Sugar Cookies

Every single Christmas for all of our life, we have had a batch of these cookies. They go back generations and generations, rooted in our German ancestry. Grandma Mathilda made them for me, and her mother made them for her and my mom made them for our children and so on. My Grandma was an amazing cook, a real Renaissance woman~she made just about everything whether to eat or wear or adorn a home. Every year at Christmas time a big box would arrive from the post office. All of the contents would be packed in popped popcorn. There were these sugar cookies, fudge, penuche, divinity, something gingery, etc. A real eye-popping assortment. Now mind you I struggled to do 2 batches over the weekend and I was exhausted. How did grandma do it??? I was in a hurry to get these off to siblings who live a distance, otherwise it works best to cut out and bake these cookies over a weekend, freeze them, and frost the following weekend.

~The finished product~

~The Sugar Fairy would surely approve~

~Some of the items you will need~

~German Sugar Cookies~

1/2 Cup vegetable shortening (we found some trans fat free at Whole Foods)

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups all purpose unbleached flour

1 teaspoon real vanilla

{we don't add this, but Grandma Mathilda did~ 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed}

To Begin:

In a large mixer bowl, add the vegetable shortening, butter, and sugar- beat until creamy. Add the eggs and continue beating until well combined. Add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix just until it comes together~and is fully mixed. Don't overdo it. Cut in half and form into a disk. This is a soft dough. It is meant to be rolled out with lots of flour. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to get cold. (1/2 to 1 hour)

To roll out:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You will need 2 cookie sheets, something to line the sheets with,i.e. parchment, silpat, etc., a flat surface to roll cookies out on, flour, cookie cutters, rolling pin spatula, bench scraper and pot holders.

Add some flour to the surface you are rolling your cookies out on. Cut 1/2 of the disk off. Lay the dough on the floured surface and flip it over so that both sides are floured. Flour your rolling pin. Roll the dough out 3/16 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour and cut out shapes and transfer them to your prepared cookie sheets. Leave about one inch space between cookies. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Make sure your rack is centered in your oven.

Remove baked cookies from oven and place aside to cool. Meanwhile, have your next batch ready to go into the oven.

How did Grandma do this with a wood burning stove??

Have all your baked cookies ready, a spreader spatula, cookie sprinkles and bits and goodies, food coloring. We collect all sorts of sugars, sprinkles, non pariels, silver and pearl balls, etc., not to mention all the cookie cutters we have collected old and new. This year we found some gorg silver and gold sprinkles at Williams Sonoma. They really dress up the cookies.

To Frost:

(Grandma used 7 minute icing) Mine is a lot easier!

1 box powdered sugar (1 pound)

3 tablespoons meringue powder (See pictured above. Purchase at Joann's or Michael's in the bakery section)

6 tablespoons warm water

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed). Working quickly, place some of the frosting in small bowls to color or keep white. Frost and sprinkle each cookie as you go. Teamwork is best, grab some extra hands. Let the cookies dry a couple of hours and then package them up.

A few of our tree cookie cutters were used here.

~pearl sprinkles and snowy sprinkles~

Silver sprinkles and agey blue frosting, Tiffany blue with matching sugar and peachy-pink stars.

The packages of cookies are in the mail, going to some special homes. These cookies are even better after a few days, they taste like Christmas to us.

Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is much to be said about the "definitive" chocolate chip cookie. It is after all a matter of personal preference, and that is based largely on evolving taste experiences. Our family has enjoyed this version of chocolate chip cookies since Martha Stewart published her first book in 1982. I grabbed my first edition, dog-eared copy of "Entertaining" and made up a batch of these cookies~just as I have done for 28 years now~every 4th of July. It's tradition. You may ask what separates these from Toll House and every other recipe out there and my answer would be~personal preference. It's got flavor (buttery~caramel~salt tinged~right mix of chocolate) and texture (chewy with crispy edges and soft centers) and what it lacks in appearance, it more than makes up for in all the above categories. It doesn't require grinding up oatmeal, or finding 3 types of rare chocolate or unusual baking techniques. It's easy! So we just love these cookies, and you just might too!

RECIPE

We have slightly changed this recipe from the original~Alexis Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies~Page 93 in "Entertaining" by Martha Stewart.

2 sticks butter

1-1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon real vanilla

1-3/4 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon (just this little bit added makes a difference)

3/4 teaspoon salt (I like Kosher or sea salt~it has a cleaner flavor)

1 teaspoon baking soda

12 ounces "mini" chocolate chips

{When scooping flour, aerate the flour by fluffing with a butter knife or fork. Now dip your measuring cup in and level it off with the straight edge of a butter knife. This way your flour will measure more accurately.}

To begin:

Cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Combine well. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. I use a whisk to mix the dry ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredients~now combine the dry and wet~mix. Add chocolate chips and mix again. At this point you can begin making your cookies, but they will be on the flatter side, or refrigerate for a few hours so the cold dough will hold it's shape a little better when baked. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes, or until the cookies are golden in color. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes before removing them onto cooling racks.

If you make some, tell me how you liked them. This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Drop by 1-inch scoop

I use Silpat's for most of my baking. It's green and easy to use. No parchment or foil to mess with. If you have 2-3 of these, it makes easy work of baking cookies. Now if you don't own Silpats or have the means to, then use the standard methods of parchment or greased lined cookie sheets, or foil for easy clean-up.

No~I'll admit these are not beauties~oh, but beware, they just might capture your taste buds as they did us.

(Cookies are shown in one of Martha's original copper trays she used to sell in her newsletter~pre-Martha Stewart Living.

Some of Life's Simple Pleasures

Oven S'mores

photography by Kailey Smith

~3 basic ingredients~

Old School Marshmallows

Old School Hershey Bars

Old School Graham Crackers

Arrange graham crackers on a cookie sheet.

Top 1/2 of the graham crackers with marshmallows that you have cut in 1/2. Place the marshmallows side by side on one side of the graham cracker sandwiches. See above example, each graham cracker 1/2 has one side of the halved marshmallows on them. Leave the other half of the graham cracker blank until they are cooked, then you will add the chocolate. Now place the cookie sheet full of crackers in the oven to toast the marshmallows. Under the oven broiler (set rack in center of oven-not too close or they will burn) broil until the marshmallows are golden brown. This happens rather quickly. Remove from oven and place the Hershey's chocolate pieces on the blank graham pieces. Sandwich them together and place on a big platter. This is an easy way to serve a crowd! These are messy and will bring out the child in you as you try to lick the oozing melted chocolate to keep it from dripping all over.

Cookies in a Dash

~Just a few simple ingredients~

Photography by Kailey Smith

Peanut Butter Cookies

~Splendid Results~

(Modified recipe from The 150 Best American Recipes, cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter~tip:natural peanut butter is a little trickier & cookies tend to be a bit crumblier.

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking SODA (not powder)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Bake for 10 minutes.

Use a mixer or food processor and add the peanut butter and sugar. Combine until very creamy, otherwise you will taste the sugar granules in the finished product.

Add the egg, baking soda and salt and mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoon onto a prepared cookie sheet pan~grease with butter, use parchment paper or use a Silpat. I use a tiny ( 1" diameter) ice cream scoop to insure my cookies are uniform in size. Bake for 10 minutes. Larger sized cookies will take a little longer. Cool thoroughly for a few minutes and remove from cookie sheet. Store in an airtight container. Makes 28 - 2 inch cookies.

Gild the Lily: Melt about 6 ounces of milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate and dip 1/2 of each cookie in the melted chocolate. Cool on a baking rack.

Tip: Go easy on the chocolate or it will overpower the flavor of your cookies.

One for You and One for Me!

(The Gathering of Friends Volume One (of 2 so far)

by Michelle Huxtable and Alyse Christensen

A great cookbook!

Tried and true recipes...just for you!

An adaptation of Ryan's Cookie-page 117

~White chocolate chips, dried cranberries and chunks of pecans~

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1- 11 ounce bag white chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, rough chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream together white and brown sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, stir with a whisk and blend into the creamed mixture.

Fold in the white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined, Silpat lined or buttered cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes in a preheated oven. Watch that they don't get too dark. They should be barely golden brown when done.

Now go get you cold glass of milk and enjoy each lip smacking morsel.

Our hope is that this book will inspire the reader with ideas of how to enhance relationships, establish traditions and celebrate life.~Michelle Huxtable & Alyse Christensen. (You may find their book online -The Gathering of Friends-or at gift shops around the country)