86-lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 9, 1989 Borne On The Benge flfe Ring In The Season With Festive Treats Now that you’ve flipped the calendar to December, you realize that it’s lime to start preparing fes tive treats for holiday entertaining and for gift giving. Many enjoy making candy. Although the classy chocolate truf fles and glistening butler toffee may apppear complicated, looks are deceiving. They’re surprising ly easy—even fun. As for making butter toffee, remember two things and you’ll guaranteed perfect results. First, use only real butter. If another fa lis used, the fat will separate on the surface of the candy. Second, check the accuracy of your candy thermometer. One degree off either way can make the difference between success and failure. If candy making isn’t your favo rite thing, don’t despair, their arc plenty of recipes below for both the novice and the accomplished cook. RUM BALLS 'A cup butter 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 small glasses rum 1 cup sugar 1 cup chopped dates 2'A cups rice crispics A cup ground nuts Melt butter. Mix egg, sugar and dales and combine with butter. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add rice crispics, vanilla and rum. Mix well. Roll into small balls; then into ground nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. A Loyal Reader CHEESE PEANUT CRISPIES 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese, room temperature 1 cup butter 2 cups flour VI teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup finely chopped salted Spanish peanuts Beat cheese and butter until fluf fy. Blend in flour and cayenne until smooth. Chill dough for ease in handling. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form into 1-inch balls; dip balls in peanuts and place on cookie sheet, nut side up. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Cheese Olive Puffs: Omit pea nuts. Shape tcaspoonfu'.s of dough around well-drained medium sized stuffed green olives, cover ing completely. Bake as directed. Recipe Topics If you have recipes for the topics listed below, please share them with us. We welcome your recipes, but ask that you include accurate measurements, a complete list of ingre dients and clear instructions with each recipe you submit. Send your recipes to Lou Ann Good, Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17522. Recipes should reach our office one week before publishing date. Dec. 16- 23- 30- Jan. 6- Low Salt Recipes BUTTER TOFFEE 2'A cups sugar 1 teaspoon salt 'A cup water VA cups butler \'A cups chopped blanched almonds 1 cup finely chopped pecans 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 ounces milk chocolate morsels Combine sugar, salt, water and butler in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium high heat. Stir in 3 A cup almonds. Cook, stirring constantly, to hard crack stage (300 to 310 degrees). Remove from heat. Stir in remain ing Va cup almonds, 'A cup pecans and vanilla. Quickly pour into but tered jelly roll pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle chocolate morsels over warm toffee. Spread evenly; sprinkle with remaining pecans. Cool completely. Break into pieces to serve. Store, covered, in refrigerator. SWEDISH TEA RING 1 package active dry yeast 'A cup warm water Va cup lukewarm milk, scalded then cooled 'A cup sugar Vi teaspoon salt 1 egg ‘A cup bu'(cr, softened 214 -214 cups flour Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shor tening and 114 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and clastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. At this point, dough can be refrigerated three to four days. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double, about 114 hours. (Dough is ready if impression remains when touch ed). Roll dough into rectangle, 15x9 inches. Spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar cinnamon and raisins. Roll up, beginning at wide side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well. Stretch roll to make even. With scaled edge down, shape into ring on lightly greased baking sheet. Pinch ends together. With Holiday -Desserts Christmas Favorites Submit favorite recipe that you got from Lancaster>Farming Am. Dairy ,rs many opportun special charm to the season. scissors, make cuts two-thirds the way through ring at 1 inch inter vals. Turn each section on its side. Let rise until double. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. If desired, frost while warm with sweet icing and decorate with nuts and cherries. Serve warm. Filling 2 tablespoons butter, softened 'A cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon VS-cup raisins Sweet Icing Mix 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and 14 teaspoon vanilla until smooth. Kyncl Bomgardner Lebanon Co. Dairy Princess CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES 'A cup butler 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate 'A cup whipping cream 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 'A cup finely chopped pecans '/«cup unsweetened cocoa 'A teaspoon cinnamon Melt butler and chocolate in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in whipping cream. Gradually stir in confec tioners’ sugar, and nuts until smooth. Chill, covered, 12 to 24 hours. Shape into balls using about 1 teaspoon of mixture for each. Combine cocoa and cinnamon. Roll balls in cocoa mixture. Place each in a small paper cup. Store in tightly covered metal container in refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before serving. Yields: 36. Am. Dairy SANTA’S WHISKERS 1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 2'A cups flour 1 cup finely chopped red or green candied cherries A cup finely chopped pecans 1 cup flaked coconut Beat butler for 30 seconds. Add sugar and heat until fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Beat well. Stir in flour, chccries and nuts. Shape into three 7-inch rolls. Roll into coco nut to coat. Wrap in waxed paper. Chill thoroughly. Cut into 'A -inch slices. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 357 degree oven for 12 minutes or until edges are gol- Featured Recipe Looking for the perfect pie? Check out Pauline’s Pies in Leba non. The 71 -year-old woman bakes asjnany as 389 during a holiday week for customers who drop by her farmhouse. To learn more about Pauline and her pie-making business, look for her story featurerfin this section. If you don’t live near enough to Pauline to pick up a pie, try duplicating her delicious coconut cus tard pie. COCONUT CUSTARD PIE 1 cup sugar 2 rounded tablespoons flour 2 eggs 1 cup coconut - 2 cups milk 2 tablespoons butter, melted Mix sugar and flour. Add eggs, coconut, milk and butter. Mix. Pour into 9-inch pie crust. Bake at 385 degrees until lightly browned. 3 cups flour 1 cup shortening 1 teaspoon salt Mix ingredients and moisten with water until soft but not sticky. The less you work the dough after adding the water, the better the crust will taste. To learn more hints for pie making, look for Pau line’s story in this section. entertain. Festive foods add a den brown. Makes about 80 cookies. Mrs. Alton Sujman Waltons, NY BLUE CHEESE BOLOGNA WEDGES 1 cup crumbled Blue cheese 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 18 slices bologna 36 pimicnlo-sluffcd olives Combine blue and cream cheeses; mix until blended. Spread scant 1 tablespoon mixture over each of 6 slices bologna. Slack. Repeat twice. Chill. Cut each stack into 12 wedges. Garnish with olives secured with wooden picks. Am. Dairy Association (Turn to Pago B 8) PIE QRUST