Dutch Cookie Tutorial & an International Progressive Dinner

A couple months ago my Sunday School class planned an International Progressive Dinner. =) We had so much fun that we are planning to do another one this year!! We may do something in the summer or early fall since it would be a little warmer to get in & out of the cars & houses.

Tips for Successfully Planning Your Own Progressive Dinner:

1. (Optional Step) Figure out how many couples are interested in attending, either by a hard copy sign-up sheet or digitally through Evite (which I LOVE) this number will help you in your food preparations & in finding hosts that are comfortable having that many people in their homes. I believe we had nine couples total.
2. Next, nail down how many courses you will be providing. The course options are appetizers, cheese and vegetable course, soup and/or salad, main course, & dessert. Our particular progressive dinner only had three stops. First stop was appetizers, then main course, last stop- dessert.
3. Now you'll want to find your hosts. I would suggest letting them pick what course they would prefer doing. You can even team people up. For instance, if you found a host home but he or she would feel more comfortable having some help preparing their course you can have people volunteer to help by bringing a side dish for the main course or making an extra dessert or it could be as simple as bringing some drinks. If you are one of the hosts, prepare you meal (or dessert) the night before that way the day of the progressive dinner you can just throw it in the oven and still participate in the courses before yours....by the time guests arrive at your house for the main meal it will be hot & ready to eat!
4. Coordinate a date & time with all of your hosts. Collect all the host's addresses & phone numbers. I calculated how much time it took to drive from each hosts house & was able to relay that to the guests.
5. Send out a formal invitation to all guests. Include all appropriate information (ex. House 1, appetizers- Jane & John Doe, address, phone number, any special instructions from hosts regarding parking, & RSVP date.... etc.) You can choose whether you want to disclose the menu or keep it as a surprise at each house. I left the menu up to the hosts.
6. Offer carpooling to the guests that way it minimizes the number of cars going to each person's house. Some houses have assigned parking, minimal guest parking, or easily annoyed neighbors. You can suggest meeting at a grocery store & that way you'd be limiting the amount of cars going to each house.
7. This is HUGE!! You must find out if anyone in your group has food allergies. There is a person in our group that is highly allergic to peanuts. You must find this out & make all of your hosts aware of this allergy.
8. Once all of your RSVPs come in be sure to inform your hosts of the exact number of people to expect. Call those who missed the RSVP date.
9. The day of the progressive dinner have a time limit at each house. This will eliminate the night dragging on-and-on or spending too much time at one house & not enough time at another. I believe we spent a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes at each house. I would definitely inform your hosts of the time limit at each house...that way if they want to leave a little earlier to get to their own house first they can get a head start.
10. Eat a lot and HAVE FUN!!! =)

I teamed up with the host that did desserts. I made Mexican wedding cookies first & I didn't like how they turned out, so I made Dutch cookies too. =) 

Dutch Cookies Recipe 
(Original Recipe from All Recipes)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening (make sure this is NOT vegetable shortening, if you use vegetable shortening your cookies WILL NOT turn out right....trust me, I know) =)

1 cup white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

salt to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Cream together the butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to sugar mixture and mix well, being careful not to over mix.

4. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten each with the tines of a fork. Do this a few times, depending on the size of cookie and fork.

5. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes. After each pan is removed from oven, carefully place chocolate chips on top of each cookie while they are still hot. When chocolate is glossy and soft, spread with back of spoon.

I did a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough and rolled into balls.

I took my fork & flattened the cookie.

I flattened it again the opposite direction.

I made sure the whole cookie had ridges.

These ridges are for the melted chocolate to better stick to.

AS SOON AS you remove the cookies from the oven place chocolate chips on top. I put as many would fit. As you can see some would roll off and get onto the pan...I tried to salvage as many strays as I could. =)

Once the chocolate chips start getting glossy...this means that they are melted.

I used the back of a spoon to spread the chocolate to cover the tops of each cookie.

I removed them from the pan after each cookie's chocolate chips were spread. You have to let them solidify again before you can package them up or put them on a serving tray. I made these the morning of our progressive dinner so they would be hardened by that evening. These cookies are SOOO easy to make & they are SOOO good!!! They remind me of Pepperidge Farms' Geneva Cookies minus the crushed pecans on top...which wouldn't be hard to add to these cookies.

Dan & Angela were the hosts for the appetizers.

She made these AMAZING Spanish meatballs & Crab Tartlets. I made sure I got the recipe from her. 

Spanish Meatballs in Almond Sauce Recipe

MEATBALL Ingredients

2 ounces white or brown bread, crusts removed

3 tablespoons water

1 pound lean ground pork

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus extra to garnish

1 egg, beaten

freshly grated nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

flour, for coating

2 tablespoons Spanish olive oil

squeeze of lemon juice

ALMOND SAUCE Ingredients

2 tablespoons Spanish olive oil

1 ounce white or brown bread, torn into pieces

4 ounces blanched almonds

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 fluid ounces dry white wine

salt & pepper to taste

15 fluid ounces vegetable stock

Instructions

1. To prepare the meatballs, put the bread in a bowl, add the water and soak for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water & return the bread to dried bowl. Add the pork, onion, garlic, parsley, and egg, then season with nutmeg & a little salt & pepper. Knead well to form into smooth mixture.

2. Spread some flour on a plate with floured hands, shape the meat mixture into about 30 equal-sized balls, then coat each meatball in flour. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy frying pan and cook the meatballs in batches, for 4-5 minutes or until browned all over. Remove from the pan & set aside.

3. To make the almond sauce, heat the olive oil in the frying pan. Add the bread & almonds & cook gently, stirring, until golden. Add the garlic & cook for 30 seconds, then add the wine and boil for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste and let cool. Whiz in a food processor with the stock until smooth. Return to pan.

4. Carefully add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 25 minutes or until the meatballs are tender. Transfer the meatballs & almond sauce to a serving dish, then add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley to garnish & serve with crusty bread.

Crab Tartlets Recipe

CRAB MEAT Ingredients

I tablespoon Spanish olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

splash of dry white wine

2 eggs

5 fluid ounces milk or lite cream

6 ounces canned crab meat, drained

2 ounces manchego or parmesan cheese, grated

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

PASTRY Ingredients

12 ounce plain flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt

6 ounces butter

2 tablespoons cold water

*NOTE from Angela- I don't make my own dough. I buy the 2-pack pie pastries, the ones rolled up & individually wrapped in the refrigerated aisle. I get 24 tartlets out of 2 pie pastries. I use one of my drinking glasses to cut out the circles in the pastry dough.

Instructions

1. To prepare the crab meat filling, heat the olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan, add the onion & cook for 5 minutes or until softened but not browned. Add the garlic & cook for an additional 30 seconds. Add a splash of wine & cook for 1-2 minutes or until most of the wine has evaporated.

2. Lightly whisk eggs in a large mixing bowl, then whisk in the milk or cream. Add the crab meat, cheese, parsley, & the onion mixture. Season with nutmeg, salt & pepper & mix well together.

3. To prepare the pastry, mix the flour & salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, cut into small pieces and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually stir in enough of the water to form a firm dough.

4. On a lightly floured surface, thinly roll out the pastry. Using a plain, round 2 3/4 inch cutter, cut out 24 circles. Use to line 24 1 1/2 inch tartlet tins *NOTE from Angela- I used cupcake tins. Carefully spoon the crab meat mixture into the pastry cases, taking care not to overfill them. Bake in preheated oven @ 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown & set. Serve hot or cold.

She even had a cheese tray & tortilla chips with a variety of dips.  

 Everything was delicious!

I see a lot of happy faces! =)

Next stop was Henry & Kim's house for the main meal. She made shredded chicken & shredded beef enchiladas. Shalee helped Kim by making Spanish rice as a side. I don't have either of their recipes. *tears*

I did find this recipe for shredded beef enchiladas on All Recipes. It had 4 1/2 stars out of 5 with 310 people making reviews...that's a pretty good score.

Everyone is in line...so hungry... 

Last but not least we had dessert at Karis & Curtis's house. I asked a lady at my church (who makes 'to-die-for' baklava) to make a batch of her greek baklava for our progressive dinner. She was more then happy to do so...& I'm so glad too because they were amazing!!!!

These are the Mexican wedding cookies that I made. I thought they were too dry. Some people agreed with me, but some of them loved them & were dipping them in their coffee...so to each their own, I guess.

Karis & Curtis made this Italian Love cake (aka Torta di Amore). This cake is definitely worth the calories!!!!

I'm telling you this cake was sooooo good. They said it was really simple to make too.

Italian Love Cake (aka Torti di Amore) Recipe
(Original recipe from Diane's Desserts)

*Note- When the cake is baking, the ricotta cheese drops down from the top of the cake to the middle of the cake, almost to the bottom.

CAKE Ingredients:

1 box dark chocolate cake mix (you don’t have to have to use dark, you can use regular chocolate cake mix instead)

2 pints ricotta cheese

4 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ingredients needed to add to cake mix:

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or vegetable oil

3 eggs

FROSTING Ingredients:

1 small box (3.4 oz. size) instant chocolate pudding mix

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup milk

1 (8 oz.) container non-dairy whipped topping, thawed

CAKE Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9X13 inch rectangular cake pan.

2. Prepare cake mix as directed on cake mix box for a 9X13 inch cake pan.

3. . Pour batter into prepared pan and set aside. Do NOT bake yet.

4. . With an electric mixer set on medium speed, blend ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Spoon ricotta mixture evenly over unbaked cake batter. Do NOT mix. The cake rises above the ricotta cheese mixture while baking.

5. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. *Note- If using a spring form pan, release sides of spring form pan and place cake on serving plate. If using a ring cake mold, invert cake onto a plate to prepare for frosting. If using cake pan with removable bottom, push bottom of pan up with a coffee can, or something similar in size and shape and carefully remove cake from pan bottom. Transfer cake to serving plate.

FROSTING Instructions:

Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, combine instant pudding mix, confectioners' sugar, and milk; add whipped topping and beat at a low speed until creamy. Spread frosting over cooled cake. Garnish top with confectioners’ sugar.

Look familiar? Love these delightful cookies!

There you have it. An entire night of delicious recipes...now I'm drooling & hungry!! =) Perhaps I will eat a snack. =) Enjoy!!