Heath Bar and Pecan Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
14 tbs unsalted butter, softened (1 3/4 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (six 1.4 ounce bars, or One bag from the baking aisle)
1/2 cup choppedpecans (I obviously use pecans cause I'm a fancy pants)

Directions:
1. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped pecans. Set aside.

2. Cream butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (make sure this is mixed well). Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.

3. Alternately mix the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for 30-60 minutes (so... I missed this step and still got cookies. obviously they were flat and crispy).

4. Preheat oven to 350°F. On buttered cookie sheets, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls (size of a large marble). Place dough balls 3 inches away from one another. (Make sure there is plenty of room between the cookies, because these cookies spread!)

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Simply Recipes

AMENDMENT: The original recipe said that this made about 6 dozen cookies. THAT was a big old fat lie. It made 3 dozen 3 inch cookies. AND the cookies were really more like salty/sweet crunchy bites, which makes them better but also more like a wafer. They would be great with ice cream.

Viennese Crescents

Ingredients:
3 dozen (depending on size)
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 to 2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) and 1 tbs butter (at room temperature)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup almonds walnuts, grated or finely chopped

Directions:
1. pulverize the vanilla bean and mix it into sifted confectioner's sugar. The longer it sits the more vanilla-y the sugar will be.
2. Preheat over to 350 F degrees.
3. Mix flour and butter with your hands. Add granulated sugar, nuts, and mix until smooth.
4. Shape dough into crescent shapes, a tsp to a tbs of dough at a time.
5. bake on an non-greased baking sheet 15-20 minutes, or until points of the crescents are browned on the bottom. Allow to cool so the cookies set.
6. One at a time place the cookies in the bowl of confectioner's sugar and coat and then shake off excess powder.

AMENDMENT: Our family only uses walnuts now. But I suppose the original Viennese Crescents were Almonds. I never looked at the original recipe before. This is a family change though. I also learned the dark family cookie secret: that my grandfather cheated and got the original recipe from the New York Times in, I believe, the late 1960's/ very early 1970's and my father stole it from him. Somewhere in there our family changed it from almonds to walnuts though. So even if we DID get the recipe from a newspaper, we augmented it to make it our own. Plus, my family is actually Austrian, so Viennese Crescents are our family favorite for the holiday season.

Vietnamese Crab Coleslaw

Ingredients:
1 Thai chili or other small hot chili pepper
1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 scallions, finely sliced into rings
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces cabbage (inner white leaves only), shredded
1 medium carrot, peeled, and shredded, julienned or grated
2 cups loosely packed white crab meat
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves, more for garnish

Directions:
1. In a small bowl combine chili, garlic, sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, oil and scallions. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, crab meat and 3 tablespoons cilantro. Add chili dressing, and toss slowly until everything is coated evenly with a thin layer of dressing. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
3. To serve, arrange salad on large, flat plates. Sprinkle with cilantro leaves, and serve immediately.

YIELD: 2 to 4 servings (more like 6)

Recipe Source: The New York Times

AMENDMENT: This is one of my dad's favorites. It's a really fresh, clean salad (and really filling). Perfect for after a huge holiday weekend!

Also, I happen to think there is NOTHING better than crab and avocado as a flavor combination. Serving this with slivered avocado in it makes it really awesome.

My Dad's Peanut Satay Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 can coconut milk
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
2 Tbs Seasame oil
3 Tbs Thai fish sauce
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar (I use brown sugar)
1/4 cup sriracha or other oriental hot sauce
1 clove garlic

Directions:
1. Combine and puree in the lender or processor
2. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Source: My dad's secret cookbook

AMENDMENT: So this begins the slew of recipes I've stolen from my dad's top secret cook book. Enjoy.

Potato Parmesan Soup

Ingredients:
8 peeled and chopped potatoes
3 green onions chopped (save green for garnish)
1 minced garlic clove (I personally like more garlic, but when i tried more in this recipe it was really overpowering.)
1 1/2 tablespoons course ground pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 quart heavy cream (for a less rich option I did half cream half milk)
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
Optional:
5 Tbs Chives (I used Scallions but I think adding chives make it taste even better)
6 strips Bacon

Directions:
1. Boil and puree potatoes (be sure to salt the water). The creamier the mash, the better. Mine was kind of lumpy, which my mom liked but I did not.
2. Add chopped white part of green onion, chives, bacon, garlic, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
3. Add parmesan cheese five minutes to the end of the cook time. Take off of the burner and allow the cheese to melt completely into warmed soup.
4. Salt and pepper to taste. add greens as the garnish and more bacon bit pieces for a colorful look.

Recipe Source: My Friend Anthony! (Thanks Anthony!)

AMENDMENT: OKAY! So now that I've made this I think what would make this OUTSTANDING is to add a little finely chopped bacon or lardon to the soup. Alternatively, if you're a vegetarian, it really does NEED the fat content. Try mashing the potatoes with the cream in order to get the smoothest possible texture. Also maybe add some rosemary or some other herb to give it an additional dimension of flavor. Very good basic soup recipe. Very simple recipe and perfect for a cold winter night when you don't have much in the fridge. Could be done with Cheddar Cheese too, for a totally different and very American classic feel. Thanks Anthony!

Tonight I added 6 strips of bacon, chopped into "bacon bit" sized pieces as well as some chives, about 5 table spoons to 2 quarts of soup. IT WAS FANTASTIC. My mom even said "this soup was so perfect for a cold winter night like this!"