Russian Tea Cakes with Jam

These are an all year cookie-- Easy to do, fast, and travel well!  Customize them with your favorite jam, and you will have a buttery goodness treat whenever you want! Since there is no egg in them, or milk, they are party friendly!

Ingredients:

1c softened butter
1/2c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2c all-purpose flour
2/3c seedless jam or choice

Makes: 48+ cookies
Time: 30min total

These cookies store very well in an air tight container-- for up to two week!  They go great with tea, milk, champagne, and by themselves.  Can you tell they are one of my favorites ;)

Directions:

1)Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2)Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  the dough should be crumbly but firm.

3) Hand shape into small balls of dough.  Think about 1 heaping tables spoon per cookie.  When you roll the dough in your hands, it should form a ball easily that holds form.

4) Place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet.  There is enough butter in these that the baking sheet does NOT need to be greased :)

5) Bake for 10 min.

6) Use a spoon to create a pocket in each cookie.

7) Bake another 2-5 minutes.

8) Let the cookies cool before you add the jam to the pocket you created via spoon.

9) Serve these cookies the next day... They are best having had time to "set."

Cost:

Total               $2.35
Per cookie      $0.05... That's five cents a cookie!!

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Twice Baked Potatoes, Family Size :)

Although I know football season just ended-- there is ways the next season... football, baseball, hockey, the olypics, and because it goes well with beer.  The twice baked potatoes featured here are easy, fast, and fool-proof!  The simple and universals approach for these means that even people who think they don't like potatoes will love these ;) Enjoy

Ingredients:

5 baking potatoes

1/2c bacon bits
3/4c moterilla cheese
1/4c milk
black pepper and seasonings to taste

Serves: 5, with two per person... but you know your guest!

Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes, almost all of which is back time

These are such an easy party food- But they also go great with steak and breaded chicken!  Twice baked potatoes also freeze amazingly for the busy days of the week.


Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2) Bake five washed potatoes for 40 minutes.  Make sure you poke holes in to skin of the potatoes in several places first to avoid having to clean up an explode potato from your oven!

3) Grate or slice cheese and mix with bacon and milk. The milk is a healthier version of the butter you usually see in recipes like this :)

4) Once the potatoes are cook enough to touch-- cut them in half longways (as shown in the image to the right).

5) Scoop out the soft potato centers and add them to your bacon bit  mixtures.

6) With a serving fork or potato smasher, mix the potato thoroughly with  the bacon bit mixture.

7) Re-fill the potato skins with the bacon bit mixture to just over the hight of the potato skin-- this will help make the potatoes look decadent AND it will make sure you use up your ingredients  evenly ;)

8) Place the filled potato skins on a backing sheet and return to the oven for 30 minutes, if a crisp top is desired.  The crisp top is highly recommend! 

9) Serve hot!

Cost:

Potatoes       $1.50
Bacon bits    $1.00
Milk                $0.15
Cheese         $0.75
Total              $3.40
Per serving   $0.68