02-01 It's Christmas Time & Time for a Cookie!

Hello people, This week on my vidcast I have a delightful guest. Joe Ligamarri came on to show us his recipes for St. Louis Bars and Pizzels. We had a very nice time making these cookies and I'm happy to say that since this episode was taped Joe has started a company dedicated to bringing his confections to the world. It's called Cookie Jough and you can find out all about it here. 

Here are the recipes:

For St. Louis Bars you'll need:

1 yellow cake mix

½ cup (1 stick) melted butter

3 eggs

1 8oz package cream cheese

4 ½ cups confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, lightly beat one egg, then add the cake mix and melted butter and mix until the dough is the consistency of play-dough. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 X 13" baking pan. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the confectioner's sugar. Combine all the remaining ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth. Pour over the dough and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the filling doesn't move when the pan is shaken. Remove from the oven and dust with the remaining powdered sugar. Let cool completely and cut into bars.

For the pizzelles you'll need:

1 ¾ cup flour

¾ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon anise flavor

3 eggs

1 stick butter

Preheat your pizzelle iron and sift the flour and sugar together. Add the anise flavoring and the eggs and butter. Stir until the batter is the consistency of a thick pancake batter. Drop a large tablespoon full of batter in the center of the pizzelle iron and close the top. The cookie should be done in about 45 seconds. These can be shaped over bowls to create edible vessels for elegant desserts. They can also be broken up into quadrants and dipped in chocolate or tucked into a bowl of ice cream.