Gramma’s Special Rolled Cookies

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This recipe was originally a winner in the Pillsbury Bake-Off some time in the late 50s or early 60s. I’m not sure what exactly the first recipe was like, but then my Mom is not known for tweaking recipes, and I got the recipe from her.  This might be the only recipe I ever got from her.

These are just about my favourite cookies. The only cookies that might beat it out for first are the macaroons at Ladurree in Paris. But what could compete with that?

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (new addition to the recipe)

glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup strong coffee
1/4 cup honey

ground almonds

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the zest and orange juice. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture. Divide the dough into about 3 blobs and wrap each with plastic wrap and form into flattened discs and chill for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the glaze by heating all the ingredients in a small sauce pan until the sugar melts. Roll out the dough to about 1/6 inch and cut with a cookie cutter. A crescent or moon is a very nice choice. Bake for about 7 minutes, until just golden brown. While the cookies are still warm, brush on the glaze and then liberally sprinkle on the almonds. Let the cookies cool and set.

You need to keep an eye on the baking cookies, as they can burn quickly, being so thin. Also, to apply the almonds I often just take the glazed cookie and turn it upside down on the dish of almonds to get a nice coating. Once the cookies are glazed, almonded, and cooled, they are sturdier.

Linda's Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake

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2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter (that would be a stick and some)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
1 cup peeled, cored, and chopped green apples

topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2-3/4 cup nuts, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
Combine the first 5 ingredients.
Cream the butter, sugars, and egg.
Mix in the dry mixture alternately with the buttermilk into the creamed mixture.
Fold in the chopped apple.
Put into the baking dish.
Mix the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter.
Bake for 35-40 minutes.


* You make sour milk by combining 1 tablespoon of vinegar with 1 cup of milk and letting it stand for 5 minutes.

Cocktail Nuts Fudge

One day I decided to teach my grandson Christian how to make fudge.  We started with the basic recipe and looked around for something else to add.  There was a big can of cocktail nuts in the cupboard.  I'm not sure where they came from as it's not the kind of thing I would buy, but they were an excellent addition.  I also added the whiskey, because all good fudge has alcohol in it.

16 oz chocolate chips
1 oz butter
1 tablespoon whiskey (we used Famous Grouse)
1 can condensed milk
8 oz mixed cocktail nuts

jelly roll or cake pan (about 9 1/2 x 13) 


Line the jelly roll pan with parchment paper sticking up like little handles.


Put all but the nuts into a glass dish and microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. Or you can melt it all in a double boiler.  Stir the hot mixture until it is nice and smooth. Add the nuts and stir. Pour into the pan and refrigerate until nice and firm.

Remove, using the sticking up parchment as handles, and place onto a cutting board. I like to cut the fudge into 1 inch squares and place each piece into little cupcake cups that I get by the 500s at the wholesale grocery store. Then put into a square tin, putting waxed paper between the layers.

Jan Hagel

1 cup butter, cold and diced up
1 cup sugar
1 egg, separated
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup very finely chopped walnuts or pecans or almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a 10 x 15 baking pan with parchment that sticks up a bit.
Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor.
Add the egg yolk and mix well.
Add the chilled diced butter and mix until like cornmeal.
Dump the mixture into the pan, spread around evenly, and pat down.
Combine the egg white and the water and mix until frothy.
Spread over the dough and sprinkle on the nuts.
Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove promptly from the pan, lifting by the excess parchment that is sticking up, and place onto a cutting board. Cut into strips, or any shape you like. A pizza cutter can be handy here. The reason for lifting out of the pan is because cutting the cookies in the pan ruins the pan.

Zimtsterne

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I started making these cookies when I was in high school. They are very Christmassy and taste great. It’s not a make after school kind of cookie, but one does need the little bit fancy Christmas cookies. These are of course a German cookie, but this is Berry Crocker’s recipe, not a traditional German recipe.

3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 egg, separated
1 tsp lemon juice
2 1/3 cups unbleached flour
2 1/2 tps baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter, sugar, and 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk until fluffy
Combine the dry ingredients and add to mixture.
Stir in the chopped nuts.
Roll out batches of the dough (1/3 at a time) to 1/16 inch thick
on lightly floured board. But into stars. Place on cookie sheet
and brush with the egg white beaten frothy.
Bake for 5-8 minutes.