PEARS MELBA (serves 4) 3 cups water 3" cinnamon stick 1 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 TBL fresh lemon juice, reserving 1/2 tsp One 1x3" piece of lemon zest 4 large pears, stems intact, peeled, halved & cored 1 TBL cornstarch 10 oz frozen raspberries, thawed, drained, reserve juice 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese 2 tsp sugar Mint leaves In large skillet combine water, cinnamon stick, vanilla, 1 TBL lemon juice & zest. Bring water to high simmer; add pears & poach, covered, 10 minutes. (Can be prepared up to this point, covered & chilled overnight.) Add cornstarch to reserved raspberry juice; heat until slightly thickenened. Add berries: cool. Puree cottage cheese, reserved lemon juice & sugar until smooth & creamy. Matching halves, fill each pear half with 2 TBL cheese mixture; stand upright on plate & press halves together. Level bottom, if necessary by cutting off thin slice. Spoon 2 TBL rasberry sauce over each pear. Place mint leaf at each stem. May chill several hours.~~Sounds Delicious FRESH AUTUMN PEAR BREAD (1 loaf) 1 stick unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg 1/4 cup buttermilk or yogurt 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh ripe pears, skin left on Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9" loaf pan. In a large bowl, using a mixer, cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Add the eggs & vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda & nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing gently but thoroughly. Gently stir in the pears. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.~~More than a Tea Party PEAR CRISP (serves 6) 6 ripe pears, peeled, cored & sliced 1 TBL lemon juice 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 3/4 cup flour 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats 1/2 cup brown sugar Place pears in a greased 2 qt baking dish. Toss pears w/lemon juice, cinnamon & nutmeg. In a bowl, combine flour & butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add oats & brown sugar. Stir well; sprinkle over pears. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 20-25 minutes or until browned & pears are tender. Serve w/ice cream or whipped cream.~~Food for Thought

Thank you for the replies! I think I'm going to get diabetes from this stuff. Chase-- that is certainly a magical thread. Thank you for linking to it! I look forward to trying some of the recipes listed (ESPECIALLY the cream puffs with Frangelico oh my goodness) :9 Ginger-- I actually tried out the dulce in spicy hot chocolate immediately after you linked that. Hello, delicious! Cuffs-- That fruit salad sounds more like fluffy sugar salad with bits of fruit thrown in. Killer! A little too sweet sounding, but I will admit that ambrosia is one thing that I can't resist at barbecues! Fearless-- ARGH. I have been craving peanut butter cookies recently, and that sounds like the most perfect thing ever. I'm definitely going to try that! As you can tell with my liberal peppering of exclamation points, I'm a bit sugar high. I think I'll have to detox over the weekend.

It was in the link, but I put it here for you. Butter Cream Frosting for Sugar Cookies 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick) 1 box 10X powered sugar (around 3 cups if using a bulk bag) 1 tsp vanilla flavoring 2 to 3 TBS milk Food coloring Sugar sprinkles (for after the cookies are frosted) Directions: Again, let the butter/margarine sit out and soften. That makes mixing much easier, and it¡¦s also easier to get the correct consistency when adding the milk. If the butter is cold, then it gets too thin as it warms up. If this does happen, just add a little more powdered sugar. Cream the butter and powdered sugar putting in about a half cup of powdered sugar at time. If the powdered sugar looks pretty lumpy, it¡¦s a good idea to sift it, so you don¡¦t have sugar balls in the frosting. Mix well. Add the vanilla. Mix. Add around 1 TBS of milk and mix. Continue adding a tsp or so until the frosting is the right consistency for spreading. If you discover you¡¦ve made it too thin, stir in a little sugar. If it¡¦s too thick or starts to get too thick as you decorate add just a tiny bit more milk and stir. Add a couple of drops of food coloring and mix if you want a single color batch. It¡¦s more fun, however, to divide the frosting into small bowls and let everyone make a color. Be warned that some people (mostly boys) will put in all the colors and make ugly brown frosting. It still tastes great. And, this really is about having fun. If you want sugar sprinkles, then take some regular table sugar. Put a 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so in a zip lock bag. Add a little squirt of food coloring. Squeeze the bag until the sugar is all colored. It's fun also to divide the sugar out and make various colors like with the frosting. Sprinkle on the colored sugar. You may need to very lightly tap the sugar on top of the frosting if the frosting is starting to set. If you want the sugar sprinkles but not buttercream frosting, then make up the colored sugar and pat that on before baking the sugar cookies. If you try to put colored sugar on cookies without frosting after they're baked, the sugar will not stick.

Potpie, I've made this recipe for years Here's my long time favorite cut out cookie dough. If I remember correctly it was originally in a BH+G magazine in the late 70's. I usually double it in my KA mixer and usually make at least three bowls of the dough. I have a very large tree shape cookie cutter (about 9") and love to make and decorate special cookies for those that love cutouts. This dough is one that you can roll thick, if you like a softer cutout, yet still holds up. CREAM CHEESE COOKIES 1½ C sugar 1 C unsalted butter 1 8oz pkg cream cheese 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp almond extract 3½ C flour (I like unbleached) 1 tsp baking powder In a mixing bowl cream sugar, butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add egg and flavorings, beat smooth' Stir together the flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly. FOR CUT-OUT COOKIES Chill dough. Roll out on surface dusted with a mixture of ½ powered sugar and ½ flour, ¼ to ½ inch thick depending on your preference. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet ( I line with parchment paper) and bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Watch for the edges to just barely begin to brown if you like a moist cookie. Cool and frost. COOKIE PRESS COOKIES Divide dough into portions and add desired colors. Force through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack. Before baking brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sprinkles if desired. Note...I have added about 4 oz of almond paste to the dough when making the cookie press cookies.....yum! FAVORITE ICING FOR CUTOUT COOKIES 2 c powered sugar, sifted 2 Tbsp softened butter ¼ tsp vanilla ¼ tsp almond extract 1 egg white ¼ C milk or cream Combine egg white and milk, set aside. Beat together powered sugar, butter and flavorings. Add small amounts of the milk mixture until icing is spreading consistency. Tint with desired colors. Using the egg white will give you a nice finish on the icing, the butter will keep it soft on the inside. Nancy