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Rogi's Kitchen

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Nabisco
Cheese Nips
Here's a clone recipe that gets one very important ingredient from another packaged product. The powdered cheese included in the Kraft instant macaroni & cheese kits flavors this homegrown version of the popular bright orange crackers. You'll need a can of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Cheese Topping or two boxes of the most inexpensive instant variety of macaroni & cheese; you know, the kind with the cheese powder. Two boxes will give you enough cheese to make 300 crackers. As for the macaroni left over in the box, just use that for another recipe requiring elbow macaroni.
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
(plus 1/2 cup divided & reserved for kneading and rolling)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Cheese Topping powder
(or 2 packages dry cheese powder from 2 boxes Kraft macaroni & cheese)
3 tablespoons shortening
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt (for tops, optional)
1. Sift together 1 cup flour, baking soda, baking powder and cheese powder in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the shortening with a fork and knife with a crosswise motion until dough is broken down into rice-size pieces. Mixture will still be very dry.
3. Stir in buttermilk with a fork until dough becomes very moist and sticky.
4. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the reserved flour over the dough and work it in until it can be handled without sticking, then turn it out onto a floured board, being sure to keep 1/4 cup of the reserve flour for later. Knead the dough well for 60 to 90 seconds, and the flour is incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a light coating of cooking spray on a baking sheet.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and use the remaining reserve flour to dust a rolling surface. Roll about one-third of the dough to just under 1/16th of inch thick. Trim the edges square (a pizza cutter or wheel works great for this), then transfer the dough to a lightly greased baking sheet. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough. Simply pick up one end of the dough onto a rolling pin, and roll the dough around the rolling pin. Reverse the process onto the baking sheet to transfer the dough.
7. Use a pizza cutter to cut across and down the dough, creating 1-inch square pieces. Use the blunt end of a skewer or broken toothpick to poke a hole in the center of each piece.
8. Sprinkle a very light coating of salt over the top of the crackers (crackers will already be quite salty) and bake for 8-10 minutes, mix the crackers around (so those on the edge don't burn) and bake for another 3-5 minutes, or until some are just barely turning a light brown. Repeat the rolling and baking process with the remaining dough. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
Makes approximately 300 crackers.
Copyright 1998© Top Secret Recipes, Inc. All Rights Reserved

DEVIL DOG CAKES

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Drake's Devil Dogs
Here's a clone recipe for a favorite east coast treat that could even fool Rosie O'Donnell. The snack food-loving talk show hostess professes her love for these tasty Drake's goodies quite often on her daytime show. And who could blame her? It's hard not to relish the smooth, fluffy filling sandwiched between two tender devil's food cake fingers. I'll take a Devil Dog over a Twinkie any day of the week. For this clone recipe, we'll make the cakes from scratch. This will help us to create a flavor and texture closest to the original, although the color will be much lighter than the real thing (the miracles of food coloring). But if you're feeling especially lazy, you can certainly use a devil's food cake mix in place of the scratch recipe here. Just make the filling with the recipe below and assemble your cakes the same way.
Cake
1 egg
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Filling
2 cups marshmallow creme (1 7-ounce jar)
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons very hot water
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, blend together the egg, shortening and sugar with an electric mixer. Continue beating while adding the milk and vanilla.
3. In another bowl sift together remaining ingredients -- flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
4. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and beat until smooth.
5. Spoon about a tablespoon of the batter in strips about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until the cakes are done. Cool.
6. In another bowl combine the marshmallow creme, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla. Dissolve the 1/8 teaspoon of salt in the 2 teaspoons of very hot water in a small bowl. Add this salt solution to the filling mixture and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until the filling is smooth and fluffy.
7. When the cakes have cooled, spread about a tablespoon of filling on the face of one cake and top it off with another cake. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
Makes 20-24 snack cakes.
Check out the e-mail tips & notes for this recipe.
Copyright 1998© Top Secret Recipes, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

FIDDLE FADDLE & SCREAMING YELLOW ZONKERS POPCORN

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Fiddle Faddle
&
Screaming Yellow Zonkers
I know the most popular candy corn out there is Cracker Jack, but my favorite has always been Screaming Yellow Zonkers and Fiddle Fiddle from Lincoln Snacks Company. Fiddle Faddle is butter toffee-coated popcorn with almonds thrown in. Screaming Yellow Zonkers (you gotta love the name) is similar, but without the almonds. The secret to the yellow coloring of the Zonkers: buttered popcorn.
Fiddle Faddle (butter toffee with almonds)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 bags plain or natural-flavored microwave popcorn
1/2 cup roasted almonds
Zonkers
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 bags butter-flavored microwave popcorn
1. For either recipe, combine sugar, butter, corn syrup, water and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat. You're going to bring the candy to 265-275 degrees, or what is known as the hard ball stage. For this it's best to use a candy thermometer. If you don't have one, don't worry. Drip the candy into a small glass of cold water. If the candy forms a very hard, yet slightly pliable ball, bingo, you're there. Watch your mixture closely so that it doesn't boil over.
2. While candy cooks, pop both bags of popcorn and spread about 2 quarts or 1 1/3 bags of popcorn (plus almonds for Fiddle Faddle) on one large or two small cookie sheets. Put the popcorn in your oven set on its lowest temperature. This will keep the popcorn hot so that the candy will coat better.
3. When your candy has reached the hard ball stage, add the vanilla.
4. Pull the popcorn from the oven and, working quickly, pour the candy over the popcorn in thin streams. Mix the popcorn so that each kernel is coated with candy, put the popcorn back into the oven for five more minutes, then stir once again. This will help to coat each kernel. You can repeat this step once more if necessary to get all of the popcorn coated. Pour popcorn onto a large sheet of wax paper to cool. Spread the popcorn out, but be careful...it's hot.
5. When popcorn is cool, break it up and immediately put it into a tightly sealed container, such as Tupperware. This will ensure that it stays fresh. This stuff gets stale very quickly in moist climates if left out.
Makes about 4 quarts. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
Check out the e-mail tips & notes for this recipe.

FORTUNE COOKIES

Chinese Fortune Cookies Iii
Categories: Chinese, Cookies, Desserts
Servings: 48

3 Large egg whites
3/4 c Sugar
1/8 t Salt
1/4 lb Butter, melted
1/4 t Vanilla
1/4 t Almond extract
1 c Sifted all-purpose flour
2 T Water
Combine egg whites, sugar & salt. Beat in, one ingredient at a time, the butter, extracts, flour & water. Blend thoroughly & chill for 20 minutes.Preheat to 350 deg. Do just 2 or 3 cookies at a time. Drop slightly rounded teaspoonsful of thick batter for each cookie onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Spread the dough very thin, using the back of the spoon, making rounds about 3 inches in diameter. Bake for 5 min., or until the edges begin to brown lightly. Remove to a wire rack. Working quickly, place a fortune in the center of each cookie. Fold opposite sides together, crease crosswise at the center of the straight edge to form a flattened side, then bend backward for the traditional shape. Cool in muffin tins or small glasses to hold shape. Makes about 4 dozen. Shared by Micheal Kean, Prodigy ID# VMXV03A

GRAHAM CRACKERS

Title: Homemade Graham Crackers
Categories: Breads, Quickbreads, Tested Yield: 1 servings

3 c Whole wheat flour
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Baking powder
1/4 t Cinnamon
6 T Butter
1/2 c Honey

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon into a bowl.

Melt together the butter and honey. Pour into dry ingredients

Mix with a fork, then push the dough together with your hands. Don't knead or overmix. Place the dough on a well-floured surface, and roll it with a well-floured rolling pin to 1/8" thick. Cut rectangles (approximately 1 1/4" x 3") with a knife, and prick them with a fork.
Place on a lightly-greased baking tray, and bake for just 10 minutes in a 375 degrees F. oven. Cool on a rack.

**Way too wet. Had to add a lot more flour. They were excellent though**

JALEPENO CHEESE CRACKERS

Title: Jalepeno Cheese Crackers
Categories: Appetizers
Yield: 1 servings

3 oz Cheddar cheese; 1/2" cubes
-about 1/2 cup
1 tb Jalapeno pepper
-seeded & minced or to taste
1/3 c Butter; cold,
-cut in 1/2" cubes
3/4 c Flour; all purpose
1/4 c Cornmeal
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Chili powder
1/4 ts Mustard; dry
4 tb -Water; ice

Preheat oven to 400F. Process cheese and jalapeno in food processor till chopped in 1/4" pieces. Add butter, pulse on and off till size of small peas. Stir flour with cornmeal, salt, chili powder and mustard in small bowl till blended. Add to mixture in processor, pulse on and off just till blended. Sprinkle water evenly over mixture in processor. Pulse on and off just till dough begins to form into a ball. Shape dough into 8" disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate till firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes.
On floured surface, roll dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut in 2" rounds with cookie cutter or wine glass. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet. Prick each cracker once with fork. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or till crisp. Transfer to rack to cool. Store in airtight container. Makes 50 crackers.

OREO COOKIE CLONES

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Nabisco Oreo
(Wafers)
When I first designed the Oreo cookie clone recipe for the second book, More Top Secret Recipes, I decided that a cake mix would suit the recipe best. However, the variety and brand I chose -- Duncan Hines Dark Dutch Fudge -- became unavailable in many parts of the country. Now, for all of my faithful readers, it is time to fix that problem with a cake mix that should be available everywhere. Many of the ingredients have changed to create an even more tender, chocolatey cookie that can be the same color as the real thing if you decide to add some brown paste food coloring. You will also note that the method has been improved to create cookies that are more uniform in size by using a spice bottle lid on the thinly rolled out dough. This will allow you to make your wafers faster, and they will all be the same size. The filling recipe remains the same, and can be found on page 68 of More Top Secret Recipes. For those of you who don't have the book (and, of course, for those who do), tune in next week for a brand-new recipe that requires these wafers. (Hint: T.M.)
1 18.25-ounce pkg. Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix
3 tablespoons shortening, melted
1/2 cup cake flour, measured then sifted
1 egg
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons brown paste food coloring (optional)*
1. Combine the cookie ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water a little bit at a time until the dough forms. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. On a lightly floured surface roll out a portion of the dough to just under one 16th of an inch thick. To cut, use a lid from a spice container with a 1 1/2-inch diameter (Schilling brand is good). Arrange the cut dough rounds on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with a light coating of non-stick spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove wafers from the oven and cool completely.
4. As the cookies bake, make the filling (recipe in More Top Secret Recipes on page 68).
5. When the cookies have cooled, roll a small portion (heaping 1/4 teaspoon) of the filling into a ball (just over 1/4-inch in diameter), and press it between two of the cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
[http://www.topsecretrecipes.com] Makes 108-116 wafers; for 54-58 sandwich cookies.
*This is an optional step to help recreate the color of the original cookie. If you do not use the paste food coloring be sure to change the amount of water added to the wafer cookies from 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. The food coloring gives the cookies the dark brown, almost black color. The coloring can be found with cake decorating supplies at art supply and craft stores.
Tidbits
If the dough seems too tacky, you can work in as much as 1/4 cup of flour as you pat out and roll the dough. Use just enough flour to make the dough workable, but not tough.

SODA CRACKERS

Title: Soda Crackers
Categories: Breads, Quickbreads
Yield: 1 servings

4 c flour
1 t baking powder
3/4 c shortening
1 1/3 c milk

Mix flour, baking powder and shortening as for a pie crust. Add liquid and cut in with a knife. Form a ball of dough and cut into four pieces. Roll 1/4 out very thin. Cut with biscuit or cookie cutter (2" diameter) and place on cookie sheet. Prick with a fork 4-5 times and sprinkle with salt (to your own taste.)
Bake at 375 degrees until golden. May be turned once. Watch carefully.

TWINKIE FILLING

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Hostess Twinkie
Creme Filling
Recently I've had an opportunity to go back and improve the recipe for the Hostess Twinkie clone found on page 47 of the first book, "Top Secret Recipes." Specifically, I wanted to make the creme filling more stable, using non-dairy ingredients, so that it could not spoil and would be easier to make. Here now, is the much improved recipe, using fewer ingredients than the original clone, and with marshmallow creme as the new secret component. This recipe is for all of you who have supported the site by buying the books, since the cake part of the recipe and mold-making technique is not included here. But even if you don't have the books, I'm sure you can find many uses for this versatile, commercial-style, creme filling. Hope you like it!
2 teaspoons very hot water
rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups marshmallow creme (1 7-ounce jar)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1. Combine the salt with the hot water in a small bowl and stir until salt is dissolved. Let this mixture cool.
2. Combine the marshmallow creme, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix well with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy.
3. Add the salt solution to the filling mixture and combine.
Makes 1 1/2 cups.

VANILLA WAFERS COOKIES CLONE

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Nabisco
Nilla Wafers
Here's a simple recipe. It's a kitchen clone of those tasty, tan, poker chip-like cookies from Nabisco. The real things come about 100 to a box and really fly when whipped into the air with a little flick of the wrist and forearm. They also skip nicely across the lake on a boring fishing trip. Next week we'll springboard, and vary this recipe only slightly to create a clone for a different aerodynamic cookie from another manufacturer.
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon water
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream together sugars, shortening, egg, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add the the flour and baking powder. Add 1 tablespoon of water and continue mixing until dough forms a ball.
4. Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and flatten slightly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cookies are light brown. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
Makes 50-56 cookies.

WAFER COOKIES, CHOCOLATE