MELBA’S SWAP SHOP

ADDED CANDY MAKES BETTER COOKIES

DEAR MELBA: These cookies can be made without the M&M candies, but then they’ll only be sugar cookies.

M&M COOKIES

Makes: About 3 dozen cookies. ¾ cup butter or margarine

1 ½ cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt

1 cup plain M&M candies

½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to butter-sugar mixture, mixing well. Stir in M&M candy and nuts. Mix well and drop by tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 10-to-12 minutes or until lightly browned. — Dave Farrington, Midwest City

FAITH AND BEGORRAH!

DEAR MELBA: Let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a recipe for make ahead mashed potatoes. You really do need to make them a day ahead of serving them.

MAKE AHEAD MASHED POTATOES

Serves: 8 to 10.

5 pounds red potatoes

¼ cup butter, room temperature

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature 1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons minced garlic

½ medium onion, chopped½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Spray 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with nonstick spray. Do not peel potatoes but scrub them until you’re sure they’re clean. Cut each in half. Put in large saucepan. Cover with water and cook until tender. When tender, drain and mash.

Add butter. cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, onion, salt and pepper, stirring until melted and mixture is light and fluffy. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cover and put in refrigerator until the next day.

When ready to serve, bake, covered, in 350 F oven 25-to-30 minutes or until heated through.

— Betty, Oklahoma City

ASKED AND ANSWERED

DEAR MELBA: You recently had a reader who asked for dip recipes. I think he’ll like this one.

CORN DIP

1 can (29 ounces) Mexican Fiesta corn

1 can (4 ounces) green chilies, chopped

1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped, optional

6 green onions, chopped, optional

1 cup sour cream

¾ cup mayonnaise

In medium skillet, bring corn to boil. Remove from heat and drain. To corn, add chilies, jalapenos, onions, sour cream and mayonnaise. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight. Serve with tortilla chips. — Fern, Oklahoma City

DEAR MELBA: In response to Howard Crain’s request in your Feb. 28 column for yeast that makes “fresh bread that tastes like yeast and fills the kitchen with that good yeast aroma,” may I offer the following suggestion: Use the regular packets of dry yeast and “lager” the dough, that is, keep the dough cold during the rising phase. Place the finished dough in a plastic bag and refrigerate it, punching the dough down every day for about three days, then form the loaves, let rise at room temperature and bake.

This method gives the esters in the yeast more time to grow and develop into what we associate with yeasty flavor and aroma. — Fred

INFO PLEASE

DEAR MELBA: Remember Queen Ann’s Cafeteria? They served a wonderful layered red gelatin salad. It had a white layer that was probably cream cheese and possibly cool whip also a layer with blueberries in it. I would love to have the recipe if anyone has it.

— Lois White DEAR MELBA: Would you please ask readers if they know of any grocery stores in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area who still carry Crescent Mapleine Imitation Maple Flavoring? Thank you. — Laura

SIGNS FROM ABOVE

DEAR MELBA: I was in Hartshorne recently and saw this church sign: Fear is failure to figure God into the equation. — Mary Lee Colwell, Oklahoma City

DEAR MELBA: Sign on a church: Burden Drop-off center — Matthew 11:28.

— Sandy Killian, Oklahoma City

If you have a problem other readers might help solve or an idea you’d like to share, email mlovelace@oklahoman.com or write to Melba’s Swap Shop, Box 25125, Oklahoma City, OK 73125. Please include your name and address.