Holiday Cookie Recipes

[steph72276]

Oh, wow....all these recipes sound delish! Here is my cookie recipe that I made with my mom every year at Christmas and now that I make with my son every year....they are super easy and yummy!

English Tea Cakes

1 c sugar
1/2 c butter
1 egg beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sifted self-rising flour
Red/Green sugar

Cream sugar and butter. Add beaten egg and vanilla. Mix. Add flour. Knead until the consistancy of dough. Roll into balls. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten with fork in both directions. Decorate with colored sugar. Bake @350 for 10 mins.

 

[marcy]

Date: 12/3/2007 11:06:34 PM
Author: marcyc

Peanut Butter Blossoms

½ c margarine or butter
½ c sugar
½ c brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ c flour
1 t soda
½ t salt
Chocolate candy (kisses or Dove promises)
Shallow bowl with sugar

Cream together margarine with sugars. Add egg, milk and vanilla and stir well. Add dry ingredients. Chill dough for at least an hour. Shape dough in to balls about the size of a walnut. Roll in a dish of sugar. Bake at 375 until golden brown. While still on cookie sheet place a piece of chocolate candy in the center and press lightly in to the cookie. The recipe calls for kisses; but I use Dove promises because I like them better and can make both dark and milk chocolate cookies. Makes about 48 cookies.

Sorry, Skippy noticed I left the peanut butter out of this recipe:

Peanut Butter Blossoms

½ c margarine or butter
½ c sugar
½ c brown sugar (packed)
1/2 c peanut butter
1 egg
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ c flour
1 t soda
½ t salt
Chocolate candy (kisses or Dove promises)
Shallow bowl with sugar

Cream together margarine with sugars and peanut butter. Add egg, milk and vanilla and stir well. Add dry ingredients. Chill dough for at least an hour. Shape dough in to balls about the size of a walnut. Roll in a dish of sugar. Bake at 375 until golden brown. While still on cookie sheet place a piece of chocolate candy in the center and press lightly in to the cookie. The recipe calls for kisses; but I use Dove promises because I like them better and can make both dark and milk chocolate cookies. Makes about 48 cookies.

 

[bebe]

These are very rich and truly a combo of chocolate & coffee heaven!
I make them several times a year, but make them smaller than the directions
call for.

BLACK GOLD COOKIES

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarse
18 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups pecans
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F..

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt unsweetened chocolate, 9 ounces semisweet chocolate, and butter, stirring occasionally, and remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs with sugar until light and fluffy. Add espresso powder, vanilla, and chocolate mixture, beating until smooth.

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to chocolate mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in remaining semisweet chocolate and nuts until combined well.

Scoop out 1/2-cup (Make them smaller!) measures of cookie dough, arranging them 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until tops begin to crack (do not overbake). Cool cookies on a rack.

 

[Giada]

It is not Christmas in my house without these Molasses Cookies from the Silver Palate Cookbook. They are like gingerbread, but soft and chewy. You can make cookie sandwiches by putting a little cream cheese frosting between them. So decadent!



Silver Palate Molasses Cookies

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg at room temp
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda





Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

1. Melt the butter (I just put it in the microwave), and add sugar and molasses.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Lightly beat the egg and add to the butter mixture, and blend well.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Sift the dry ingredients together, and add to the butter mixture
   
   
   
   
4. It will look wet.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Line a cookie sheet with foil or use a Silpat.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Drop the batter by tablespoons onto the foil, 3 inches apart.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the cookes darken.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Remove foil from cookie sheet, and let the cookies cool on the foil.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Sugar cookies and Fruit thumbprints

Same dough for both.

Baking time 7-9 minutes

1 cup butter-softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 375F

Cream butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla together.
Combine dry ingredients
Mix everything together, add tablespoon of milk
Form into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap
Let chill in fridge for 1 hour

Sugar cookies-roll and cut, bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes or until just turning brown at edges.

Fruit thumbprints

Same recipe as above but instead of rolling and cutting, form balls about 1 inch in diameter.
flatten slightly with hand and then using your thumb (or the back of a small measuring spoon) create a depression in the dough.
Spoon a small amount of fruit preserves into the space created by your thumb/spoon. LESS is more, the preserves will spread during cooking.

Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes.

 

[Mara]

Made these yesterday and they came out amazing. Interesting to note that I used 1/2 the amount of butter and 3/4 the amount of sugar in the cookies and they still came out so great. I told Greg that I can't even imagine where the other 1/2 of the butter would have gone, these are so incredibly rich to begin with. It makes me wonder how many other recipes we don't need the full amount of fat and butter for without sacrificing taste.

Double Chocolate Dream Peppermint Cookies
(original DCD recipe from the Toll House cookie book, with adaptations and addition of peppermint made by moi)

2c all purpose flour
1/2c baking unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1c packed brown sugar
2/3c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
1/2c unsweetened applesauce
3/4 package semi-sweet morsels (used Ghiradelli)
4 crushed candy canes (crushed into tiniest pieces possible)

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla in a larger bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs and applesauce until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Do not overmix. Stir in morsels and candy cane pieces. Don't overmix. Drop by rounded tablespoon (I use a small canteloupe baller to make my balls) onto baking sheet. Bake at 375 preheated oven for 8-12 minutes (depends on your oven) or until puffy yet not quite too firm. Let cool 2 minutes upon removal and remove to wire racks to cool. Makes ~4.5 dozen cookies.

 

[Skippy123]

Wow, those are beautiful Mara!!! Thanks for a low fat version!

 

[Mara]

lol skip don't know how 'low fat' they are...but i guess they are 'lower' fat than the original recipe. i find that i use egg whites only for EVERYTHING now and it never seems to make a diff in how anything tastes or comes out. though it might make cookies possibly a little lighter than dense which i like. these cookies are amazingly rich even with the adaptations. and the peppermint makes them refreshing!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/16/2007 4:42:40 PM
Author: Mara
lol skip don't know how 'low fat' they are...but i guess they are 'lower' fat than the original recipe. i find that i use egg whites only for EVERYTHING now and it never seems to make a diff in how anything tastes or comes out. though it might make cookies possibly a little lighter than dense which i like. these cookies are amazingly rich even with the adaptations. and the peppermint makes them refreshing!

Mara, compared to biscochitos those things are low fat.

hehee I actually meant to say lower fat.

 

[musey]

This isn't a family recipe, but it's one that I worked on recently and was a big hit at our last holiday party! It's a SUPER easy recipe...

Toffee bars:

1 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
4 oz. butterscotch chips


Preheat oven to 350F. Use a food processor or mixer to combine butter, flour, vanilla, brown sugar and egg yolk. Press into an ungreased 10x15-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven; sprinkle with chips. Let stand several minutes to melt the chocolate; spread chocolate evenly over the surface. Score into bars while still warm; chill to harden chocolate.

**You can also press candied walnuts into the chocolate, but I usually don't because I'm not a big nut fan!!

 

[zoebartlett]

Mara, those cookies look scrumptious! Happy eating!

 

[zoebartlett]

So Mara, have you tried making Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies using egg whites only, instead of the whole egg? I''m going to make those next weekend and I''d love to modify the recipe somehow to make it lower in cholesterol. Also, you think I could get away with not using as much sugar? I''m already planning on using the splenda/sugar combo. instead of real sugar.

 

[Mara]

hi zoe. yep i've made chocolate chip cookies with egg whites only and applesauce and 1/2 butter over what the recipe calls for. recently i made them actually, about 2-3 weeks ago!! i only used 1/2 stick of butter, and 1/2c applesauce, egg whites. i also did a 1/2 splenda, 1/2 sugar blend. to me when you do the 1/2 sugar splenda you can taste the splenda slightly...so not sure how much that matters to you. in the future i might just do 1/2 brown sugar and splenda blend (it's in a bag for baking) and use regular white sugar but 1/2 of it only. and maybe some honey for more natural sugars. overall though i don't find that chocolate chip cookies need to be AS SWEET as the recipes call for because the chocolate chips to me are sweet too. anyway i made those cookies recently and took them to work and people loved them.

it's funny because even when i don't need to adapt recipes because i'm making them for a party or something and not myself, and typically people don't like 1/2 fat kind of stuff, i do it anyway a little because i find that you can do SOME things to make them a bit less bad for you and 99% of the people don't notice. so things like egg whites and 1/2 butter have really worked for me.

i just made some snickerdoodles today and used again 1/2 butter (1 stick only) and greg just called down to me that they were awesome, he likes them even better than the double cocoa ones. it makes me wonder just how many old fashioned 'tried and true' recipes could be adapted slightly without anyone even noticing!!

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks for the info, Mara. I don''t like things super sweet either. I love the idea of modifying recipes to make them healthier but I''m always afraid they''re not going to come out as good. So far, I''ve just modified in simpler ways like using low-fat or fat-free things instead of the full-fat version of whatever ingredient(s) a recipe calls for. Someday I should experiment and actually alter the actual ingredients and see what happens. I think I''ll try to do the modifications you mentioned when my sister and I make cookies next weekend. Thanks again!

 

[zoebartlett]

So, just to be sure I have this right, it''s:

1/2 stick of butter (instead of the 1 or 2 sticks the recipe calls for)
2 egg whites and 1/2 cup applesauce (to replace the two whole eggs needed in the more traditional recipe)
Splenda in the bag, for baking (which we use already)


If only I had applesauce and butter, I''d be baking right now...

 

[Miscka]

OK so this isnt a family recipe (I WISH Paula Deen was family

)

18-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough, sliced 1/4-inch thin
14-ounce package chocolate mint wafers
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, or enough to cover top of cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Slightly grease a cookie sheet. Place slices of sugar cookies on sheet, about 2 to 3 inches apart. Top each with a chocolate wafer. Cover wafer with another slice of cookie dough. Brush dough with a beaten egg. Press nuts into top of dough. Bake for about 10 minutes.

I made these yesterday, SOOOOO yummy. I gave some to my BFs family in a cute tin and it was a hit. They are super simple. I bought the pre-shaped sugar cookies and just cut them in half to put the Yorks in the middle, and then shaped them up. I also chopped chocolate chips and used them instead of the nuts. HTH!

 

[Mara]

Date: 12/16/2007 6:12:55 PM
Author: zoebartlett
So, just to be sure I have this right, it's:

1/2 stick of butter (instead of the 1 or 2 sticks the recipe calls for)
2 egg whites and 1/2 cup applesauce (to replace the two whole eggs needed in the more traditional recipe)
Splenda in the bag, for baking (which we use already)


If only I had applesauce and butter, I'd be baking right now...

Yeah...it's basically flour, baking soda, salt. If the recipe calls for 2 1/4c flour typically I will only use 1 3/4 and save 200 cals. Then in another bowl, 1 stick butter (1/2 the recipe, typically it's 2 full sticks aka 1c) and vanilla. 2-3 egg whites depending on what your recipe calls for regular eggs (aka 1 or 2 eggs). Sugars however you want to use them (there is a brown sugar blend that I use for baking, splenda and brown sugar and a separate splenda for baking that is white...I used both in my recipe but I think it was a bit too much 'fake' sugar...next time I will only use splenda brown sugar blend and use regular full calorie white sugar). I think that's most of what they are? I put in the 1/2c applesauce right before mixing in the chips and nuts or whatever. And I don't overmix. They come out less crispy and more soft/doughy. From what I have read if you use more butter, that is how you can get those flatter crispier cookies. Since I like a softer consistency, I don't need them to be like that. I have a choco chip cookie book too and it's interesting because there are SO many variations of cookies. Some have less flour, some more, some more butter, some less sugar, etc. All come out slightly diff. So I don't think that there is any WRONG way!

I've used lighter ingredients in the past too like margarine and other things to try to adapt..but interestingly enough I find that when I use the ACTUAL high quality ingredients, just maybe 1/2 or 2/3 of it instead, it comes out very tasty because it still has the same element of taste from the original ingredient, just less of it. Whereas I don't really like cookies made with margarine or light butter but I love actual butter so I'd rather use less and still 'taste' butter.

Also Cooking Light has been moving more towards that too. If you look at their old recipes from 1998 or similar, many of them call for margarine because that was considered lighter than butter. They'd also use other things that were considered healthier back then (can't recall what though but you can look at old recipes online). Now they use real butter, real sugar etc but just LESS of it. And applesauce and honey are good subs for healthier.

For fun, here is a picture of my snickerdoodles. These are my absolute fave cookies when we're talking non-chocolate! I used 1/2 butter here again and egg whites only, and Greg called down to me from upstairs to say these were fabulous. He ate 5!

 

[Gothgrrl]

I think I've gained 30 pounds just reading all these great cookie recipes. Those chocolate ones look like little blobs of gooey, ooey heaven. And those snickerdoodles....Mara, I now have drool on my keyboard.

I'm going to try making those chocolate one on my day off. (here's to another 10 pounds)

 

[Linda W]

OK MARA,

No more showing these cookies, you know some of us are watching are weight, ha ha ha.

Linda

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/16/2007 10:08:57 PM
Author: Linda W
OK MARA,

No more showing these cookies, you know some of us are watching are weight, ha ha ha.

Linda

hehee, I agree, but I do love a good snickerdoodle!!!! YUM!


Musey, Giada, and Zoe, thanks for the recipes!!

 

[Mara]

heee hee you only gain weight if you actually EAT them, not bake them. of course i can''t STOP eating them so that''s my problem. but i am taking them to work tomorrow so hopefully they will be pretty much gone, therefore rendering my desire to continue to eat them useless.

 

[Skippy123]

Libster, could you please post your magic cookie bars for us? They sound yummy and magical. hehee

 

[Giada]

Mara, can you post your Snickerdoodle recipe (with your modifications)? Those are my favorite cookies ever!

 

[door knob solitaire]

MSN just posted a incredible recipe that you can make 25 recipes from, here is a linky. (look fast you never know how long they are valid.)

My favorite is the hershey kiss.

You take a naked hershey's kiss and wrap sugar cookie dough...(flavored with cocoa...so it is brown, around the kiss). Refrig it for 20, then bake. After it cools it is the shape of a kiss only a tad larger. You cut squares of foil out and wrap the cookie kiss in the foil...ready for this? You make little flags with a message and let the paper flag peek out of the top of your creation...IT IS BRILLIANT. I so wish I had thought of it. I am applauding who ever did it and well, it is brilliant.

My other favorite is the one that looks like a ball of beach sand. There are little hidden pearls and specks and it really looks fabulous. The sugar cookie press using the bottom of a cut glass glass is a great idea. A pattern in a sugar cookie I think would be well received.

Oh have you ever made the Strawberry cookies? NO bake. You take shredded coconut, strawberry jello, and sweetened condensed milk. Refrig to firm...and then form strawberries. I roll them in a mixture of red sugar and a pinch of green sugar...it imitates the seeds on a strawberry. Then I take an icing bag and using a leaf tip form about three leaves at the crown. You can smell them as you would swear it was fresh strawberries. I give them as gifts and present them in the little green willow square baskets with cellophane over the top secured by a rubber band...just like at the produce stand. Rave reviews! Dang it...gotta get something sweet. Darn this thread. Darn it! §

 

[Mara]

Giada...I actually cheated this time on the snickerdoodles and used a bag from this awesome store I love called Cooking Up Ideas. They pre-mix things for you, so I bought a bag of Snickerdoodle mix which is basically the flour, sugar, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda all mixed together. Then they give you a baggie of cinnamon sugar. You just add the butter and eggs and whala, dough for cookies.

So I am not sure what their quantities were but literally it's just flour, sugar, cot, salt (not even sure if baking soda is in there actually). Then added 3 egg whites and 1 stick of real unsalted butter. Make dough, it's sticky. Roll into tiny balls in hands coated with flour. Dump sugar/cinnamon (just blend sugar and cinnamon together) into a bowl and roll balls in it to coat. Drop balls on cookie sheet (put silpat or baking paper or something on top), bake at 350 for 8-12 min depending on your oven. I tend to slightly underbake them or else they will get too hard the next day, when they LOOK and FEEL done, they are too done.

You can probably find a ton of snickerdoodle recipes online, I tend to use a little less flour and sugar than the recipes call for so maybe look for one with around 2c flour, 1c sugar for the stick of butter and egg white quantities that I used. Basically dough ends up being sticky and you know it's ready.

Best thing is that the nutritionals on the bag said if you make it with 2 sticks butter and regular eggs the cookies come out to be 70 cals each and bag makes 50 cookies. I made them small (bite sized) so I got 120 and I used 1 stick butter and 3 egg whites. When I calculated it out with changes, seems like each cookie is like 23-25 cals and much less fat than original recipe. And seriously they are GOOD, I got *rave* reviews from people who ate them and Greg is still consuming them in multiples. Good to know that something doesn't have to be SO BAD for it to be SO GOOD!

Hope this helps!!

ETA found this online...this looks like one I'd use quantity wise (I like that it only uses one stick of butter, 1/2c) and just replace eggs with 3 egg whites.

http://www.popularcookierecipes.com/Snickerdoodle.html

 

[Giada]

Thanks, Mara! I''ll give it a try and let everyone know how they turn out using the recipe on the link you provided with your modifications.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 11/29/2007 8:21:53 PM
Author: Ellen

Date: 11/29/2007 11:51:53 AM
Author: Skippy123

Yes, please

I will be making cookies this holiday so it would be nice to have a good mix

Ellen any good family cookie recipes?

Yes, I have one of my grammas that''s made with cream cheese. But I''m not posting it, Sumbride will grimace, and post a better version, and everyone will make hers.

I keed, I keed.

I''ll post it tomorrow.

Ellen - I totally just saw this!! I''m sorry!

post away!!!

 

[sumbride]

We had a bake-off at work today. I didn''t participate but my boss sweeped the dessert category with her incredibly simple and amazing shortbread cookies. They weren''t fancy looking, but the taste, wow... everything else, as pretty as it was, couldn''t beat these! I can''t wait to make them! And just THREE ingredients.


Shortbread Cookies
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks) – use real butter, not margarine, it makes a huge difference
• ½ cup granulated sugar, plus more for coating after baking
• 2 ¼ cups sifted flour
1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Stir in flour, 1/3 at a time, until well blended.
3. Chill dough for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. (I put mine in the freezer for a few minutes instead, to save time.)
4. Roll out 1/8-¼ inch thick and either use cookie cutters or cut into squares to save time. The chilling is more important to maintain the cookie cutter shapes, so if you want to skip or minimize the chilling just cut them into squares.

Bake at 300 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Watch closely as they will get too brown quickly. You can make them larger and thicker but they may take up to 30 minutes to bake.

Cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet. They are very good plain but I dipped both sides in granulated sugar to coat them when taking them off the cookie sheet.

 

[Elmorton]

Spent Sunday with my MIL and GIL (Grandmother in Law? - I''m not sure I''ve seen anyone write GIL on PS before, haha). We talked sweets for nearly an hour - I mentioned making a pecan pie with tollhouse morsels that completely bombed last year (BIL very politely said "Um, next year, let''s go back to the original pecan pie.") At the mention of Tollhouse, GIL went into her kitchen and returned with her tattered original Tollhouse cookbook and told me about going to eat at the Tollhouse as a young teen before it burned down. I had no idea there WAS a Tollhouse! But wow, that book was filled with goodies. Next time we visit, I''m taking a stack of recipe cards with me.

MIL''s Xmas cookie idea:
Make oatmeal cookies with your regular recipe. Rather than raisins, add CRAISINS for a holiday spin. The recipe she found also suggested adding white chocolate chips. YUM!

Oreo Cookie Truffles -
I made a BUNCH of these last year (they are SUPER rich) and they were totally gone by Xmas day. Not exactly a cookie, but in the same arena.

Take a package of oreo cookies and crush them finely in a large ziplock bag. In a big mixing bowl, combine with two softened bricks of philly cream cheese. Mix well.

Roll "dough" into small balls (one-two inches) and place on a baking sheet covered in tin foil. Freeze over night.

Next day: Melt a bag of white chocolate morsels. Dip the frozen balls in the white chocolate. Return to foil lined baking sheet/fridge until hardened. Once hard, keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

For a Xmas touch, I also added a little bit of red and green sugar to the top.


And now a cookie question:

GIL made some cookies from a NY Times recipe that were to die for - of course, I can call her and ask for the recipe but I can''t remember what on earth she called them - the name sounded kinda Yiddish/New England-y.

They were crescent shaped, dusted with a little bit of powdered sugar, and on the inside, they were filled with sugary goodness that was kindof an apricot color (may have had nuts, but the filling was a dry, crystalized thing).

Any ideas?

 

[Mara]

Miss Skippy...I was looking through my Cooking Light from last month and I found a recipe and thought of you!!

Orange Bizchochitos...a healthy recipe, or well less detrimental to the heart and jeans I guess. Interesting because I never even have seen these cookies before (we totally don't eat them out here, and in the mag they say they originated in New Mexico) they look kind of like shortbread right. I don't think I'd like them because I don't like licorice flavored items but they look cute!

Anyway the recipe is probably on CookingLight.Com. It uses real butter, flour, sugar, orange rind, aniseed, vanilla, ground cinnamon etc and there's a cute picture of them. They look tasty and are only 65 cals each. BIG diff from the pound of lard...this recipe uses 2c flour to 3/4c sugar and 1/2c butter.

So I know I've seen you say a few times that the Bizchochitos are not healthy but sounds like they can be. I'd be interested if you made these healthier orange ones and compared them to the ones you make regularly...and see how they taste!! I personally find I don't miss a lot of the butter and stuff in less healthy recipes..and CL has great cookies. So anyway let me know if you make them.