Cream Horns - Lady Locks - Coronets - Clothespin Cookies

To kick-off the holiday baking season I'm choose my all-time favorite cookie/pastry; the Cream Horn!

Sometimes called Lady Locks or Clothespin Cookies or even Coronets - named in part due to the nature of cookie mold or form being used. Our great-grandmothers oftentimes used wooden clothespins or dowels to wrap the dough around. Much of the time the pastry dough would stick to unseasoned wood however, and the cookies would break. Paper molds were also made and used - time consuming and delicate. Between the time and work involved in making the pastry and the frustrations with the forms, no wonder these cookies were soon only found in bakeries and grocery stores!

To get started you'll want to invest in aluminum forms. Be sure you purchase enough to bake all your cookies as the pastries need to cool on the forms and only baking 4-8 cookies at a time will take you literally all day.

If you have time and you love to bake, try your hand at the pastry recipe below. It requires an hour chill time between folds and an overnight chill time when the dough is finished, so plan accordingly.

However, I have a time-saving recipe if you need these dainty pastries by this afternoon;   Puff Pastry. Available in your grocer's freezer, purchase sheets of puff pastry and use them in place of the traditional pastry dough. Slicing, wrapping and baking can be accomplished in 30 minutes while you also mix the filling, and with a quick cool-down in the freezer you can have these delicious cookies out the door in under an hour!

Cream Horns

3 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 c ice water
2 egg yolks
2 c cold butter or shortening - or a mixture of both

Combine flour, salt, water and egg yolks. Mix well until a ball is formed. Place on a floured plate, cover with wax paper and refrigerate about 1 hour. Roll out dough to form a rectangle. Spread 1/2 cup of the chilled butter/shortening down the center. Fold over the rest of the dough in envelope fashion so that all edges meet exactly. Press edges slightly to seal in the air. Chill one hour. Follow the same procedure again, permitting an hour chill time. Continue two more times until all the shortening/butter has been used.

Place on a floured plate, cover with wax paper and chill overnight. The next day divide the dough into 3 parts. Work on one part at a time. Roll out each disc to 1/8" thick. Cut into strips about 3" - 4" in length and up to 1" wide. Wind each strip around an aluminum form, overlapping slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes until lightly golden. Cool. Slip off the form. Fill.

Use whichever filling YOU like.  A simple whipped cream filling is fine, but I like this one as it works in any temperature environment;  I can have these at room temperature or serve them at a summer event and not worry about the whipped cream versions.  This is also a similar filling to what you'll find at the grocery store or bakery made Cream Horns.

Cream Horn Filling

1 c Crisco
1 c butter (not margarine...)
4 c powdered sugar
4 t vanilla
3/4 c marshmallow creme

Cream the Crisco and butter. Add the sugar gradually and then the creme and vanilla. Beat well until it's smooth like whipped cream. Fill cooled or chilled cream horn forms.

Thanksgiving Gravy - Make Ahead or The Last Minute - Won't Gel Up!

Did you make your gravy ahead of time? Or do you just need a really delicious gravy recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner? Here it is! Our annual Thanksgiving Gravy recipe that I've made every year since.... ? About 20 years now! Best of all - it doesn't gel up so you can make it this morning and then add the turkey drippings and reheat just before serving!

simmering the broth

Thankgiving Gravy
*best when used with homemade broth - but you don't have to

*broth*
6 c chicken broth (water with boullion is fine)
2 lg. onions, chopped
1 c sliced fresh carrots
1 c water or dry white wine
1/2 c celery leaves and stems

Mix all ingredients in a soup pan and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Strain through a wire strainer and discard vegetables. Add water if needed to make it 6 cups.

*gravy*

Mash 6 T butter with
3/4 c flour

Mash until it's a paste and break into 4 chunks.

Bring 6 c chicken broth to a boil. Reduce heat to low and gradually whisk in flour chunks one at a time, whisking until thick and smooth. Boil 3 minutes. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed within 2 days. If longer, be sure it's in an airtight container in the coldest part of the fridge. Can also freeze until needed and slowly cook and reheat to thaw before continuing.

When you are ready to make your gravy;
After your turkey is done, add the pan drippings - at least 3/4 - 1 cup (up to 2 cups) heat until hot and serve!




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Just Finished Making the Cranberry Cherry Salad Dessert!

You can tell this is a recipe from an older generation as it's a dessert but the recipe calls itself a 'salad'. Salad to people under the age of 40 means something green and leafy! I'm calling this a dessert and it's chilling in the refrigerator right now!

Here is a recipe to start you off but I'll tell you how I made mine - I used 1 box cranberry jello and 1 box sugar-free raspberry jello. I put it into a square glass 10" Pyrex dish and it's... beautiful! The brilliance of the dark red is just stunning. Put this in a glass dish if you have one!

Cherry Cranberry Salad Dessert

1 6 oz. package cherry gelatin
1 1/2 c boiling water
1 (20 oz) can cherry pie filling
1 can (16 oz.) whole cranberry sauce

Combine the cherry gelatin with the boiling water and mix. Add pie filling and cranberry sauce to the gelatin and mix well. Pour into a large pan and freeze it for an hour if you are in a hurry or chill it (preferred) for 3-6 hours before serving.

Heath Pie for Thanksgiving! For Those Who Don't Care for Pumpkin!

If your crew isn't a pumpkin pie kind of crowd, perhaps this recipe from Pillsbury is more to your liking? I mean, seriously, who could turn down a pie made with Heath candy bars!?



Toffee Dream Pie

8-or 9-inch baked pie shell
8 oz. marshmallows
1/3 cup milk
5-8 Heath bars, crushed
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons diced toasted almonds

Heat marshmallows and milk, stirring occasionally, until marshmallows melt. Remove from heat. Stir in Heath bars. Chill until thickened but not set. Beat cream until thick. Fold into marshmallow mixture. Spoon into baked pie shell. Chill until firm, at least 3 hours. Garnish with almonds and additional crushed Heath bars.

Chocolate Sundae Dessert (Chocolate Ice Box Dessert)

The word "ice box dessert" is an instant throw back to the 30's and 40's in my mind. It's a term I often see in my old church cookbook collections but it's one that doesn't have the 'yummy' connotations today as the term did back then. It's dated and the term 'ice box' just screams 'old fashioned'.

So when it comes to a recipe entitled "Chocolate Ice Box Dessert" by someone's great-great-grandmother, you may want to give it a second glance and not pass by so quickly just because it doesn't sound appealing. Instead, let's pretend it says; Heavenly Chocolate Dessert. Chocolate Dream. Chocolate Sundae Dessert. Any chocolate recipe name you want to call it! This is a very, very old recipe, but like most old recipes that are still around... there is a reason for it.

Chocolate Sundae Dessert

1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup butter (not margarine)
2 eggs
1 small can chocolate syrup
4 ounces marshmallows
¾ cup broken nuts
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 teaspoon vanilla
Graham cracker crumbs


Cover bottom of 8x12 pan with cracker crumbs. Mix sugar and butter. Add eggs and chocolate syrup; beat very well. Fold in marshmallows, quartered, nuts, vanilla. Fold in cream. Pour into crust. Refrigerate overnight.