Hand-Me-Down Cookie Recipes

or, The Pittsburgh Cookie Table--Christmas Style, part 6

We've been talking about favorite picture books. This was mine.

You may be more familiar with the iconic red and white folk art cover of earlier and later editions, but Mom owned the version published in 1956. I discovered Betty Crocker soon after I learned to read. She offered much more than lists of ingredients and procedures. Every recipe came with an anecdote, a bit of cooking lore or tidbit of celebrity gossip ("Christian Dior. . .sent us this recipe as a special favorite.") Charming, tiny illustrations accompanied these little stories.

Later in life, Mom haunted used book stores all over the country, searching for copies so that each of her four daughters could own the same edition. She succeeded—no easy task, for people cling to these cookbooks. Five years ago, my dear sisters presented me with Mom's own marked-up copy.

As a girl, I read the book so many times I can still quote bits. (Won't you come into our kitchen and join us in our "Cooky Shines?") I can still lose myself in its steam-stiffened, stained pages.

If you haven't the luck to own a handed-down copy, the original 1950 edition is available in a 1998 facsimile. (Warning: only the 1956 version contains the Eskimo Igloo Cake instructions!)

One indispensable component of any Christmas Cookie Table is found on page 220:

RUSSIAN TEACAKES

These scrumptious snowballs melt in the mouth. They'll also crumble into powder if you're rough with them before they cool. So treat them tenderly, and bake lots. (They freeze well.)

MIX THOROUGHLY

• 1 cup soft butter
• ½ cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

SIFT TOGETHER AND STIR IN

• 2 ¼ cups sifted flour
• ¼ tsp. salt

MIX IN ¾ cups finely chopped nuts

Chill dough. Roll into 1" balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet (cookies do not spread). Bake [at 400 or moderately hot oven for 10 to 12 minutes or] until set, but not brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners' sugar. Cool. Roll in sugar again.

Makes about 4 dozen 1" cookies.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: I'd never try to mail or ship Russian Teacakes. But I've learned how to carry them safely on planes and trains. Nest one in each hollow of those hard, clear plastic boxes in which are sold a certain kind of popular round, gold-foil-covered chocolates. (You will have to find a way to dispose of the chocolates, first.)

Since I'm reminiscing about hand-me-downs and family traditions, I'll share two Eastern European cookies my family always makes:

CREAM CHEESE KOLACHE

Kolache (or kolacky) means, simply, "cookies." There are lots of versions—Polish, Slovak, Czech, and so on. We pronounce it cuh-lotch-key, and we bake two varieties. This first kind is a two-bite treat, not too rich, and it freezes beautifully. (The other is more of a breakfast pastry, larger and with a yeast dough, and we wait to bake it until Christmas Eve.)

• ½ pound cream cheese
• ½ pound unsalted butter
• 3 cups flour

Begin with ingredients at room temperature. Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Then stir in the flour. Do not over-mix. Form into four flat, rectangular portions, wrap well, and chill overnight.

Roll out on well-floured board until so thin it's almost translucent. Cut into 3" X 3" squares. Drop about 1 teaspoon of fruit filling in centers. Overlap two corners of each square in the center, moistening the dough with water to seal. (The dough resists sealing; be firm.) Arrange kolache about 1" apart on ungreased pans (we like the air-filled, non-burning kind) and bake until tops start to turn golden brown (up to 15 minutes) at 375.

Just before serving, sieve confectioners' sugar on top.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: Never, never, never fill your kolache with the commercial fruit fillings sold in 10 oz. jars. The filling will run out of your pastry and bake into fruit leather.

So what to use? Best is to make from-scratch fillings, simmering 1 pound of dried fruit and 1 cup of sugar in 2 cups of water until the goo is too thick to drip off your spoon.

But we're lucky enough to bake our kolache in Pittsburgh, where grocery store bake shops cater to home bakers by selling commercial fruit fillings in bulk.

YUGOSLAVIAN KIFLE

That's an outdated name, of course. I believe the recipe was Croation to begin with. These are fussy to make, and your grocery bake shop sells something that looks similar. Trust me, there's no comparison; these are super-flaky, and the filling has a delicate meringue crunch.

• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup unsalted, chilled butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup sour cream

Make as for pie dough: in a food processor, pulse flour and butter together until it resembles coarse meal, with bits of butter still visible throughout. Add egg yolk and sour cream, and pulse just until a sticky dough forms. (Or you can make this pastry the traditional way, using a pastry cutter.) Shape into four flat rounds, and chill for one hour.

After 45 minutes, prepare the filling:

• 2 egg whites (reserve the extra egg yolk for the egg wash)
• 1 dash cream of tartar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Add cream of tartar to egg whites and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar until meringue-stiff and sugar is dissolved. Fold in the vanilla and walnuts.

Remove one portion of dough from chiller. Roll into an 8-9" circle on a well-floured board. Gently brush with melted, unsalted butter. (Dough is delicate!) Cut circle into 16 pie slices. Put ½ teaspoon of nut filling on each wide end. Roll up and place on ungreased cookie sheet (we use the air-filled, non-burning kind). Gently brush with egg wash (1 yolk whisked with about 1 tbsp. water). Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes at 375. Cool on pan for 2-3 minutes. Remove cookies to rack while still warm, or they'll glue themselves to the pan.

It's traditional to dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: Some of my sisters recommend rolling and shaping the Kifle right on the cookie sheet; and instead of brushing with melted butter, they spread the dough thinly with softened, whipped butter. All of us agree that a rolling pastry cutter works best for dividing the dough; a knife tends to drag and distort it.

A Dash of Pepper: Cookies with an Edge

Or, the Pittsburgh Cookie Table--Christmas Style, part 5

These pictures give a taste of the Minnesota Dance Theater's Nutcracker Fantasy, celebrating its 46^th birthday this weekend. I judge this version, choreographed by Loyce Houlton, to be the most dramatic and witty Nutcracker ever.

(Hint: the Mouse King loses the battle, but wins the war.)

The original E. T. A. Hoffmann Nutcracker is perhaps not quite a children's tale. It's a little less sweet, a little more complicated, and has some unexpected twists.

So do today's cookie recipes. These cookies can be lifted from the dessert buffet to form a sub-set Grown-up Cookie Table next to the cheese board at Happy Hour. The unexpected ingredients include thyme, bourbon, and black pepper.

CHOCOLATE SPICE COOKIES

I got this recipe from a friend, so the origin is unknown—but the dry, cakey bite and the prep method make me suspect that the recipe might originate in Italy. If you use commercially-ground black pepper, most people won't be able to guess the mystery ingredient. If you grind fresh peppercorns, the flavor will be more assertive.

I prefer the un-glazed version for those I serve with wine and cheese.

• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup milk
• 6 heaping tablespoons of cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon or more of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon or more of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon or more of ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon or more of [finely] ground black pepper

Mix all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle. Add cooled butter and milk. Work together until smooth. Roll into ¾" balls. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until firm.

If desired, frost with a simple glaze of confectioner's sugar and milk. Makes 3-4 dozen.

BLACKBERRY-SAGE THUMBPRINTS

I found this recipe in the 2007 Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine.

Besides being beautiful and presenting unique flavors, this cookie has an earthy texture that comes from adding cornmeal.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried sage, crushed
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup [seedless] blackberry preserves
• Small fresh sage leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, cornmeal, dried sage, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks, lemon peel, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour mixture.

Shape dough into ¾-inch balls. Place balls 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Lightly press the tip of your thumb into the center of each ball. Fill each center with about ¼ teaspoon blackberry preserves.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely. If desired, garnish with small fresh sage leaves. Makes 60.

BOURBON CURRANT COOKIES

Simple, elegant, and not too sugary—kinda like Martha Stewart herself. She's published this recipe on the Web and in print.

You can't tell from the photo, but I always cut mine with miniature cutters—that way they make the perfect cracker-sized nibble for cocktail parties.

• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup bourbon
• ½ cup dried currants
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream

Heat oven to 350. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, flour, bourbon, and currants; mix well.

Roll dough ¼ inch thick and cut into desired shapes. [Make glaze, using the lightly-beaten egg and the heavy cream.] Brush cookies with egg-glaze mixture.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED. Mom always insisted we make our Christmas cookies small enough to eat in one or two bites. As a greedy young person, I hated that. But she was right. Smaller cookies mean that everybody can sample lots of different kinds. I also end up with fewer half-eaten discards abandoned (and often hidden—especially under furniture in carpeted rooms) by persons whose eyes were bigger than their tummies.

An Editor's Advice on Creating the Perfect Cookie (or Cookie Table)

Or, the Pittsburgh Cookie Table—Christmas Style, part 4

Today's gift to you is a delightful forest to wander in—Brooklyn Arden. It's a forest of words--the blog of Cheryl Klein, an editor at Arthur A. Levine Books.

Here's one of her newest books. Are there cookies on that cover? Everywhere Klein works, I spy cookies. I suspect she's almost as obsessed about cookies as I am.

Consider, as evidence, these two selections from Klein's writings.

Words, Wisdom, Art & Heart: Making A Picture-Book Cookie is a talk Klein gave at a 2007 Los Angeles SCBWI Speakers' Day. Read it at http://www.cherylklein.com/cookie.html

I do hope Klein's Picture-Book Cookie recipe will be included in her forthcoming book Second Sight: An Editor's Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children or Young Adults. Alas, this book is still pre-published, so I can't give (or receive) a copy this year. But I'll announce it on this blog as soon as it's out of the oven.

Klein's an essayist as well as an editor. Her light take on how to design/select sweets gave me lots of . . . food for thought. Two years later, Klein's Hypothesis of Sweets still makes delectable reading: http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2009/01/hypothesis-of-sweets.html.

Brooklyn Arden is found at http://chavelaque.blogspot.com; we offer a quick link at right. But before you leave Route 19, take a look at this recipe.

It follows Klein's hypothesis that the ideal sweet combines two (but no more than two) sweet tastes. In this case, the flaky pastry wrapper is the dry crisp, while the fudge filling is the creamy.

The first version of this recipe I ever made appeared in a 1980 Ladies Home Journal, under the name Auntie Mary's. I loved their unusual shape and their fudginess. But the pastry was a misery to handle. This version, found a few years back in a Taste of Home magazine collection, makes a dough that is still tender and flaky, but rolls and shapes easily. So that's the recipe I'm presenting here.

The recipe is officially named

FUDGE-FILLED DESSERT STRIPS

But my family still calls them

THOSE AUNTIE MARY FUDGE SLICES

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups chopped walnuts
• Confectioners' sugar, optional

[In my view, the confectioners' sugar is essential.]

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add the flour. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Divide dough into [equal] fourths [I use a kitchen scale and shape the dough portions into rectangular patties]; cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until easy to handle.

In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips in milk. Stir in walnuts. Cool to room temperature.

On an ungreased baking sheet, roll out each portion of dough into an 11-inch x 6 ½ -inch rectangle. [I make a template on a piece of parchment, and roll on that.] Spread ¾ cup chocolate filling down the center of each rectangle. Fold long sides to the center; press to seal all edges. [Remove the parchment template.] Turn over so the seam sides are down.

Bake at 350 for 27-32 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. [Sift a generous amount of confectioners' sugar over them at this point.] Cut [while still a bit warm] into ½-inch slices. Makes about 3 dozen.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: Recipes often call for softened butter. But softened doesn't mean melted. Your butter is ready as soon as you can dent it with a gentle push of your finger. If your finger sinks all the way in, or if part of the butter is liquefied, the butter will not yield perfect results. Use it for a melted-butter recipe instead.

Deep Freeze: These cookies (and heroines) survive cold storage

Or, The Pittsburgh Cookie Table—Christmas Style, Part 3

A surprising cold snap in North Carolina (we even had snow last weekend, and there are still patches of white in my yard) reminds me of the first time I baked Christmas Cookies. A December snowstorm shut Cleveland schools down for a whole week. To keep us from going stir-crazy, Mom set us to stirring cookie dough. Also rolling, spritzing, frosting, and sprinkling. I still bake most of the recipes we followed.

The cold also sets me thinking about how frequently female MCs must battle Winter along with other antagonists.

My favorite is Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen—I've even produced a stage adaptation—but I'm not posting an image because most book covers feature the ice-hearted Northern Queen, not the doughty heroine, Gerda.

All these chilly memories send me straight to my warm kitchen, to bake two favorite cookies. Both are simple to make, and both will come through a long freeze with tenderness and flavor intact.

DOUBLE-QUICK SHORTBREAD

Our family votes this the best shortbread in history. These cookies are thin, rich, and so delicate they just about melt in the mouth. Although they do freeze, they're also perfect for those times when you want to bake a quick batch of impressive cookies. You don't even need to bring the butter to room temperature!

The recipe originated in the newsletter The Cuisinart Cook (December, 1986). My sister calculated the versions for the larger size jelly roll pan.

Ingredients for 10" X 15" X 1" pan:

• I cup frozen unsalted butter (cut into 1/2" pats)
• ½ cup sifted confectioner's sugar
• 2 cups flour

Ingredients for 12" X 17" X 1" pan:

• 1 1/3 cup frozen unsalted butter (cut into 1/2" pats)
• ½ cup + 1/3 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
• 2 1/3 cups flour

SET ASIDE 2 cups confectioner's sugar for sprinkling over finished cookies.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.

Insert metal blades into food processor. Place the frozen chunks of butter, sifted confectioner's sugar, and flour into the processor. Pulse-process ingredients for NO MORE THAN 20 seconds, until all ingredients are just blended. The "dough" will be powdery. There should not be any unprocessed lumps of butter.

Pour "dough" powder onto ungreased jelly roll pan, using a spatula to spread evenly. Press lightly with palms of hands, just enough to form the dough in the pan. Use a fork to prick lightly all over dough, but do not expose pan with fork pricks.

Bake at 375 for 5 MINUTES ONLY.

Then turn oven down to 300 and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes (until dough turns a light golden brown at edges).

Remove cookies from oven and use a butter knife to cut into squares while they are still warm. This will keep the cookies from breaking. Sprinkle them with confectioner's sugar and use a flat spatula to remove from pan. Sprinkle cookies one more time with confectioner's sugar and serve (or freeze).

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: You do store unsweetened butter in your freezer, don't you? I always do. It keeps well for up to 8 months. I store individually wrapped sticks in their original packaging.

WALNUTTY CHEESECAKE BARS

The recipe in my scrapbook is brown and brittle. Judging from the font and format, I clipped it out of a Ladies Home Journal in the late1970's. I've baked it every year since then.

The magazine describes these bars as "rich and addictive." No argument here. In the unlikely event that any are left over, store them in the refrigerator. I make in a larger pan, sizing the recipe up, but these are the original stats:

• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch-square pan. [I recommend lining pan with parchment, too.]

In small bowl mix first 3 ingredients. Stir in melted butter or margarine until well combined. Reserve 1/3 cup crumbs. Pat remaining gently into pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in remaining ingredients. Pour over crust; sprinkle on remaining crumbs. Bake 25 minutes more until set.

Cool on wire rack. When cool, cut into 2-inch squares; cut each square diagonally in half. Makes 32 cookies.

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED: Like many gooey bars, Cheesecake Dreams cut most tidily after a quick freeze. If you line the pan with parchment, you can lift the whole batch out and cut on a board.