EASY KOLACHE COOKIES

There are many different styles (and spellings) for Kolache cookies; some are made with yeast, some made with cream cheese, some are round, some are rolled up.

This recipe is a cream cheese and butter crust that is light as air and bakes up flaky and sweet. Instead of using dried fruit, it uses jam (any flavor you like) They are truly delicious and look SO PRETTY on any cookie tray.

CRUST

2  1/4  cups all purpose flour
1  cup UNsalted butter at room temperature
8  ounces full fat cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix flour and salt and set aside. NOTE: If you do not have salt free butter, just omit the salt in this recipe.

In a stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter and the room temperature cream cheese on medium high speed for 4 minutes.

After you have beaten the butter-cream cheese for 4 minutes, slowly add the flour-salt  mixture (I usually add it in fourths), mixing well after each addition.

Divide the dough in half and shape into two flat disks about 3/4" thick. Cover and chill for about an hour.

After the dough has chilled for an hour, lightly coat each disk with flour and pat off any extra. Coat your counter with regular granulated sugar and roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness.

NOTE: If you are like me, I often don't get back to this dough within an hour and it is rock hard when I go to roll it out. If that happens, just let it sit out for 10 to 15 minutes to let it soften up enough to be workable. The dough is very forgiving that way.

Cut dough into 2 1/2 inch squares. Pick up each square and pinch two opposite corners together (see above photo). Lay it on a parchment lined baking sheet and spoon 1/4 teaspoon of favorite jam into each end of the cookie. Personally, I like to do this step with a disposable frosting bag and I just squirt it into each end opening.

Sprinkle the pinched center with a little more granulated sugar. Bake in preheated 375° oven for 12 to 14 minutes (my electric oven takes exactly 12 minutes). Cool on wire rack.

ENJOY !!

BETTER THAN MOM's PECAN TASSIES

Everyone seems to have their own favorite Pecan Tassie recipe, but the crust in 99% of the recipes out there is the same..... flour, butter and cream cheese.

This year, I added just a little extra something to the crust part of the recipe and it made a HUGE difference to the overall cookie, they were a big hit.

Tassie Crust
1 cup butter (room temperature)
6 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and cream cheese (with electric mixer) until it is light and fluffy. Add rest of the ingredients and beat until the dough comes cleanly away from the inside walls of your mixing bowl. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for one hour.

Tassie Filling
3 large eggs3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Beat the eggs until very well mixed and lemon colored. Stir in everything else.

ASSEMBLYRoll pastry into 1 inch balls and place them into an ungreased mini-muffin pan. Using your fingers, press the balls of dough into the bottom of each cup and up the sides. (I use the floured end of my rolling pin to press the dough into place instead of my fingers). Put a few chopped pecans in the bottom of each pastry shell and top with about a tablespoon of filling. (see note)

Bake in pre-heated 375F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set, yet still a little soft in the center. Remove from oven and sit the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before you try to lift them out. Lift tassies out of pan and cool on a wire rack.

NOTE: Keep in mind that the filling puffs a little as it bakes, so don't overfill the unbaked shells. If you overfill them, they will be harder to get out. For those stubborn Tassies that want to stick, just use the tip of a knife to help you lift them out of the pan.

EASY NO KNEAD ENGLISH MUFFINS

This recipe is SO easy that it would make a great weekend cooking project for that kid in the family that is a "wanna-be" chef. There are several steps, but they are all EASY.

You will need:
2 cups all purpose flour (divided)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup milk 
2 teaspoons KOSHER salt(kosher measures different than table salt)
1 envelope of yeast
yellow corn meal
6  large mason jar rings

In a large bowl, mix:

1 cup all purpose flour (you'll use other cup later)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt (not regular salt)
1 envelope yeast (I buy it in bulk, so I use 1 tablespoon)

In a smaller, microwave safe bowl, mix:

1 1/3 cups milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Microwave the milk-oil for 1 minute. Take it out of the microwave and stir it, then test it with your finger. It should feel nice and warm, but  NOT hot (I call it baby bottle warm).

Stir the milk-oil into the dry  mixture, until everything is very well mixed, then add ONE MORE cup of flour and stir until WELL mixed. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm part of your kitchen for 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes, it will look puffy like this:

Stir the air out of the dough (it will be very sticky). 

Preheat your dry (no grease) electric fry pan to 250°. Now here is a hint: everyone's fry pans cook at different rates, so cook ONE "test muffin" to see if you need to turn your heat up a little or down  a little. You want the muffin to look nice and golden when you flip it over after 5 minutes, like this:

 My electric fry pan is perfect at 250°.

Now you are ready to make the rest of the muffins. Spray the inside of the jar rings with vegetable spray (these are going to be your English muffin molds). Set them on your PRE-HEATED dry electric fry pan and sprinkle a little corn meal in the circle before you put the dough in.

Spoon batter into ring molds (it's pretty thick and sticky at this stage). I used about 1 1/4 large ice cream scoops of dough for each muffin.

When all 6 rings have dough in in them, put a lid on the fry pan, but cock it sideways so that it doesn't cover the whole pan. If your fry pan doesn't have a lid, you can cover it with a cookie sheet, but make sure the cookie sheet doesn't touch the muffins.

Cook at 250° for five minutes, then (before you flip it over) sprinkle a little corn meal onto the top of the muffin and then GENTLY flip it over (ring and all).

NOTE: It isn't absolutely necessary, but a Teflon pan works great for these muffins.

Put the lid back on the pan (leaving it open a little) and cook for another five minutes.  Remove from rings (they slide right out) and put the muffin on a baking rack to cool.

Cool completely, then split them open with a fork. To do this, insert the fork into the side of the muffin, half way between top and bottom. Twist the fork JUST A LITTLE, then remove it. Repeat this all the way around the muffin. When you get back to the place where you started, the muffin should just come apart.  Just make sure you do this AFTER the muffin is completely cooled.

To serve, toast in toaster or under broiler until light golden.

If you don't have mason jar lids, you can use anything (that can withstand heat) that is about the same size.

ENJOY !!!

CHILI and CORNBREAD WAFFLES

This idea came to me years ago when I was trying to think up something "new" for dinner. It is one of those recipes that you can customize any way you like. Lots of fresh avocado? sour cream? fresh tomatoes? lettuce? Whatever "go withs" your heart desires.

Picky-picky husband hates spicy food, so this recipe (using 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper) is quite mild. If you like more "heat" you can add your "heat of choice" during the simmering stage.

CHILI
1 pound lean ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tomato cans of water
6 ounce can tomato paste
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (1/8 tsp. good for younger kids)
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounce can mild green chiles (I use Ortega brand)
2 15 ounce cans red kidney beans
Brown the ground beef and drain off all but a tablespoon or so of fat. Sautee the onions (in the fat) for a few minutes or until they smell sweet. Add the garlic and sautee another minute or so.

Add everything else and stir well. Simmer slowly (without a cover)for about an hour. You can also put it in the Crockpot at this stage and cook on low all afternoon if that suits your schedule better.

NOTE: If you simmer it all afternoon in the Crockpot, make sure you crack the lid open just a little by inserting a spoon just under the edge of the lid. This helps the chili thicken as it simmers.

CORNBREAD WAFFLES
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine the bowels and stir till well blended.

Preheat your waffle iron and spray it with vegetable spray. Put between 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup of batter in waffle iron and cook it for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat.

If you like crispy waffles under your chili, you can pop the baked waffles in the oven for a few minutes at about 250° and they will crisp up nicely.

To serve, top the warm waffle with hot chili and then go to town with whatever toppings you like. We like it simple with shredded cheddar and sour cream.

ENJOY !!!

POTLUCK RIGATONI

This rich, delicious, full flavored Rigatoni will be the first entrée that people will head for at ANY potluck or gathering. It will feed 5 or 6 people depending on their appetite, so if you are feeding a crowd, double (or triple) the recipe.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 14 ounce can water
6 ounce can tomato paste
8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (don't leave out)
2 teaspoons dry basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (don't leave out)
1 teaspoon dry oregano leaves
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not the powdered kind)
1 pound of mozzarella cheese grated
rigatoni noodles (eyeball this amount - about 8 ounces)

Cook the chopped onion in a tablespoon of vegetable oil for about 5 minutes or until it starts to smell a little sweet. Add the garlic and cook/stir for another minute or so.

Stir the ground beef into the onion-garlic and cook until  the meat is no longer pink. After it is cooked, if there is a lot of oil in the pan, make sure you drain the meat well before you add the following.

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, sugar and spices. Stir well and simmer SLOWLY for an hour and a half (stirring once in a while). After an hour and a half, most of the liquid should have cooked away and it will look like this (not too dry). If it looks overly dry, add a cup of water.

Stir in the Parmesan and Mozzarella (but save a little of the mozzarella to sprinkle over the top before you bake it).

 

Now a word about the noodles: You can use ANY noodle you want, but we really like the hardy (thick walled) rigatoni noodles. Boil them in salted water for 15 minutes. I use half a package of rigatoni noodles in this recipe. If you are using another kind of noodle, just eyeball the amount (and boil according to package directions).

Drain the noodles well and Stir them into the meat and cheese mixture. Top with a little extra mozzarella and bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or till bubbly.

ENJOY !!!

ITALIAN SEASONING BLEND

I seldom buy spice blends because I don't use them very much AND you never really know what is in them; some are heavy on garlic, some are heavy on onion and even more of them are heavy on ..."what the heck is that?". When that happens, the $5 jar goes right in the trash, what a waste.  Nowadays, when the occasional recipe calls for Italian seasoning, I just mix up this one, it is excellent.

2  1/4  teaspoons dry basil
2  1/4  teaspoons dry oregano
2  1/4  teaspoons dry parsley
1/4     teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1/4     teaspoon onion  powder (not onion salt)
1/4     teaspoon fennel seed
1/4     teaspoon dry thyme
1/4     teaspoon dry rosemary
1/4     teaspoon black pepper
pinch   dry red chili flakes

Basically you just mix all of these ingredients together, however I do an extra step: I measure out the bulky spices, like the fennel seed, rosemary and chili flakes, THEN I work them over a little in my mortar and pestle so it breaks them up which helps distribute their flavor more evenly to the finished spice blend.  This step isn't absolutely necessary, but  it works well.

ENJOY !!!

EASY CROCKPOT CHICKEN and NOODLES

Crockpot chicken and noodles is pure comfort food in our home. Easy and inexpensive, it pleases everyone.........even picky-picky husband !!

This is one of those super yummy recipes that just doesn't photograph well......... but trust me, it's GOOOOOOD !!!

1 pound of boneless-skinless chicken breast
2  10.75 ounce cans of cream of chicken soup
4 cups of chicken broth or stock
1 small onion diced
1 cup chopped celery
1 large carrot grated
1 cup peas
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Flat wide egg noodles

Spray your Crockpot with a little cooking spray to make cleanup easier. This recipe (as written) requires a nice big Crockpot. If you only have a smaller one, just make half of the recipe.

Dice the onion and celery and grate the carrot. Sautee in a little butter until the onions and celery soften a little.

Put the sautéed veggies, soup, broth and pepper into the Crockpot and stir or whisk it around until it is smooth. Add whole (boneless-skinless) chicken breasts and cook on low for three hours.

After 3 hours, the broth will look a little thin, but that's ok because the noodles with thicken it as they cook. Remove the chicken and cut it into pieces, then return it to the Crockpot.

After 3 hours (on low), add about 3-4 cups UNCOOKED egg noodles and the peas. The noodles will expand (and drink up some of the gravy) so be careful how many noodles you add. It also depends on what KIND of noodles you use, so use your best judgment as to how many dry noodles you put in.    

Depending on what style noodles you are using, it can take as little as 20 minutes for the noodles to cook. If you use a thicker noodle like a Penne, it can take as much as 45 minutes.

If you use the flat egg style noodles, be careful how vigorously you stir them, because they break easily once they start to get soft.

ENJOY !!

FRENCH FRY SAUCE

This French fry dipping sauce is a delicious condiment that is quick, easy to make and very versatile. It goes together in minutes and everyone loves it.

There are a MILLION fry sauce recipes out there; some have a TON of ingredients, some have just a handful. This is our recipe.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons finely minced dill pickles (see note below)
1 teaspoon regular old yellow mustard
dash of salt
scant 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar

When I make this, I put the pickle into the food processor first and pulse it until it is finely minced (2 tablespoons minced pickle is about 1 large pickle). NOTE: You can also just use 2 tablespoons of your favorite pickle relish.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse them all together until the sauce is well mixed and smooth.  You can do this in a full size food processor, although a small food processor (or an hand held immersion blender) works even better.

This recipe makes one cup of French fry sauce. Keep chilled. It is excellent to dip just about anything in, but it is also good on hamburgers.

ENJOY !!!

PUMPKIN DOG TREATS

Our 12 year old dog, Chloe, has a very sensitive stomach, Almost everything gives her  nuclear gas, so I have been experimenting with dog treats for her that are dog tummy friendly.

 

This recipe (which she adores)  is quick and easy and doesn't seem to cause her trouble.  Roll the dough into appropriate size treats (small for little dogs or larger for big dogs). They are hard and crunch like a good milk bone.

1/2  cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant milk powder
2  1/2  cups flour

Beat eggs, pumpkin, salt and dry milk until well mixed. Add flour and (using your stand mixer because dough is very stiff) and beat until smooth dough forms.  If the dough seems a little sticky, add an extra tablespoon of flour.

Roll into ropes and cut into pieces like this:

Roll each section into a ball and place on Ungreased cookie sheet. These don't expand much as they bake, so you can place them fairly close together, like this:

Bake in pre-heated 350° oven for 40 minutes. If you've made BIG treats, turn the oven off after 40 minutes, but leave the goodies in the oven for an extra 20 minutes to insure they are dry. They will be hard and crunchy and store well.

I hope your dog enjoys them

as much as Chloe does !!

 



SIX MINI CHEESECAKES

As empty nesters, we are easily overloaded by a full size cheesecake, so I have been experimenting. I finally got it down to six cupcake size cheesecakes which suits us perfectly.

These little guys ALWAYS turn out perfect.....no cracks, no sink hole in the center and they are smooth, rich and addicting!!

 

Place six foil (or paper) cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Preheat your oven to 325°.

CRUST
1/3  cup graham cracker crumbs
2    teaspoons sugar
2    teaspoons melted butter

Mix together and split evenly between the six cupcake liners, and press the crumbs into a flat layer.

FILLING
8 ounces of full fat cream cheese (room temperature)
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons flour
2 large egg whites

Beat the room temperature cream cheese with electric mixer for three minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes.

Add the vanilla, flour and egg whites and mix until well incorporated, but don't over mix.

Pour the batter over the crumb crust, filling almost to the top (I use an ice cream scoop).

Bake at 325° for 25 minutes (the cheesecake should be just "set" and barely giggle when you tap lightly on the side of the cupcake pan.

Remove from the oven and let sit at room temperature about 20 minutes, then put in the fridge and chill for at least a couple of hours.

Before serving, I like to add a swirl of raspberry jam on the surface of the COLD cheesecake (any jam will work, see note below).

ENJOY !!!

 

Note:  I like to use the foil cupcake liners because they release the cheesecake so easily, but paper ones work great as well.

 

Note: Any jam or spreadable fruit works well in this recipe. I just put a couple of heaping tablespoons into a small bowl and stir in vigorously until it is smooth and soft.

Note: I never seem to remember to bring the cream cheese up to room temperature, so I just put it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds (to take the chill off) and it works fine.

FIVE STAR SWEET CORNBREAD MUFFINS

I've always liked cornbread muffins. I like the taste and texture(especially the slightly crispy edges) and I like how easy they are to make. Over the years, I've tried a ba-jillion cornbread recipes, but this one is, by far, the best recipe yet. We give it a FULL FIVE STARS !!

If you like your cornbread muffins on the sweet side, you HAVE to give this recipe a try (it makes about 18 small muffins).

FIVE STAR SWEET CORNBREAD MUFFINS

 

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup yellow corn meal

1/2  cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

 

Lightly spray (or grease) cupcake pan.  Preheat your oven to 400°

Using a hand whisk, mix everything together until batter is smooth (just takes a minute).

 

Fill cupcake "cups" about 2/3 full of batter.  Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until very lightly golden (don't over bake).  Tip out of pan immediately and serve warm with butter.

GRILLED HAWAIIAN CHICKEN

Where has this recipe been all of my life? I heard rave reviews recently, so I went hunting for the recipe online. As usual, I found a bunch of them and mixed and matched ingredients and techniques to come up with a new chicken dinner that we love!!

This chicken is quick, easy and extremely flavorful. Try it, your family will love it (the pineapple juice makes the chicken very tender).

A word about this photo...... while it isn't the best photo, it IS fairly representative of how WE like our grilled chicken (lots of dark crispy edges). When you are grilling it, just remember that the sugar in this recipe tends to burn if your grill heat is up too high.

2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2  cup soy sauce
1/2  cup brown sugar
1/3  cup ketchup
1/4  cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons fresh ginger root grated
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4  teaspoon cayenne pepper  (see note below)

Mix all ingredients (except the chicken). Remove 1 cup of the mixture and put it in the fridge (you'll use this for basting the chicken when it is on the grill).

Put the chicken pieces into a large Ziploc bag and pour the rest of the sauce over it. Marinate/chill  the chicken for at least 6 hours or up to 12 hours.

Remove the chicken from the sauce (make sure you throw away the sauce the chicken has been marinating in). Grill over medium charcoals (basting with the clean sauce you saved earlier...NOT the marinating sauce)  for about six to eight minutes per side (or if you like them a little crispy, like we do, a couple minutes longer.

ENJOY !!!

 

Note about the cayenne:  Picky-picky husband does not like freaks out when it comes to super spicy food, so I only used 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper in this recipe. Normally, that amount would send him running but, because there is so much sugar in this recipe, it counteracts the "heat" of the cayenne and you can hardly tell it is in the recipe (add more if you like a little heat).

GRUMPY FACE

One of my recipe blog readers was kind enough to tell me that someone at the following link: http://all-about-women-story.blogspot.com/   had copied and re-published over THREE HUNDRED of my recipes and recipe photos onto their web page. As far as I could tell, MY recipes and photos are the ONLY posts on their whole web site!!

 

Needless to say, I'm not happy about it.  There is NO contact information (that I can see) on this offenders recipe blog, so I don't have a clue how to contact them, do you?

 

Thank you for listening

to my rant.



PEACH CRISP FOR TWO

This is a perfect amount of dessert for just two people. It is quick, easy and tastes divine over a scoop of ice cream!!

2 medium sized peaches, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon flour
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (see note below)
1 teaspoon sugar

Mix the above ingredients gently, until peaches are well covered, then divide evenly into 2 small (greased) baking dishes and set aside.

In another small bowl, mix:

2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons oats
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter (or coconut oil)

Using a fork, mix the above ingredients until they are sort of clumpy, for lack of a better description (the butter pieces should be about the size of a small pea). Crumble lightly over the peaches.

Bake in preheated 375° oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Serve over ice cream or let it cool a little and top it with whipped cream.

NOTE: increase cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon if you like a strong cinnamon flavor.

ENJOY !!!

FOUR INGREDIENT PORK DINNER

It doesn't get any easier than this one folks. Four ingredients thrown into a Crockpot and six hours later, dinner is ready.

2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin (see note below)
1  16 ounce bottle of your favorite flavored barbecue sauce
8  ounce can crushed pineapple (juice and all)
1/2  teaspoon liquid smoke

Stir the barbecue sauce, undrained pineapple and liquid smoke together and pour it over the raw pork loin (in the Crockpot).

Cook on LOW for five to six hours (I cook it for 6 hours). Turning the meat over once or twice during that time.

Just before you are ready to eat. Remove the meat and thicken the sauce (I use a cornstarch slurry), then put the pork back in the sauce to keep it hot till it's time to eat.

This sauce is absolutely delicious. Even my picky-picky husband gave it a thumbs up (twice!!) and it could NOT be easier.

NOTE: I'm sure this would work with a pork tenderloin, but I haven't tried it so I can't recommend a cooking time.

ENJOY !!!

SUPER EASY PUFF PASTRY DESSERT

This recipe produces a light, flaky and delicious pastry. There are several steps to this, but they are ALL EASY to do and I've included lots of extra photos to (hopefully) convince you to try it.  It really IS tasty and impressive to serve !!

Bottom Layer

1/2  cup of COLD butter cut into cubes
1    cup all purpose flour
1/4  cup COLD water

If you've ever made a pie crust, this step will be a cinch. Using a pastry cutter, cut the COLD butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly and you can see small pieces of butter in the flour, like this:

Add the cold water and work it into the flour-butter mixture with a spoon or fork (your hands are too warm for this step). The mixture will all come together, but it will not be smooth. It should look like this:

Divide dough in half and roll into two log shapes. Transfer the logs to a parchment lined cookie sheet, then pat-roll them into 10" x 3" rectangles (I trim mine to the right shape). Make sure you leave plenty of room between these rectangles, since they puff a little while baking. They should look like this:

SECOND LAYER

This second layer will be spread on top of the unbaked rectangles:

1 cup water
1/2  cup butter
1    cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3  large eggs (room temperature)
1  teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium size saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil. Stir until the butter is melted. Add the flour and salt (all at once) and immediately stir like crazy. The mixture will almost instantly thicken and will leave the sides of the pan in a lump. The first time I did this step, I was SURE I had ruined it, but never fear, this is what it is SUPPOSED to do. It will look like this:

Put the HOT mixture into an electric mixer and beat on medium high for about a minute to cool it down a little.

Next, add the three eggs, one at a time, mixing well (on medium high) in between each egg. When you first put the egg in, it will make the dough look sort of "slimy", never fear, that is what is supposed to look like.  Beat it a little longer and the "slime" will disappear (repeat with the other two eggs, mixing in the vanilla with the last egg).  After you beat in all 3 eggs, it will look like this:

Divide the dough in half and using DAMP fingers, press it onto the unbaked rectangles you made earlier. It will look like this:

Bake in a PRE-HEATED 350°F  oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until they are a deep golden color. My electric oven takes 55 minutes and looks like this after it is cooked:

Stir  2/3 cup of jam (your favorite flavor) until it is lump free and spread half of it onto each warm pastry, like this:

Drizzle frosting over jam. Frosting is made of 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract + about 4 teaspoons of milk. Sprinkle with your favorite nuts.

 

I tried to get a good picture of the INSIDE of this pastry, but it is hard to see.  Trust me, it is light as air and flaky!!

NOTE: If you forget to take the eggs out of the fridge (so they can come to room temperature) just put them in a howl of hot tap water for about 10 minutes.