Day 10 Of Rosie's Christmas Baking.

Before I start on my baking duties today, I'm fixing something a little different for breakfast - apple turnovers.

The other week when Mr. Hawthorne went back to the mountains, he brought home a big bushel of apples. He decided to cook some apples this morning - just butter, cinnamon, honey, and a pinch of salt.

I had some pie dough leftover from Middle Hawthorne's birthday pumpkin pie, so I rolled that out.

Cut it into little circles, filled with apples, sealed, and crimped.

Pretty little half moons.

Fried some up in a bit of butter until nicely browned, then sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with honey. A nice breakfast treat. Speaking of powdered sugar, I had on Food Network the other day, as usual, and Pauler was on AGAIN with that LeeAnn person who makes Pauler sound like a Yankee, and I'm thinking this is the 50th time this week I've seen this episode with the DEEP FRIED HAM, and if I hear Pauler call it "confectionate sugar" one more time, I'm going to scream. But I digress. My apple turnovers were quite tasty. You should try them.

I had a enough pie pastry leftover to line a little foil dish. I baked the crust, then filled it with my leftover seafood filling from the crepes the other day.

Covered my seafood pie with a pastry top, and it's ready for baking. After my little apple turnovers, I was ready to tackle Christmas cookies again. First up is one of the recipes I found in Mama Hawthorne's recipe box - Peanut Butter Bars. I must admit, I felt like quite the Fandra here, since the arrussupeee called for a box of yellow cake mix.

The recipe: 1 package yellow cake mix 2 large eggs 1 cup chunky peanut butter 1 stick butter, melted 1 6-ounce pack semisweet chocolate morsels 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk I had no chunky peanut butter, so I used the creamy and added in some chopped peanuts for chunk.

I added the eggs to the cake mix. Holy Crap! Is it just me, but do cake mixes have an odor about them? When I opened the box of mix, my olfactory nerves were assaulted by a cloying, sickeningly sweet ... stench, for lack of a better word. I have smelled and tasted this before in other people's cookies and I'd just like to know exactly what it is. What combination of what chemicals would produce this odor?

Melted butter gets added next.

Adding the peanut butter took away most of that sweet smell.

Then the chopped peanuts went in.

I divided the dough in half.

And evenly spread, using plastic wrap and my miniature rolling pin, 1/2 of the dough into an ungreased 9 x 13 pan.

I pressed the edges down evenly, then baked in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

I removed from the oven and sprinkled with chocolate chips.

Next, I poured a can of condensed milk over top.

And topped with the rest of the dough. Baked in the oven for 30 more minutes.

Let cool.

Then cut into squares. I ate some of the crumbs, and they didn't have that chemical sweet taste to them. Actually, this was quite good. And I liked the layers.

Pretty little Peanut Butter Bars. Next, Pecan Puffs, another recipe I found in Mama Hawthorne's recipe box.

Ingredients: 1 stick butter, softened 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup chopped pecans 1 cup sifted cake flour

I creamed the butter and added in the sugar, beating.

Added in the vanilla.

Added in the sifted cake flour.

And stirred in the pecans bits.

Here's what the dough looks like.

I rolled into tiny balls and cooked 35 minutes at 300 degrees on greased cookie sheets.

While still hot, I rolled the balls in powdered sugar, and sprinkled with sugar after cooled.

These are very delicate little balls so be careful when rolling.

Light, sweet, delicate Pecan Puffs.