Hot Apple Cider

"I was inspired to make a hot cider recipe after tasting some at an orchard. I made this for a family get-together and it went over really well, and make the house smell fantastic. Found this on allrecipes.com"


INGREDIENTS:

1 gallon apple cider
2/3 cup real maple syrup
5 cinnamon sticks
16 whole cloves
16 whole allspice berries
peel from 1/2 lemon cut into strips (or use peeler)
peel from 1/2 orange cut into strips (or use peeler)

*cheesecloth*

Optional add-ins:

Caramel Vodka,
Captain Morgan's or
Cinnamon Schnapps

DIRECTIONS:

Pour the apple cider and maple syrup into a large stock pot.
Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, orange peel and lemon peel in the center of a washed square of cheesecloth; fold up the sides of the cheesecloth to enclose the bundle, then tie it up with a length of kitchen string. Drop the spice bundle into the cider mixture.
Place the saucepan over moderate heat until hot
Remove the cider from the heat. Discard the spice bundle. Ladle the cider into big cups or mugs.

Sugar Cookie Cut-outs with Icing

"I found these two recipes on allrecipes.com. I wanted an icing recipe that hardened so the cookies could be stacked...different from the frosting in a can I usually use. The icing is pretty and glossy and makes store-bought looking cookies."


Cookies: (makes 5 dozen)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Notes:

-Use parchment paper on top of cookie sheets (can use again and again and it never sticks)

-make sure you flour top of dough you're rolling out and the rolling pin.

-mine only took 6 minutes and were the 1/4 in. thickness


ICING: (enough for the five dozen cookies)

INGREDIENTS:

5 cups confectioners' sugar
10 teaspoons milk
10 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
assorted food coloring
sprinkles (optional)


DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Notes:

-I added more milk instead of corn syrup to get the consistency I wanted

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

"This was submitted to allrecipes.com by Eagle Brand Milk®. I made it last year as well, and it was fabulous"


INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Notes:
-Cover the edge of the crust with foil for the first 40 minutes of baking
-I used Marie Callender's® frozen pie crust last year, but this year I used Pilsbury® refrigerated pie crust. I would definitely go with frozen one next time, because it has a pretty edge and the refrigerated one doesn't give you enough slack to form one.

When I used the frozen crust it took an extra 14 minutes to bake.