17-55: Scottish Shortbread

17-55: Scottish Shortbread

Here’s another good cookie press recipe. It’s a long way away from the holiday season, and cookie cutters/presses tend to get a bit dusty during the spring & summer months. I had a bunch of shapes for the press that weren’t holiday-related, so I decided to get creative with some colors & flavor extracts and use 17-55: Scottish Shortbread to play with the press.

Theirs look really thick–mine came out thinner since I used the press. These would probably work well with differently-shaped cookie cutters too, not just rounds. As I learned, they also work well with food coloring and flavor extracts.

I ended up using these for Mother’s Day gifts, and made a mix of three colors/shapes to bag up and mail/hand out. 💐


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17-38: Olive Bread

17-38: Olive Bread

Here’s one I’ve made a couple of times before. 17-38: Olive Bread is a nice, easy bread to make, especially if you don’t have a ton of experience with the process. I think sometimes yeast doughs can be intimidating to beginners, but this one hasn’t failed me yet–even when I was still just beginning to make bread. If you’re looking for a more “plain” type easy bread, check out 17-6: Best Ever White Bread. However, if you like those olive batard breads from the bakery section of the market, you’ll love this one.

I’ve made this twice before, once in its intended form (but with more olives because I LOVE olives) and again soon after, but in a smaller bun-size with chipotle peppers & garlic instead of olives. I used them for slider buns for burgers intended for a New Years’ party, judging from the date on the card. What will I change about this recipe this time?


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9-20: Meat Roly-Poly

9-20: Meat Roly-Poly

Here’s one I’ve made before. In one of my previous entries (6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks), I mentioned doing all the cooking for a family dinner party when I was 12-13 years old with a similarly-aged family friend of mine. 9-20: Meat Roly-Poly is another one of the recipes I remember making for that party.

Another memory from this dinner party: I had just gotten a new CD (Version 2.0 by Garbage) and we were listening to it on my parents’ GIANT 1970s hi-fi stereo system over and over as we spent the day cooking. Gives you an idea of how old I am, and how long I’ve been cooking from this book.


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1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks

1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks

I recently attended a birthday party, and was tasked with making some of the dishes for the party (as is usually the case). Seeing as some of the guests were “old-school” about their dining preferences, I decided to use up some of the more “old-school” recipes. 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks looks exactly like something a waiter would be carrying around at a fancy cocktail party in an old movie.

So retro. These were pretty easy to make, and actually held really well in the fridge before the party. I reheated them at the party and it worked great–just a thought if you need something for a party that you can make earlier, transport and/or reheat later.


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9-22: Meat Pie

9-22: Meat Pie

Meat pies have been around for a LONG time (like 9500 BCE old, according to Wikipedia). They cross a lot of cultures and are featured in some fashion in most cuisines (even if they look somewhat different–for example, empanadaslahmacun, and samosas all are meat/pastry combinations from varied places). 9-22: Meat Pie is probably closest to the French Canadian tradition of meat pies, otherwise known as tourtière.

This one’s got some of my old notes on it–I’ve made this one before, about 6-7 years ago for my friend’s birthday party (the same friend from the 80s party in 1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds). It was a “pie party” because he was (at the time) obsessed with the Keri Russell movie Waitress, which apparently has something to do with a lot of pies.

I made some adjustments to the recipe the first time (you can see those listed on the side), but this time, we’re going legit.


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11-4: Calzone with Seafood

11-4: Calzone with Seafood

Here’s one from the Fish & Seafood chapter, which I haven’t delved into for awhile. 11-4: Calzone with Seafood sounds rather strange on paper, and was in fact strange in reality. If you’re picturing a pizza-like calzone with tomato sauce…think again.

If you’ve come here from a search engine looking for a good seafood calzone recipe (which apparently a lot of you do), here’s the TL;DR–the crust and overall cooking method are decent on this recipe, but be prepared to come up with your own fillings. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the heck this site is, read this.

They’ll mention later that the dough is really what they want you to get out of this recipe–the filling is a variable. Knowing that now (after I followed their suggestions), I would have definitely made some adjustments.


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17-67: Coconut Crescents

17-67: Coconut Crescents

Merry Christmas! 🌲 Or if it’s not Christmas when you’re reading this, hope you’re having a nice day. 😃 The final component of my holiday assortment this year was 17-67: Coconut Crescents, and since they turned out somewhat nicely (unlike some of the other components), I thought it best to end this holiday baking burst on a high note.

I included these in my assortment to vary some texture (not all cookies) and to make at least one that used a yeast dough. These can be really versatile–just swap coconut for something else like a strawberry filling or sprinkle something like brown sugar on top.


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9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers

9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers

As I said in 13-13: Spinach Turnovers, the holiday season is upon us and therefore, you’ll need some recipes for dishes to take with you to a party, or at least to snack on while you binge-watch Netflix. 9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers are the heartier, meatier companion to their spinach and crab brothers.

These are remarkably similar in execution to 13-13: Spinach Turnovers, so I suggest cooking the two at the same time if you want to add some variety to your dish. However, these are mighty tasty, and stand just fine on their own as well. If you have access to a deep-fryer, consider 1-7: Trader Vic’s Crab Turnovers for a crispy, Polynesian-inspired third option.


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5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes comes with a bit of a story. About 10 years ago, I spent a week in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my college friend/roommate and his family. His aunt (who was hosting us) attempted to teach me some of her Southern-style recipes while we were there, and one of them was something called “tomato pie”.

5-23 Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

Her tomato pie involved a pie crust, tomatoes, a JAR of Hellmann’s (it was the South), and a whole bag of shredded cheese. This one is slightly less heart-attack-inducing.


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16-47: Orange-Almond Pie

16-47: Orange-Almond Pie

It’s feeling a bit unbalanced around here–we need more from the back of the book. Here’s one from a brand new group: Pies & Cakes. Just in time for the cooler weather, we have 16-47: Orange-Almond Pie. 

16-47 Orange-Almond Pie

This came out really well: it tasted great, and you can make it in a toaster oven!


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