Wonderful Christmas memories linger around the taste and smell of cookies fresh out of the oven. Many families pass their "secret" recipes through the generations. Following are recipes taken from www.christmas-cookies.com, one of the many web sites featuring the seasonal goodies. Bay Mills News staff plan to feature local recipes in future issues. We will be reprinting recipes from the cookbook created by the Bay Mills Child Development Center and also request our readers to submit their family favorites, be it cookies or any other dish. Please call Bay Mills News at 906-248-2258, fax to 906-248-2257, or email to newspaper@bmic.net.
Butterscotch Gingerbread People (Makes about 12)
1 small box butterscotch pudding mix (cook & serve)
1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
decorations or icing
Preheat oven to 350¡. Cream pudding mix, butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat egg in. Add dry ingredients and mix until blended. Roll out on floured board and cut with cookie cutters. Add candy buttons, cinnamon candy hearts or other decorations as desired. Bake for approximately 10 minutes and cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cookies may then be decorated with icing as desired. Makes approximately 12 large cookies, depending on size of cookie cutters.
Cherry Thumbprints
2/3 C unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 C granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 large egg whites
3/4 C finely chopped walnuts
5 red glac cherries, halved
5 green glac cherries, halved
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 20 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 to make a thumbprint. Place a cherry half in each indentation. 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.
Lime Pistachio Cookies
(Makes about 18)
For the cookies:
1 C butter or margarine, softened
1 C sugar
1 egg
2 C flour
1 tsp grated lime peel
1 C finely chopped pistachios
Cream butter and sugar; beat in egg. Stir in flour and lime peel; mix in pistachios. Refrigerate dough 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick; cut shapes with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned; cool. Pipe icing to outline cookies.
For the lime icing:
2 TBS butter or margarine
1 C powdered sugar
1 TBS milk
1/4 tsp grated lime peel
Beat butter with powdered sugar, milk, and lime peel until smooth. If frosting is too stiff, beat in a few drops more milk; if too soft, beat in more powdered sugar. Makes about 1 cup.
Norwegian Cookies
1 C sugar
1 C butter or margarine
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C finely chopped walnuts
red and/or green colored sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extracts; beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and nuts and beat until just moistened. Cover and chill until firm enough to handle. Shape into 1-inch balls; Place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Flatten with a glass dipped in colored sugar. Bake until cookies are set.
Peanut Blossoms
1 bag (8oz) Hershey's Kisses
1 egg
1/2 C shortening
2 TBS milk
3/4 C peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
additional granulated sugar
Heat oven to 375F. Remove candy wrappers. In large bowl, beat shortening and peanut butter until well blended. Add the 1/3 C of granulated sugar and all of the brown sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to peanut butter mixture. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in the additional granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately place kiss on top of each cookie, pressing down so cookie cracks around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.
The Ultimate Sugar Cookie
3/4 C Golden Crisco or Butter-flavored Crisco (shortening)
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/4 C all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Colored decorations or icing
Cream Crisco, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large mixer bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until light and creamy. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture, mixing on low speed until well blended. Cover dough and chill 1 hour, if desired, for easy rolling. Preheat oven to 375¡F. Roll half of dough at a time. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut in desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Roll leftover pieces. Sprinkle with colored decorations or leave plain to decorate when cool. Bake at 375¡F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are light brown. (Time will vary with cookie size.) Cool slightly, then remove to cooling rack.
Butterscotch Haystacks
1 C peanut butter
1/2 package or 6 oz butterscotch morsels
1 large can chow mein noodles
Melt peanut butter and butterscotch together. Can be done on the stove top or in a microwave. Pour over noodles; mix well. Drop by tablespoon on wax paper; freeze for a couple of hours. May be stored in a loose fitting topped cookie jar.
Cranberry Decadent Cookies (Makes about 26)
1/4 C all-purpose flour (this is not a typo)
1/4 C cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp baking powder
6 TBS butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
2 large eggs
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 C white chocolate chips, divided
1 C dried cranberries
1 pinch salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease large cookie sheets. Melt semi-sweet chocolate over low heat in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave (at 50% power) and cool. Combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in melted chocolate. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in 1 C white chocolate chips and the dried cranberries. If dough feels very soft or wet, chill for 10 minutes. Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake until cookies look dry and cracked but still feel soft when pressed lightly, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand on sheets 3 minutes. Remove to rack and let cool completely. Place 1 C white chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on medium (50%) power for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue microwaving for 10 seconds and stir again. Repeat just until white chocolate is melted. Scrape melted white chocolate into a ziplock baggie. With a sharp scissors, snip off a very small corner of the baggie. Drizzle top of cookies with zig-zags of melted white chocolate. Cool until chocolate is set.
