I've adapted this recipe from one I cut from the newspaper and a similar one from a magazine. It looks like a xmas wreath and is just elegant on a Holiday Buffet! WARNING -- JUST READING THIS RECIPE CAN CAUSE YOUR COLESTEROL TO SKYROCKET! PARIS BREST Puff Ring 1 Cup Water 4 Large Eggs ½ Cup Unsalted Butter 1 Teaspoon Sugar ¼ Teaspoon Salt 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour Sliced Almonds Egg Yolk Wash Red and Green Candied Cherries Combine water, butter, sugar and salt in heavy saucepan and bring to boil. Add flour all at once, then beat with wooden spoon over low heat 1 minute or until mixture leaves sides of pan and forms a mixture that does not separate. Remove from heat and beat about 2 minutes to cool mixture slightly. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each until mixture has a satin-like sheen. Butter a 9" circle on cookie sheet. Drop paste by ¼ measuring cupfuls just inside circumference of circle so that it forms a ring. Top with sliced almonds and brush top and almonds with egg yolk wash. Bake in preheated 400 oven 40 minutes or until puffed and well-browned. Cool on wire rack. A few hours before serving, carefully slice ring crosswise with long, sharp, thin-bladed knife and gently lift off top. Fill with Crème Patisserie see below -- (or other filling) and replace top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and place red and green candied cherries at intervals around the ring, decoratively spaced. Bottoms of the cherries may be touched with a drop of cold water to make them stick to the ring. Crème Patisserie Filling 2/3 Cup Sugar ½ Cup Flour 2 Eggs 4 Egg Yolks 2 Cups Hot Milk 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Flavoring 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream In heavy-bottomed saucepan, mix sugar, flour, eggs and yolks. Gradually stir in hot milk and cook over medium heat, stirring continually until smooth and thick. This custard MUST NOT BOIL. Remember: you are going to add a cup of shipped cream so be sure the custard mixture is thicker than usual. Add the vanilla flavoring. Cool, stirring occasionally. In a separate cooled bowl, whip up whipping cream until stiff. When custard Mixture is cool, fold in whipped cream until smooth. Fill puff ring. It tastes as good as it looks. Enjoy!

Chocolate Espresso Cookies ½ cup cocoa 2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 stick (½ cup) butter 3 large eggs 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons finely ground coffee beans ¾ cup all-purpose flour 1/3 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with Parchment paper or grease. Melt butter over low heat and stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips until smooth; remove from heat and stir in cocoa. In a electric mixer bowl beat eggs, sugar and ground coffee on high speed until very thick, pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt stirring by had just until combined. Fold in remaining chocolate chips. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons about 2-inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake in middle of oven 8 to 10 minutes until puffed and cracked on top. Do not over bake. Cool on baking sheet at least 1 minute. Cool completely on rack. Makes 40 cookies Marilyn

Duane, I have only ever used unbleached all-purpose flour. But italian pasta is made from semolina, isn't it? The dough really is just pasta, just made a bit moister than I would make pasta to run through my pasta machine. I actually have made this pasta with a little less water and run it through my pasta machine to make linguini. If you try it, let us know how it works! Oh, and you are right, you can stuff them with whatever you want! Kind of like making kolache, there are traditional fillings (prune, poppy seed, apricot) but noone has ever turn up their nose at mixed berry, pineapple, or even pecan (like a pecan tassie). Chase, I reheat them a couple different ways. I either just put the number I want on a plate and nuke them from frozen (doesn't take long, you don't want to make the pasta tough), or I set them out to thaw for about 45 minutes to an hour then (as mentioned above) I pan fry them in a bit of butter. They taste good both ways! We have always frozen them cooked so the hubbies (none of who are interested in spending time in the kitchen) can go heat them up themselves whenever the urge stricks. For my hubbie the urge stricks often! All the talk about cheese pierogi and fruit pierogi are making me want those, but I really don't want to make any more just now! Joanne

Did I mention the prize? $150 for the team with the most participants and $50 to the winning baker. party_music50......that's a beautiful platter of sweets! WOW! That's a winner! Jasdip....they look delicious! The chocolate chip cookies lose every year. The judges are looking for "unusual". A bar cut to look like a cookie is sort of cheating....but it's got an edginess to it maybe....I'm giving it a try. rhizo......I'm comfortably retired from the computer industry. This is my "something to do job" & medical insurance. I work in a call center. It's monotonous, so they do "something" almost every week to "entertain" us. We have young people working there, but the majority are people who were layed off and ended up, not by choice, getting a job there, out of their comfort zone. Lots of people with college degrees. The company will even pay for your college degree while working there. Kayjones....Megan is a chef(culinary degree), owns her own catering business on the side. She suggested making those. Here's what I have so far. I made carrot delights(in 1956 they won a cooking contest, my sisters favorite) and pecan bars made in a jelly roll pan, then cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter when cooled. Murraysmoms recipe) This post was edited by nicole__ on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 17:46