Cookie Recipes!

As you heard on the podcast, Cathy agreed to share family cookie recipes. After all, a lot of them are fairly common recipes, often from old newspaper columns and magazines. But these are the versions of those recipes that her family decided were worth keeping. And yes, we have the ‘more modern’ biscotti and coffee chocolate chip recipes, too; she just made a batch of the coffee cookies, and they’re deliciously subtle.

Sixteen of our family Christmas cookie recipes. Please enjoy, and let us know what you think, and share your own favorites!

Toll House Cookies (Nora-style)

Nora made this her specialty, and she could wheedle just about anything out of my father with them!

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

¾ cup white sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 sticks softened butter

2 eggs

1 bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375° (make sure racks are adjusted properly, top one in the second slot, bottom in the second to last). Cream butter, vanilla, and sugars. Add eggs, mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and mix thoroughly on a low setting (otherwise it will fly everywhere). Add chips, mix until spread evenly. Place balls of dough (about an inch in diameter) on the cookie trays. You can probably fit about twenty to a tray. Bake for eight minutes, then remove and let sit on the trays for about three to five minutes. Remove from trays and place on cooling rack.

Almond Brittle

Why should peanuts have all the fun?

2 cups sugar

½ cup water

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 cups whole almonds

Butter a large baking sheet; set aside. Combine sugar and water in a 3 quart heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring gently to dissolve sugar. Wash down crystals on sides of pan with a small brush dipped in hot water.

Insert a candy thermometer. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat; cook until thermometer reaches 280°, washing down crystals occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; stir in butter and almonds. Mixture will crystallize, but continue to cook until mixture melts and thermometer registers 306°, stirring often to blend melting sugar with crystallized sugar.

Quickly pour mixture onto prepared baking sheet. Let cool. When hardened, break into pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Raspberry Stripers

Usually the first cookies to go in the Christmas assortment (after anything with chocolate, that is. Come on…it’s chocolate.)

⅓ cup granulated sugar

5 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg white

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

Cooking spray

⅓ cup raspberry or apricot preserves (as Cathy notes in the episode, you can really use about any flavor here)

½ cup powdered sugar

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

¼ tsp. almond or vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°. Beat granulated sugar and butter with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended. Add 1 ½ tsp. vanilla and egg white; beat well.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stirring until well-blended.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each portion into a 12-inch log. Place logs 3 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Form a ½”-deep indentation down the length of each log using an index finger or end of a wooden spoon. Spoon preserves into the center.

Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove logs to a cutting board. Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract; stir well with a whisk. Drizzle sugar mixture over warm logs. Immediately cut each log diagonally into 12 slices.

Cool 10 minutes; separate slices. Transfer slices to wire racks; cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cookies

Thank Google for this one. Cathy asked for a coffee cookie; five minutes later, we had this, and it's been popular ever since.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup white sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 Tbsp. Kahlua

3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 cups milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the coffee liqueur. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

“The Famous” Molasses Sugar Cookies

Cathy won the New York State 4H competition with these when she was in high school, and they've been #1 in her portfolio ever since.

¾ cups shortening

1 cup sugar

¼ cup molasses

1 egg

2 tsp. baking soda

2 cups sifted flour

½ tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt

Preheat to 375°. Melt shortening; add sugar, molasses, and egg. Sift dry ingredients. Mix well, roll in sugar. Bake 10 minutes.

Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

The kids and the cousins loved decorating these every year. They still do. (Note: the next two cookies use this same dough!)

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 medium/large whole egg, or 2 small egg yolks

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400°. Cream together butter and sugar. Blend in egg(s); sift together salt, baking powder, and flour. Blend in vanilla. Divide dough into four sections and chill for half an hour. Roll out to uniform thickness and cut out shapes. Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes. Remove and cool on racks.

Glaze:

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

3 to 4 tsp. water

Food coloring

Mix and decorate as desired

Blueberry Bars

Our great family friend and Thomas’s godfather, Tom “TC” Curtin, loves the blueberry bars. We rarely get together that he doesn’t mention them.

Take one batch of sugar cookie dough (see above; or you can buy one of the logs of sugar cookie dough from the store) and press evenly into the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Then mix together the following and spread on the dough (Cathy says you can double the amounts on this part for more richness.)

8 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp lemon zest

Then take 1½ cups blueberry pie filling, spread around on the cheese mixture, and swirl it lightly into the cheese mixture, for a marbling effect. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Let cool.

Jelly Bellies

Just fun to say, isn’t it? These are the jelly donuts of Christmas cookies; love ‘em or hate ‘em.

Take one batch of sugar cookie dough (see above), and this time, separate it into 1” balls. Place on a cookie sheet and press your thumb down into them to make a flatter disk with a depression in the middle. Spoon jelly into the depression: cherry, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, whatever. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes.

Oatmeal Scotchies

An overlooked cookie, because too many people just don’t get butterscotch. Cozy up, eat ‘em warm.

1 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

2 sticks butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1 bag butterscotch morsels

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large mixer bowl; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded Tbsp. onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9-10 minutes for crisp. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then cool on wire racks.

Date-Nut Pinwheels

This was one that Grandma Childs — Cathy’s grandmother — used to make.

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup shortening

3 eggs, well beaten

1 tsp. soda

1 Tbsp. hot water

½ tsp. salt

4 cups flour

Filling: 1 package chopped dates

½ cup water

½ cup pecans

½ cup sugar

Preheat to 350°. Cream butter and sugars, add eggs. Combine dry ingredients and hot water and mix well. Chill for half an hour. Divide the dough in two and roll out into two large rectangles. Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat and stir until thick. Allow to cool, then smear over dough. Roll the dough into a log and cut into half inch wide slices. Bake for 10 minutes and remove to wire racks to cool.

Orange Sesame Biscotti

Cathy loves making these; the house smells great, and people really like them.

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¼ cup sesame seeds

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. grated orange rind

1 Tbsp. thawed orange juice concentrate, undiluted

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325°. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Stir well; set aside. Combine eggs, egg white, vanilla, orange rind, and orange juice in a large bowl, stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture, and stir until well-blended. Turn dough out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Shape dough into two 13”-long rolls; flatten to 1” thickness.

Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove rolls from baking sheet; let cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 275. Cut each roll diagonally into 18 (½ inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; let cool completely on wire rack.

Caramel-Pecan Bars

We keep an eye out for these bags of Kraft caramel candies all year, because they’re never easy to find at Christmas time.

⅓ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. salt

¾ cup all-purpose flour

Cooking spray

2 Tbsp. fat-free milk

40 small soft caramel candies

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375°. Beat the first 4 ingredients with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Add flour to sugar mixture, stirring until well-blended.

Firmly press mixture into bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes. While crust is baking, combine milk and caramels in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat; cook until candies melt, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla; remove from heat.

Remove the crust from oven. Pour the caramel mixture evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Russian Tea Cakes

The fun part…is rolling them in the powdered sugar.

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup finely chopped pecans

¼ tsp. salt

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts, and salt until dough holds together. Shape dough into 1” balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set but not brown.

Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on a wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Russian Rocks

Mum [my mother] says she doesn’t know why these are called “Russian” Rocks. It’s a Grammie Book [Mum's grandmother] recipe, and as far as she knows, Grammie Book didn’t know any Russians. And the cookies are soft. Who knows? But the spices make these cookies delicious!

1 ½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup butter

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in ½ cup hot water

3 cups flour

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 ½ cup chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts)

1 cup raisins

Cream sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dissolved baking soda. Mix dry ingredients (not nuts and raisins) separately, then add to sugar mixture. Last, fold nuts and raisins into batter. Drop about 1 Tbsp. at a time on a cookie sheet, bake at 375° for about 10 minutes.

Snickerdoodles

Don't skimp on the cinnamon; get good stuff.

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400º.

Mix sugar, shortening, and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Shape dough into 1¼” balls. Mix ¼ cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Peanut Butter Cookies

We must have a peanut butter cookie recipe. Don't fail to do the fork crossing, even if we don’t know why!

½ cup butter

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ tsp. baking powder

1 egg, beaten

1 ¼ cup flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

Cream butter and peanut butter together; cream in sugar, and add beaten egg. Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture. Chill at least 1 hour, till firm. Divide into balls, about 1”. Lay out on ungreased cookie sheet, and press down with a fork, first one way, then perpendicular, to flatten. Bake 8 minutes in 375° oven. Cool on a rack.

A final note: The family cookbook is something I did in 2014 as a collection for the next generation of the Childs and Bryson families, called Perry to Paradise, after the towns where Cathy and my generation started. I suspect it might be the only family cookbook that starts with a quote from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch:

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.”

I guess cooking is a lot like filmmaking…or vice versa.