December 11: Christmas Cranberry Roll-Up Cookies

These are great cookies to make if you have some other stuff to get done around the house. Or, conversely, if you need something quick, you might want to plan on a different cookie.

I love these cookies. The red of the cranberry is so pretty in the pinwheel, and the dough is the right consistency of flaky and chewy.

Plus, and this is my favorite part, people look at them and assume they are a lot harder to make than they actually are. (I just keep thinking of that Rice Krispies commercial from when I was a kid with the mom in the kitchen, working “hard” at making the Rice Krispies Treats, and at then end, she throws a little flour on her face for effect.)

I had a bag of Wisconsin’s finest bouncy cranberries in my fridge, just waiting for their ultimate death. I put two cups of berries in a saucepan, along with sugar and orange zest.

(I bought this microplane last year for nutmeg. Haven’t used it with nutmeg once, but this thing has seen more citrus fruit than Carmen Miranda.)

A little water and time, and I was in business. Cranberries popping sound a lot like baby farts, in case you want to know.

I mixed up my dough in Ol’ Trusty, using the Cardamom I bought two years ago. Am I supposed to replace it? Does Cardamom go bad? It still smells like chai and cost me a kidney, so I’m going to keep using it until the bottle is empty.

Into the fridge the dough went for an hour or so.

When it was ready, I pulled it out and tried my best to roll rectangles. Eh. Okay, I really didn’t try that hard.

Then I spread the cranberry goodness on top, along with some crushed almonds. Roll like a jelly roll, wrap with saran wrap. Repeat with second wad of dough.

I put them on a cookie sheet and set it in my Wisconsin Free Refrigerator–my front porch.

Two hours later, I brought the tray back inside and sliced up the rolls in 1/4″ pieces. When it starts to get misshapen, just turn your log over. Or, do what I do and keep the ugly ones so you can eat those later.

Into the oven it goes for 11-12 minutes, and cools on a rack.

Then, you eat the ugly ones.

—

Christmas Cranberry Roll-Up Cookies
(from Gooseberry Patch’s Old-Fashioned Country Cookies)

2 c. fresh cranberries
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. orange peel
1/4 c. finely chopped almonds
2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cardamom
1/2 c. unsalted butter
3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine cranberries, 1/4 c. sugar and zest. Add enough water to partially cover. Cook about 15 minutes, or until berries pop and most of the water has evaporated. Cool mixture.

2. Combine flour and spices. Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture.

3. Divide dough in half and chill.

4. Roll dough into 12″x7″ rectangle on parchment paper. Spread cranberries and almonds on each rectangle and then roll each like a jelly roll. Wrap in parchment paper and chill for at least 2 hours (at this point it can be frozen.)

5. Slice roll into 1/4″ slices and bake 1″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Cookies today: 46 (These also made 46 last year too. Weird.)

Cookies this year: 513

December 10: Pizzles

Today, I made the crowd pleaser Pizzles, and the actual challenge in these are not eating them the minute they come off the iron.

(Also a challenge? Having a Pizzle iron, but that can be rectified with an Amazon Prime account and a pressing desire to drop $40 on something you’ll use maybe twice a year.)

Pizzles are a wafer cookie from Italy. I made them last year, and they were divine.

They have a hint of anise, but not enough to make you run away, I promise! You barely taste it, and it deepens the vanilla flavor in the cookie.

It starts with six eggs. (I think that classifies these cookies as a health food now.)

I mixed up the batter and started the long, arduous journey into counter-top desserts.

The good Captain oversees production.

I used my cookie scoop to do these, making sure they were centered in the middle of the hot iron. (Oh, and I generally put a little coconut oil on it before I start, just to grease the iron.)

(And yes, I’m now the asshole cook that uses hard-to-find ingredients.)

I take them off with a non-metal spatula, and start over again. And again. And again. It’s a good thing I had some time to do these. Four minutes isn’t a long time, especially when you are only doing two at a time.

But these? These are worth every minute.

—

Pizzles (Italian Waffle Cookie)

(from Gooseberry Patch Old-Fashioned Country Cookies)

6 eggs

3 ½ c flour

1 ½ c sugar

2 sticks butter, melted

4t baking powder

1T vanilla extract

1T anise extract

cap full of anise seeds

Beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar and melted butter. Follow with other ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Place 1 teaspoonful on each side and cook until delicately browned. Lay flat until cooled.

Cookies today: 90

Cookies this year: 467

December 9: Peppermint Meltaways

These were a big hit last year, and because I pander to the general public for attention, I decided I had to make them again.

And the mess begins. Because this recipe calls for more corn starch than I used to use in battling my kids’ diaper rash, it got a little out of hand. And cup. And counter. I’ve clean it all up three times now, and I’m still slipping on the floor where it happened.

I added some green Wilton food coloring to the batter this year, because I think you all know by now that my policy is “the more artificial colors there are, the better the cookies will taste.” This is the Kelly Green, and I think it turned out really well.

With my handy-dandy (sorry, left-over from the kids’ Blue’s Clues days) cookie scooper, I doled out a dozen slippery spheres. And Hoover, my middle guy, decided it was his job to lick everything once I was done.

Hoover, making sure no leftover batter went to waste.

Let the cookies cool on a rack while you make up the frosting.

Gandalf kept an eye on these for me. (Don’t worry, Mom, he didn’t go on the table.)

I used the recipe for the frosting, and had to actually make it twice because I ran out half-way through. I found it a little thick, so keep that in mind. And, of course, more food coloring. This time, it was from AmeriColor and it’s their “Super Red.” I wanted Wilton to go the distance for me, and in all colors but red they have. I needed something to put Santa to shame this year, and I’ve found it.

I threw it (again) through my pastry bag with a big star tip and just plopped a big dollop on the tops of all of these cookies. I didn’t think about it at the time, but they have a certain rose-resembelance now.

The fun part was crushing the candy canes. I put these guys in a ziploc bag–still with the wrappers on–and closed it. Then I took my super-heavy Pampered Chef meat tenderizer and crushed the hell out of them.

Side note: I made these last year the same way. Since then, I have noticed a notch missing from my stove. I could not figure out how this happened. Well, as I pounded this years brave peppermint soldiers, I figured it out. I must have hit the side of my stove with the meat tenderizer last year, because I did it again this year. So now I have a bigger notch missing from my stove, but fewer questions as to why.

I sprinkled the candy cane ashes over my cookies as a garnish and boxed them up. These will certainly be the first cookies my kids devour in full this year.

—

Peppermint Meltaways

(from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
FROSTING:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons 2% milk
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’sugar, milk, extract and, if desired, food coloring; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies.

Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

Cookies today: 41

Cookies this year: 376

December 8: Brandy Snaps

Anytime you can incorporate booze in a recipe, I’m on board. I’m not even sure how I found this recipe, other than I was on The Pioneer Woman’s website trying to win a contest (didn’t win) and I guess I saw the picture that goes along for this recipe on there.

I love The Pioneer Woman. I don’t want to be all hipster about this, but I was reading her before she ever had a cookbook out and before she was ever on TV.

She did such a beautiful job documenting how to make these, that my pictures will pale in comparison. I want to be her so bad, but I’m just not. At least, that’s what the courts tell me.

So I started my slummed-down version of Princess Ree’s Brandy Snaps. I got out my skillet and threw in a stick of butter. Yes. Off to a good start. Then I measured out 1/2 cup of molasses, which took longer than the labor with my first child. I poured the molasses on the butter, which was quite satisfying, and then added the sugar. Before I turned on the stove, I read ahead a little and saw I needed to get my other ingredients ready, since I really, really didn’t want to deal with burnt butter, sugar, and molasses in my nice All Clad skillet.

I was quite serious about this. When the recipe said to let it boil for a minute, I wasn’t about to take any chances.

When it was time, I threw in my remaining ingredients and stirred it all up. The final ingredient is brandy, and because we live in Wisconsin, we happen to have a small bottle on hand.

Wine bottle shown for scale.

I was unsure if parchment paper would work for this, but I gave it shot anyway. Measured out about a tablespoon per cookie, leaving a lot of space around each one, as the spread out.

Oh, and I made a mess too.

Ten minutes later, I pulled the tray out of the oven and thanked Ree for having a picture of what they were supposed to look like. If I hadn’t known, I would have thought something went horribly wrong.

Now, when I pulled them out of the oven, they reminded me of something else I’ve made in the past: some Chewy Ginger Cardamom cookies that didn’t turn out so well. See?

Not-so Chewy Ginger Cardamom cookies from 2012. If I only I knew then what I know now…

But had I known what I could have done with those a couple years ago, maybe I could have made some sort of Ginger Cardamom cannoli. Hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, I waited a few minutes until the cookies didn’t stretch when lifted, and I wrapped the warm cookies around my stainless steel whisk.

Turned out really well. I mean, it looked like I was the oil assistant on Kim Kardashian’s latest photo shoot, but that’s the price I paid for deliciousness.

Now, I will say that not all the cookies turned out so well. I had to set another tray-full on the counter away from the stove, and those cooled much quicker…too quick to wrap. Just so you know.

When I was done with all the cookies, I got going on the whipped cream. I put my mixing bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes, just to make sure it was really cold.

Now, before I start this part of the recipe I want you all to benefit from the wisdom that comes from my mistakes. The VERY last line of Ree’s recipe says something like “Serve immediately.” I didn’t see that until I had already filled the cookies. If you are not planning on serving these immediately, wait to fill the cookies until you are. Disgruntled Husband and I got a little intoxicated on the couch because we didn’t want the cookies to go to waste. This morning, I pulled the container out of the fridge, and the cookies were no longer crispy. In this case, you want them to be crispy, so plan accordingly.

I made the booze-infused whipped cream and filled my pastry bag with it.

With a star tip, I filled half of the cookie, then turned it around and filled the other half.

And just so you know, they are divine. ::hiccup::

—

Brandy Snaps

(from www.thepioneerwoman.com)

Ingredients

COOKIE
1 stick Butter
1/2 cup Molasses
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brandy
3/4 cups Flour
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
Filling
2 cups Heavy Cream
1/3 cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Brandy (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

To make the cookies/shells, melt butter in a skillet with molasses, sugar, and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Allow to bubble and cook for one minute, then turn off heat.

Dump in flour, ginger, and salt. Stir together quickly until just combined, then stir in brandy.

Use a tablespoon to spoon mixture onto cookie sheet; do only eight cookies per sheet, as they will spread out in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until bubbling in the oven. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 to 3 minutes. Lift up circles one at a time and drape them over a cannoli mold (or a large metal handle of a whisk or potato masher!) The cookies will naturally drape over the mold; help it along by pressing the seal.

Slide cookies off the mold and set them on a cool plate. Repeat with remaining cookies. Be prepared to slightly reshape cookies as they cool. Fill with cream filling when completely cool.

FILLING

Combine cream, sugar, and brandy (make sure cream is very cold.) Place into a cold mixing bowl (chill ahead of time) and mix on high until cream is very stiff. Place cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. Carefully fill cooled brandy snaps. Serve within a couple of hours.

Cookies today: 17

Cookies this year: 335

December 7: White Velvet Cut-Outs

A long time ago, in an apartment far, far away, I made my first cut-out cookie as an adult. Disgruntled Husband and I were newly married his oma (German for “Grandmother”) gave me a cookie cutter.

That brought my count up to one. When Christmas rolled around, I brought out the cookie cookbook from my teens and made cut-out cookies with my one cookie cutter.

I didn’t make these last year and I found that I missed them. The recipe is super simple, but makes for a very tasty cookie. Instead of narrating the entire process, I think I’ll just use the pictures I took today, along with the recipe at the end.

(Oh, and the icing method and recipe can be found on my pinterest board, or on the sole November 2014 post on this very blog.)

—

White Velvet Cut Outs

(from Gooseberry Patch’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookies)

1 c. butter, softened 1 egg yolk

3 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/2 t vanilla

1 c sugar 2 1/2 c flour

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Beat in sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla, then stir in flour. Gather dough in a ball and chill overnight. To prepare, pre heat oven to 350. Rolll dough out to 3/16″ and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are light brown.

Cookies today: 37

Cookies this year: 318

December 6: Gingerbread Men

I venture to say that Gingerbread men and women are one of those things that it’s “just not Christmas until…”they show up in a box of cookies.

Now, to that end, I have made them today–but I really don’t like them. I don’t know why. I like molasses. I like ginger and cinnamon and all the other Christmas spices. But somehow, I only like the smell of these.

But that little red-headed girl of mine just loves them. So I make them.

I start with shortening. Now, if you’re a novice baker, let me tell you that shortening means Crisco. You can use butter or margarine if that’s all you have, but generally if a recipe calls for shortening, you best find the white grease and use it. Because my mom is southern, I grew up with Crisco and thought everyone knew what it was. Since growing up and moving to Wisconsin, I have discovered that this is simply not true.

While my shortening was being beaten, I dug out the two jars of molasses from my fridge. I use molasses two times a year–when my mom is visiting (because you dip biscuits in molasses if you’re from North Carolina) and when I make gingerbread cookies.

It takes a while to get all the molasses out. I have two jars because a few years ago, I decided it was easier to just get a new unrefrigerated bottle and use that than it was to pry open the bottle in my fridge and attempt to pour it out.

But enough about my problems.

Once I add the molasses, sugar, and egg, I get my gingerbread voodoo spices out and go to work. Spices and baking soda goes in, and then the flour. Most people would stop the mixer to add things.

Not me. Nope. It’s just not worth it unless I can try to time the beater’s revolutions with the adding of the flour. Sometimes it gets messy. (Okay. It’s most of the time.)

Throw it in the fridge and attempt to get the rest of your Christmas crap done.

Fail miserably, and three hours later, roll out your choice of gingerbread shapes.

I am a purist and go for the men and women, but there’s no law saying you need to.

While you are busy rolling out the second tray of cookies, yell at your kitten for jumping on to the first tray sitting on the table, throw out those cookies, and mumble under your breath.

A naughty kitten did this.

Once they are cooled, you can decorate them. I use a Wilton bag and a small round tip. Sadly, this year I didn’t make any anatomically correct gingerbread people because my kids were home. I mean, not that I’ve ever made them in the past…

Mini Me was sad when she got home from school, and this particular gingerbread man had a frown instead of a smile.

—

Mom’s Gingerbread Cookies
(from Gooseberry Patch Old-Fashioned Country Cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 c. shortening
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 egg
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

Ingredients for Powdered Sugar Icing

1 c. sifted powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1 T. milk

Directions:

1. Beat shortening until softened. Add molasses, sugar, and egg, beat again, and add spices and soda. Beat again and add half the flour.
2. Add the rest of the flour, mixing well.
3. Refrigerate for three hours
4. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out cookies.
5. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes, ice with powdered sugar icing

Cookies today: 35

Cookies this year: 281

December 5: Almond-Filled Creams

My friend Christina is a thrift store wizard. She can find the most amazing things that I would walk right past. Last month, she presented me with this:

Brought to you by your local electric co-op…

It is utterly amazing. A quick check on the inside cover reveals the publication:

It even has that “1960” font going on.

Yes, that’s Christmas 1960. What was the world like then? JFK was just elected president, a loaf of bread was $.20, Chubby Checker introduced “The Twist”, and The Flinstones first aired on television.

A little math on my end reveals that my grandmother–a 4’10” beauty full of sass and crass–was 45 that year. Though that’s still 10 years older than I am right now, I decided I’d try and channel Grandma to make this recipe.

The first three ingredients show just how far removed we are from the olden days. I beg you to find me a recipe still in circulation that calls for this:

Nothing says love like butter and cream.

(We’re in black and white now because it’s 1960. Duh.)

I even sifted the flour, as written. I normally don’t do that unless I’m combining it with something else. I don’t know what difference it makes in 2014, but I did it anyway.

I mixed it all up (in my crazy mixer from the future), and let it chill in my brand new sea-green refrigerator/freezer.

When I was ready to start, I put my apron on, poured a tumbler of scotch and lit a cigarette. (Just like Grandma surely did.)

*scotch and cigarette may have been written about in hyperbole.

Rolled out the dough and cut it with a round biscuit cutter. Poked them a few times with the tines of my best silver. And then lit another cigarette and yelled at my kids to get off the green feather couch.

One thing I forgot to do was cover both sides in sugar, which may explain why these turned out more like biscuits. I blame the scotch.

Threw them in my oven and reapplied my lipstick.

I don’t know why they came out oval when they went in as circles. If you know, please tell me.

They look circular here, but I’m telling you, there were ovals everywhere.

To make the filling, I found Marty McFly and he brought me back this crazy contraption. I hear it’s to grind coffee beans, but I used it to grind almonds for cookies.

I threw all of the filling ingredients together. And in the interest of not having an entirely beige cookie, I added some of 1960s best bright toxic food coloring. (Or 2014’s non-toxic, yet equally bright equivalent.)

The filling before Red Dye #2 was added.

Somewhere around then, I poured myself another scotch and fed my poodle. I also read the minutes of the last Glenview Botanical Society meeting.

I piped some filling on a cookie/biscuit and topped it with another cookie/biscuit.

Perfect for my next Junior League meeting!

Oh here, see it in color.

Even though I forgot to dip the cookies in sugar, I thought the sweetness of the almond filling made up for it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a luncheon to get to.

—

I like the reminder about flameless electric cooking.

Cookies today: 16 (but remember, they are sandwich cookies)

Cookies this year: 246

(**Dedicated to my late grandmother, Eleanor Frank, who would be both appalled and amused by my imitation of her.)

December 4: Italian Sand Cookies

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, but wasn’t going to make it. I liked reading about the search to get this “secret” recipe right, and it brought back memories of also getting this cookie in bakeries over my lifetime. (Note: I have yet to meet a bakery I didn’t like.)

But this recipe was like an ear-worm, only it was in my brain. I couldn’t stop thinking about it–remembering the cookie myself, and then the blogger’s quest to find the recipe. It’s something I can understand doing (To this day, I fantasize about a cookie I had a few years ago and can’t find the recipe. I’m sure one of these days I’m just going to try to figure it out for myself.)

You may have eaten these in the past, too. When I was a kid, they were in the top shelf of the display at Kings’ Bakery, in the tray closest to the front. They aren’t anything fancy, but boy were they good. The ones they had came with some rainbow sprinkles on them.

So, the good people (or person..I think it’s just one fabulous lady) at Chef Tess Bakeresse went in search of the recipe. There’s a whole post devoted to the mission at http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2010/06/evil-italian-butter-cookies.html and it really is adorable.

“Creaming method” adding of the flour.

I love how the instructions are simply “creaming method,” as if it’s saying “if you don’t know what we mean, then you probably should stick with ready-made cookies.” It’s just an easy way to say mix the butter, shortening, and sugar together, then add the vanilla and eggs, and then finally the rest of the ingredients.

(I will say though that my dough was a little to sticky when I followed the recipe. I could have chilled it, but instead I added a little more flour–about another 1/3 c. In hindsight, it probably could have been a little less, but they turned out just fine.)

Once that is done, you get out a big star tip and a pastry bag, and fill it with the dough. Pastry bags are nothing to fear. It’s just a matter of getting the right tip with the right consistency of dough. And, like this recipe, most of the time it will tell you which one to use.

My tasty little Italian babies, all ready for the oven.

I piped circles on the parchment paper and filled them in. There are two schools of thought on this…either go from the inside out, or the outside in. Either way, they will taste the same, so do whatever makes you happy.

After they came out of the oven and cooled, my kids were home from school. And of course, I had a little helper. After I melted the chocolate chips (with just a little bit of coconut oil for consistency reasons), Mini Me informed me she was the official sprinkle-putter-onner. That lasted for one tray of cookies. She abandoned me for Sofia the First, and I had to sadly finish the cookies myself.

A simple recipe that tastes like a million bucks!

I let the cookies dry on wax paper, but then decided to speed up the process by throwing the cookies (still on wax paper, now back on cookie sheets) into the freezer for 10 minutes.

After trying one, Disgruntled Husband had a look of shock on his face and said, “These are REALLY good.”

(Thanks for the vote of confidence, dear.)

The (much shorter) video about said recipe:

—

SAND COOKIES

(from www.cheftessbakeresse.com)

1 1/2 cups flour (we used AP)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar *
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
*(we also liked 3/4 c. conf sugar & 1/4 c. granulated which made them a slight bit sweeter)

Creaming method. Put through bag with large star tip. Bake @ 375 F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Decorate with choc chips, sprinkles or leave plain and dip half in melted choc., etc.

Cookies today: 37

Cookies this year: 230

December 3: Swirled Sugar Cookies

I don’t know what previous generations did without Pinterest. I really don’t. I can find jokes, recipes, directions on making plutonium from common household items (come on, what movie?), and a vast array of urban legends people post. One of these days, I’m going to put something on there super outrageous, just to see how many people try it. (“The secret of younger skin is found in the litter box!”)

But I digress.

I found these on Pinterest and the pictures were just so pretty, I couldn’t not try to make them myself. It’s from a site called salt tree.com. I followed the basic sugar cookie recipe from that website, and then split the dough in half and dyed one part of it Royal Blue.

Nothing in nature is this color, which makes it fun!

And I don’t care who you are, you will somehow always get food coloring on you somewhere when you work with this stuff. It looks like I committed a Smurf-icide.

Both doughs got wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled in my fridge for an hour. I then rolled it out and uttered some not-Christmas friendly terms. Putting one layer of dough on top of another requires patience and precision, of which I have neither. But somehow, I made it work.

I think I may have actually broken out “Son of a Nutcracker” whilst trying to make this work.

Here’s a (much shorter) video on how I did it, and then how I did the next part–rolling the whole damn thing in sprinkles.

After I let the roll hang out on my front porch, I sliced the roll into 1/4″ slices and baked them. And, thanks to Salttree.com and Pinterest, it turned out exactly as it looked online! Win!

So pretty!

—

Swirled Sugar Cookies

(From Salttree.com)

Sugar cookie recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream it all together.

Then split it in half and dye one (or both, I suppose) with food coloring.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball of dough separately to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Using a pastry brush, apply a little water to the darker layer of dough. Roll the lighter colour of dough around the rolling pin and transfer it on top of the darker coloured layer of dough. The little bit of water will help them stick together.

Trim the edges so you end up with a neat and tidy rectangle. Save the scraps! (I did and made smaller rolls with them.)

Roll it up, jelly roll style and pour out a container of sprinkles. (Take it from me, it’s easier to use a cookie sheet or something.) Brush the log with a little water and roll in the sprinkles.

Cover with plastic wrap and let chill for an hour.

Slice them about 1/4″ thick and place on cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper). Bake for about 10 minutes at 350.

Cookies today: 105

Cookies this year: 193

December 2: Swedish Butter Cookies

I blame this guy.

Tommy in my kitchen, just hanging around.

Just ask Little Miss Muffett–spiders are no good.

(Actually, I kind of like spiders, but today, they are on my list.)

This was supposed to be a post about how good these Swedish Butter Cookies are, and how I got the recipe last year from Michele, a friend of mine from college. (Since last year, she has increased her children by 2/3…twins arrived right before Thanksgiving.)

But, I got a little distracted by that dude at the top. As I was baking the cookies, I saw him (I’ve decided it’s a him, and I’ve decided to name him Tommy, after the boy in 2nd grade that I had a distracting crush on) and was fascinated. You can even see it in the video below, complete with oven timer blasting away.

In as much time as it took me to get a good picture of Tommy (and I think it is a pretty rad pic), my cookies burnt. Yes, I am a mere mortal. The tops and sides looked okay, but the bottoms, well…

Sad panda.

So I whipped up another batch after I made the video. These fared much better.

And as for Tommy, he disappeared somewhere on the linoleum floor. Maybe he was a feline snack; maybe I’ll see him again.

Here’s the video. Let’s all just remember that I had to make these all over again without the camera.

—

2nd time around…

Swedish Butter Cookies

courtesy of the Divine Ms. Michele!

½ lb. butter or margarine (2 sticks)

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

½ c. sugar

1 egg yolk (save whites to whip)

1 T. half & half (I always use milk)

½ t. baking powder

½ c. chopped pecans

1 bottle maraschino cherries

Cream butter, add sugar; add egg yolk then vanilla and mix well. Next, add the flour with the baking powder mixed in. Alternate adding the flour with the half & half. Form dough into little balls the size of a walnut. Whip egg whites stiff. Dip dough balls into whipped egg white and roll in pecans. Place a half of a cherry in the center and push it down lightly. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15-20 min. in a 350 degree oven. Watch them so they don’t over brown. Yum, yum, yum!

Cookies today: 26

Cookies this year: 88

24 Days of Cookies

A different batch of cookies every day in December until Christmas.

baking

December 11: Christmas Cranberry Roll-Up Cookies

December 10: Pizzles

December 9: Peppermint Meltaways

December 8: Brandy Snaps

Brandy Snaps

Ingredients

Preparation Instructions

December 7: White Velvet Cut-Outs

December 6: Gingerbread Men

December 5: Almond-Filled Creams

December 4: Italian Sand Cookies

December 3: Swirled Sugar Cookies

December 2: Swedish Butter Cookies

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Brandy Snaps

Ingredients

Preparation Instructions

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: