Was thinking about this last night, Don't know if there is a thread about this so I'll just start one. Now that the holidays are coming would anybody be interested in sharing their favorite recipes for Christmas cookies!! Thought it would be a great way to update my recipe book!!

Ice Box Cookies

1 lb butter soft
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

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mix butter with brown & white sugar

add the eggs

add vanilla

then start blending flour and baking soda to the butter mixture

it will become very thick cookie dough

split dough in half

Roll mixture on to wax paper in log form and freeze.

this recipe will produce about 4 dozen cookies
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Baking

remove dough from freezer and let thaw enough to slice dough

I slice the dough in about 1/4 inch sections and bake on non stick cookie trays I also add christmas sprinkles on top and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. Cool a few minutes then transfer to baking rack.

Been using this recipe for 25 years, my family loves them!

Okay who's next!!

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This is not necessarily a holiday cookie recipe but it is my favorite cookie recipe. Everytime I made these cookies and took them to work, people would exclaim to each other, "Cindi made her oatmeal cookies again!" and they would follow me to the break room. They would disappear - no matter how many dozen I made and I always made at least 4 dozen!


1/2 c margarine
1/2 c vegetable oil
1c brown sugar
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cu flour
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
3c oats
walnuts and/or raisins are optional

Cream first 4 ingredients, add eggs and vanilla.

Sift flour, salt and soda and fold into the creamed mix.

Add oats.

Add additional ingredients of your choice.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

The baking time determines whether you have a soft chewy cookie or a crispy cookie. I usually made a little of each. You may have to experiment with the size of the cookie and the baking time to make it just the right cookie for you.

Enjoy!

Go to Ralph's.

Buy two packages of Ralph's Chunky Chocolate Chip Mates, peanut butter flavor.

Go back home.

Open both packages.

Remove cookies from packages and place in cookie jar at room temperature.

Eat dunked in milk at bedtime or any other time.

Repeat as necessary.

Paul is going to love that recipe Cindi..Loves oatmeal cookies,as soon as I get back on my feet I will makes some!

Note to Mike

Your cookie recipe sounds very delicious, I believe that I have that recipe somewhere Mike!!

Sometimes I put in dried cranberries for a change.

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
40 fruit flavored hard candies
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and eggs.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; add to egg mixture alternately with milk.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide strips and, on a well-buttered baking sheet, form into window frames.

Keeping the colors separate, place candy in plastic bags and crush with a meat mallet. Place crushed candies inside window frames.

Bake for six minutes, or until candy is just melted. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, until candy is hard. Carefully lift cookies off baking sheet with spatula.

These are REALLY good, and they look awesome.

Thanks Angel......................another one for my recipe book!

Love that!

What is the purpose of putting salt in cookie recipes? What would it taste like without the salt?

From my days in Home Ec., I think I remember that the salt doesn't have as much to do with taste, as it does with something else. Some kind of "baking/chemical" reaction of some sort. Of course I could be totally off, but for some reason I remember hearing that.

.............Thats about the jist of it Mike!................

Found this recipe in Epicurious - I have had these cookies before and they are wonderful! Pignoli is Italian for Pine Nuts

PIGNOLI COOKIES


For this particular recipe, it's important to use canned almond paste — the type sold in tubes is too crumbly and doesn't give the cookies the right consistency.
Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 hr

2 (8-oz) cans almond paste (not marzipan), coarsely crumbled
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons mild honey
1 cup pine nuts (pignoli; 4 1/2 oz)

Special equipment: a standing electric mixer; a large pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tip (optional); parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pulse almond paste in a food processor until broken up into small bits, then add confectioners sugar and salt and continue to pulse until finely ground, about 1 minute.

Beat together almond mixture, egg whites, and honey in electric mixer at medium-high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes (batter will be very thick).

Spoon half of batter into pastry bag if using (keep remaining batter covered with a dampened paper towel) and pipe or spoon 1 1/2-inch rounds about 1 inch apart onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Gently press half of pine nuts into tops of cookies.

Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes total. Slide cookies on parchment onto racks to cool completely, then peel cookies from parchment. Make more cookies with remaining batter and pine nuts on cooled baking sheets.

Cooks' notes:
• Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.


Gourmet
December 2002

AUNT LISL'S BUTTER COOKIES


When I was a little girl, my Aunt Lisl always made butter cookies at Hanukkah time. We decorated them. The cookies were stored in her garage in airtight containers. Sometimes we got to take some of them home. Other times, we just nibbled on them at her house.
One of the best things about cooking with relatives is that it's a great time to ask for family stories. While we baked, Aunt Lisl told wonderful tales of my father's boyhood in Germany.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon brandy (optional)
Dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 egg yolk
Chopped nuts and raisins
or
1 egg white
Coarse sugar colored with blue food coloring

Equipment
Measuring cup
Measuring spoons
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Cookie cutters or toothpicks
Rolling pin
Greased baking sheet
Pastry brush
Metal spatula
Cooling rack


Child: In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Then mix in the eggs, brandy, salt, vanilla, and flour. Let rest for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Adult with Child: Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Child: You can either use cookie cutters or use the point of a toothpick like a knife to cut out cookies in any shapes you want. Let your imagination run free; how about dreidels, Stars of David, candles with flames attached, the four Hebrew letters on the dreidel?

Once you have cut out the cookies, gently place them on the baking sheet. Then either brush them with egg yolk and sprinkle with nuts and raisins or brush with egg white and sprinkle with blue sugar.

Adult: Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Use a metal spatula to gently remove each cookie from the baking sheet to a cooling rack or flat plate.


Makes about 48 cookies.


The Children's Jewish Holiday Kitchen

Joan Nathan

Random House, Inc.

[Old Man Music]

Hi Cindi
thanks for the recipe,that's my favorite cookie
especially around the holidays.
going to try that one
Those cookies go for 14-16.00 lb in a good pastry shop

thanks again

Frank

I can see why they would be that expensive Frank as Pignolis are very expensive - it would cost a fortune to make them.

OUTRAGEOUS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup super chunky peanut butter
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons (ß stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1.8- to 2-ounce candy bars with peanuts, peanut butter, chocolate and caramel (such as Nutrageous), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with foil. Using electric mixer, beat first 6 ingredients in large bowl until well blended. Stir flour, oats and baking soda in small bowl to blend; mix into peanut butter mixture. Gently mix in candy bar cubes.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets (15 per sheet), spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly with moistened fingertips. Freeze cookies on sheets 15 minutes.

Bake cookies 10 minutes. Reverse sheets and bake until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Let cookies cool on sheets until beginning to firm, about 5 minutes. Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

Makes 30 cookies.


Bon Appétit
January 2000
Annie Denn, Mission Viejo, CA
Too Busy To Cook?

Cindi,

My mother and I love oatmeal cookies!

Your recipe sounds great!

Thanks for posting it!

I may try it!

I hope you like them. I think I am going to have to make some myself - all this talk has made me hungry for them. This is one cookie I don't mind feeding my children and they love them.

..................Now come on all you bakers out there in Sinatra Land you mean to tell me that no one else has their own special christmas cookie recipe to share here............I'll be standing by I'm sure they will start rolling in, any minute now.....................
...............................any minute!

Cindi,

Thanks again.

My mom and I have always used the recipe that is on the box of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats.

Now we'll try yours!