Christmas Cookies

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Two more batches of sugar cookies this morning! Now, that makes, almost 400 of those! Lots being spread around.
6 batches of Chex mix, some shipped to relatives, some to friends in town, I think I’m done baking for the next few days.

 

[Joan]

Oh boy, looks like I will be keeping DH busy this year. But, he did pick some of these out himself. I'm sure you will be able to tell which ones.

 

[Joan]

Rumprints

2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 TB. rum or
1 TB. milk and 1/4 tsp. rum extract
Ground nutmeg

1. In a large mixer bowl beat the 2/3 cup butter till softened. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and salt; beat well. Add flour and the 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg; beat till well mixed. Cover and chill 1 hour.
2. Shape into 1 " balls. Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press down centeres with thumb. Bake in 350F oven about 12 minutes or till done. Remove, cool on rack.
3. For filling: In small mixer bowl, beat the 1/4 cup butter till softened. Add powdered sugar; beat till fluffy. Add rum and beat well. Pipe or spoon about 1/2 tsp. filling into center of each cookie. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Makes 35

Source: BH&G "Christmas Cookies" 1990

 

[Joan]

Yes, this is another one that DH picked out and said he wants to make real soon.

Apple Half-Moons

1/3 cup dairy sour cream
1 beaten egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 TB. butter
2 medium cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1 TB. brown sugar
1 tsp. apple pie spice

1. Stir together cream, yolk and vanilla. In large bowl stir together flour and sugar. Cut in the 3/4 cup butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg yolk mixture until well combined. Divide dough in half. Cover; chill 3 hours or till easy to handle.
2. Melt 1 TB. butter in small saucepan. Add remaining ingredients. Cook about 4 minutes or until apples are just tender; stir occasionally. Drain off excess liquid. Cool apple mixture.
3. Roll each half of dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut with 2 1/2" round cookie cutter. Place 1/2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Spoon scant tsp. filling onto center of each. Fold rounds in half over filling. Seal edge with tines of fork. Bake in 350F oven 10 to 12 minutes or till lightly browned. Remove; cool. Makes about 48

Source: BH&G Christmas Cookies - 1991

 

[Joan]

We both picked this one out.

Mr. Joe Froggers

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup light molasses
2 TB. rum or water
Decorator's Icing (recipe below)

1. Stir together all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour and next five ingredients. In large mixer bowl beat butter 30 seconds. Add sugar, beat till fluffy. Combine molasses and rum. Add flour and molasses mixture alternately to beaten mixture; beat well. Cover; chill several hours.
2. On a floured surface, roll dough, half at a time, to 1/8" thickness. Cut out with a 4 or 5" gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake in 375F oven about 8 minutes or till set. Cool cookies 1 minute on pan. Remove to rack; cool completely. Pipe on Decorator's Icing. Makes about 40

Decorator's Icing: Stir together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and enough light cream or milk (about 1 TB.) to make icing of piping consistency.

Source: BH&G Christmas Cookies - 1990

 

[Joan]

and one more..........

Slice-of-Orange Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 tsp. finely shredded orange peel
2 TB. orange juice
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
Decorator's Icing (recipe below)
Few drops red and yellow food coloring (optional)

1. In a large mixer bowl combine first 8 ingredients. Beat about 30 seconds till combined. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently.
2. Shape into 2 rolls 7" long and 1 3/4" in diameter. Roll in finely chopped almonds. Flatten one side of roll. Wrap in clear plastic wrap; chill or freeze till firm.
3. Cut into 1/4" slices; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375F oven 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. If desired, tint icing with red and yellow food coloring for orange color. Pipe icing in loops on each cookie to represent orange sections. Makes 60

Decorator's Icing: Stir together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and enough light cream or milk (about 1 TB.) to make icing of piping consistency.

Source: BH&G Christmas Cookies - 1990

 

[MartinB]

Wife and son make some traditional italian cookies by family recipe.

One type with anise..... I refer to them as licorice cookies. Not a fan.

Another type that are strips of dough tied in knots and deep fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are okay. Not very sweet or anything. Cruschiki i think.....polish christmas cookie. Sometimes that's good. We get enough sweet stuff.

I make some spicy cheese crackers from family recipe. Basically sharp cheddar cheese and butter creamed together with a touch of cayenne, with some flour and baked till it comes together.

There's also lady fingers but I haven't made them in a while. They're hard cookiedough with nuts and are rolled out thin, like female fingers...baked and coated in powdered sugar. Nothing at all like Twinkie like cakes that are called lady fingers most of the time. Another cookie that's not very sweet at all. More traditional. Another family recipe that's over 120 yrs, maybe more. It goes back at least to my mom's grandmother. Before that no one knows now. But they've always been made at Christmas time in my mom's family.

But the favorite thing we've made probably for the last 60 years in my family is a bakers Germans chocolate cake. As far as I'm concerned this is the best cake there is. It's quite a bit of work to make by 1 person, and you dirty up a lot of pots to do it. So it only gets made at Thanksgiving and
Christmas. If you want to put on 10 lbs.... This is how you do it. It's mostly butter and sugar and eggs and pecans. Flour seems like a minor ingredient. The recipe used to be on the inside of the Baker's semi-sweet chocolate package but now they just have recipe for cupcakes there for some reason. However with the internet you can come up with the recipe today.