Christmas cookies?

[tony]

My wife asked me if anybody in The Villages bakes Christmas cookies. I think she is looking for recipes.

Anybody have any good ones?

[redwitch]

I'm lazy. For sugar cookies, it's Krusteaz mix. Chocolate chip are the cut and bake variety. I do, however, make rugalah and a chocolate-mint from scratch and usually try at least one new recipe. When I ever get home, I'll find the chocolate-mint recipe and post it (sometime tomorrow -- dog sitting tonight).

[TallerTrees]

My wife asked me if anybody in The Villages bakes Christmas cookies. I think she is looking for recipes.

Anybody have any good ones?
If you're looking for sugar cookies with frosting, we have the old fashioned recipe. Really quite easy. If that's what you are looking for, I'll send it along.

[uujudy]

My friend brought these to a party and I hovered around the cookie table all night. These are the very same cookies my grandma made every Christmas, but we called them snowballs. Grandma's cookies were balls, and Sarah's cookies are crescents, but they taste the same. I LOVE these cookies. I'm so glad Sarah sent me the recipe. She said it was so easy even I could make them! Yum! :icon_hungry: I haven't tried to make them yet, but here's the recipe:

BOHEMIAN COOKIES

1 cup margarine (2 sticks) I used " I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (regular white)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream margarine and sugar well - add vanilla and flour gradually. Stir until smooth and stir in the nuts. Dip fingers in flour and shape small pieces into crescent shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven 15 to 20 minutes. When cool dredge in powdered sugar - shake off excess, -makes about 40 cookies.

[The Great Fumar]

Excuse Me ,
But if anyone out there is making date filled cookies , I would happily come over and taste test them for you as I am a coni sewer of date filled cookies.............

Also raisin's .....

allways glad to help .......FUMAR

[Cassie325]

Well I know it is not a cookie recipe but what are the Holiday's without FUDGE!! This is a recipe from Paula Dean...while it sounds very odd...it truly is the best fudge we have ever tasted!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chocolate-cheese-fudge-recipe/index.html


:icon_hungry:

[Whalen]

CHERRY CHEESECAKE TARTS

2 pkgs. (8 oz.) cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
Vanilla wafers
1 can pie filling

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla. Beat eggs separately add to mixture and mix. Put 1 vanilla wafer in bottom of foil cupcake holder. Fill with mixture 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 350 degree oven. After cakes cool top with pie filling. Makes approximately 24.
:icon_hungry:

[beady]

uujudy...they are a christmas tradition in our family, and round in shape, but we call them Russian Tea Cakes...yummy no matter what shape they are in. It is just not Christmas without them.:icon_hungry:

[Cassie325]

CHERRY CHEESECAKE TARTS

2 pkgs. (8 oz.) cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
Vanilla wafers
1 can pie filling

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla. Beat eggs separately add to mixture and mix. Put 1 vanilla wafer in bottom of foil cupcake holder. Fill with mixture 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 350 degree oven. After cakes cool top with pie filling. Makes approximately 24.
:icon_hungry:



THESE sound GREAT!! Thank you for this...I will try these!!

[redwitch]

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter (not margarine)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
Andes mints candies, broken in half (the green mints, not the red)

Directions

Over low heat, combine butter, sugar and water. Heat until melted and add chocolate chips until partly melted.

Remove from heat and stir. Pour into large mixing bowl.

Let stand 10 minutes to cool slightly.

Beat in eggs one at a time on high speed.

Reduce mixer to low speed and add flour, salt and baking soda. Beat until well-blended.

Chill one hour (dough is almost liquid before chilling but hardens and is easy to shape after chilling). Roll into balls, place two inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets or spray sheets well with Pam Baking Spray.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Place an Andes Mint half on top.

Allow to melt slightly and spread with the back of a spoon.

These really are much easier to make than the recipe sounds and are soooo good.

[redwitch]

Cinnamon Balls

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Ground Almonds
1/2 Cup Superfine Sugar
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
2 Egg Whites

1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

Large Baking Sheet
Oil (to grease the Baking Sheet)

Preheat Oven to: 350 Degrees

Instructions:

Mix the almonds, sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they begin to stiffen.
Fold whisked eggs into the dry mixture until the combination is fairly firm.

Use your hands to roll the mixture into small balls and place these onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350�F.

Remove from oven and use a metal spatula to separate the balls from the baking sheet before they cool too much.

Once the cinnamon balls are completely cooled, sift some confectioner's sugar onto a plate. Gently roll each ball on the plate until it is completely coated in sugar. Add more sugar to the plate as necessary.

[barb1191]

This cookie was a favorite in our home and can be decorated easily to serve the holiday cheer.... Has anyone ever had SNICKERDOODLES???? Soooo delicious....barb

Soft Snickerdoodles Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces butter, softened (1 cup = 2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, more or less according to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare baking sheets by spraying with vegetable shortening.
In a large bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.Set aside.
Using a mixer, beat butter until creamy.
Add sugar and continue beating until fluffy. Scrape bowl.
Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
On low-medium speed, mix in dry ingredients two cups at a time. Beat well and scrape sides of bowl, making sure to get down to the bottom.
In another bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon together.
Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, measure out dough, roll into balls and coat completely in cinnamon sugar.
Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving room for the cookies to spread.

Bake at 350 deg F for 13-16 minutes or until the outside of cookies feel slightly firm to the touch.
Remove and cool on racks before storing in airtight containers.
Makes 24-30 warm and delicious Snickerdoodles!

[Julie]

I bake Christmas cookies every year, unfortunately I'm not in TV yet otherwise I'd make a bunch for all of you. :icon_hungry: This is the one recipe I have the most requests for repeats:

Cinnamon Triangles

1 c. butter or margarine
1 c. packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg, separated
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line a 15x10 inch jelly -roll pan with foil.

Cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg yolk, flour and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon until blended, then 1/2 cup walnuts.

Press dough evenly over bottom of prepared pan. With a fork, beat egg white until frothy. Brush over dough.

Mix granulated sugar with the remaining cinnamon and walnuts. Sprinkle evenly over dough. Press in slightly to set into dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Lift foil by ends onto cutting board. Trim to a 14x10 inch rectangle. Cut into 2-inch squares. Cut each square diagonally into 2 triangles. Store cookies airtight up to 2 weeks or freeze.

These are crispy and quite delicious dipped in coffee or tea.

Enjoy!

[Barefoot]

And for those of us who don't cook or bake, what is the name of the best bakery in TV?

[uujudy]

uujudy...they are a christmas tradition in our family, and round in shape, but we call them Russian Tea Cakes...yummy no matter what shape they are in. It is just not Christmas without them.:icon_hungry:

Beady, you're so right. It's just not Christmas without them!

[Boomer]

And for those of us who don't cook or bake, what is the name of the best bakery in TV?


Barefoot, I hear you. I am not good at either one of those things. Sometimes I try. But I am not, by any means, suggesting that.

I know of a church ladies' group that has a fundraiser with homemade cookies. These ladies (who all know their way around a kitchen) bake dozens and dozens of their personal best cookie recipe.

Then they all get together and make up beautiful trays of homemade cookies to sell. There are other women who cannot wait to buy those beautiful trays of homemade cookies so that they can take them to the office or to a party and pretend that they made them themselves.

Two things to be careful about with this:

1. Make sure to remember that it is best to imply rather than claim that you made the cookies. At least until you see the lay of the land, in case some other woman shows up with the same thing.

2. And put the cookies into the trunk so you do not wolf them all down in transit.

btw, I guess I need to say here that this church is in Ohio. But maybe somebody in TV does this, too.

And I am not even sure that these ladies still do this fundraiser. I think it was such a huge success that they had to turn women away who wanted to buy those trays of cookies. And we all know that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. -- or is it "a woman's scorn."? Not sure. (And here I am, sitting here this morning, drinking coffee, and digressing all over the place, when I could at least be trying to bake some cookies. Oh, well)

Boomer

[Barefoot]

Boomer, if I see a neighborhood cookie sale, I'll be sure to attend. Such a good idea to pass the hard work of others off as my own! ;)

And then I'll put the cookies on my own plates and mess them around a bit so they look disheveled. And then I'll eat a few just to make sure they're acceptable quality. And then I'll just eat a few more to make sure I don't have too many. And then .... I'll gain 10 lbs! And have no cookies left.

Oh, now I remember why I don't bake Christmas cookies.

[meriboo]

When living in Illinois there were a few churches that would have an annual Christmas Cookie sale. Periodically I would go and buy some cookies. One Christmas, my husband and 2 adult daughters decided to have a cookie 'cook off'. Our 'teams' consisted of Dad/Daughter and Mom/Daughter. My husband LOVES to cook and bake.....I, on the other hand, would prefer not too. So the date was set for the cook off. Each team went to a different houses to bake, and cookies were to be brought out on Christmas Eve. A couple of weeks prior to the cook-off the daughter that was on my team (she doesn't like to bake either) and I went to the churches cookie sale. We bought a few dozen of 3 different cookies, that we thought we could have made. On the cook-off morning we had fun just hanging out...when we were to be baking. Christmas eve, all cookies were brought out. Our church bought cookies looked so nice on the 'familiar' family Christmas plate. The rest of the family members were amazed that the non-bakers of the family had baked some cookies that were really good!....Of course, it wasn't long that we couldn't keep the secret . It was great fun 'baking' for everyone and bringing a good laugh to all.