December 16, 2022 - A Book & A Recipe

Welcome back and Merry Christmas!

This month we at Brooke County Libraries are excited to bring you a cool and frosty dessert recipe that's perfect for the Christmas season. This December we are featuring Fairy Drop Cookies from Mary Kay Andrew's Blue Christmas. It's a light and modern romance classic.

Ingredients-

Cookie:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup softened butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tsps almond extract

Frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/3 - 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsps of milk

Food coloring of your choice

Steps-

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the first three dry ingredients.

3. Cream butter into flour mixture.

4. Add both kinds of sugar and beat until fluffy.

5. Add oil, eggs, and almond extract to mixture and beat until well mixed.

6. Chill cookie dough in fridge for 30 minutes.

7. Pinch off teaspoon-sized bits of cookie dough, roll between fingers, and place on greased cookie sheet - approx. 1/2 inch apart.

8. After all cookies are on sheet, use back of a teaspoon to flatten cookie and make impressions on top.

9. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies are pale shade of yellow. Makes about five dozen cookies.

10. Onto the frosting! Beat butter into powdered sugar, then add almond, milk, vanilla, thinning until frosting is thick.

11. Separate into bowls for tinting with food coloring. Mix and color as desired.

12. Place a dab of frosting on each cookie.

13. These keep well in a sealed container.

What a fun one to try with the kiddos for a Christmas afternoon activity! Be sure to let us know if you try it out. We'd love to hear about it in the comments or on our social media pages.

Looking for a good Christmas read? We've got the audiobook available from WV Reads! You could listen as you do some wrapping and baking.

Blue Christmas - West Virginia Reads - OverDrive

Thanks for checking in with our recipe posts! We will see you back with more recipe ideas next year.

Images and info are courtesy of Google, WV Reads, author web pages.

 

November 22, 2022 - A Book & A Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving! - A little early.

We at Brooke County Libraries are very excited to share this wonderful recipe with you just in time for holiday, hopefully. This November we are sharing the recipe for Peach-Raspberry Pie straight from Pie Hard by Kristen Weiss. It's a quirk cozy mystery from the Pie Town series.

Let's get started, shall we?

Supplies:

2 pre-made piecrusts at room temp.

3 pounds firm-ripe peaches (about 6 large) cut into 1 inch slices.

2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste.

2 1/2 T cornstarch, divided.

9 T sugar, divided.

1/2 tsp ground ginger.

Pinch of salt.

8 oz raspberries (approx 2 cups).

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. In mixing bowl, toss in cut peaches, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of sugar.

3. Let rest for 30 minutes. Then, pour off any excess juice, reserving 1/2 cup.

4. Return the reserve juice to the bowl.

5. Add ginger, salt, and 2 T cornstarch, and toss.

6. In a separate bowl, toss the raspberries with 1 T sugar and remaining 1/2 T of cornstarch.

7. Line the pie tin with one crust and poke it with a fork 4 or 5 times.

8. Pour half the peach mixture into the crust and layer on top of it half the raspberry mixture.

9. Add the remainder of the peaches and then what's left of the raspberries.

10. Cut the second crust into strips and weave it over the pie in a lattice top.

11. Trim the edges so that 1/2 inch hangs over the pie tin and crimp.

12. Place pie into freezer for 20 minutes.

13. Remove pie from freeze and dust crust with a bit of sanding sugar. Put the pie on a cookie sheet  and bake approx. 30 minutes, until the crust is slightly brown.

14. Reduce the temp to 350 Fand bake another 45-60 minutes until the crust is deep, golden brown.

15. Cool before slicing.

What a fun, unique pie to bring for Thanksgiving! Forget the classic apple and pumpkin, mix it up with a new dessert maybe. 

Let us know how it goes too. We love to hear from our readers in the comments or on any of our social media pages.

Don't forget - check in next month for a Christmas recipe!

Intrigued by the story? Check out our ebook copy on WV Reads!

https://wvreads.overdrive.com/media/4258145

Images and info are courtesy of WV Reads, Google, etc.