This year I wasn't planning to do a cookie recipe because of the e-mail going around that has links to literally hundreds of cookie recipes.
It seemed everyone would have plenty of cookie choices this year. With one glimpse of the choices in that e-mail, the head begins to spin. But, then cookie fever took over, and here we go with a holiday cookie page!
I was talking with a baker in San Francisco who said their best-selling cookie is made with oatmeal, chocolate chips, toffee and cranberries. He didn't offer up the recipe, and I didn't ask, because I think that is a prodigious array of flavors to put in one cookie.
But it wasn't long before curiosity guided me to the baking cupboard and the result is amazingly delicious!
The red and green twist on snowballs (otherwise known as Mexican wedding cakes or Russian tea cookies) seems to be fun for a change.
Snowballs are my favorite holiday cookie, and the green and red powdered sugar offers a little more holiday flair than the traditional version.
All you have to do is mix food coloring with powdered sugar. Once it dries, either sift or rub between fingers to get rid of any clumps, and roll cookies in the colored sugar twice.
- Oatmeal chocolate chip-toffee-cranberry cookies
(Makes about four dozen cookies)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cup flour
2 cups quick oats
¾ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup dark chocolate chips
¾ cup chopped English toffee (or chopped Heath bars or Score bars)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with electric beater. Add vanilla and eggs and beat well.
Add baking soda, salt and flour and mix until well integrated.
Stir in oats, chocolate chips, toffee and cranberries.
Drop by soup-spoonful onto greased or sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and after about five minutes remove from tray to cooling rack.
- Christmas Snowballs
(Makes about 30 cookies)
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon bourbon
2 cups flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Green and red food coloring
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add vanilla and bourbon and mix well. Add flour and beat until well mixed and add nuts. If dough is a bit crumbly, not to worry, it will clump together as you form the dough into 1-inch balls.
Place two inches apart on sprayed baking sheet and bake in a 325-degree oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until bottoms are golden brown and cookie feels done to the touch.
Remove from oven and immediately roll in either red or green powdered sugar. Let cool completely and roll again in the same colored sugar.
To mix the sugar, add about 1 teaspoon of food coloring for ¾ cup powdered sugar. Fluff with fork and let sit for half hour or longer. Sugar won't look very colorful yet. When ready to use, crumble clumps of sugar between fingers and the color will soon become apparent.
Happy Holidays!
Susie can be reached at suziven@hughes.net
