Russian Teacakes

 When I was a girl my Great Aunt Dorothy would always bring Crescent and Moon cookies.  According to her they were traditional Danish cookies.  I never got her recipe, but this recipe from my childhood Cooky cookbook tastes the same to me.  This recipe uses almonds, but if you switch up the nuts and use pecans I think they're called Mexican Wedding Cakes.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter (or margarine)

1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds Russian/Danish cookies, pecans for Mexican Wedding cakes)

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla
mix flour and salt together, blend in, add nuts

Chill dough

roll into 1" balls
bake at 400(F) for 10-12 minutes
 (375(F) for convection bake)

While still warm roll in confectioners' sugar
cool, roll or dust with sugar again

Christmas Bell Cookies

 When BitBoy was actually a boy, and not a grown man like he is now, I let him pick a new Christmas cookie to make.  He wasn't reading at the time, so picked this recipe based completely on a picture in the classic Betty Crocker Cooky Book.  My copy is from my childhood, held together with tape. The cover of my book is missing, as is the title page, I can only guess that it was printed in the late 70' or 1980 at the latest.  It's now a required Christmas cookie for all of the kids.

Christmas Bell Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (butter is best)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

cream shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla together

stir flour, soda, and salt together, blend in

Color 2/3 of the dough red or green, then mold into a roll and freeze.

(Roll can be triangle for a green tree, or bell shaped for green and red bells)

Roll out not-colored dough into a sheet, wrap it around the chilled/frozen log of colored dough

Freeze again

to bake cookies, slice from roll ~1/8" thick and place ` 1/2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Place cinnamon candies (like Red Hots) on cookie as bell clapper or tree ornaments.
(original recipe calls for using un-tinted dough for clapper, trust me, cinnamon hots are better)

Bake at 375 (F) for 8-10 minutes
( 350 (F) for convection oven)

makes 5 doz cookies

Notes:

This is a small recipe, so if you want two colors of bells, rather than split the dough, it's easiest and most efficient to make three batches.  Color 2 whatever colors you want, then leave the 3rd uncolored and split in half to make wraps for each colored log.

Simple Sesame Cookies

As you can see, I like them a little toasty

I'm putting this recipe up here for my friend, Jen.
I took these to her the last time we visited, as an example of a gluten free, dairy free, egg free, vegan, cookie that was really, really, good, and when she liked them I promised her the recipe.

Sorry it took so long Jen!



These are basically a short bread cookie w/ nuts and seeds added



Simple Sesame Cookies

2 cups softened butter or margarine*
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 cups flour *
1 cup sesame seeds
2 cups shredded coconut
1/2 sliced or chopped almonds

Cream butter (or margarine) until light
Add sugar gradually
Beat until fluffy
Add flour, mix
Stir in sesame seeds, coconut and almonds

Roll dough into logs*
Freeze until very firm
Slice into ~1/4" cookies
Lay on unreleased cookie sheet (will spread a little)
Bake at 300 degrees ( or 280 degrees for convection oven) for 25-30 minutes

Take off pan while still warm to cool on rack or paper towl

These will crisp on cooling, shouldn't be allowed to brown (unless you like it a little extra toasty)



Notes and Modifications

* flour can be all purpose wheat, whole wheat pastry, or gluten free

My favorite gluten free flour for 1:1 replacement is Better Batter Flour.  It's nutritionally as bad as white flour but, for anything except yeast breads, it's hands down the best tasting best textured replacement.  So long as it's not an every day thing, I think it's safe not to worry about the lack of nutrition and fiber.

* My favorite butter replacement for cookies is Earth Balance margarine

*I like to shape the rolls so that when you cut them they are rectangles, but this batch was made by Fire Lord, and anything I didn't have to make myself is perfect just the way it is.

I haven't tried switching out the nuts and seeds, but I think it might be interesting to try to make pecan sandies using this recipe as a base

Melting Air

Every year our church's mother's group has a Holiday Cookie exchange.  This year I brought meringue cookies.  It's kind of an every day cookie here because I have one child who likes just a fried egg yolk for breakfast, which leaves a lot of egg whites in a tub in the fridge.  That also explains why I can't tell you exactly how many eggs to use.  I'd say about half a pint of eggs makes one batch and fills the cookie jar.

Not only are these cookies yummy melt-in-your-mouth, but they are also gluten free and dairy free.

Meringue Cookies

egg whites
sugar to equal volume of egg whites
splash of vanilla (or other flavor)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whip egg whites and vanilla until frothy.  Slowly add sugar as you continue whipping egg whites.  Stop when the egg whites can form a stiff peak.

Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.

Turn off oven and put cookies in.  Leave them in a long time.  Like all day.  Every now and then check on the cookies.  If the oven has cooled, turn it on as low as it will go (170 for my oven) for 10-20 min.  Leave them in overnight if you can.

What you're doing is essentially drying the cookies out.  Test them as you go.   When the cookie is hard and dry (not chewy, and not weeping)  it's done.  It will be crisp to bite, but melt in your mouth if you don't chew.


Notes and modifications:

I've forgotten the vanilla and they're still pretty good.

You can try other flavorings.  I liked almond extract.  The orange extract just tasted vaguely citrus.  Rum was uniformly awful.  I haven't tried mint yet, but that might be an interesting Christmas experiment.

Christmas in July

I love how my house smells today.  It's because my younger two boys like to bake. 

Lego Boy wanted Pfeffernusse and Hot Dog wanted Pizzelles.   These are traditional Christmas cookies around here, but I think our recent trip made them crave comfort food.  I had chemo yesterday so I said they could have them if they made them themselves.  Hot Dog needed a little support ("I'm best at taste testing and timing, Mom") but he managed to do everything himself except putting the batter on the iron.

So, for your own Christmas in July, here are two of our favorite Christmas Cookies.

 Pfeffernusse
(Little Pepper Nuts)

Pfeffernusse is a traditional Danish cookie, something my grandmother would make every year using her own mother's recipe.  It's a spicy crunchy little cookie.   Born in Denmark, Great Grandma's recipe began with "Use plenty big kettle".  This recipe is modified from the Betty Crocker Cookie Book, and doesn't require boiling molasses syrup.  It also doesn't risk breaking your teeth, like my old family recipe.  ;-)

1/2 cup shorting (butter, margarine, or oil)
1 1/2 cup molasses  OR 1 cup molasses + 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 drops anise oil + 1 Tbls hot water
3 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp allspice OR ginger

Mix shortening, sugar, egg, molasses (and sugar if using it) and anise.
Mix in dry ingredients.

Make into bite size pieces and bake on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.  If using a convection oven bake at 325.  Remove while still hot.  They will get crunchy as they cool.


Notes and modifications:

If dough is to soft to handle, chill it for a bit.

You can vary the ratio of spices if you like.  Personally I prefer a little more pepper and a little less clove, so feel free to play with it.

These cookies may be made in to small bite size balls by hand, rolled out thick and cut with a pastry cutter, or if you're feeling up to it you can roll it and use tiny cookie cutters to make pretty bite size cookies.  Did you catch that they must be small and bite size?  They're very crunchy and you want to get it all in one bite.

These are a sturdy little cookie and store well in any container.

Some heathens dip these in powdered sugar when they're done.  I don't get it, but you can if you want.

Pizzelles
From "The New Book of Waffles and Pizzelles"

3 eggs
1/2 cup butter (or 1/4 cup butter  1/4 cup oil)
2 Tbls anise extract
1 Tbls ground anise seed
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose flour)

Beat butter (and oil, if using) with sugar, extract and anise seeds.   Beat in eggs.  Add baking powder and flour.

Bake according to your pizzelle maker's manufacturer's instructions.


Notes and modifications:

This is the traditional Italian version that I love.  If anise isn't your thing (you weirdo, you) there are many other variations.  The most basic of which is to just substitute vanilla for the anise.  Oooh, but using orange extract is really nice too.

These are very delicate cookies.  If you use half oil, they are a little sturdier.

To store I like the round cookie tins you can find at the thrift stores.  That protects them a bit more than a cookie jar.

If you make the vanilla ones you can also roll them around a form while they're still hot to make homemade ice cream cones, or around a rod for a cannoli shell.

If you want to be really fancy you can drizzle some dark chocolate on the pizzell.  They're yummy and pretty that way, but harder to store.

Christmas Recipes

Now I usually like our family to eat healthy, but at the holidays I make a pretty major exception. I'm in the midst of Christmas baking. I've got little scraps of paper, and even the odd email, with my favorite recipes. I'd like to have them all in one place, so here's a list of what I'll be trying to get posted here.

Candy:
Lorin's Truffles
Chocolate dipped pecan fudge
Peanut butter cream cheese fudge
Grandma's Fudge
Divinity


Cookies:
Simple Sesame Cookies
Pfeffernusse
Pizzelles
Bell Cookies
Russian Teacakes/Mexican Wedding Cake

Panettone bread