Entry for Thursday, December 28, 2006 - For My Snowed In Reader in Denver

These recipes are for my friend who lives in Denver and is probably now snowed in again for the second time in a week. Have fun hibernating! I sure hope that you two plugged up that vent in the attic for this snow storm.

Mint Surprise Cookies

Sift together:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

Cream:

1 Cup butter (or margarine)

1 Cup sugar

½ Cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

Blend into Creamed Mixture:

2 eggs unbeaten

2 tbsp. water

1 tsp. vanilla

Add dry ingredients, mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Take 1 package of chocolate mint wafers; enclose each wafer in about 1 tablespoon of chilled dough. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2” apart. Top each cookie with a walnut half. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (Trader Joe's carries a chocolate mint wafer. They call them UFO's.)

Southern Coconut Cake

3 cups self-rising flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup water

½ cup vegetable oil

1 stick of margarine

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup buttermilk

1 tbsp. coconut extract

Sift together flour, sugar and soda. In a small saucepan, melt margarine with water and oil. Add to flour mixture then add remaining ingredients. Bake in a 13x9 inch pan at 350 degrees until golden brown (about 45 minutes, but test for your oven). Cool.

Icing

1 large (16 oz.) sour cream

1 box confectioner’s sugar

2 pkgs. frozen coconut (thawed)

Mix together the sour cream, confectioner’s sugar and two packages of coconut. Pour over the cake. Refrigerate.

(I found that I had to move the cake into a larger pan to accommodate all of the soupy frosting mix, but it made for a better presentation.)