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| Home | Cakes | Chocolate Cakes | Cookies | Chocolate Cookies | Pies | Candy | Other Desserts |
| Main Dish | Chicken | Soups | Salads | Hors D'oeuvres | Side Dishes | Breakfast | Search |
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Beat butter and sugar together until extra creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a mortar and pestle, crush anise seeds. Add to creamed mixture. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Mix in nuts, orange zest and cranberries or cherries.
Chill until able to handle (overnight is good). Turn out onto lightly floured board, shape into 4 flat loaves about 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to greased baking sheet.
Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes. Slice into 1/2 inch slices. Lay slices cut side down on baking sheet.
Bake at 375°F for 10 minutes or until just golden. Cool on wire racks. Cut cookies diagonally.
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In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, Coconut Amaretto or milk with almond extract. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add to the creamed mixture, mixing until blended. Fold in nuts and coconut.
Divide dough in half. On a greased and floured baking sheet, pat out into logs about 1/2 inch high, 1 1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long, space them at least 2 inches apart. Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 325°F oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Transfer from baking sheet to a rack. Let cool for five minutes. Place on a cutting board.
With a serrated knife slice diagonally on a 45 degree angle about 1/2 inch thick. Lay slices flat on baking sheet and return to oven for ten minutes longer, turning them over once to dry slightly. Let cool on a rack. Store in a tightly covered container. Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.
| Nana's Tip: Eloise (the recipe contributor) uses regular Amaretto and uses parchment paper instead of a greased and floured baking sheet. The dough will be tacky so you should flour your hands while handling the uncooked dough. |
| Recipe History: Eloise was born and raised in Hawaii. |
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In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and cheese until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat hard. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Add cake flower and mix well. Stir in pecans.
Push a small amount of cookie dough from teaspoon onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes.
After baking, roll cookies in powered sugar. Later, re-roll each cookie to achieve a better coating.
| Nana's Tip: These cookies become even more tasty with age. Make them up to 1 month in advance. It is important to use special "cake flour" (not ordinary flour) in this recipe. Recipe contributor Jackie Spencer uses Pillsbury's "Softasilk" flour. |
Recipe History: Jackie Spencer submitted this recipe that was handed down from her Grandmother Bessie Corrigan. The cookies have become a regular treat during the holiday season for Jackie's family. |
Cream shortening, add sugars, eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Last, add both cereals and coconut.
Drop by teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Makes five dozen.
Cream butter and sugar together, beat in egg and lemon extract. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter, sugar and egg mixture. Mix well.
Place, by teaspoon, onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 9 to 10 minutes. (This recipe can be doubled.)
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Blend together and pat mixture into a buttered 8x8 inch pan.
Mix together and pour over patted flour mixture. Bake 30 minutes at 350°F. Allow to cool, then cut into squares and roll in powdered sugar, or sift sugar over cookies.
| Nana's Tip: For a dinner dessert cut into larger pieces. |
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Sift together dry ingredients; add margarine and vanilla or Amaretto. Mix until a soft dough forms.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on an un-greased cookie sheet. Flatten the balls by pressing with a fork dipped in water (or use a potato masher). This step will leave a pattern on top of the cookies (see image).
Bake at 325°F for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until edges are lightly
browned. While still hot, sift remaining powdered sugar over cookies.
Original Recipe
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8x2 inch baking pan, set aside. In a small bowl, combine cranberries and water. Cover and let stand 20 minutes, then drain well.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in brown sugar. Beat in flour on low speed (mixture will be crumbly). Stir in the peanuts and drained cranberries. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes.
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg, 2/3 cup peanut butter, and lemon juice; beat until combined. Spread evenly over crust. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top, pressing lightly into filling.
Bake about 25 additional minutes or until top is lightly browned and edges are puffed. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 16 bars.
| Nana's Note: Do not use "natural-style" peanut butter in this recipe. |
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Thoroughly blend together butter, peanut butter and sugars; add egg and beat well. Sift together flour baking powder, soda and salt. Add sifted flour mixture to butter, peanut butter, sugars and egg mixture, mix well. Chill in refrigerator.
Roll cookie dough into one inch balls, place on greased cookie sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Place a small amount of flour into a small bowl, dip a fork into the flour and press the fork on the top of the cookie ball, pressing to flatten. Press the fork again on the cookie, in the opposite direction. Bake 10 minutes at 375°F.
Nana's Tip: Try topping each cookie with a chocolate Hershey's Kiss™ as soon as you remove the cookies from the oven. |
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In a food processor, grind enough nuts to measure 1 cup (your choice of pecans or walnuts). Return ground nuts to processor; then add regular sugar, butter, flour and vanilla. Continue processing until dough forms a large ball.
Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
While cookies are baking, sift powdered sugar on a large piece of waxed paper. Remove cookies from oven and place hot cookies on waxed paper. Sift additional powdered sugar atop cookies. Allow cookies to completely cool before removing from waxed paper.
| Nana's Tip: For storage, place cookies into an air tight container and sift additional powdered sugar atop cookies. |
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In a very large bowl, mix together white sugar, brown sugar, ginger, cloves, salt and pepper. Blend in butter and Crisco vegetable shortening with a pastry blender. Beat egg slightly with a fork, add anise to eggs and add to butter and sugar mixture. Mix well.
Add flour 1 cup at a time alternately with a small amount of water. Don't add too much water with each cup of flour, about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons with each 1 cup addition of flour. Continue adding flour and water until all six cups of flour and about one cup of water has been mixed. Mix well until all flour is blended. Dough will be stiff. Add nuts, a small amount at a time until mixed evenly into dough.
Sift a small amount of flour on a cutting board. Roll dough into about 3 inch round balls. Roll each ball into a log 3/4 of an inch round, and about 12 inches long. If dough gets sticky, sift more flour on to the board.
Slice logs into 1/2 inch pieces. Dip knife with a dull edge (like a cake knife) into flour to prevent sticking to dough. Do not use serrated knife. For better efficiency, place 5 or 6 logs together on the cutting board and cut through all of them at one time.
Place dough slices on a well greased cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from cookie sheet and cool.
Place a small amount of powdered sugar into a plastic bag; add a few cookies and shake the bag until all cookies are lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Store in a tightly sealed cookie tin.
| Nana's Note: The image is actually a store-bought cookie made by the Tin Roof Pantry in Kansas. We think these cookies are similar to the ones this recipe would produce. Click on "Enlarge Image" to see the cookie package. |
Recipe History: Recipe contributor Lois Sherwood describes the background of this unique recipe...
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Boil sugar and milk, add shortening and syrup. Cool. Add rest of ingredients. Mixture makes a very stiff dough. Cool at least overnight.
Shape dough in 1/4" thick rolls on board dusted with powdered sugar. Cut pieces 3/8" long.
Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Do not over-bake. Let cool on baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before removing.
Makes 8 cups of Peppernuts. Will keep well at room temperature (if stored airtight) for 2-3 weeks.
| Nana's Note: Pfeffernusse is the traditional name for these Central European Christmas cookies with subtle spice flavors. |
Recipe History: Recipe contributor Marjorie Hutt describes the background of this unique recipe...
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In a mixing bowl, combine oats, sugars, flour and salt. Mix well. Combine soda and hot water; stir into oat mixture along with shortening and vanilla (mixture will be crumbly). Roll or squeeze into walnut-size balls.
Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven; allow to stand 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Yields about 3 1/2 dozen.
| Recipe History: My husband Jerry's mother, Erma,
made Poor Man's Cookies during the Great Depression. When Erma and her husband
Bill moved to California in 1940, Erma brought the recipe with her. We are
certain it was a recipe she had tucked in her mind as we have never found
it written.
We found a similar recipe in a magazine a few years ago and adapted it to recreate Erma's special recipe, complete with optional raisins. The name "Poor Man" was given to the recipe because there are no eggs or milk in the cookies -- this saved a family's precious Depression money. |
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheets.
In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon and salt. In a large mixing bowl beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins.
Drop 1/4 cup dough onto greased cookie sheet; spread into 3 inch circle or oval. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then place on wire racks to cool completely.
Optional Confectioners' Icing
Add light cream, canned milk or whole milk to 2 cups sifted powdered sugar to
achieve spreading consistency. (Pour milk into a small bowl then add a teaspoon
at a time until the spreading consistency is reached.) Add a dash of salt and
1 teaspoon vanilla.
Allow icing to dry and add wax paper between cookies before stacking. Optional: Add finely chopped nuts and dates to icing. (Click "Enlarge Image" on the Pumpkin Cookie above to see an image that includes the icing.)
| Nana's Tip: For an extra touch try adding a topping of semi-sweet chocolate chips, candies, raisins or nuts. |
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| Nana's
Granddaughters making Snickerdoodles |
Cookie Coating
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a bowl, mix shortening, sugar and eggs until creamy. In a sifter, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients. Blend with a wooden spoon until completely combined.
Roll the cookie dough into balls the size of small walnuts. Mix the cinnamon and remaining sugar in a small shallow bowl. Roll the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon and sugar mixture until well coated.
Place coated cookie dough balls on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes -- watch carefully to make sure they don't overcook.
Let cookies set one minute on cookie sheet, then remove to rack to finish cooling. Makes about 45 cookies.
| Nana's Note: Finished cookies should be very lightly brown and still soft on top. When they cool, they will crack a little on top. |
Mix together powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla, almond extract and egg. Sift together flour, baking soda and cream of tartar, stir into powdered sugar mixture. Form into a log, wrap with plastic.
Chill in refrigerator for three hours. Remove plastic wrap. Cut 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle with granulated sugar before baking. Bake at 375°F for 7-8 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
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In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla. (Set aside egg white.) Combine flour and salt; add a small amount at a time to mixture until fully blended.
Divide dough into about 20 pieces and roll into balls. Beat egg white in a small bowl. Dip each dough ball into egg whites. Then roll in walnuts, pressing to adhere.
Place each ball of dough about 2 inches apart. Use the end of a spoon, or your thumb, to make an indentation in each cookie. Seal any cracks that appear on the sides of the indentation. Freeze for 15-20 minutes.
Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and use the back of a small spoon to re-shape the indentation, if needed.
Fill the cookies with jam by placing jam in a sandwich bag, then snip off a corner to create an easy to use "decorating bag."
| Nana's Note: Recipe contributor Kelly Spencer used cherry jam in her cookies and garnished the completed cookies with the remaining walnuts (as pictured). More info. |
| Nana's Tip: Most any type of seedless fruit jam will work in this recipe. If desired, substitute pecans for walnuts. |
