The wonderful people at Afternoon Live asked me to talk about throwing an Oscar Party.  It was a blast!  Here’s the link:

http://katu.com/afternoon-live/lifestyle-health/oscar-party-tips

And here are the recipes for the soda and cookies!

Ginger Rogers Soda

Makes 6 cups of soda

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and cut into discs
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 cups seltzer water

1. Place the sugar, the water, sliced ginger, and ground ginger into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
2. Add the lemon juice and stir.  Strain. You will have approximately 2 cups of ginger syrup (don’t worry if it’s not syrupy).
3. Mix with 4 cups seltzer water for a ginger lemony fizz!
4. To double your pleasure, add vodka or tequila.

La La Biscotti

Ingredients

• 2 ½ Cups All-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ½ Cup (1 Stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate, chopped into chunks from chocolate bar (I like at 60% cacao)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
3. Using a wooden spoon or a standing mixer, beat sugar, butter, eggs and extracts until well blended.
4. Mix in flour mixture and then the chocolate.
5. Using floured hands separate into two logs, 2 ½ inches wide, 9 ½ inches long, 1 inch high.  Transfer logs onto baking sheet.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes.
7. Cool logs on a rack for 5 minutes, maintaining oven temperature.
8. Using a large knife, cut logs into diagonal slices about 3/4 inch wide.  Arrange slices on sheet pan and bake 7 minutes.
9. Turn biscotti over and bake another 5 minutes.  The trick here is to not overbake the biscotti as they can become very hard to bite and challenging to chew.

 Manchester by the Sea Salted Butterscotch Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups butterscotch chips
• Flake salt, such as Maldon, to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl to your standing mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar and mix until fluffy.  Add the eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and water, and mix thoroughly.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
4. Beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients gradually.
5. Stir in almonds and butterscotch chips.
6. Drop rounded spoonfuls of batter onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with flake salt and enjoy!

Mintlight Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 ½ tsp. peppermint oil
• ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
•  1 ½ pounds bittersweet chocolate

1. Place the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse a few times to combine the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the egg yolks, peppermint oil, and vanilla and pulse until a dough forms on the blades of the food processor.
2. Remove the dough from the food processor and shape into a 2-inch-thick log. Wrap in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick disks and arrange 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes, switching the position of the cookie sheets midway through so they cook evenly until the cookies are light brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on racks. Make sure to let the baking sheets cool between batches. Do not handle the cookies until they are cool, or they’ll break;  they’re very delicate.
5. Bring an inch of water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Drop heat down to low.  Melt and temper the bittersweet chocolate in a stainless steel bowl placed on top of the saucepan with water. Keep the chocolate warm by keeping on a low flame.  Place a sheet pan upside down on your work surface, next to the melted chocolate. Cover with parchment paper. Dip the cookies one by one in the chocolate, using a fork to turn them over and then lift them out of the chocolate. Set the dipped cookies on the parchment, beginning at the far end so you don’t drip chocolate on other cookies when you set them down.
6. Let them cool on the parchment while taking your official Girl Scout oath to share your cookies with others.  Yeah, right!