Meltaways Food

PECAN MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate until chilled., Preheat oven to 350°. Roll into 1-in. balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Roll warm cookies in additional confectioners' sugar; cool completely on wire racks. Roll cooled cookies again in confectioners' sugar.

MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Cream butter with an electric mixer until light. Gradually add the fructose and beat thoroughly. Beat in the almond extract, vanilla extract and water.
• Combine the flour, salt and pecans. Add to the creamed mixture, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Roll doll into date-sized balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 13 to 14 minutes. Roll in confectioners' sugar while warm and then again once cool.

BUTTER PECAN-RUM MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Combine the pecans and rum in a small bowl and let soak at least 30 minutes.
• Whisk the flour, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and 1/2 cup confectioners¿ sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the pecan-rum mixture and the vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture, then increase the speed to medium high and beat until combined. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until light golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Put the remaining 1 cup confectioners¿ sugar in a medium bowl. Gently roll the cookies in the confectioners' sugar, returning to the racks as you go, then reroll the cookies to fully coat.

EGGNOG MELTAWAY COOKIES

Steps:

• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Put the almonds and 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until very finely ground, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and process until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Scrape the dough off the inside of the bowl if needed. Add the bourbon and rum and vanilla extracts and pulse until smooth. Add the flour and salt and pulse until the dough forms a ball.
• Roll mounded teaspoons of the dough into balls about 1 inch wide and place on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until the cookies are firm when gently pressed, completely dry and just beginning to crack at the top, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes; they will firm as they cool.
• Meanwhile, put the nutmeg and remaining 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar in a pie plate or wide baking dish and mix well. Toss the warm cookies very gently in the sugar mixture until evenly coated; the cookies need to be warm for the first coating of sugar to stick. Cool the cookies on a wire rack completely, about 30 minutes, then toss again in the sugar mixture so they are very white. Sprinkle with additional grated nutmeg.
• Store the cookies in a little bit of extra confectioners' sugar in an airtight container for up to a week.

PEPPERMINT MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and the butter and mix until light and fluffy. Add the peppermint extract and mix to combine. Next, slowly add the flour and salt, mixing until just combined.
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the peppermint candies.
• Roll the dough into twenty-four 1 1/2-inch balls. Insert 1 chocolate morsel into each ball and re-roll to ensure that the cookie dough encases the chocolate. Next, transfer to the bowl with the powdered sugar and crushed candies rolling each to coat.
• Place the balls on an ungreased baking sheet, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Bake until they start to turn golden brown on the bottom, about 20 minutes. Remove and transfer to wire cooling rack. Cool until they are just cool enough to handle, 5 minutes. Return the cookies to the bowl with the powdered sugar and crushed candies and toss gently until each cookie is coated.
• Store in an airtight container.

PECAN MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Set sugar aside, I always use a paper plate.
• Blend all the other ingredients together.
• Shape into balls.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
• While hot, roll in powdered sugar.
• Cool completely and roll in sugar again for a thicker coating.

ALMOND MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Beat together butter and 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar in bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in almond extract.
• On low speed, beat in flour and nuts.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Pinch off pieces of dough in heaping teaspoonfuls.
• Roll into logs and taper ends; bending into crescents.
• Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in 325 degree oven for 16 to 18 minutes, until lightly browned.
• Remove cookies to wire rack. While warm, dust with a generous layer of remaining confectioners' sugar.
• Cool completely then sprinkle again with any remaining confectioners' sugar.

SHORTBREAD MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla until creamy.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt;stir half into butter mixture.
• Stir in toffee bits and remaining flour mixture.
• Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
• Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden.
• Let cool on pan for about 5 minutes and dust with more icing sugar, if desired.

CHOCOLATE CHIP MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl. Beat until smooth.
• Combine flour, soda, creams of tarter, and salt.
• Add to butter mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in vanilla and chocolate chips.
• Shape mixture into 1" balls. Roll in granulated sugar.
• Put 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 395 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
• Cool.

FRUITY MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a stiff spatula, mix butter, confectioners' sugar, salt, lemon juice and vanilla until creamy and combined. Add ground freeze-dried fruit and mix until distributed. Add flour, and mix until it all comes together into a soft dough.
• Divide the dough into two (250-gram) portions. On pieces of parchment paper, wax paper or plastic wrap, roll each portion of dough into a 10-inch-long log. Chill for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator or up to 3 months tightly wrapped in the freezer.
• Set oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven, and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two sheet trays with parchment paper.
• Using a sharp knife, trim about ⅛-inch off each side of the chilled dough logs, just so that you have flat ends. Slice the logs into scant ¼-inch-thick cookies. Roll the log a quarter turn after each slice to keep it round. (If the dough cracks while slicing, let it warm up at room temperature for 10 minutes.) Arrange on sheet trays ½-inch apart and bake, rotating the trays once during baking, until set and barely golden underneath, 10 to 12 minutes.
• While the cookies bake, make the sugar coating: Sift together the powdered sugar with the ground freeze-dried fruit. While still warm, gently toss the cookies in the powdered sugar mixture and return to the sheet tray to fully cool. The cookies will keep for 2 weeks stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

LIME MELTAWAYS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line baking sheets with parchment.
• Cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy.
• Add the lime juice, zest and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
• In another bowl, combine together flour, cornstarch and salt.
• Add to butter mixture and beat until combined.
• Roll into a log and chill for 1 hour.
• Slice logs into 1/8-inch rounds.
• Place rounds on sheets and bake until golden, 11-15 minutes.
• While still warm, place cookies in bag with the rest of the powdered sugar and toss gently to coat.
• They are tender and may break apart.