What comes to mind when someone asks
What comes to mind
when someone asks - "What is your favorite Christmas cookie?" Perhaps jam-filled
thumbprint cookies, buttery spritz cookies, or sugar cookies cut out in holiday
shapes and decorated with lots of icing and sprinkles? Find traditional recipes
and new decorating ideas for this year's holiday baking.
Sugar Cookies
Makes 8 dozen
Cream butter and sugar until light
and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in
cream. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to
creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to
handle.
On a lightly floured surface, roll
out dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters. Place on ungreased
baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Remove to wire racks to cool. Frost and decorate as desired.
Christmas
Crescent Cookies
1/2 lb. butter (2
sticks)
2 cup flour
2 cup chopped
pecans
5 tablespoons
sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream butter and
sugar; add vanilla and water. Sift flour and salt, stir into mixture. Add pecans
and mix well. Roll into a ball the size of a walnut and shape into crescent.
Bake slowly at 325° F about 20 minutes. While warm, roll into powdered sugar.
Stained Glass
Window Cookies
These cookies
have open spaces filled with crushed hard candy (bright colors work best). When
baked, the candy melts and the cookie becomes a lovely stained glass window. We
don't recommend eating them, they are mostly for decoration. They can be eaten,
but the melted candy gets very hard.
2/3 cup butter or
margarine
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon
vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose
flour
2 teaspoons baking
powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
40 pieces of
colored hard candy
Preheat oven to
350°F. Grease cookie sheets very well or line with parchment paper. In a large
bowl, cream butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and eggs. In another bowl, sift
together flour, baking powder and salt; add to egg mixture alternately with
milk. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 1/4
to 1/2 inch wide strips and, on a well-buttered baking sheet, form into window
frames. Alternately, cut with graduated cookie cutters so that there is a hole
in the middle of each cookie. Keeping the colors separate, place candy in
plastic bags and crush into small bits. Place crushed candies inside window
frames. Bake for six minutes, or until candy is just melted. Cool on baking
sheet for 5 minutes, until candy is hard. Carefully lift cookies off baking
sheet with spatula.
Date Filled
Cookies
Makes about 30
1 cup dates,
pitted and chopped
1/2 cup granulated
sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter or
margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed
brown sugar
1-1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon
baking soda
1-1/4 cups rolled
oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to
350° F. In a small saucepan over low heat, mix dates, sugar and 1/2 cup of
water. Stir occasionally for 15 minutes, or until thick and smooth. Cream
together butter and brown sugar. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add
flour to butter mixture and mix well. Add the oatmeal and mix well. Add 2 to 4
tablespoons of water. Form dough into a ball and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Roll dough to 1/8" thickness and cut into 2" rounds. Place 1/2 of the rounds on
cookie sheets. Spoon date mixture in the center of each round and top with
another round. Press edges firmly together. Bake 15 minutes or until browned.
Thumbprint
Cookies
Makes about 20
2/3 cup unsalted
butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated
sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup finely
chopped nuts of choice
1/3 cup jam (any
flavor)
Preheat oven to
350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat. In a
large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg
yolks, vanilla extract and salt. Gradually stir in flour. Form dough into 1-inch
diameter balls. Dip in lightly beaten egg whites, then roll in nuts. Place 1
inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Press down center of each with thumb. Bake
for 16 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes,
then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Just before serving, fill centers
of cookies with jam. Or, fill centers with 1/2 jam before baking.
Holiday
Shortbread
Makes about 6 dozen
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter;
gradually add sugar and beat well. Add vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix
until dough forms ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/2" thick.
Cut into 1-1/2" squares, diamonds or triangles. Place on ungreased baking sheet
and sprinkle with colored sanding sugar. Bake at 325° for 14-18 minutes or until
edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.
Christmas
Wreath Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted
butter
30 (3 cups) large
marshmallows
1-1/2 teaspoons
liquid green food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
4 cups cornflakes
2 tablespoons
cinnamon flavored red-hot candies
Spray a piece of
waxed paper with vegetable spray oil. Set aside. Melt the butter over low heat.
Add the marshmallows and melt them continuing to use low heat. Stir constantly,
until smooth (about 6 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in food
coloring and vanilla to blend well. Gently, stir in cornflakes, tossing
carefully until they are coated. Keep the mixture warm by placing the saucepan
in a bain marie or in a large pot or skillet filled with 1 inch of very hot tap
water. Replace the water in skillet as it cools or put over the very lowest heat
to sustain an even low temperature.
Working quickly to
prevent mixture from hardening before it is shaped, use two spoons (coated with
nonstick vegetable spray) or lightly greased fingers, to drop heaping
tablespoon-sized mounds of the cornflake mixture onto the sprayed waxed paper.
Shape into a wreath shape. While the wreaths are still sticky, decorate them
with the cinnamon red-hot candies.
When the wreaths
dry, you may string them with nylon string or gold ribbons and use them as tree
ornaments. If you want to do this, make a hole in the cookies before they harden
for the ribbon or string to pass through. These cookies stay fresh about a
month, stored in an airtight container. (Be sure not to store them until they
are completely cool.) They'll last indefinitely as tree ornaments.
Spritz Cookies
Creates 6 dozen
cookies
2 cups butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or Almond Extract
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 400°F. Refrigerate UNGREASED cookie
sheets until ready to use.
In a large bowl, mix butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar; cream until light
and fluffy. Add egg and beat well; stir in vanilla extract. Gradually add flour
to mixture, beating well after each addition.
Pack the dough into a cookie press fitted with desired template (disks can
include wreath shapes, stars, crescents, etc). Press cookie dough through cookie
press, forming desired shapes, onto chilled ungreased cookie sheets about 1-inch
apart. NOTE: The first one or two sometimes are hard to start, but then it gets
easier. When making pressed cookies, hold the press upright, and force out the
dough until it appears at the edge of the mold--then lift the press away. The
dough should be pliable. If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate dough about 5
minutes or until firm enough to hold its shape (the dough will crumble if it is
too cold). Bake 6 to 9 minutes or until light brown. remove from oven and cool
on wire racks.
When cookies are completely cool, store airtight at room temperature for up to
several days. Freeze for longer storage. These cookies will pick up moisture
from the air; on a damp day it takes only six hours to turn crisp cookies into
soft cookies.
Chocolate Spritz - Add 2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate to powdered sugar
mixture. Be sure the chocolate is cool before adding to mixture.
Orange Spritz - Add 1 tablespoon grated orange zest with dry ingredients.
Date Pinwheel
Cookies
Makes 6 dozen
cookies
1-1/4 cups dates,
pitted and finely chopped
3/4 cup orange
juice
1/2 cup granulated
sugar
1 tablespoon
butter
3 cups plus 1
tablespoon flour, divided
2 teaspoons
vanilla, divided
1 cup packed brown
sugar
4 oz. cream
cheese, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking
soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine dates,
orange juice, granulated sugar, butter and 1 tablespoon flour in medium saucepan
over medium heat. Cook 10 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Remove
from heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla; set aside to cool.
Beat brown sugar,
cream cheese and shortening in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed
about 3 minutes or until creamy. Add eggs and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla, beat
2 more minutes.
Combine remaining
3 cups flour, baking soda and salt in bowl. Add to shortening mixture, stir
until blended. Divide dough in half. Roll half the dough on lightly floured
surface into 12 x 9 rectangle. Spread half of the date mixture evenly over the
dough, leaving 1/4 inch border at top short edge. Starting at opposite end,
tightly roll up dough like a jelly roll. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 1
hour. repeat with remaining dough and date mixture.
Preheat oven to
350° F. Grease cookie sheets. Using heavy thread or dental floss, cut dough into
1/4" slices. Place slices on cookie sheets.
Bake 12 minutes or
until lightly browned. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 2 minutes. remove to
wire racks to cool.
