanut butter cookies

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup milk chocolate mini peanut butter cups (from 8-oz package) (25 mini cups)

1/2 cup marshmallow creme

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In medium bowl, mix cookie dough, flour and peanut butter cups until well blended. Reserve 1 cup cookie dough. Press remaining dough evenly in bottom of ungreased 8-inch square pan. Bake 15 minutes.
3. Drop tablespoonfuls marshmallow cream on bar base. Crumble reserved cookie dough onto marshmallow and bar base.
4. Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.