Little Mom's Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberry Swirls

I use a stand mixer to start this cookie, but an electric hand held mixer may be used, until the dough it to heavy , then use your well washed ( nails scrubbed clean -think surgeon's hands) hands or a wooden spoon to mix in the rest of the dry ingredients.

Cheesecake Dough

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup salted butter

6 ounces of light cream cheese, softened

1 cup organic granulated sugar

1 cup white granulated

2 egg (or equivalent in egg substitute)

1 teaspoon home made vanilla extract (or pure vanilla extract)

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or white enriched all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon finely grated&chopped lemon peel

In stand mixer on speed 2 beat butter and cream cheese together for 30 seconds , till well creamed together. Then turn to stir and slowly add the sugar and turn to speed 2 and beat till light then add the egg and beat till well blended. (stop your mixer and scrap the bowl at least once or twice though out this process)

In a separate bowl whisk together flour , baking powder and the orange peal soft out he lemon zest and add the lemon zest to the cream cheese mixture and mix for 20 seconds on stir

Slowly add 1/2 the flour mixture to the cheese mixture dropping down to stir while adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup additions and turning up to speed 2 to mix completely between additions. When the dough becomes heavy add the remaining flour by hand with a wooden spoon or good clean hands. if the dough is to dry, squeeze a bit of the juice fom the lemon over it and mix in to help form a smooth dough ball.

Divide dough into 4 parts , wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate .

Chocolate Dough

1/2 cup plus 5 and 1/3 tablespoons salted butter

1/2 cup plus 5 and 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup organic granulated sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

2 egg ( or equivalent in egg substitute)

4 tablespoons milk (which ever type you diet allows , goat, coconut, soy and rice milk also work well here as an alternative to cows milk,)

2 teaspoon home made vanilla extract ( or pure vanilla extract)

2/3 cup good unsweetened, organic cocoa powder (or, Hershey's special dark baking cocoa is also good in this recipe)

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In stand mixer on speed 2 beat butter 30 seconds to cream; then turn to stir and slowly add the sugar and turn to speed 2 and beat till light; next add the egg and beat till well blended. (stop your mixer and scrap the bowl at least once or twice though out this process); now turn the mixer to stir and add the milk and the vanilla; turn to 2 and mix 30 sec or until well blended.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, cocoa and baking powder till well blended.

Slowly add 1/2 the cocoa-flour mixture to the butter mixture, dropping down to stir during the 1/4 to 1/2 cup additions and then turning up to speed 2 to mix in the addition well. when the dough becomes heavy you will need to add in the remaining flour by hand . If chocolate dough is to dry , add a little bit of cooled strong coffee to it to help form a dough ball .

divide dough into 4 parts , wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate .

Both dough should be refrigerated at least 30 minutes minimum.( it needs the cold to be handled better , but to cold and you will get a major work rolling out this dough)

the "Strawberry Between"

1 12-oz. jar strawberry low sugar jelly ( not jam or preserves)

2 teaspoons finely grated&chopped orange peal (about)

1/2 cup finely ground pecans ( careful not to make Nut Butter)

Scoop about one half of the jar ( more or less) into a small mixing bowl . add in the orange peal and pecans. stir this all together till the jelly is small, smooth, lumps.

Form and Bake

Remove 1 of each of the doughs from the refrigerator and let set on the counter while you gather waxed paper and rolling pin and flour ; roll the chocolate dough between two sheets of wax paper , into a rectangle that is about 12 inches long by 8 inches wide, leave covered and set in a safe place while you do the same to the cheese cake dough, leave this one covered also.

Remove the wax paper from the top of the chocolate dough (don't discard any of the wax paper you will need it later) , and spread this dough with 1/2 the strawberry jelly mixture: remove wax paper from the top of the cheese cake dough and flip it on to the top of the chocolate dough spread with the jelly. ( think jelly sandwich)

give the stack of dough a light roll with the rolling pinto help remove ai bubles between the dough so it all hold together nicely with out gaps when cut later.

Remove the wax paper from the cheese cake side of the dough stack , and starting on the 12 inch side roll these all together, pealing back the bottom waxed paper from the chocolate layer as you go (Like you would roll a jelly roll log).

Cut each log in half, then Wrap the cookie logs in pieces of the waxed paper pieces you used to roll the dough between and refrigerate; repeat this with the other halves of the doughs and jelly.( you should have 8 cookie dough logs total).

Chill the cookie logs for 4 hours ( at least, they cut better and form better if the dough is firm,); When you remove the dough from the refrigerator, use your hands to roll it across the counter before un wrapping to help get the shape as round as possible; then use string , un-waxed dental floss, or clean fishing line to slice the cookie logs into skimpy-1/4 inc- rounds .

Place on un-greased cookie sheets ( lined with parchment if you like to prevent burning) and bake at 375 degrees F. for 10 to 12 min . ( I actually will take some batches out at 8 or 9 minutes if I want them a bit softer.)DON"T over bake and watch closely as the bottoms can burn easily .

Store

Store dough in the refrigerate up to 3 days; Store dough in the freezer up to 6 weeks; Store cookies in an air tight container up to 5 days, refrigerated; Store cookies in an air tight container, in single layer between sheets of waxed paper in the freezer up to 3 months.

you can give th efrozen log of cookie dough with something to cut the cookies with and th ebaking instructions as a Holiday, hostess or general " I want to share with you." gift.

Ma D-der's Best Gingerbread Peoples

Ma D-der's Best Gingerbread Peoples Cookies

( D-ders is a nick name for me started by My Mother , among my nephews and nieces)

1 cup butter ,unsalted
1 cup organic granulated sugar ( or white granulated sugar)
2 eggs ( or equivalent in egg substitute)
2 tablespoons good apple cider vinegar
1 cup unsulphured molasses, mild

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour ( or white AP flour)
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda


I use a stand mixer ( 6 quart capacity) but you can use a hand held electric mixer or mix these by hand how ever you prefer. If using a stand mixer , you will want to start with your flat paddle and then when the 1/2 the flour is added you will want to switch to your dough hook. If using a hand mixer , at some point the dough will get to heavy for the mixer and you will want to mix the last of the flour in by hand....

firs tin a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, then set aside.

place the butter in the bowl of the stand mixer or a very large mixing bowl and cream for 30 seconds or until fully creamed and lighter in color ( light lemony color).

next slowly add in the sugar and mix till completely blended, lighter in color and "fluffy" in texture ( medium speed/ speed 2 to 4/ for about 1.5 minutes).

now add the eggs, one at a time , breaking the yolk before adding and beating on medium till each egg is well blended into the butter mixture. stop and crap the bowl and beater well.

Next add the apple cider vinegar and beat 30 sec;

then add the molasses and beat at medium speed ( 1.5 minutes in stand mixer/3 minutes wiht electric hand mixer / until all components are blended to a smooth silky texture if by hand ( up to 300 strokes) stop and scrap the bowl, if need be stir another 15 to 20 seconds to be sure all is blended together very well.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture at about 1/2 cup at a time being sure each addition is mixed in to the dough well. and all the flour called for is incorporated smoothly. As mentioned before you may have to switch to a dough hook about 1/2 way through. You will also need to scape the sides once or twice (or more) to be sure everything is incorporated.

at this point you should have a smooth sticky dough. divide the dough into quarters ( 4 pieces) and wrap each in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, but over night is better.

Spray well your cookie sheets with olive oil cooking spray ( or cooking spray of choice) and pre heat your oven to 375 degrees F. ( use an oven thermometer to be accurate .these are a thin cookie and they can burn inthe blink of an eye)

Remove one dough ball at a time from the refrigerator so the others won't get to soft.

on a Well floured, no porus surface, roll the dough ball in flour then play "hot potato" over the rolling/cutting surface with with the ball to knock off excess flour and to help dust the rolling/cutting surface. ( it should look a little something like the one in this photo)

at this point you can either divide this ball in 1/2 or 1/4 and use a smaller amount for working with, which ever is easiest for you and your allotted rolling space.

keep your dough , rolling pin and rolling/cutting surface and cookie cutter dipped in four to prevent sticking.

Roll the dough to about 1/16 to 1/8th inch thick ( some where between the thickness of the fates coin and the thinnest coin you have in your pocket basically)

cut out as many cookies as you can on a single roll , if you work the dough to much the cookies will be tough and hard instead of tender and crisp.

use a thin metal spatula ( like a frosting spatula) to help remove the cookies from the board to the well sprayed cookie sheet. Use a soft pastry brush to brush any excess flour off the top of the cookies before baking. they can be sprinkled with sugar now, if you do not plan on decorating them later.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 5 to 6 min or until the cookies edges are a very light golden brown ( the cookie lightens as it bakes)

wait one minute for the cookie to set before removing from the cookie sheet to a wire cooling rack .

repeat this process for each dough ball.

cookie dough scraps should be collected up and re rolled to get as many cookies as possible from this dough.. and depending on how thick you roll them and the size of your cookie cutters , this makes a but load..

when completely cool they can be stored in an air tight container till you are ready to decorate. if you plan on freezing them , you should put them in air tight container with sheets of waxed paper between the single layers of cookies. they should not be decorated until they have completely defrosted. they freeze well up to 3 months.

cookies can be decorated with colored frostings, candies ,and small fruits such as currents, this leaves the possibilities endless!


Home you enjoy them ! Ma Fey