Christmas Cookies

December 14th. Frank & I are nestled in to watch the arriving snow storm- there's a fire in the fireplace and he has spent the last 2 hours reading the NY Times. We have no expectations about what must be done today other than maybe clean the house in prep for a work party we are hosting on Wednesday. A call comes from Chicago" Can we have some Christmas Cookie recipes?" Ora & Meaghan are gathering in Chicago to make cookies. They will go to the grocery store and pick up needed items, they will mix and bake and I would guess spend some time talking about all the years we made cookies together with Grandma Busche. In Minnesota, I do my part by making sure the recipes are accessible on the blog. Happy Baking Girls! Keep those traditions alive.

Grandma Busche's Chocolate Covered Coconut Balls

Ingredients for Coconut balls

1# of flaked coconut
1# of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of almond extract
¾ cup of instant mashed potatoes prepared

• Mix ingredients together, form into balls and refrigerate

Ingredients for Coating

1 pkg ( 6 oz) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 paraffin bar
4 sq of semi-sweet chocolate

•Heat in double boiler until all ingredients are blended and melted. Dip balls into chocolate and set on wax paper. Using chop sticks helps the dipping process

Ginger Cookies

This recipe was given to me by Susan Froehlich. Who knows where she got it. It is a great ginger snap recipe that is a bit like the Pepparkakor cookies of Scandanavia . The trick to the cookies is to 1)ignore the fact that the dough is rock solid when you take them out of the refrigerator – just dig some dough out and start rolling it out- and 2) roll the dough as thin as possible. The cookies are meant to be crisp and will store for quite a while- they actually get better with age. I have used the refrigerated dough up to 3 weeks after I made it (make sure you cover).

Ingredients

1 cup of sugar
½ cup butter
1/3 cup water
½ cup of molasses

Combine in pan and heat until butter is melted. Remove pan from heat and add:

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teas salt
½ teaspoon cloves

Stir well and chill at least overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees 8-10 minutes

Sprtiz

From Better Homes and Gardens “ Cookies For Kids” published in 1983

Ingredients

1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Colored sugar, ground nuts, decorative candies( optional)

• Tum oven to 400°. In a large mixer beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed till softened (about 30 seconds). Add sugar and beat till fluffy.
• Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat well.
• In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour and baking powder. With mixer on low speed gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating till well mixed. Do not chill the dough.
• Force dough through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Decorate with colored sugar, ground nuts, or decorative candies, if desired.
• Bake in 400 degree oven for7 to 8 minutes until edges are firm but not brown.
With pancake turner lift cookies onto cooling rack. Makes about 60 cookies.

Tip for using press: Put the feet of the cookie press on the cookie sheets so that the tube is straight up and down. Press out enough dough so it sticks to the cookie sheet but not so much that it squeezes out from under the press; lift off.

Add decorations before baking.

Buckeyes

This recipe came from Cindy Graham. I usually double the batch at Christmas.

1 ½ cup of peanut butter
½ cup of softened butter
1 # of powdered sugar (4 ½ cups)

Stir ingredients together and make balls.

Melt:
12 oz of choc chip
½ bar of paraffin

Dip balls in chocolate( removed form heat) and place on wax paper. Chop sticks hep the dipping process