Brazilian Coconut Cookies

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cups water
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups flake coconut
• 1/2 t vanilla

In a ,combine sugar and water until dissolved. Cook without stirring to 230F (hard thread).

Mix yolks and flour and add 2 T of the hot syrup. Pour into syrup, stirring. Add coconut and simmer, low, until thick and stiff. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cool.

Set oven to 375 F. Shape mix into balls. Arrange 1″ apart on a buttered cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until delicately browned.

This type of Coconut cookie is also very common and popular in parts of Mexico. When we travel up into the Patzcuaro area I always pick up a golden coconut cookie, looking like a volcanic cone of toasted coconut, from the street vendors around the square and market there.

Who doesn’t like chocolate cake? Loretta’s rich, dark, moist version has always been very much in demand in our family.

Ingredients for Loretta’s Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 squares shaved chocolate, unsweetened
• 1 cup water
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 beaten eggs

Preparing Loretta’s Chocolate Cake

For cake: Combine flour and sugar. Boil together the butter, shaved chocolate, and water. Pour over flour. Mix buttermilk, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, and eggs. Add to flour mixture and combine well. Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For icing:

• 3 squares chocolate, unsweetened
• 3-6 T milk
• 1 stick margarine
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 t vanilla

Boil together the chocolate, milk, margarine, and icing sugar. Spread over cooled cake.

I remember watching my oldest sister making fudge; I was always waiting for some chocolate-encrusted utensil or bowl to come my way for “cleanup”…

Ingredients for Quick Chocolate Fudge

• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 T cream
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 lb powdered sugar
• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 T butter
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation for Quick Chocolate Fudge

Mix the egg, cream, vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar together. Melt the chocolate with the butter. Add to the first mixture. Stir in the nuts and spread in a buttered pan. Cut into squares.

A type of sesame brittle similar to peanut brittle, but densely populated with seeds and with just enough honey binder to keep it all together.

1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 T water
1 T lemon juice
1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Mix sugar, honey and water. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 25 to 35 minutes, to hard-ball stage.

Add lemon juice and sesame seeds.

Pour into greased metal pan, score and cool till firm

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt.
• 1 cup mashed mangoes

Cream margarine and sugar; add eggs. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to egg mix alternately with mangoes.

Pour into greased and floured 9×13″ pan. Bake 30 minutes at 350F.

Nanaimo is a city on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada. It touts itself as the city so beautiful that it’s all right to stare.

The Nanaimo bar, said to be the product of local culinary ingenuity, is a no-bake chocolate-based bar that bridges the gap between a cookie and candy. Nanaimo bars are a typically Canadian dessert and incredibly decadent.  You can read about the possible origin of Nanaimo bars at Wikipedia: Nanaimo Bar.

• 3/4 cups butter
• 10 T cocoa
• 2 cups coconut, unsweetened
• 1/2 to 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 10 T sugar
• 4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla

For custard layer:

• 5 T butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 pkg. instant vanilla custard or pudding powder
• 2 cups icing sugar

For chocolate topping

• 5 squares semi-sweet chocolate

Melt butter and add cocoa powder. Beat eggs with sugar, add cocoa butter mix, vanilla, coconut, walnuts, and cracker crumbs. Press into bottom of greased pans.

Mix vanilla custard powder with 1/4 cup milk, 2 cups icing sugar, and 5 T butter to make a pasty thick custard. Spread on top of graham cracker base.

Melt semi-sweet chocolate squares and spread evenly on top.

Servings:  two 8×8″ pans

For vegans, here’s a vegan version of the Nanaimo bar:  http://about.spud.com/blog-nanaimo-bars/

Also known as Viennese crescents: delicious little nutty cookies.

• 1 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup with pecans)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup ground walnuts or chopped pecans
• 1 t vanilla
• if using pecans, 3 t water

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, nuts, vanilla and water if pecans are used. Combine well and shape into crescents or balls. Bake on greased baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes. Dust with icing sugar.

Walnut and Poppy Seed rolls — Diós és Mákos kalács (bejgli)

At Christmas time we’d travel to visit Grandma and Grandpa and as soon as we walked into the front door of their house we would be overwhelmed by the mingling of smells coming out of the kitchen. Every surface available from the entryway down to the basement would have pans covered with clean cloths that would be hiding cookies, hoska, and other sweet breads,  and our favorite walnut and poppy seed rolls.

For the dough:

• 750 g/1 lb. 7 oz. Flour
• 350 g/12 oz. Butter
• 30 g/1 oz. Sugar
• pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 150 ml/ 5 fl. oz. Milk
• 15 g/half oz. yeast

Fr the walnut filling

• 80 g/3 oz. Honey
• 120-130 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
• 250 g/9 oz. ground walnuts
• 50 g/2 oz. finely chopped sultanas
• 1 T of rum
• cinnamon
• grated lemon peel

For the poppy seed filling

• 80 g/3 oz. Honey
• 125 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
• 250 g/9 oz. ground poppy seeds
• 1 T of rum
• grated lemon peel

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter, add the sugar and the egg yolks and mix in the yeast in lukewarm milk. Blend well together and knead. Put aside to rest in a cold place for few hours. Then roll into rectangle and cut into strips. Spread with the walnut and poppy seed filling. Roll up, brush with egg white and bake in a moderately hot oven until golden brown.

To make the walnut filling, dissolve the sugar and honey in a saucepan over heat. Add the walnut and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the sultanas and rum. Finally add the cinnamon and grated lemon peel to taste.

For the poppy seed filling, cook the honey, sugar and poppy seed in saucepan. Remove from heat and add the rum and lemon peel to taste.