Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Let there be snark.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was promised a recession.

Please don’t feed the bears.

The revolution will be supervised.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

It’s a doggy dog world.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

People are weird.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Christmas Cookie Exchange: A Few Holiday Favorites

Christmas Cookie Exchange: A Few Holiday Favorites

by | 126 Comments

This post is in: ,

I have friends coming over for dinner, so I’ll check in as I can. I’m making Sausage and Grapes over angel hair pasta by request (recipe here).

Tonight’s recipes:

Sunday is my annual cookie baking day with friends. Most of the goodies are going into gift boxes, but I’ll hold enough back for my yearly Christmas Eve dinner. This is the usual round-up.

Pictured above (click on any photo to see full size):

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies, recipe here

Spritz Cookies, recipes and instructions for using a cookie press here.

Pecan Cookies, recipe below.  Much more below the fold.


Above: Chocolate-Walnut Flourless Cookies, recipe here. I love these because you’d never know they were flourless and they taste like brownie bites.These Filled Shortbread Cookies are a ton of work, but so very showy in a Holiday Cookie Gift Basket. Recipe here.

Not as much work, but just as tasty, Fruit Pie Cookies, click here for the recipes, .

Looking for another cookie to add to the cookie tray you give as gifts? These are very pretty. You can add chocolate drizzle to really make them look festive (I’d melt semi-sweet or cacao chocolate chips for the drizzle).

Easy to make, pretty to look at.

Coconut Lace Cookies

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup regular oats
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup shredded coconut
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 3 tbsp water
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 2 tbsp light corn syrup

baking sheet, bowl

Combine flour, oats, sugar, coconut, & baking soda in bowl, mix well. Add water, margarine & syrup and stir well. Drop by teaspoon onto baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes until almost set, remove to rack to completely cool. Makes 2 dozen.

And finally:

Tonight’s bonus recipe had a bit of a serendipitous beginning. I was having lunch with friend LFern and told her I was still working on what type of cookies I was going to make for my gift boxes. LFern mentioned she really liked Russian Tea Cakes. I’d never heard of them, so I googled, figuring I’d surprise her with them in her gift box. Turns out they are also called Mexican Wedding Cookies. Next day I was visiting friends Larilyn and Alton (not that one) and what do they bring out to go with the coffee? Mexican Wedding Cookies. Turns out Al calls them Mom’s Pecan Cookies and he shared his mom’s recipe with me. So no matter what you call them, they are tasty.

Pecan Cookies

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 cup chopped nuts pecans
  • Powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour, salt and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the nuts. At this point, I mixed by hand until the dough stuck together and was smooth.

Scoop about a tablespoon of dough, roll into shape and place on baking sheet

Bake cookies for 18-20 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a minute. Fill a small bowl with powdered sugar and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack covered with wax paper (keeps the sugar mess to a minimum) to cool.

You have to roll them in powdered sugar while they are still hot, which hurts like hell for the first two, but after that, your fingers are coated in powdered sugar and it acts like a heat shield and you’ll be fine. Look, holiday gift baking isn’t for wussies. It’s an extreme sport.

After they cooled, I coated them with more powdered sugar for a festive look.

I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to make Truffles.

================

That should get you started! What are some of your favorite Holiday Cookie/Sweets Recipes?  Share your family secret recipes in the comments or any other fun recipes you save for the holidays. What other traditions do you have for the holidays?

Oh, wait, I promised you a happy holiday surprise….click here…and shhhh, it’s supposed to be a secret. LOLChristmas balls

Reader Interactions

126Comments

  2. 2.

    Yarrow

    Oh, wait, I promised you a happy holiday surprise….click here…and shhhh, it’s supposed to be a secret. LOL

    Awwww…that is a great, and very cute secret!

    My tip for cookie baking is to use parchment paper. It has changed my life with my Christmas cookies.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    I make these chocolate macaroons most holidays. They are totally killer. But the instructions call for baking them on brown paper and then brushing water on the back of the paper to loosen and remove the macaroons.

    Stupid question: Would it change anything in the cookies if I used parchment paper instead? It’s always such a mess with the brown paper.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    TaMara, I went to your website earlier today after you hinted at news. Oh my god, he is beyond adorable. All those spots! I had a black & white dog that had adorable spots, though not that many. I used to say that god had hand-painted Bailey. Pretty sure he hand-painted Scout, too. He won’t grow out of the spots, will he?

    Much love coming your way, I bet you can’t wait. Have you told Bixby yet?

  10. 10.

    danielx

    Spousal unit has made three batches of Mexican Wedding Cakes so far, with more coming. People like them enough to send them as gifts, although spending twenty bucks to make sure three dozen cookies arrive before Christmas strikes me as cost-inefficient.

  11. 11.

    Yarrow

    @debbie: Do one sheet with parchment paper and see how it goes. I’d think it would be okay, but who knows. The brown paper/water thing might be before parchment paper was widely available.

    I have a recipe that has been handed down for generations that none of us can figure out how anyone ever made. It sticks like you can’t believe. The parchment paper has changed everything. Even with that, I have to pull the paper off the baking sheet onto cooling racks, then go back once the cookies have cooled to take them off. It’s a long process but the parchment paper makes such a difference.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Poteca. No, you can’t make it. But I can. I was taught by my mother (took a few years of failure and success) who was taught by my grandmother, who was taught by her grandmother….. Who’s gonna teach you?

    Poteca is the one and only christmas tradition this atheist upholds. Because it really is that good.

  13. 13.

    Heidi Mom

    These are an old, reliable favorite, from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book of 1981 (red and white cover):

    Snickerdoodles

    3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 tsp. baking soda
    1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
    1/2 tsp. salt
    1 cup butter or margarine
    2 cups sugar
    2 eggs
    1/4 cup milk
    1 tsp. vanilla
    3 Tbsp. sugar
    1 tsp. ground cinnamon

    Set oven at 375 degrees. Stir together first four ingredients. Beat butter for 30 seconds; add the 2 cups sugar and beat till fluffy. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till well combined. Form dough into 1-inch balls; roll in mixture of the 3 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon. Place balls 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet; flatten slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass. Bake about 8 minutes or till light golden. Makes about 66.

  16. 16.

    NeenerNeener

    Archway sells Wedding Cake pecan cookies, but I could swear they were called something else when I was little (which was a very, very, very long time ago).

    Cute surprise for Bixby!

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    re. Scout: Too cute. I hope and pray that when the Woofmeister moves on I can get the wife to adopt another Lab. She so loves Woof, (her first Lab) she can’t imagine another dog as loving as he.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Oops, very sorry, missed the Easter Egg. I personally think Scout is the absolutely cutest and most adorable puppy in the entire history of the universe, but that might just be me.

  21. 21.

    Silent no more

    Had to unlurk for this —
    Squeeee, Scout is so cute! Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story on Jan. 5.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Aleta: Ours is always walnut, sometimes apple (think strudel on steroids) from my Hungarian aunts. I wish I’d had the chance to learn their techniques (and recipes). I have taught my oldest son, one nephew, and my older brother now expresses a desire to learn.

    Ask and ye shall receive.

  24. 24.

    amygdala

    Me three for parchment paper. Also, I got “dishers” (small ice cream scoops) some years back, and they’ve made drop cookies very easy.

    I make Mexican wedding cakes every year for the holidays… they are so tasty. Other favorite cookie recipes include Pine Nut Drops and Mazurkas.

  25. 25.

    encephalopath

    The spritz recipe is correct: there is a sweet spot for how long to bake the cookies. Too much browning and you start to get burnt sugar flavors. No browning and they taste chalky.

    Medium golden brown is the way to go. My old family recipe is a little different than that one, but browning properly is the key.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    Is anyone watching Marvel’s Agents of Shield? The opening of the new season took such a bizarre turn that I couldn’t even watch the first couple of episodes. I hate to ditch the show after 4 years because I really like a lot of the characters, but it’s pretty bizarre and doesn’t hold much appeal at this point. Would love to hear your take if you watch the show.

  28. 28.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    One of my favorite holiday cookies was from childhood, made to resemble stained glass windows, by using dough, and cracked up hard candies (commonly Life Savers) to make the “glass”. As I recall, the cookie wasn’t very good, the candy was kinda-all right, but they were pretty and to a young child, that hard candy can melt and make a “window” seems magical.

    Another one in the same class involved red and white strips of dough, twisted together to make “candy canes”. These were a bit better with enough peppermint,but I think the best purpose they served was to give the kids a fun thing to do while making cookies.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    TaMara, I plan to try your chocolate walnut cookies. I have never heard of dark chocolate cocoa, though. Where does one buy that?

  31. 31.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Anyone make anise cookies? Mom started all out on Christmas cookies when we 3 were all in hs or college. Anise cookies were a big deal.

    When I lived in IA, we were in a heavily Norwegian heritage area. Every year a local church had a mega Christmas bazaar about a month before the 25th. Many bought breads, etc to freeze. The whole thing was a really big deal, packets pre-made to take back for office,etc.

    There weri all sorts of Scandinavian baked goods to get at the buffet. Church members (and, I think, others who wanted to help make the incredible # of goodies for the buffet) worked for weeks at the church learning and sharing how to make the goodies.

    Kringla and lace-like cookies made on frying iron then sprinkled with powdered sugar and many more. Siiigh…at one time I thought I would never forget the different goodies

  32. 32.

    Pogonip

    Hello, I remember from reading this site before that readers would organize to help pets all across the country.

    I lived in Columbus, Ohio for years and still keep up with their news. Earlier this week, in suburban Gahanna, one hundred eleven cats were rescued from a collector. The local shelter is so overwhelmed they’ve had to stop accepting turn-ins. They can use all the help they can get. Details and updates can be found at dispatch.com and nbc4i.com.

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    I’d suspected the reveal would be a puppeh, but I dared not speculate. Scout looks adorable.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    I just bought a new blanket at Amazon that’s sherpa fleece on one side and polyester velour on the other. I’m pretty sure that the reviewers are exaggerating when they say “If Santa and a unicorn had a love child, it would be this blanket,” but just in case …

  45. 45.

    Mel

    @Yarrow: Yes! Parchment paper is a life saver!
    We recently started using it on our pizza stone when we make pizza or ciabatta. The crust is wonderful with the parchment paper trick – crisp, perfectly lightly browned, but without the little scorched spots we sometimes get without the parchment paper. My Italian godmother would have a fit, but who’s telling?!

  47. 47.

    Kristine

    Puppy!!

    I combined a couple of recipes and made Mexican Creme Brûlée Brownies for Friendsgiving. They went over well.

    This recipe, plus added cinnamon and cayenne pepper in both the brownie and the creme (got the idea from Aaron Sanchez). I will say that the brownies weren’t as bittersweet as I like. Next time, I will use a different recipe. The creme is very rich and would make a great dessert on its own.

    Also, total agreement re: parchment paper. I use it when I roast veggies, too.

  51. 51.

    Mel

    @Aleta: My grandma used to make it, too! Such a wonderful treat, and such good memories of hanging out in the kitchen with her and my great grannies when I was little. Oh, the smell of that walnut filling and of the little apple handpies my great-grands made…

    So far, my efforts to make it have been miserable failures, but now that I have little grand-nephews and nieces I might try again (especially since one of my grand-nephews loves to help with baking and cooking).

  52. 52.

    The Dangerman

    Russian Tea Balls (as I know them) were a Holiday staple in my youth; all I can say is yummmmmmmmmmmm.

  56. 56.

    Mel

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s a true gift that you have given them. I wish I had watched and listened more closely when my granny was creating hers. At the time, all I wanted to learn was how to do the big layer cakes (Hummingbird cake, sweet potato caramel cake, etc.) because they looked so fancy to my young eyes.

    The older I get, though, the more I long for the the skill set to create the old school pastries they would make. So complex to make, but so full of love and memories and history. I wish I could pass those on to my little grand-nephews and grand-nieces.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’m not allowed to have anything that involves flames. Too much clutter.

    Plus I wanted a super cuddly blanket while I’m recovering with my knee. It will make me feel better in a silly way if I have a cozy blanket in my favorite color.

  61. 61.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    This is my great grandmother’s fruitcake recipe, with minor additions. It is actually pretty awesome.

    WAKEFIELD STYLE FRUITCAKE

    6 eggs
    1/2 lb butter
    1/2 lb brown sugar
    1 pint sifted flour
    1 t baking powder
    1 lb white raisins
    1/2 lb chopped figs (dried)
    Any combo of dried fruits will do; do not have to follow this exactly.
    Get craisins also.
    Basically need 3 lbs of dried fruits. No prunes; look for whats on sale.
    1 1/2 lbs chopped dates
    2 lbs chopped nuts
    1/2 pint cherry preserves (this is the cherry jellly)
    1 glass jar grape jelly
    1 T cloves
    1 T allspice
    1 T cinnamon
    1/2 to 1 cup bourbon (whatever your preference)

    Line 3 loaf pans with brown paper grocery bags cut and measured to fit the
    bottom and four sides. Grease the pan and then put in two layers, greasing
    each layer. (Use Crisco–no spray. You NEED the fat for this one, baby.) I
    cut my papers about 1/2 higher than the pan, and this seemed to work well.
    I could spoon more batter in, and not be worried about it going over.

    Sift flour, baking powder, and spices. Dredge the fruit in small amount of
    this mixture so that it does not stick together.

    In a very large bowl (I had to use a stock pot) mix eggs with butter, then
    add brown sugar. (I wondered about not creaming the sugar with the butter
    before adding eggs, but the final product seems to work. Might try it next
    year.)

    Add 1/3 of dry ingredients to wet, alternating with the jelly until all
    combined. Add your bourbon. Mix on low speed until well mixed. Stir in
    your cherry preserves, and then start adding the fruit and nut mixture, a
    little at a time. Stir until your arm falls off.

    Spoon carefully into loaf pans, be sure the liners stay in place. This cake
    only rises about 1/2 inch, so fill er up! If you want, you can decorate the
    tops with nuts placed lightly on the batter.

    Place on middle shelf of 300 to 325 degree oven. Place pan on next shelf
    down and fill with hot water. Keep this filled thru the baking process. g
    Bake forever. Mine went about 2 hours in 325 oven. Check after 1 hour,
    rotate loaves. Its a little difficult to tell when done, but the tops will
    be a little shiny, a little cracked, no give to the cake when you press down.
    Try the toothpick. Finally, just cross your fingers, and pull from oven
    and hope its not raw in the middle.

    Cool in pan, and then remove and peel off layers. Wrap in cheesecloth
    dampened with bourbon, then foil or wax paper, and put in refrigerator.

    Critical Notes:

    You have to use Crisco as opposed to a regular liquid oil or coconut oil. The crisco stands up to the duration and heat.

    Don’t use expensive whiskey. Use a strong bourbon in the 4 year range, because it needs to carry through and not be too subtle.

  64. 64.

    Suffragette City

    Awww cute puppy..and thanks for some cookie ideas mmmmmm think I have to find that chocolate!

  66. 66.

    Barbara

    You can make the Mexican Wedding cookies with vegan butter (Earth Balance) but it works best if you shape the balls on the cookie sheet and then put them in the freezer for a while while the butter regains its structure. I make these for my vegan daughter.

    I used to bake more Christmas cookies, but I have whittled the baking down to a few favorites. Last weekend I made a dark chocolate peppermint cookie with peppermint chocolate glaze. Sort of like thin mints. It’s one where you roll the dough into a log and refrigerate it for a while and then cut them. The secret is to use peppermint essential oil, not extract.

  71. 71.

    debbie

    I just realized the spritz cookies in the photo are the shapes my mother used to make when I was a kid. She made hundreds every year. I remember decorating the little trees with silver balls and the flowers with cherries.

  77. 77.

    Barbara

    @Adam L Silverman: Not necessarily. Margarine can have dairy based ingredients. EB also does not have any hydrogenated oils. I don’t really do a lot of analysis. I know my daughter eats it.

  81. 81.

    amygdala

    @Kristine: Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa is half regular and half Dutched cocoa, which makes it a good all-purpose cocoa powder. It’s also pretty widely available in big grocery stores and a lot less pricey than the fancy stuff.

  85. 85.

    Barbara

    @Adam L Silverman: We don’t — or she doesn’t — have a sense of humor about any of this. Earth Balance really does work better in baked goods than margarine. I assume that there is such a thing as unsalted margarine, but it seems like most margarine is very salty, compared to butter.

  86. 86.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’ve considered a rum/Cointreau mix, but always settle in for the traditional. I keep Cointreau around for my Emeril Lagasse truffles.

  93. 93.

    Mel

    @Omnes Omnibus: I have had a horror of prunes ever since a college Christmas party experience decades ago involving a vile “punch” consisting of prunes, grapes and apples in vodka and Everclear, followed by a late night / early morning feast at the chili parlor around the corner.

    Prunes are the Pennywise the Clown of dried fruits.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mel: I was four. Near Mesa Verde. There were no toilets for hours. I have not knowingly consumed a prune since 1969.

    ETA: Oddly, I really like plums. In moderation.

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eclare: Which one if you don’t mind saying?

    Also, my house’s drunk decisions tend toward let’s buy really good booze and are we really sure that is enough? That fruit mix is demented.

    My house’s giant rush party was 007 themed and held on Parent’s Weekend. We had to be sophisticated and set up to accommodate a 47 y/o Scotch drinking mom who could out-drink all of us.

  99. 99.

    eclare

    Yeah, it’s the fruit mix that is fucked up, plus the vodka and Everclear mix, although I encountered that more than once. I was Delta Gamma at the University of Tennessee. Still remember a mixer with Sig Ep that had a miniature golf theme, every room had a hole set up, with drinks. Wow, the vomiting.

    Your house’s decision process sounds pretty rational.

  100. 100.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eclare: Well, that should have taught you about hanging with Sig Eps. At my LAC, we joked that that the Sig Eps had one personality and one person could have it per night.

  101. 101.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Is anyone watching Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD?

    I’ll weigh in. I saw that it was on the schedule and watched the two-hour season opener sometime last week (off the DVR). I thought, What the hell? I realized that I couldn’t remember how the last season ended, probably because it hadn’t been grabbing me anyway, since they seemed to be reënacting a bad Nicolas Cage movie about a flaming skull guy riding a motorcycle. So now they’re doing some space/​time-displacement thing? Whatevs. It feels like they’re really reaching.

    Like you, I have liked some of the characters, but the show has really degenerated into a hot mess. Thinking about it and trying to figure out why I couldn’t remember much about the show, it came to me that all the seasons have been sort of ephemeral. There was the season where some of the characters were transported to a sort of Shangri-La place. There was the big showdown with Hydra. There were the proto-fascists going around hunting mutants. There was the one with the English nerd girl trapped on another planet. It all runs together in my mind, and it seems more and more cartoonish.

    The result is that I’m losing patience. I have last week’s episode on the DVR and will probably watch that, but I’m not optimistic.

    ETA: Weird digression for a cookie recipe thread.

  106. 106.

    Mel

    @eclare: @Omnes Omnibus: As I recall, it unfolded something like this:

    Hostess 1: “The keg’s almost empty!”
    Hostess 2: “Already? Let’s make Sangria!!!”

    Hostess 3: “We’ve got tons of those little bottles of wine!!”

    Hostess 1: “That’s not wine. That’s your nasty Bartles & James.”

    Hostess 2: “We’ve got a bag of grapes, and some apples. I don’t know, though – the apples look pretty old. They’ve got wrinkles and stuff.”

    Guys from downstairs: “It’s fine! We’ve got Everclear. That’ll kill anything.”

    My roomie: “I brought a bottle of vodka…”

    Random Guest: “Two bottles ought to be enough alcohol to fill that bucket.”

    Another Random Guest: “That’s not enough fruit. Sangria has lots of fruit. And wine.”

    Neighbor from across the hall: “Hey, wait! My Mom sent me a huge ass bag of prunes last year. Aren’t prunes a fruit?”

    And the rest is horrific gastrointestinal history.

  107. 107.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eclare: DG was our partner sorority on my campus. And, like you said, it varies campus by campus. Let’s just agree that we disagree with the people here who say that Greek Orgs are merely paying for friends.

  108. 108.

    eclare

    @Mel: Oh that is hilarious! Not for any partakers, I’m sure…but wow, the cascading bad decisions that led to that horror. And someone was gung-ho for a chili run? At least in the south we have Waffle House, just get the hash browns.

  111. 111.

    eclare

    @Omnes Omnibus: I enjoyed my time in DG, and I never thought I was paying for friends. Dated a Greek guy for years, some of his friends were good friends of mine at the time. You’ll appreciate this: he was at Vandy, I was there for the weekend from UT, and he had to work, his friends were car obsessed and going to the Corvette plant in KY, and I was invited and welcome to go with them. Those guys didn’t have to do that, they were just nice to their friend’s girlfriend.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: I googled and found this:

    These days, Hershey’s isn’t the only can on the supermarket shelf. In fact, Hershey’s comes in two varieties: classic natural; and Special Dark, a blend of natural and Dutch-process cocoas.

    I have been using my dutch cocoa for everything for decades. I guess I don’t have to go out and buy dark cocoa because my dutch cocoa is already dark THE END

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    Used to experiment making a variety of cookies at holiday time. Nowadays it has pretty much been whittled down to making Pepparkarkor – spicy Swedish ginger snaps. Go to recipe includes black pepper as a secret ingredient, which I’m prone to double up on for extra spiciness.

    Might find the gumption this year to try a new one recently stumbled upon, Whipped Shortbread Cookies.

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Also great to have around to make chocolatey breads in the super duper bread machine.

  115. 115.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Ladyraxterinok: my aunt makes springerley (not sure that is exactly how it’s spelled) – they’re a Greman cookie flavored with anise.

  116. 116.

    orchid moon

    Great cookie recipes. Spritz cookies are my favorites. My mom made them, and I carried on the tradition. Scout is sooooo cute! Can’t wait to here about her arrival, and Bixby’s reactions.

  117. 117.

    cosima

    I made the Cooks Illustrated molasses spice cookies today, and there are not going to be enough left for the event that I need them for, so I will have to make more — lots more! They are really really delicious. Don’t overbake! Don’t glaze — perfect the way they are! It’s definitely not a thing (molasses cookies) here in the UK, so it will be interesting to see how many takers we get at tomorrow’s event. Little C says she hopes nobody tries them so that we can take them all back home and eat them ourselves.

    I’ve made a lot of cookies in my nearly 30 years of parenting, and I decided that if I only make one cookie ever again in my life it could/should/would be this one. So amazing.

  119. 119.

    Miss Bianca

    Wayyyy late to this thread but just wanted to say “Squeeeeee baby Scout!” And drool over cookie recipes.

    My friend Lexie just got a Border Terrier puppy. Face like a tiny bear cub. I iz in love. Apparently they’re quite rare – she got hers from a breeder in Cali. Originally bred as ratters and small vermin hunters, like Jack Russells, their legs are long enough to run with foxhounds, unlike JRTs, and they are also less generally cantankerous. WANTS ONE.

  121. 121.

    WaterGirl

    @cosima:

    I’ve made a lot of cookies in my nearly 30 years of parenting, and I decided that if I only make one cookie ever again in my life it could/should/would be this one. So amazing.

    Sold! I will have to try these.

  122. 122.

    AnneWith

    Chocolate Sables
    (the name is French, so it’s prounced “sa-blays”)

    Cream together
    1 c butter, softened [original recipe called for 3:1 ratio of butter:margarine, but nowadays I just use butter]
    1/2 c sugar
    pinch salt

    Stir in
    1/2 t almond (or vanilla) extract
    1 T milk

    Then blend in
    2 c flour
    3 T cocoa

    Form into logs & refrigerate for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Cut logs into 1/4 inch slices & bake for about 10 minutes.

    Let cool. Nom. This is a rich cookie with a sandy texture.

    I got this recipe from Lori M. when we were both in grad school @ U of I Champaign. She had a job at a local bakery which made these. The bakery sold a plain version as well, but I don’t remember how those were made.

  124. 124.

    cosima

    @WaterGirl: They really are that good! Little C has just eaten her 5th? 6th? ??? And she is a wisp of a girl who usually shuns most sweets, including cookies, no matter what kind. Mr C has eaten ??? many — just grabbed a couple more ‘to see how they go with dark beer.’ Good thing I made a double batch in addition to the single batch this a.m. So, we are all stocked up for Little C’s sport club event tomorrow, and Mr C will take some into his office on Monday. I would never be able to find a molasses cookie here (gingerbread cookies everywhere, but not that extra step to a molasses cookie), so it could be that they taste so good because it’s been many years since I’ve had one!

    There is a site, withtwospoons, that has the Cooks Illustrated recipe. CI must not know about it, because they do keep a tight rein on their recipes. It’s the real deal, same recipe as is in their big baking cookbook (I shared it to my book of faces page). Skip the glazes. Doubling the recipe worked fine, no modifications needed.

  125. 125.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    “Potica” (pronounced “poe-TEE-tsah”) is how my wife’s born-in-Poland (part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire then) grandmother spelled it. Very similar recipe to OzarkHillbilly’s at his link. My wife remembers having/helping to make it every Xmas growing up. Very tasty, though my wife has only made it infrequently in our (holy FSM!) nearly 40 year marriage.

    “Russian Tea Balls” is what my family called Pecan/Mexican Wedding Cookies, and we made them every Xmas when I was a lad (wife’s family made essentially the same thing, called them “Snowballs”). Again, almost identical recipes to that posted above. These were my favorite Xmas cookies growing up, and my mom continued to make them every year until just recently.

    My wife just dug through our hardcopy recipe box and found the old hand-written (my mom’s elegant cursive) and stained Russian Tea Ball recipe, dated 1965. Her grandma’s Potica, too, similarly handwritten and stained, but no date (likely circa ’65, though).

    Atheist/heathens that we are, my wife and I have never celebrated Xmas together as a family, but we (rather, my wife — she’s the baker, I’m the cook) did very occasionally make some Xmas cookies. We’ve decided, though, to somewhat make amends for so shortchanging our children as they grew up by doing some Xmas-y things with the grandkids, starting this season (I’ll just call it “yule-tide” since I’ll really have no truck with Jesus, baby or otherwise. Silly, I know). So, we’ll be making Xmas (wait, “yule”) cookies tomorrow with our nearly-3 year old granddaughter, and some potica with her next Saturday.

    Thanks for the post — timely, helpful, and encouraging!

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @cosima: I would never use a glaze! I had googled and found this page. It says something about a free trial, so maybe you get a very small number of their recipes before they make you join in order to see them? Does this look like the right one?

    https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/146-soft-and-chewy-molasses-spice-cookies?sqn=t8Feym8sFtIydtqKtvYFUhiXvU5Qp7ceHb5LvVdOlNw%3D&extcode=NSFBK11CI&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=photo&utm_content=molassescookies&utm_campaign=cifacebook

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