Orange Pecan Icebox Cookies

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From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I have a special fondness for icebox cookies. I don't think they are the best of kind in the world of sweet treats, but as family size shrinks, they make it possible for a family of two to enjoy cookies as fresh as those enjoyed families of four or six or eight. They are also usually easy to prepare, and those of you who know me, know I never argue with easy. That being said, I suspect these fall into the realm of adult cookies. I can tell you that they did not impress my grandbabies who politely ate the three they were given, but despite their availability,  never ask for more. That rarely happens. Fortunately, my older cookie monsters loved them and that is why I'm passing these orange-flavored gems  on to you.  The recipe is easy, straightforward and feeds an army should you chose to make the cookies in a single  marathon baking session. However, if you freeze the dough, you can slice and bake the exact number of cookies you need for any occasion.  If you enjoy layered citrus flavor, I know you will enjoy these cookies. Here's how they are made.



Orange Pecan Icebox Cookies...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Taste of Home Baking cookbook

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in  egg, orange juice, orange peel and extracts. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Shape dough into four 5-in. rolls; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until firm.
2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Unwrap rolls and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 6 dozen.









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Chocolate Icebox Pie

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Icebox pies were a fixture of my childhood and they remained popular through the early years of my marriage. While I suspect those who loved them never stopped making them, they disappeared from the culinary scene for quite awhile. They appear to be making a comeback. Refrigerator, or icebox, pies became popular during the Great Depression because they needed no baking. Fillings were prepared with gelatin, poured into crusts and then put into an icebox to set or gel. The boxes were the precursor of today's modern refrigerators. They were rectangular affairs that had cavities to hold blocks of ice that were delivered on a scheduled basis by an iceman. They were replaced as refrigerators became features of most kitchens following WWII, but pies and cakes that were made with gelatin never lost their original name. Some of them are quite delicious and all of them are easy to make. Most icebox cakes are packed with calories, so I don't make them often. However, because they appear so rarely on my table, I don't replace the cream they use with whipped topping. That is a personal choice. If you want to use whipped topping, please do. Your dessert will be different than mine, but it will still be delicious. I always make these cakes and pies the night before I plan to serve them. I don't use a lot of gelatin in my recipes because I think too much of it makes a dessert rubbery. I rely, instead, on a long chill to assure the kind of set that allows clean slices to be made when the cake or pie is cut. I know those of you who try this recipe will love it. So, without further ado, here's there recipe for one of my favorite icebox pies.

Chocolate Icebox Pie...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by an award winning pie from Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:
Crust
1-1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter, softened
Filling
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
Toasted sliced almonds

Directions:
1) To make crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan. Combine wafer crumbs and butter in a small bowl. Press onto bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, about5 to 7 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
2) To make filling: Sprinkle gelatin over milk in a small saucepan. Let it stand for 1 minute to soften. Cook and stir over low heat until gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 cup sugar, coffee, water and salt. Cook and stir until sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in melted chocolate and vanilla. Transfer to a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Beat 1 cup cream in a small bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold cream into chocolate mixture. Spread evenly into crust. Chill for at least 4 hours to set. Overnight is best.
3) To prepare topping: When ready to serve, beat reserved 1 cup sugar in a small bowl until it begins to thicken. Add remaining 1 tablespoon sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Pipe or spread over top of pie. Garnish with almonds. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 8 servings.








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Blueberry Cream Squares

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love the celebrations of summer and the simple foods we've come to associate with them. Show me a marching band, throw in some fireworks and I'll pull out a virtual parade of recipes to help celebrate the occasion. Most come from memories garnered under the hot and hazy skies of my Midwestern childhood. These dishes are not for the health or diet conscious, but because they are served just once a year, I feel no need to apologize for the wretched excesses that will appear here over the next few days. I wanted to start with an old-fashioned dessert that is trying to make a comeback. These use to be called icebox cakes, the most famous of which is the still popular chocolate wafer cake. An icebox cake can loosely be defined as a cake that does not require baking. Cake slices, cookies, or crumbs of some type, are used as a base to hold the layers of the cake together. Almost all of them use copious amounts of heavy cream, though it is possible to make them with lower calorie whipped topping. I've always insisted that fresh fruit cancels the calories in whipped cream, so my icebox cakes always contain some type of fruit. Ergo, this cake is good for you. Kinda. Good or bad, this was part of our 4th of July celebration when I was a child. If you'd like to take a stroll down memory lane, the recipe follows.

Blueberry Cream Squares...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite adapted from Farm Journal

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
3/4 cup (6 ounces) blueberry yogurt
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup cold water
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions:
1) Combine sour cream and yogurt in a small bowl. Set aside.
2) Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small saucepan and let stand for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Cook and stir over low heat until gelatin is completely dissolved.
3) Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and sour cream mixture until blended. Transfer to a large bowl. Chill until partially set.
4) Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and reserved 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 8-inch square dish. Set aside.
5) Stir blueberries into partially set gelatin mixture. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Chill until set. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 9 servings







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Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It would be unfair to call the recipe a complete dud, but, boy, oh, boy, it sure comes close. The recipe was originally developed for Martha Stewart's website and I really expected more from it than was delivered. I wanted to try a few new desserts this week and the Silver Fox's birthday gave me the perfect excuse to experiment. We all know you get what you pay for. This cake, chosen for its ease of preparation, is the cook's corollary of that old adage. The cake, while relatively expensive to make, was easy to assemble and took about 15 minutes to prepare. There were hints of problems along the way. Warning flags should have been raised when the recipe directed folding whipped cream into a mixture that had the consistency of semi-set concrete. I blithely soldiered on, convinced that somehow it would all come together and a miracle would occur. It didn't. Six hours later, I had a dry, grainy cheesecake with close to no flavor, despite the copious use of orange liqueur and chocolate. I have no one to blame for this fiasco other than myself. After weeks of suggesting you read the comments submitted by followers of recipe sites, I failed to follow my own advice. Everyone of the problems I encountered had been experienced by others who attempted the recipe. Had I taken the time to read them, I could have spared myself a lot of grief and some serious coin. While I did not care for this cake, there were folks who did, so I'm including it here with a caution. Sorry, Martha. The cake is dense, grainy and strangely flavorless, but if you want to try it, here's the recipe.

Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
14 ounces semisweet chocolate (do not use chips)
2 containers (15 ounces each) part-skim ricotta cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 package (9 ounces) chocolate wafers (about 44 cookies)

Directions:
1) Prepare pan: Remove sides from a 9-inch round springform pan. Place a sheet of waxed paper over bottom, leaving an overhang; lock sides onto bottom, firmly securing paper. Spray inside of pan with cooking spray; line sides with a strip of waxed paper 28 inches long and 4 inches wide.
2) Make chocolate-ricotta mixture: Break 12 ounces of chocolate into pieces. Place in a heatproof medium bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted, 8 to 10 minutes.
3) In a food processor, blend ricotta until very smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl. Add warm chocolate; blend until smooth. In a large bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chocolate-ricotta mixture.
4) Assemble cake: Arrange half of cookies in an overlapping pattern to cover bottom of pan. Spoon half of chocolate-ricotta mixture on top of cookies; smooth top. Cover with remaining cookies; top with remaining chocolate-ricotta mixture, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.
5) Before serving, release sides of pan and remove waxed paper from sides. Using bottom piece of waxed paper, pull cake onto a platter; with a metal spatula, lift cake and remove waxed paper. Using a vegetable peeler, shave remaining 2 ounces chocolate over top of cake. With a knife dipped in hot water, cut cake into 10 slices (wipe off knife, and dip in hot water after each slice). Yield: 10 servings.








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Blueberry Glacé Pie - Blue Monday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I am readying myself for a feast of epic proportions. Tomorrow is Bob's birthday and I've spent a good part of the day preparing for the celebration. Bob is a pie person, so, while there will be a token cake holding a passel of candles, the real emphasis will be on some of his favorite pies. The pie I'm featuring today has been around for quite awhile. Before image consultants took it uptown, it was called an icebox pie. For better or for worse, it's now referred to as a glacéd pie. Fortunately, it has remained easy to do and it's a wonderful recipe to have on hand for berry season. It is a pure berry tart and, unlike many icebox pies, this one has no custard filling. While I used a crumb crust for this occasion, short crusts are also wonderful with this tart. Be sure to use fresh berries when making this pie. Frozen berries exude too much liquid and will keep the filling from setting properly. Those of you who love fruit will love the zen-like simplicity of this pie. Here's the recipe.

Blueberry Glacé Pie...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water
3 to 4 cups fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 8 or 9-inch pastry shell, baked
Optional: whipped cream for garnish

Directions:
1) Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Whisk in water. Stir in 1 cup blueberries. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until very thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon juice and orange liqueur. Let cool.
2) Fold reserved blueberries into blueberry sauce. Refrigerate for 1 hour. When chilled, spoon into cooked pastry shell and refrigerate for 1 hour longer. Garnish with whipped cream if desired. Yield: 6-8 servings.

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This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday