Chocolate Chip Tea Cakes (Christmas Style)

I usually make Russian tea cakes, but today I decided to try something new…chocolate chip tea cakes!

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup finely chopped nuts (I like walnuts)
2 cups (1 package) Nestle Holiday Morsels

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl, cream together butter and powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour and then nuts. Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups morsels.
Roll dough into balls 1 inch in diameter and place on tray. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are set and golden brown on the bottom. Cool on tray for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack.
You can then melt some of the reserved chips to drizzle along top of the cookies. I chose not too since they are already sweet (and I didn’t think red+green+brown would look very pretty).

Variations:
Try using different morsels or different nuts!

Magic Cookie Bars

To many people sweetened condensed milk is a very unusual food, but it is a DELICIOUS one. In this timeless recipe, the sweetened condensed milk ties everything together and makes for a fabulous dessert!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 and 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chip morsels
1 and 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts)

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees (or 325 for a glass dish). Lightly grease bottom of 13×9 baking pan.
Combine melted butter and graham cracker crumbs. Pat mixture evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk on top, in an even layer. Continue this layering technique next with chocolate chips, followed by coconut, and then nuts.
Once all ingredients are layered, at the bars down. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until coconut is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting. You can store covered, at room temperature or in the freezer (for longer periods of time).

Variations:
Replace walnuts with pecans or other nuts
Substitute different morsels for the semisweet…you can even mix & match!

Granola

This is a great recipe because you can make an unlimited amount of variations!

GRANOLA:
Ingredients:
4 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups nuts (I like chopped walnuts or sliced almonds)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups raisins or dried fruit (I prefer dried cranberries)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a 9×13 pan (NOTE: my picture is of a larger pan, but cooking times for this recipe work best with a 9×13 pan) mix oats, nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon. In saucepan, warm oil and honey. Stir in vanilla. Carefully pour liquid over oat mixture. Stir gently until oats are coated. You can add the dried fruit now if you prefer the cooked taste, or you can add them in after baking.

Bake 40 minutes, stirring carefully after every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. You may store granola at room temperature for one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months!

Please comment with your favorite variations. I would love to try some new ones 🙂