Posted in Recipes
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Wedding Recipes—Dessert Reception In November we had our first “girl” wedding—the first of our three daughters (Cami, now 21) married Joseph Gross. Some day when I have time and the emotional energy to write about the entire process, I will do so. J Until then, I will share some of the recipes that we used for the wedding. We had the wedding at our large church in We also wanted to keep costs down as much as possible, and the reception (especially when you anticipate five hundred attendees) was a good place to cut costs (but still keep it nice). Thus, we chose a dessert reception. That is, a reception that is not held at a meal time and primarily consists of desserts (though we did have fresh fruit bowls, cheese balls, and snack mix for those who did not want “dessert” on top of cake). Our church has a cook on staff, so the “kitchen” parts of the reception—the perishable foods, serving, punch, etc. had to be taken care of by her. We added the non-perishables. Thus, she did things like chocolate bowls with mousse, miniature cheese cakes, punch, etc. And we did the cookies and bars. I say we, but as I pointed out in last month’s newsletter, we had friends and family who definitely went above the call and duty in this “mega cooking” adventure. I will put our bar and cookies recipes below. Basically, I took the number of people we thought would be attending, multiplied that number by five (the number of items the cook thought each person would take on a small plate), and chose the number of each item we would need to reach that 2,500 item mark (i.e. X number of cheese cakes, x number of raspberry bars, etc. all adding up to 2,500). Then, because we were so worried about running out, we added to that number—a big mistake. J We also had cake, of which we ordered three times too much. Yes, you read that right—three times too much. (I’ve never been the greatest at figuring these things up—always afraid I would run out.) I should have believed the cake lady when she said that many would not take cake at all since we were having desserts. We had way more than we needed—of everything. But thankfully, everything froze nicely, so we had goodies for Christmas trays, cake for desserts, cheese balls for dances and parties, etc. etc. All of the recipes listed below are multiplied many times. They can be reduced to fit your group however needed. Some of these recipes are ones I use at Christmas time and for graduations, showers, etc. as well. They are versatile! The wedding was beautiful. It was extremely moving with all of the siblings lined up around the front and the beautiful vows the Cami and Joseph wrote themselves. They had a footwashing for the two of them, and this was incredibly meaningful. And, just like Joshua and Lisa’s wedding, they included the song we had sung at our wedding: “How Can I Say Thanks?” by Andre Crouch (also called “To God Be the Glory”). Head on over to my blog to find some of the recipes from the wedding. (See sidebar for links.) Mexican Wedding Cakes—12-16 dozen 6 cups butter 3 cup powdered sugar 12 cups sifted flour 6 tsp. vanilla 3 cup finely chopped pecans extra powdered sugar for rolling after baking 1. Whip butter with mixer; add sugar. 2. Next, add flour and vanilla. 3. Add nuts. 4. Roll in balls the size of walnuts. 5. Bake about 10-12 minutes regular oven; 7-10 minutes convection. 6. Roll in powdered sugar as soon as possible after baking. 7. Re-roll in powdered sugar before serving. 8. Yield: 12-16 dozen, depending on size. Sour Cream Cookies—12 dozen 8 c flour 2 ½ tsp baking powder 1 ½ tsp soda 1 ½ tsp salt 2 ½ c. butter, softened 6 eggs 2 cups sugar 3 tsp vanilla 2 ½ cup sour cream Colored sprinkles/sugar according to occasion 1. Sift soda, flour, salt, and baking powder together; set aside. 2. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs together. 3. Beat sour cream and vanilla into the butter mixture. 4. Gradually beat dry ingredients into the wet mixture. 5. Refrigerate for one hour or longer. (We shape and freeze, freeze in one quarter containers (chunks of dough); etc. too.) 6. Drop and sprinkle with colored sugars (or sprinkle half way through baking time. (If sprinkled before baking it's not as distributed but it stays on better.) 7. Bake at 350' for 6-8 minutes for convection; 8-11 minutes regular oven. 8. Yield: 12 dozen Peanut Blossom (“Kiss”) Cookies—12 dozen 4 cups flour 1 ¼ cups peanut butter 2 ¼ tsp soda 2 eggs 1 tsp salt 4 TBSP milk 1 ¼ cups sugar 2 ½ tsp vanilla 1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed 3 pkgs Hershey’s kisses or stars 1 ¼ cups shortening/butter (we use ½ Crisco and half real butter) 1. Cream butter, shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar. 2. Whisk eggs. 3. Mix milk, eggs, and vanilla in separate bowl. 4. Pour milk mixture into creamed mixture, and mix. 5. Combine remaining ingredients (except kisses) in another mixing bowl. 6. Add to mixing ingredients until well blended. 7. Shape dough into balls, using a rounded teaspoon for each. 8. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. 9. Bake for 8-11 minutes convection; 10-13 regular. 10. Top each cookie immediately with a kiss, pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around the edge. 11. Yield: 12-14 dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies—12 dozen 5 ½-5 ¾ cup flour 1 ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar 2 ½ tsp baking soda 5 eggs 2 ½ tsp salt 2 ½ cups butter and Crisco combined (half of each) 3 (12 oz) chocolate chips 2 cups sugar 1. Preheat oven to 375’. 2. In bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. 3. In mixing bowl, cream butter, Crisco, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla thoroughly. 4. Beat in eggs. 5. Gradually add flour mixture. 6. Stir in chocolate chips by hand until thoroughly mixed. 7. Bake in convection at 375’ for 6-9 minutes; 9-11 minutes regular. 8. Makes 12 dozen 2 ½ inch cookies. Gooey Snickers Brownies—140 small bars A different kind of brownie, but a yummy one! 2 (18.25 oz each) box German chocolate cake mix 1 ½ cups butter, melted 1 cup evaporated milk 8 reg. Snickers bars 1. Preheat oven to 350’. 2. Slice Snickers bars in 1/8 “ slices. 3. In large bowl, combine cake mixes, butter, and evaporated milk. 4. Beat on low speed until well blended. 5. Spread half of batter into the bottom of two greased 9 x 13” baking pans. 6. Bake for ten minutes. 7. Remove from oven, and place candy bar slices evenly over surface. 8. Drop remaining half of batter by spoonfuls over candy bars, as evenly as possible. 9. Place back in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes more convection; 20 minutes regular. (Brownies will jiggle slightly on top when you remove them.) 10. Yield: 2 9 x 13 pans Pecan Tassies—12 dozen
Crust: 4 ¼ (8 oz) bars cream cheese (softened) 3 Cups butter 6 Cups flour Filling: 6 eggs 4 ½ cups packed brown sugar 2/3 cup butter, soft 1/8 cup vanilla ½ TBSP salt 1 ½ cups chopped pecans 150 pecan halves 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 2. In a medium bowl, mix together the margarine and cream cheese until well blended. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time, until the mixture forms a smooth dough. Chill for one hour. Roll into small balls, and press into the bottoms and sides of tart pans or mini muffin pans. 3. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the pecans halves. 4. Sprinkle chopped pecans in the bottom of each tart. 5. Use a spoon to fill each of the crusts 2/3 full with the filling mixture. 6. Place half pecan on top of each. 7. Bake at 325’ for 22-26 mins until filling is set. (Bake at 15-18 mins for convection.) 8. Cool before removing from tins. 9. Yield: 12 dozen
Party Cookies—12 doz 4 cup butter Frosting: 12 TBSP butter, softened 14 cups powdered sugar 1 cup milk 4 tsp vanilla
2. Beat egg yolks and add to the creamed mixture. 3. Combine flour and salt. 4. Mix flour/salt mixture into creamed mixture. 5. Chill dough for at least two hours (at this amount). 6. Roll dough into balls and dip into 8 beaten egg whites, then roll in 2 cups finely chopped pecans. 7. Place on cookie sheet and press finger in center. 8. Bake at 350 regular for 10-12 mins or convection for 7-9 minutes. 9. Mix frosting ingredients. 10. When cooled, frost cookies and let dry. 11. Place in sealed container with waxed paper between layers.
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