Easter Egg Cookies

Unsure why your cookies never quite turn out right? Always use butter!! Never margarine. I never never bake without butter. So don't do it! Most recipes don't specify unsalted or salted, and usually just says butter or margarine. In those cases, I use unsalted butter. Reason being is that you can then control how much salt goes into the dessert.

This cookie is a mix between an oatmeal raisin cookie (w/out the raisins) and a sugar cookie. It has a denseness of a shortbread cookie. Very good. Have fun decorating... please do a better job than I did. I was so tired after making sauce & manicotti that I didn't have any motivation to decorate mine. I even have pretty Easter sprinkles and everything. Sorry! I promise my next dessert will be pretty.


Ingredients:

1 cup butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup quaker oats

Directions:

• Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Butter needs to be at room temperature in order for it to get creamy without any clumps. 
• Add extract and egg. Beat together until incorporated. 
• Sift together flour and salt.
• Throughly mix with butter mixture.
• Stir in oats.
• Shape dough into eggs. Recipe says it will make 36 eggs, but I got 24 out of mine (bigger eggs)
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 325 degrees.
• Cool.
• Decorate with confectioner's sugar frosting, sprinkles, whatever!

Manicotti

I have no words to describe this goodness!!! When I was putting together my shopping list and read over the ingredients, I was very surprised. Two of the ingredients are minced ham and minced salami. I had no idea those ingredients were in there! What do they mean by this anyways? I wasn't sure so I figured I would ask Mom and Dad before buying those items. Basically all it means is to by lunch meat salami and diced cubed ham in the package and chop them up (mince) into really small pieces.  This was the first time I've made Manicotti and it wasn't as complicated as I had anticipated... once the sauce was made that is! The hardest part is getting the ricotta mixture into the Manicotti shell. I was using a small spoon and scooping it into the shell. If anyone has a better way of doing this, I would appreciate a tip! Well, my final verdict on this one is: Beautiful! (Taking some British words from Jamie Oliver.)

Ingredients:

2 packages Manicotti shells
1 lb ricotta cheese (2 cups)
1/4 lb mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Romona cheese
1/3 cup minced ham
1/4 cup minced salami
2 eggs beaten
1 Tbs parsley
1 tsp basil
1 quart red spaghetti sauce



Directions:

• Boil water for shells. Cook shells. You want it to cook about 3/4 of the way. You want the shell a little firm in order to hold up to inserting the Ricotta mixture. 

• Mix all ingredients together until creamy. 
• Fill the shells and put in a 9 x 13 pan lined with foil. (You will thank me later!)
• Cover with Gram's sauce. (See prior blog.)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of baking, add some more mozzarella cheese & melt. 

Red Sauce

This is Gram Serafino's sauce. I love this sauce! Every time I make it I am reminded of Gram, Ma and my Dad. I'm sure everyone has their own variation on this sauce. My slight variation is my Dad's. We add more sugar to give it a sweeter taste. Earlier this week my Dad had asked me if I have added any more blogs since the last time he looked at it and I told him no (I'm behind!), but that I was making sauce and Manicotti. His first question was, "How are you making the sauce?" Like a good daughter, I told him that I make my sauce the same way he does so he didn't have to worry! We all know what this takes like.... Heaven.... so I'm going to just break it down. Beware this is a 2-day sauce so make sure you have time!

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lb ground beef
2 tsp sweet basil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 Tbs parsley
1 tsp salt
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp pepper
1 - 29oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 - 18oz can tomato paste
1 tsp oregano
1 gallon water (16 cups)
3 Tbs sugar (I use one cup)

Directions - Day 1:

• Get a LARGE pot. A sauce pan will not work. 
• In the large pot, put the tomato paste, tomato sauce and water on high heat. Stir until paste is completely dissolved. 
• Add bay leaf and boil. 

• In another pan, heat about 2 Tbs olive oil on med/high. Once heated, cook the green peppers and onion until onions are translucent. 
• Add the ground beef and brown.
• When brown, add to the sauce mixture. 

• When sauce is boiling hard, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 - 3 hours.
• At the 1 1/2 hour mark, add the sugar and make sure you stir a lot so that it dissolves and doesn't stick to the bottom. 
• SUGAR WILL MAKE THE POT BURN IF YOU DON'T STIR FREQUENTLY!!!

Directions - Day 2:

• Add 1/2 tsp basil, parsley, and onion powder. Stir. 
• Heat to a boil. 
• Turn heat down to low and simmer for about 2 hours or so. 

Done! Use this sauce with anything!