Cherry Balls

This is the other recipe I would help my grandmother with. When the Shortbread and Cherry balls were made, it was Christmas!

1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
1/2 cup butter
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp almond flavouring

Mix together and roll around
2 dozen maraschino cherries

then roll in
1 cup graham wafer crumbs

Store in fridge, letting warm up a bit before serving.

Shortbread Cookies

Oops! Been a bit longer than I meant between postings. Hope you don't think it is too early to start with Christmas recipes, but I wanted to give people a chance to try some out before the holiday busy season. This is the recipe my grandmother would make every year. We would wait until she came for Christmas, then I would help her make shortbread cookies.

1 cup butter (at room temperature)
2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup icing sugar

Cream butter, then blend in sugars and 1/2 cup flour. Work in balance of flour. Roll out on a lightly floured surface (1/4 inch thick) and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes (just until bottoms are lightly browned).

I have various size star-shaped cookie cutters I like to use for these. And last year, I got some snowflakes - can't wait to use them!

Apple Crumble

One of the guys at work brought in a bag full of apples from his tree, so I was inspired to make Apple Crumble (or Crisp- what is the difference?). This is a simple recipe to scale up for a crowd, because the topping is made from equal amounts of the ingredients.

Topping
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 tbsp cinnamon (optional)

Filling
4-6 apples
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar (white or brown)

Slice apples into pieces about 1/8 inch thick and toss with sugar and cinnamon. Pour into a medium sized casserole dish (the wider the dish, the more surface area for topping). In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until it is the size of the oats. Sprinkle over the apples, and bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. This is terrific with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream. And I've been known to have it for breakfast (oats are healthy, right? And apples are wonderfully healthy)