From the Kitchen: December 2006 Archives

I tried a new Christmas "cookie" this afternoon. I wanted to see if a short-cut cookie might be something to add to our list of favorites.

The recipe used ready-made peanut butter cookie dough. You divide an 18 ounce tube of dough into 24 pieces and bake them in tart-sized muffin tins. During the last two minutes of cooking you press a rounded measuring spoon into the dough to create a well, then continue baking until the dough is golden.

The peanut butter dough makes a tart base that holds a fudge filling.

It seems to me that the tart is a bit thick. It makes quite a substantial cookie, perhaps one that men would like more than women. I know....that's sexist. Don't bother to point it out.

I'm going to freeze the tarts and then add the fudge the day before the cookies are given as gifts. I'll have to see if the combination of the peanut butter base and the fudgy center will draw anyone back for seconds.

Cookie Day for 2006 has been officially canceled.

(sigh)

One of my nieces has been transfered this week, and has to work on Sunday, and another slipped and broke a toe. She can't stand through a day of cooking. Several other ladies have just too much to do to give up a day to bake.

So...I need to look over the list of cookies and plan a strategy for baking a few a day until we have enough to fill our gift boxes.

I have some old favorites, and a few new recipes to try. The favorites include:
Russian Tea Cakes (Mexican Wedding Cakes), Sugar Crisp, Turtle shortbread, Peanut Butter Blossoms, and Raspberry Ribbons.

Here are the new ones I'd like to try:
Choco-Coco Pecan Crisps
Fudge Tarts
Pastry Pillows
Frosted Sour Cream and Chocolate Drops
Apricot Nut Diamonds
Chocolate Mint Thumbprints
Old World Raspberry Bars and
Chocolate Mint Snow-Top Cookies

Since there's some duplication (but who can have too much chocolate?), I'll weed a couple out after I read the instructions again.

I also found an old recipe that my mother made when I was a child, for Kolache. She used to fill them with raspberry or apricot preserves, and sprinkle confectioner's sugar over them. hey were light, and sweet, and a favorite of the entire family.

I had to make a stop at Sur le Table to find the coarse sugar I needed for the Pastry Pillows. That doesn't seem to be a common ingredient in most grocery stores.

And, I may give in and do a recipe of Sugar Cookies that can be iced. We don't tend to do the traditional decorative cookies, so this might be a tip of the hat toward tradition.