Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies: Easy and Super Delicious!

The recipe for these cookies must be at least 100 years old. I'm guessing this because my grandmother, who was born in 1903, brought Christmas tins of these to our house every holiday season. I remember biting into them - still cold from being in the truck of the car - and literally sinking my teeth into the soft shortbread covered with frosting. Sometimes she decorated them with tiny edible silver balls which seemed to add a magical quality to them. When I was about ten, she gave me the recipe and called them "Aunt Mary's Cookies". I should have asked her who Aunt Mary was! She must have been a relative that was gone before my time. I still love this recipe and even though they don't look very Pinterest or Instagram worthy, they are absolutely delicious!  They are especially easy for kids to make which makes them perfect for the season. Merry Christmas! 

Aunt Mary's Cookies - Ingredients and Directions for 2 1/2 Dozen

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks, regular salted)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda*
1 teaspoon cream of tarter*
Decorative sprinkles

*4 teaspoons baking powder can be substituted for the baking soda and cream of tarter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit 

1. and 2.   Using a mixer, cream the confectioners sugar and butter together until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. and 4.  Add egg and extract(s) and mix until well combined

5. and 6.  Add flour, soda and cream of tarter (or baking powder) and either stir in or use mixer until the dough is stiff and smooth.

7,  Use two spoons to drop rounded mounds onto an ungreased baking sheet lined with either foil or parchment paper and place in preheated 375 Fahrenheit  degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Cookies will be done when they are faintly brown in places around edges or on top.

Ingredients and Directions for Basic Butter Cream Frosting - Plenty for 2 1/2 Dozen Cookies

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick regular salted)
2 tablespoons milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

Using a mixture, cream all ingredients together until light and fluffy.

Frost each cookie and decorate with anything you wish!

Loaded Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cookies

Here's a confession:  No matter how healthy I eat during the day, I always want a bit of something sweet at night.  This cookie recipe came about one evening when there wasn't anything in the kitchen that was going to meet my little craving.  Roy loves oatmeal raisin cookies, but I wanted something that at least gave a nod to being halfway nutritious.  So I substituted whole wheat flour for white and threw in other accouterments besides regular raisins to jazz it up.  I knew I had a winner when I took some down to Allison and her college roommates, and she asked for me to make them again.  She graduates this weekend, so I made some for the celebration.  They freeze well and are in the freezer now - hopefully they will remain undiscovered until Saturday! 

Ingredients For About Three Dozen Cookies:

The Good Stuff

1/4 cup blanched, sliced almonds

1/4 cup pepita seeds (shelled pumpkin seeds)

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

The Dry Stuff

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal (uncooked)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

The Sweet Stuff

3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Using an electric mixer combine the brown sugar, white sugar, and butter together until "creamed" (it will look spreadable).

Add the eggs and the vanilla and blend well.

Stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt.  The electric mixer could be used to combine this as well.

Using a wooden spoon or something similar, add in the oatmeal, almonds, raisins, pepitas, cranberries, and apricots and mix until everything is combined together.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.  Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto it.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until the cookies start to get brown on top.  The cookies will feel very soft when they are first removed from the oven, but they setup as they cool. Let them sit for at least a minute on the cookie sheet before they are transferred to a cooling rack or platter. Pour a glass of milk and enjoy!

Gingerbread Cookies

Whether someone wants to or not, the holidays make them reflect upon their family. My maternal great-grandmother was Austrian-German. Standing about four feet and some inches tall, she lived in a tiny little house in Chicago and didn't speak much English but she taught my grandmother how to make great cookies!  While I feel lucky to have some of those recipes, I'm even more grateful for the kindness of my Grandmother and how she made me feel truly loved- whatever I said or did!  My mother was not a good every day cook.  She worked full time, had three children, and spread herself way too thin.  But, when she had the time, she loved to make gourmet meals. I got my interest in cooking and entertaining from my mom because that was one thing we had in common and enjoyed doing together.  I loved helping her prepare for wedding showers, baby showers, and dinner parties. The cookies posted here, are in honor of my grandma's style of cooking- simple, old fashioned, but tasty.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients for 3 dozen chewy, delicious cookies:

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon dark molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Some sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

With an electric mixer, mix the butter and two sugars together until they are well creamed.  Add the molasses, vanilla, and eggs. Beat well.  Stir in the dry ingredients a bit at a time until they are entirely combined with the wet mixture.  Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and space them out on the cookie sheet.  Using the bottom of a glass, press down on each ball to flatten it into a 1/4 inch thick circle. Sprinkle each circle with white granulated sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15  minutes or until cookies are slightly browned around the edges.

 

Disastrous Macaroons and Delicious Meringues

  

                                                Light as a Cloud Meringues =  Many Sweet Options!

A few weeks ago I was thrilled when Yates Yummies got a milestone hit!  Blogspot has a statistics feature that keeps track of how many times the blog has been looked at.  I can't see who visited this site, but the stats do share the search words that people googled to get here.  Some are pretty amusing.  My all time favorite happens to be, "is eating white chocolate with sangria dangerous?"  Recently the August 5th post, "Jose's Chocolate Dipped Macaroons", started getting an inordinate number of hits.  Out of curiosity I googled the words "Jose" and "Macaroons".  Up came the page with Google's suggested web sites.  All websites but my blog directed people to Jose Marechal and his book Irresistible Macaroons.  It turns out that these multicolored cute little egg-white/ ground almond cookies are supposed to be the new cupcake in the foodie world.  Intrigued, I hit on the Amazon link and ordered the book.  When the book arrived, I decided to give it a whirl.  What a lot of effort and what a disaster it turned out to be!  With all the steps that had to be taken - ground the almonds, make a paste with the nuts, boil water and sugar, incorporate it in with egg whites, etc. - I realized I was out of my league! However, as I was whipping up the egg whites I got a flash from the past.  Several years ago, I was lucky to spend some time with a friend from New Zealand whose husband was briefly working in the U.S.  Her trademark offering at pitch-ins were melt in your mouth meringue cookies. She would top them with whipped cream and sometimes kiwi slices. Once she made a classic Pavlova which is one large round meringue filled with fruit and whipped cream. Quickly, I threw my disastrous macaroons in the trash and dug out the handwritten recipe she gave me. It was so simple and so easy!  I made a batch and had a lot of fun pairing them with different sweet combinations.  My favorite involves the Luscious Lemon Curd recipe given below, especially because it's a great use of the egg yolks not used for the meringues.  I also made some smaller sized meringues to make sandwich cookies with various fillings. Ice cream was a great pairing as well.

Simple Meringues
3 egg whites (set eggs out a couple hours before hand)
3/4 cup of sugar
pinch salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (makes it a little easier for eggs to whip up)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Follow the steps below:

Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and draw circles the size you prefer for your meringues

Break eggs open and separate whites from yolk by passing yolk back and forth between the shell halves

Beat the eggs, salt, vanilla, and cream of tartar on high until they reach a soft peaks stage

Gradually beat all the sugar in until the mixture is glossy and stiff

Put a tablespoon or two in your drawn circles and spread the mixture flat with the help of a spoon

Bake at 275 degrees in a preheated oven for one hour, then turn the heat off, keep the door closed, till cooled (all night is ok)

Layer with fruit and whipped cream (or Cool Whip!)

or topped with ice cream

As sandwich cookies filled with raspberry jam, Nutella, and orange marmalade

With luscious Lemon Curd - my favorite!

 Luscious Lemon Curd:  In a pan over medium low heat, whisk together the 3 left over egg yolks,  the juice of 2 lemons, and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Then stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture gets thick, being careful never to let it boil.  Take it off the heat and stir in 4 tablespoons butter (I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter) until combined.  This is absolutely divine on toast in the morning or as a filling between two layers of a yellow cake frosted with whip cream!

Thanksgiving

For my girls - our family recipes...

 

Grandpa Kane's Stuffing

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick, not the unsalted kind)
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup diced celery

8 cups of bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I like to use half whole wheat/half white)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

 1 pound sausage, cooked and drained

 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
 1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried of thyme or sage

 (You could also add sauted mushrooms, nuts, dried fruit, etc.)

Saute the onion and celery in the butter over low heat until they are very soft. Put bread cubes in a large bowl and pour the onion and celery mixture over them. Add the seasonings, sprinkle with the chicken broth, and gently toss the bread cubes along with the sausage.
Right before putting the turkey in the oven, stuff it. (Do not stuff ahead of time) Or, put the stuffing into a buttered baking dish and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven about 30 minutes.

Vegetable Trio With Zippy Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

2 hard boiled eggs chopped (optional)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced onions

1 teaspoon prepared mustard (I use Dijon)

1/4 teaspoon bottled hot sauce (I use Frank's)

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

10 ounces each frozen peas, green beans, and lima beans

Cook the three different vegetables and drain them. While they are cooking mix all the sauce ingredients together and slowly heat until just hot. Pour over the cooked vegetables.

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Broccoli Cheese Casserole

   (Adding 2 cups of chopped cooked chicken  makes this a main dish) 

10 oz. frozen broccoli

 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Mix broccoli, 1 cup of the cheese and soup together.  Put in an oven safe dish. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.  Then top with the remaining one cup of cheese and bake another 10 minutes.

 

Basic Cranberries

1 (12 oz.) package of cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

 Rinse and drain the cranberries.  Put in a pan along with the sugar and water.  Bring to a boil, slightly reduce the heat and cook for ten minutes, stirring every so often. The berries will pop open.  Pour into the serving dish and let the cranberries cool a bit before you place it in the refrigerator. They will keep for one week.

Kane Sweet Potatoes

4 to 6 regular sized sweet potatoes

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup minature marshmallows

 Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes into quarters.  Put them in a large pan with enough water to cover them. Bring them to a boil and turn down the heat to cook them until a fork can go into them. Drain the water and mash the sweet potatoes up. ( You should yield about 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes). Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with 1/4 cup of margarine, 1/4 cup of orange juice, and 1/4 cup of the minature marshmallows. (In recent years I have actually used 1/4 cup of Splenda instead of the marshmallows).  Place an oven safe dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.Top with additional minature marshmallow and put back into the oven until the marshmallows are lightly browned.

Aunt Claire's Chocolate Chip Pie

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (2-sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts, optional

　

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) pie plates; set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, and mix until fully combined. Fold in the 3 cups chocolate chips and, if desired, the walnuts. Divide the dough between the prepared pie plates and smooth the tops with a spatula.

Bake about 30 minutes or until pies are golden and slightly firm to the touch but still soft. If the pies begin to darken too much before they are baked through, cover with foil and continue baking. Let pies cool completely on a wire rack.



                                                                                                                   

                                                   

      

Ashley's Disgustingly Rich Brownies

4 eggs

3/4 cup of cocoa

2 sticks of butter

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Smear inside of a 8 or 9 inch pan with shortening. Melt butter over low heat. Watch it to make sure it doesn't burn. In a mixing bowl, stir cocoa and sugar together.  Stir in melted butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir again. Add the flour and the salt. Mix until smooth. If you're adding walnuts, add them in now. Spread mixture in the greased pan  and smooth out until evenly distributed.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Let cool before cutting.

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Jose's Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons - A Special Treat!

Jose, the brother of one of Allison's friends, is an aspiring baker.  As the only boy in a family with five children, he  learned that making delicious treats keeps him in his sisters' good graces.  One of his specialties is coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate.  He picked up the recipe from watching the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network.  They really are divine - toasted crunchy coconut on the outside and sweet chewy yumminess in the middle.  The chocolate takes it over the top and I think we were all in heaven when we sampled them!  We spent a delightful afternoon visiting, making beaded jewelry, and chatting while Jose taught us how to make these chocolate dipped coconut macaroon cookies.

While the oven was preheating at 325 degrees,  Jose mixed together 14 ounces coconut, 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  He set this aside and asked for another mixing bowl.

  

Then Jose took the whites of two large eggs and added a pinch of salt to them.  With an electric mixer, he beat the egg white mixture until it was stiff, glossy, and clung to the beaters.

Jose then folded the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

                                                                   

We covered a cookie sheet with foil and misted it with cooking spray.  Jose prefers to use parchment paper, but I didn't have any on hand.  Next, Jose used a couple of large soup spoons to mold and drop the macaroons onto the cookie sheet.  The macaroons were placed in the oven and the timer was set for 25 minutes.

Towards the end of the baking time, Jose put 8 ounces of chocolate chips in a bowl.  He microwaved them for about 20 seconds.  The shape of the chips looked intact, but when he stirred them, it was evident that they had started to melt.  He continued to stir them until they became a smooth liquid.  Jose said sometimes it's necessary to microwave the chips a second time before they start to melt, but to be cautious about it!

When the macaroons were done baking, Jose removed them from the cookie sheet and dipped one side of each one in the melted chocolate.

All agreed; they were heavenly!
Thank you Jose!