Wienerstube

I think these are a polarizing little cookie. I love them: I like how they are coal black. I like how they are spicy and chocolatey. I like how they are crisp but tender. But I think other people think they taste burnt because they look black and because the flavor combination is unusual to American taste buds. That's ok-- I'll eat them all. From Maida Heatter, these are supposedly German.

Wienerstube

1 ½ c AP flour

1 ½ t baking powder

¼ t salt

¾ t cinnamon

¼ t allspice

½ t finely ground black pepper

Pinch cayenne

¾ c black unsweetened cocoa powder

6 oz unsalted butter

1 ½ t vanilla extract

1 c sugar

1 egg

Sift together dries. Cream butter. Add vanilla, sugar; beat. Beat in egg. Gradually add dries. Tear off a strip of wax paper 16 inches long. Place dough down the length, forming a heavy strip about 10 in long. Fold the long sides up around the dough. Pressing against the paper with your hands, shape the dough into an oblong about 12 inches long and 2 ¾ inches thick. Wrap the dough in the paper. Put in freezer or refrigerator several hours, until firm. Oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment. Unwrap the dough. Cut with sharp knife to ¼ inch slices. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Ginger Cookies

From the M-m-m-m More Cookies booklet published by Pillsbury in 1987. I think we made these fairly frequently, and they are yummy to me.

Ginger Cookies

2 c sugar

1 ½ c butter, softened

½ c molasses

2 eggs

4 ½ c AP flour

3 t soda

½ salt

2 t cinnamon

1 t cloves

1 t ginger

½ t nugmeg

Sugar to roll

Cream sugars, fat, and eggs. Stir in mixed dries. Fridge 1 hr. Oven to 350. Roll balls in sugar. Bake 8-12 min till set (should flatten). 10 dozen.

Crisp Chocolate Snaps

I suppose this is a lesser cookie in the Matheson cookiesphere, but I remember them, and I like them. So here they are. From the M-m-m-m More Cookie booklet, published by Pillsbury in 1987.

Crisp Chocolate Snaps

2 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1 ½ c butter, softened

2 t vanilla

3 eggs

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted, cooled

½ t red food coloring, optional

4 c AP flour

2 t soda

1 t salt

Sugar to roll in

Oven to 350. Beat sugars and fat till light and fluffy. Add vanilla, eggs, chocolate, food coloring, blend well. Stir in mixed dries. Can be refrigerated to facilitate easier handling. Roll balls in sugar. Bake 8-12 minutes until set (should flatten). 6 dozen.

Linzer Cookies

We just barely made these. They're on the cooling racks. They smell delicious and I am liking to eat them, so even though I do not have a special linzer cookie cutter, I'll keep the recipe anyway. The recipe, I believe, came in the box of Fox Run brand linzer cookie cutters.

Linzer Cookies

1 1/4 c almond flour, or hazelnuts and almonds, ground fine

1 c unsalted butter

2/3 c sugar

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla

2 c AP flour

1 t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1 t lemon zest

powdered sugar for dusting (I haven't used this yet)

1 c jam (the recipe suggests seedless raspberry. We're using guava right now, which is surprisingly not too tropical. The jam needs to be fairly smooth.)

Pre-heat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy. Add eggs, then vanilla. In separate bowl, mix dries and spices. Add dries to wets, beat to combine. Place in freezer till firm, 30-40 min. Dust a surface with flour, roll dough to about 1/8". Cut even amounts of tops and bottoms. Bake cookies 8 minutes. Cool. Use about 1 t jam per sandwich cookie.

Marshmallow Treats

Yes, Mom's are better.

7 T butter
16 oz big marshmallows
9 c crispy rice cereal

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in cereal. Press into a buttered dish-- but do not press very hard. Cut in squares. I like these with chopped dried apricots added, and even slivered almonds.

Palmieres

I got this recipe from a King Arther catalog and have made it a few times. I think it's fun, and it's always impressive. The cookies are really cute. Although it must be said that at a cookie contest in my BYU ward they lost to a concoction made out of Saltine crackers with evaporated milk poured on them.

2 1/4 c AP flour
1 T dough relaxer (I did not use this. King Arthur always calls for crazy things.)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
3/4 c butter, cut into 1/4 inch dice and frozen for 30 minutes
3/4 c sour cream
1/2-3/4 c sugar (crystal sugar OK)

Combine dries, cut in batter to even crumbs, stir in sour cream. Gather in ball, half, and set in fridge for 1 hour or more. Take one half. Sprinkle work surface with sugar and roll to 12x10 inches. Sprinkle sugar over, and gently roll from both long sides to create an ear shape. Repeat with other half. Wrap logs and refrigerate 1 hour or more. Use a serrated knife to cut into 1/3 inch slices. Lay on parchment. Bake in 425 oven for 9-10 minutes or until sugar on bottom begins to brown. Turn over, and bake 3-5 more minutes. Watch carefully!

Gingerbread Cookies

These are a favorite of mine at Christmas.

3 1/2 c flour
1 t soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
3 t ginger
1/4 t cardamom or allspice
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c dark molasses
1 egg
2 T milk

Roll and bake at 350.

Beth Cox's Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk or sour cream (without additives)
1/2 c shortening
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t nutmeg
2 t flavoring

Bake at 350.

Spice Sugar Cookies

3 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c milk
1 t vanilla
1 t lemon flavoring
1/4 t anise extract
3/4 c butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t mace
1/2 t cardamom
1 t nutmeg
(1/2 t cloves)

Molasses Chews

These are a polarizing cookie, but I adore the bitter/sour/sweet taste of molasses.

1 1/2 c shortening
2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c molasses
4 1/2 c flour
2 t baking soda

Cream fat with sugars; add eggs. Mix dries separately. Fold dries into wets. Dip dough balls in plain sugar. Bake at 375.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c shortening
1 c peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 c sifted flour
1 t baking powder
1 t soda
1/2 t salt

Cream fats and sugars. Add eggs. Mix dries separately. Fold dries into wets. Form X's with a fork in cookies. Bake at 350.

Soft Coconut Macaroons

Mom, is this your current recipe?

1/4 c flour
2/3 c sugar (+2 T, if the coconut is unsweetened)
1/4 t salt
2 2/3 c coconut
4 egg whites
2 t extract: vanilla or almond or whatnot
1 c chopped almonds or additional coconut

Mix all except egg whites. Stir in whites and flavoring. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes.

Tea Cakes

1 1/3 c shortening or butter
2 1/2 c sugar
4 eggs
4 t vanilla
6 T milk
5 c flour
1 t salt
4 t baking powder
1 t nutmeg

Mix. Chill 30 minutes. Roll THICK. Bake 15 minutes at 350 on lightly greased cookie sheets. Makes about 3 dozen.

Anzacs

4 oz butter (1/2 c)
1 T maple syrup
4 oz flour (1 c)
1/2 t baking powder
4 oz rolled oats (1 c)
4 oz shredded coconut (1 c)
4 oz sugar (1/2 c)

Soften butter slightly, cream with syrup and sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Roll in small balls, bake at 350 for 15 min on greased sheets.

Snickerdoodles

As a Matheson, I believe in crisp snickerdoodles which yield to a chew when eaten. In fact, it is the remarkable and unique texture of a snickerdoodle I find so appealing, and it is a very sad thing to me that so many people are stuck eating underdone, grainy snickerdoodles.

1 c yellow shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
2 3/4 c flour
2 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
cinnamon sugar

Cream shortening with sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Mix dries separately; fold together. Chill. Roll in balls. Dip balls in cinnamon sugar. Bake at 375.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We make good chocolate chip cookies in our family. The recipe is adapted from the classic Toll House back-of-the-bag recipe. Our recipe has extra flour and extra vanilla; Mom read in a newspaper once that adding extra flour 'paradoxically' makes a softer cookie. While she didn't find the resultant cookie softer, exactly, she did find it better, and we've been using 2 1/2 c of flour every since.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c shortening
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
12 oz (2 c) chocolate chips
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Sift together flour, soda, salt. Cream shortening with sugars. Mix in eggs, vanilla. Fold dries into wets; stir in chocolate chips. Line outside of cookie sheets with foil. Bake at 350 F, on the upper shelf.

Almond Cookies

A very different approach to almonds today, but likewise perfect. These are my very favorite of all Mom's cookies. She usually makes them at Christmas, because they are an expensive ordeal to make properly. The cookies are an adaptation of Better Homes and Gardens' Chinese Almond Cookies (in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1976). I drop the word Chinese as I don't suppose they really are, and the addition Mom makes does make a pretty big (and delicious) difference in the final product. She adds almond paste-- "however much [she] can get her hands on." Don't buy the hard tubes you may find at most grocery stores. Buy soft almond paste from a specialty store or perhaps a finer grocery store. This is a momentous entry-- one of my favorite recipes in the world.

Almond Cookies

2 3/4 c sifted all-purpose flour
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 t soda
1/2 t salt
1 c butter
1/2 lb to 1 lb almond paste, give or take
1 slightly beaten egg
1 t almond extract
1/3 c whole almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Sift flour, sugar, soda, and salt together into bowl. Cut in butter and almond paste until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add egg and almond extract; mix well. (Alternatively, cream butter with sugar, soften paste in microwave oven, cut into pieces, and cream it into the fat/sugar. Cream in egg, extract. Add well-mixed dry ingredients in batches).
Shape dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Place an almond atop each cookie and press down to flatten slightly. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Cool on rack.

UPDATE 12/29/11: Do not obey the above directions. Do cream the butter with the sugar. Cut the almond paste into small-ish chunks without softening it in the microwave-- the warm almond paste runs the risk of melting the butter, which is bad. Cream the almond paste into the fat/sugar. This may take some time and effort. It is ok if there are some little chunks of almond paste that aren't quite incorporated. Then add egg, extract. Add well-mixed dry ingredients in batches. Bake on parchment paper. These cookies brown less than other cookies. You want the bottoms to just be toasty golden, not brown. The tops should not really be brown in the slightest.