Cookie Monsters

An article in today's NYTimes recounts one woman's childhood memories of her grandmother's holiday cookies. And it makes me want to bake. My earliest "memory" of holiday cookie baking isn't something I think I could actually remember but I've been told the story so many times that I feel like I remember it.

My mom liked to give us the opportunity for memorable experiences, something I value and am trying to do with my own kids. We adopted a stray pregnant cat so we could have the kitten experience. At an early age, she began taking me to the theater (you know, I'm not sure she took my sister as much) so that I saw Yul Brynner in the King and I, Tyne Daly in Gypsy, Carol Channing in Hello Dolly, Robert Goulet in On A Clear Day You Could See Forever, and Donald O'Connor in, what was it, Showboat, to name but a few. And apparently, when I was a wee bairn, she decided I needed the Christmas cookie experience. I understand the motivation because I'm considering doing the exact same thing with my own kids. I just hope it goes better. Because, apparently, I spent the entire baking session counting the types of cookies, i.e. 4 snowmen and 3 Christmas tree, and then telling her we needed more trees or what not to make it all equal.

I do remember my mom making my grandpa his favorite crisp sugar cookies every year. These glorious, long, rectangular pressed cookies with their marvelous creamy yellow color. I loved the raw dough, the pink/mauve and grayish tin press, the smell of the cookies baking, the hot cookies, the cold cookies, the Corsicana fruitcake tins with wax paper that she'd store them in. I've tried recreating them but the dough is too much for wimpy plastic presses and I've never managed it.

My Aunt J also makes an incredible rosette-shaped, holiday sugar cookie, also pressed. But she adds icing and rainbow sugar sprinkles. And they're amazing. She'd make extra for our family Christmas get-togethers because I would inhale them.

My grandma apparently made Tipsy Balls, though I've only taste my Uncle W's version of them, which is amazing. The family joke is that Grandma put the recipe in the Methodist cookbook despite prohibitions against drinking. She just didn't list the alcohol in the ingredients, only mentioning it in the body of the recipe!

I have a box of my great-grandmother's typed recipes, many for Christmas Lizzies and sand tarts, which I'm sure she would make every holiday. I don't recall her doing much baking by the time I was old enough to remember. But reading the recipe cards makes me want to make them all.

So what is going to be my signature holiday cookie? For the last few years, I've organized and participated in cookie swaps. I love cookie swaps--it's a night of tasting all sorts of cookies, you get new recipes, and there are cookies to take home. I always read the tips on having a good cookie swap, given by Martha or Family Circle or Taste of Home, and was ready way before I attended my first swap. I've taken all sorts of cookies, mainly variations on my Domino Sugar 1001 Cookie Recipe--fudge balls, cranberry bites, ginger snaps, and the like. I've been through a shortbread phase and have two beautiful stone shortbread pans. I also went through a candy phase--I make a mean fudge, tasty barks, and a delicious English toffee from a dear coworker who passed away unexpectedly, but those aren't cookies (and will have to be a separate post). But what is going to be my cookie? Or, well, cookies. I doubt there will just be one. There is something appealing about the cut-out cookie, even if I come from a pressed-cookie family. My friend T makes awesome cut out sugar cookies and decorates them beautifully so I have a teacher nearby. I've never had much experience with cut outs.

But I think, this week, now that we have wheat, we're going to do some baking and start making some memories. Even if, like my first holiday baking experience, they're too young to remember. At least my kids can't count!

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Aunt J's Sugar Cookies

1 ¾ cups sugar
1 cup crisco, butter flavoring optional
2 eggs
3 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream sugar and crisco—add eggs and vanilla and butter flavoring. Add flour, etc. Press out. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
milk to consistency
dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Rainbow sprinkles
Combine and then spread over warm cookies. Add sprinkles.

Aunt J


1001 Cookie Recipe Mixture

5 cups flour
3 ¾ cups sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened

Spoon flour into measuring cup and level with spatula. Put in large bowl with at least 4 quart capacity.
Measure sugar, baking powder, and salt into flour. Stir until thoroughly blended.
Add butter and use pastry blender or clean hands to work into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Makes 10 cups. Store covered in airtight container in fridge or freezer. Use mix at room temperature.

Domino Sugar

Fudge Balls from 1001 Cookie Recipe Mix
Delicious and so easy! They taste just like brownie balls, but not so sweet. And they went fast at the Cookie Café. Made about 100 small balls.

2 cups 1001 Cookie Recipe Mix
½ cups plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Mix together in large bowl all ingredients except powdered sugar.
Shape into 1” balls and roll in powdered sugar to coat lightly. Place 1” apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375°F for about 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Makes about 36 balls.
Domino Sugar


1001 Gingery Snaps

4 cups Domino Sugar 1001 Cookie Mix
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses

Granulated sugarPreheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl, mix together all ingredients except sugar. Drop dough by slightly rounded teaspoons into small bowl of sugar. Roll to coat lightly. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes. Do not brown. Let cool 2 minutes and remove to rack to cool. Makes 48 cookies.Gingerbread Men: Prepare Gingery Snaps dough. Divide in half. Cover and chill 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle. Roll dough, half at a time on floured board to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into Gingerbread Men using cookie cutters. Arrange cutouts 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Do not brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes 48 cookies.

1001 Cranberry Nut Cookies

3 cups – Domino Sugar 1001 Cookie Mix
1 tablespoon - grated orange rind
1 teaspoon - cinnamon
1 - egg
1 cup - fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup - chopped nuts
Domino(r) Granulated Sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheets. Mix together in large bowl cookie mix, orange rind, cinnamon, and egg. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar to coat lightly. Place 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Remove at once to wire racks.Makes about 48 cookies.


Sugar Cookies from 1001 Cookie Recipe Mix

4 cups 1001 Cookie Recipe Mix
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla or 1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg
sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Mix together in large bowl all ingredients except sugar. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
Roll dough, half at a time on floured board to 1/8” thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Arrange cutouts 1” apart on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Do not brown. Cool on wire rack.
Makes about 48 cookies

Domino Sugar


Tipsy Balls
Makes 100 balls

small 12-oz. box vanilla wafers (3 cups)
4 jiggers whiskey
3 tablespoons karo syrup
1 cup powdered sugar, dissolved (?)
2 cups chopped nuts (fine)

Mix, roll in balls, coat in powdered sugar.

Grandma J


IB's Easy English Toffee

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup sugar

Cook in saucepan. Stir until mixture changes color; it’s done when mixture turns caramel color.
Pour on greased cookie sheet. Spread out as best you can.
Sprinkle on about ¼- ½ cup chocolate chips. Sprinkle on ¼- ½ cup nuts.
Refrigerate.
Break into pieces.

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****Oh, my gosh, I realized I don't have my mom's crispy pressed cookie recipe, nor my friend T's basic sugar cookie cut out recipe. Must get. Also, will try to find time to type in at least one of my great grandma's cookies.