Savvy Saturday: Wintertime Recipes From Your Favorite Authors Part 1

Hello and welcome to Savvy Saturday! This week, we asked our authors what their favorite recipes were for winter or the holidays, and it turns out that they were eager to share. So much so, that we had to split this post in two! So get your cooking tools ready for Part One of these wonderful author recipes.

From the kitchen of Carly Marino's Grandmother:

Italian Anginetti Cookies
COOKIE

1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
3 large eggs
1 1⁄2 teaspoons lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄8 teaspoon salt

FROSTING

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1⁄4 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon extract

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• For cookies, cream together sugar and shortening.
• Add eggs and lemon extract and beat well.
• Add flour, baking powder and salt; Mix well.
• The dough should be soft and sticky.
• With a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto a slightly greased cookie sheet or baking stone, spacing them about 2-inches apart.
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until firm and lightly brown.
• Remove cookies from cookie sheet and allow to cool completely on wire racks.
• For frosting, combine confectioners' sugar, water and lemon extract and mix until smooth.
• Frost the tops of each cookie with a metal spatula.
• Allow cookies to dry before stacking.
• Store in an airtight container.

From Shiela Stewart's Cookie Jar:

Eatmore Bars. 

If you have peanut allergies than this isn’t a recipe you’ll want to try.
What you will need is:

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups corn syrup
3 table spoons of cocoa
2 cups chocolate chips
4 cups chopped peanuts.

Directions:
Mix the first four ingredients together in a pot and heat until boiling. Remove from heat and add in chocolate chips. Once melted, add the nuts. Press into a large cookie sheet. Let cool before cutting.

There you go. It’s a simple recipe. I hope you enjoy them!

From the recipe book of Keith Willis:

King Size Holiday Gingersnaps (my grandmother's recipe handed down)

In medium bowl combine:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
3 tbsp baking soda

Blend together and set aside.

In large bowl mix:
1 cup sugar
1 egg (beaten)
1/3 cup molasses
3/4 cup shortening

Have Red and green sugar crystals for decoration.

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Cream shortening and sugar until smooth. Add egg and molasses and beat until smooth.
• Add flour mixture to sugar mixture in small batches to form dough.
• Form dough into small balls (no larger than 1"). 
• Place coated dough balls on cookie sheet. 
• Flatten balls slightly with bottom of a glass coated in butter and dipped into colored sugar. 
• (Note:flatten more for crispier cookies)
• Bake approximately 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Enjoy. 

Egg Nog Bundt Cake (courtesy of Hood Eggnog)

1 18 oz pudding-added yellow cake mix
Oil and eggs according to cake mix package directions
1 tsp nutmeg
Eggnog (substitute for water on cake mix package directions)

• Preheat oven to temp on cake mix directions. 
• Spray sides & bottom of bundt pan with cooking spray.
• Combine cake mix w/ eggs and oil. Add nutmeg. 
• Mix in eggnog, pour into bundt pan and bake.
• Cool and turn out cake onto rack.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with eggnog glaze (below).

Eggnog Glaze

2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tbsp softened butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp eggnog

In medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Add more eggnog to bring mixture to desired consistency.

From the family of Kay Latour:

Sweet Potato Casserole 

Ingredients
2 cups mashed sweet potato (baked in skin, sliced in half & filling scooped out)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and put in buttered casserole dish

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup butter

Crumble together, sprinkle over sweet potato mixture, and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.