Simply Cookbooks

Archive for the ‘Christmas Cookies’ Category

Several years ago we bought a cookie from some local bakeries that are now out of business.  I will describe them and if anyone has the recipe or knows what they are called, I would greatly appreciate you posting here.

They are three inch logs made up of a chocolate cake with banana flavoring.  Once the cookie is baked it was dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with candied sugar.

I have looked everywhere for either the cookie or the recipe and cannot find it anywhere.  The family remembers these cookies and would like to know either how to make them or where we can purchase them in the Detroit area.

We are going on a hunt today for them, if we find them I will let you know.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Please Share This With Other Cooks!

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Two Sundays before Christmas has become somewhat of a tradition in our family for two of our children to come to our house and bake cookies.   Jenn and Pat have done this together for the past 15 years or so.

My husband and I are not allowed to comment, make suggestions, or watch.

This year the results of their afternoon are Swedish Nut Cups, Russian Tea Cakes and of course Thumbprint Cookies.  I am told that our daughter, Jenn, has the perfect size thumb for the Thumbprint cookies.   It is a lot of fun, but the cookies are generally gone within a day or two.

Following are the recipes they used this year.  If you try any of them, try the Swedish Nut Cups, they are delicious!

THUMBPRINT COOKIES

1/2 c. soft shortening
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
chopped nuts
1 egg white

Combine shortening, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. Whisk together flour and salt. Stir into batter.

Roll into 1 inch balls and dip into slightly beaten egg white.

Roll the balls in the chopped nuts. Arrange on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 5 minutes at 375°F. Remove cookies from oven and press a thumb into the center of each cookie. Return and bake for 8 more minutes. Spoon jelly or icing into the impression made by your thumbprint.

Russian Tea Cakes (also called Snowball cookies in this house)

Ingredients

* 1 cup butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup chopped walnuts
* 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners’ sugar. I also like to roll mine in the sugar a second time.

Swedish Nut Cups
These are really cute and yummy, plus they’re a nice change from typical Christmas cookies.

Dough: Filling:
1 Cup butter,softened(2sticks) 2 Cups chopped pecans
2 Cups flour 2 I5p’PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
2 Soz.pkgs.cream cheese,room temperature 2 eggs
2 CuPs brownsugar,tightly Packed
2 tsp. butter

Dough:Combine the butter,flour and cream cheese together. Mix well. Press tablespoon-sized pieces of dough
into the bottom and up the sides of greased mini-muffin tins. chill at least t hour.

Filling: Preheat oven to 375″. Mix together the butter with brown sugar’ Add the eggs, blending after each
addition. stir in the VANILLA. Add the pecans and stir by hand to combine. Fill the muffrn cups with 1 teaspoon
of filling. Bake at 375″ for 24-30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in pan before removing to completely cool on a
wire rack.

Prep. time: 10 minutes plus chilling time
Baking time: 24-30 minute-s
Yield:4 dozen

Please Share This With Other Cooks!

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Christmas traditions are part of every family experience. Whether it is spending time shopping, going to parties, staying home with family and friends these traditions are important.

They are important because they give continuity to family. Something you can look forward to year after year. Something your parents did, your grandparents and if you are very lucky your great-grandparents.

In my family it is the traditional cookie baking Sunday. It started when the children were small and the only treat I could afford to give them during the holidays were homemade cookies. The kids and I spent one Sunday making cookies together. We then gave them as gifts to teachers, friends, the local shelter, and the nursing home down the street. The children would make the wrapping out of whatever paper was available even newspaper. Presents came from the heart, not the department store, and because the children helped in making the recipients appreciated the presents all the more.

Since the children have become adults and moved out of the home you would think this little tradition would have been forgotten. The truth is it hasn’t. My daughter who is the oldest and one of my twin sons spend the second Sunday in December in our kitchen making cookies to hand out to friends. They still take cookies to the local shelter for other children to enjoy.

It is a time of much laughter and memories. The recipes have broadened to include some new favorites. One of the newer cookies for them to make is a recipe handed down to me from my grandmother. It is a simple sugar cookie with a twist. The recipe is at the bottom of this article.

This is a tradition that I have passed down to my children and hopefully if any of them have children they will pass down to my grandchildren. Gifts do not have to be store bought, do not have to have a dollar sign attached; they should come from the heart.

During the holiday season take a moment to reflect what you have rather than what you can’t afford and start a new tradition. Maybe it is taking baked goods to a shelter, to a nursing home, give of yourself in little ways and involve your children. Teach them the tradition of giving.

Soft Sugar Cookies (Gram’s Cookies)
½ cup of shortening
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk (best if sour)
pinch of salt
½ tsp of baking soda
2 ¼ c flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
banana 1-2
chocolate chips- whatever feels right to you
Maraschino cherries cut in half.
A little cherry juice

Mix all with a spoon, not an electric mixer. Combine shortening with the sugar. Add egg,, blend in milk and vanilla and a small amount of cherry juice. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix all together very good with large spoon.
Last add 2 mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls on a lightly greased cookie sheet ( I use parchment paper) and sprinkle with sugar and top each with a maraschino cherry. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

(I want to say that I was luckY that Gram lived with us while growing up, a plate of these cookies was always made for us when we got home from school. She never had a written recipe. Her cup of anything was measured with a coffee cup, her teaspoons with a regular table teaspoon. For that reason these measurement might be a little off. She gave us the recipe towards the end of her life. When the texture looks the right consistency, then you have added enough flour. Have fun and enjoy)

Please Share This With Other Cooks!

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Peanut butter tarts with a chocolate covered peanut butter cup in the middle. You will need a mini muffin pan to make these.
Yield: 3 dozen
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
36 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar and butter. Stir in the peanut butter, then the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the peanut butter mixture until the dough comes together. Shape into 1 inch balls and press them into the cups of an unprepared mini muffin pan.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a mini chocolate covered peanut butter cup down into the center of each cookie until only the top is showing. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing from their pans.

From the Disney Family Editors: Peanut butter and chocolate: a match made in heaven. They go perfectly together in these devilishly good cookies.

Please Share This With Other Cooks!

Powered by Bookmarkify™