Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
6 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 whole graham crackers, pulverized into crumbs (optional)
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Procedure:

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper; set it aside. Using a wooden spoon, mix together the peanut butter, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and graham crackers, if desired, in a large bowl. (The dough will look dry.) Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Set them on the prepared cookie sheet and insert a toothpick into each ball. Chill them in the freezer until hard, about 30 minutes. Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set atop a pot of simmering water over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat. Using the toothpick as a handle, dip the balls into the melted chocolate, leaving a small circle at the top uncovered. Place the dipped candies back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced shallots
1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 pound red salmon steak, 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon chicken stock
1/2 pound smoked salmon, diced
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Procedure:

In a skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the shallots and carrot. Cover and cook 5 minutes, stirring once. Rinse the salmon steak, cut it in half lengthwise, and place the pieces atop the vegetables. Drizzle with the chicken stock. Cover the skillet and resume cooking for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Then remove the skin and bones from the fish. Blend the fish and vegetables in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and process until the smoked salmon is finely chopped but not smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until a few minutes before serving time. Makes 3 cups.

Ingredients:

250 grams (9 ounces) butter or margarine
225 grams (8 ounces) sugar
1 pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 lemon
500 grams (18 ounces) flour
1 yellow of an egg

Procedure:

Stir butter in a bowl until it is smooth. Add sugar, salt and 3 eggs, stir until ingredients are evenly distributed. Grind the skin of the lemon and add to the mixture of the previous step. Add flour, knead to a soft dough. Cover the dough and let rest for about 2 hours in a cool place. Cut dough in parts and roll out on a flat, with flour covered surface, approximately 5 mm (0.2 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Let cool for about 15 minutes. Before baking, sweep with the yellow of an egg. Bake for about 10 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 200 °C (400 °F). Let cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

3 fresh white of egg (about 100 grams)
1 pinch of salt
250 grams (9 ounces) confectioner’s sugar
1½ tablespoons of cinnamon
½ tablespoon of kirsch or lemon juice
350 grams (12 ounces) grind almonds

Procedure:

Stir white of egg and salt in a bowl until it is real stiff. Add confectioner’s sugar, stir until ingredients are evenly distributed. Put 1 dl (0.4 cups) aside for the frosting. Add cinnamon, kirsch (or lemon juice) and almonds, knead to a soft dough. Roll out dough on a flat surface (it may be slightly covered with sugar), approximately 7 mm (0.3 inches) thick. Put out stars or other shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Let them rest for about 5 to 6 hours or over night in a dry place. Carefully sweep the cookies with the frosting set aside in step 2. Bake for about 3 to 5 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F). Let cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

1 dozen 12-inch plastic decorating pastry bags (available at party supply stores)
4 cups green jelly beans
1 cup total yellow, white, and red jelly beans
tape
12 brown pipe cleaners

Procedure:

Place a few yellow jelly beans in the tip of the plastic decorating bag. Then carefully pour about 1/3 cup of green jelly beans into the bag. For lights and ornaments, you can mix the green jelly beans with yellow, white, and red. For the tree’s trunk, tape the bag shut and twist a brown pipe cleaner around the base. Trim off the excess plastic. (Note: in the photograph, the trees are held upright with fishing line.) Makes 12 trees.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
450 grams (16 ounces) confectioner’s sugar
1 pinch of salt
1½ tablespoons of anise
1 tablespoon of kirsch
550 to 600 grams (19..21 ounces) flour

Procedure:

Put eggs, confectioner’s sugar, salt, anise and kirsch in a bowl and stir about 5 minutes until well mixed. Add flour and mix into a dough. Form rolls of about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) diameter and cut in pieces of about 5 cm (2 inches) length. Cut in each piece about 3 times slightly angular and bend them slightly. Slightly grease baking sheets and put the rolls onto it to dry. Do not use baking paper sheets. Do not move the pieces. Let them dry for 24 to 48 hours at room temperature. Make sure there is no draught. Bake them for about 25 minutes in the lower part of the pre-heated stove at 140°C (285°F). Keep the door of the stove a bit open. Let the cookies cool down and remove them from the baking sheet with a scraper.

Variations:
Instead of forming rolls, you may roll out dough on a flat surface, approximately 1 cm (0.4 inches) thick. Put out shapes and treat them as described above.
Use models to create forms, then treat them as described above.

Ingredients:
For sponge cake:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp. butter

For topping:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tbsp. sugar
Various fruits (strawberries, peaches, cherries, and so on)

Procedure:

Whisk eggs in a bowl. Place the bowl over warm water in another large bowl and whisk further. Add sugar little by little. When the egg mixture becomes light yellow, sift flour and add to the bowl. Mix the flour lightly in the egg mixture. Mix butter in warm milk. Add mixture of melted butter and milk in the batter and stir gently. Preheat the oven in 350-degree. Place baking wax papers inside of a round cake pan (18cm). Pour the batter in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 min. Remove the cake from the pan and cool it on a rack. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Mix heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Whip the cream well. Take the half of the whipped cream and mix with chopped fruits. Place the cream on top of a round cake slice. Place another cake slice on top of the cream. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top and around the cake. Decorate the cake with colorful fruits and Christmas decorations.

Ingredients:

cooled cupcake (baked from your favorite recipe)
white icing
large marshmallows
waxed paper
pretzel sticks
decorators’ gel
orange slice candy
junior Mints
thin Mints
fruit leather

Procedure:

Frost a cooled cupcake (baked from your favorite recipe) with white icing. Flatten a large marshmallow on waxed paper with the palm of your hand. Cut a second marshmallow in half horizontally, then stack the halves on the first marshmallow to form a torso and head. Push a thin pretzel stick down through the snowman (this will help him stand up), then set him on the cupcake. Use decorators’ gel to create a mouth, eyes, and buttons, then add pretzel stick arms and a wedge cut from an orange slice candy for a nose. Accessorize with a candy hat (a junior mint secured to a thin mint with icing) and a fruit leather scarf.

Ingredients:

150 grams (5 ounces) sugar
1 pinch of salt
250 grams (9 ounces) grind almonds
¼ tea spoon cinnamon
1 pinch of clove powder
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of flour
2 fresh white of egg (about 70 grams)
100 grams (3.5 ounces) bitter chocolate
2 tea spoons of kirsch

Procedure:

Mix sugar, salt, almonds, cinnamon, clove powder, cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Add white of egg and stir until ingredients are evenly distributed. Cut chocolate in real small pieces, pour hot water over the chocolate, let rest for about 5 minutes, then pour off all water except about half a tablespoon, stir until even. Now immediately proceed with the next step. Add melted chocolate from the previous step and the kirsch, knead to a soft dough. Roll out dough on a flat surface (it may be slightly covered with sugar), approximately 10 mm (0.4 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Let them rest for about 5 to 6 hours or over night in a dry place. Bake for about 4 to 6 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F). Let cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Crunch Topping:
1 1/2 cups pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Sour Cream Cake:
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Sweet Glaze:
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Procedure:

Butter a 9- by 13-inch cake pan. Dust the pan with flour and remove the excess by turning the pan upside down and tapping the bottom. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the Cinnamon Crunch Topping, first coarsely chop the nuts, or have your child put them in a sealable plastic bag and lightly tap them with a rolling pin to break them into pieces. Then combine the nuts, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl, using clean hands to mix the ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. To make the Sour Cream Cake, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set it aside. Using an electric mixer, preferably a large stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high speed, gradually adding the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and blend briefly. Whisk together the sour cream and milk. Mix about a third of the mixture into the creamed ingredients until smooth. Then blend in about a third of the flour mixture. Continue alternately beating in the liquid and dry ingredients by thirds. Spread half the batter in the prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle half the topping on it, pressing it lightly into the batter. Spread the remaining batter evenly over the topping. Then cover that layer with the remaining topping. Bake the coffee cake on the center oven rack for about 40 minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted at the center should come out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool completely. For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and milk in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and suitable to drizzle. If needed, you can make the glaze thinner or thicker by adding a little more milk or sugar, respectively. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on the cooled coffee cake. Makes 12 or more servings.