Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumChristmas Cookies
Some years I'm just not in the mood to make any Christmas cookies. What are your favorites to make and eat or what are traditional in your household? I want to do a few this year - maybe limit it to only three varieties so it's not overwhelming (and expensive). Any suggestions?
fierywoman
(7,641 posts)zimm(t?)sterne: basically: beaten egg whites, ground almonds, a serious amount of sugar, cinnamon and at the end a crackle glaze from powdered sugar and water. You use star cookie cutters.
llmart
(15,499 posts)I try to keep my sugar intake at a minimum too, but I do allow myself one small treat each day. Also, there are a few people/neighbors in my life who can't bake any longer and I'd like to take some cookies to them.
fierywoman
(7,641 posts)fierywoman
(7,641 posts)Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne) #TwelveDaysofSanta | Webicurean
Perhaps not the prettiest cookie on the tray, theyll certainly be one of the most popular.
Heres the printer friendly version:
5.0 from 1 reviews
Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne)
Save Print
Prep time
24 hours
Cook time
25 mins
Total time
24 hours 25 mins
Nutty and filled with cinnamony goodness, these Cinnamon Stars, or Zimtsterne, are a delicious, gluten-free Swiss holiday treat.
Author: Anne Papina
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Swiss
Serves: 12
Ingredients
Cookies
⅓ cup egg whites (about 2 egg whites)
1¼ cups granulated sugar
1½ cups unblanched almonds, ground
1½ tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp all-purpose gluten-free flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tbsp water
Instructions
Day 1: Prepare the Dough
In a mixer bowl, let the egg whites come to room temperature (about an hour).
Beat the egg whites on medium until soft peaks form when the beater is slowly raised. Gradually add the 1¼ cups sugar, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until the egg whites are very thick and glossy and stiff peaks form when the beaters are slowly raised (this can take up to 10 minutes).
In a medium bowl, combine the almonds with the cinnamon. Stir in the egg white mixture and combine well. Refrigerate dough, covered, overnight.
Day 2: Make the Cookies
Combine the 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour with the 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Use this mixture to dust your work surface. Roll out the dough ¼ inch thick, one half at a time. Using a 3-inch star cookie cutter, cut out 12 cookies, and place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Let the cookies stand, uncovered, for about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 300F.
Bake cookies 20 minutes, then remove from the oven.
Glaze
In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar with the water, stirring until smooth.
Use a brush to glaze the cookies, then return them to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. The surface will appear crusty.
Allow cookies to cool a bit before removing to wire racks.
Notes
Makes about 2 dozen.
Store in a tightly covered container with waxed paper between the layers. The cookies will keep well for several weeks.
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dem in texas
(2,672 posts)Made them many times.
SamKnause
(13,037 posts)Type Eatmore Goodie Cookies in Google and the recipe comes up.
It is from 1964.
Only 5 ingredients.
We always used black walnuts.
They are easy, simple, delicious and addictive.
Ohiogal
(31,657 posts)was baking cutout cookies and decorating them with our Grandma. If I think hard enough I can almost taste them. Yum!
madamesilverspurs
(15,782 posts)was always the "Mint Surprise" cookies. The Rockwood Mints came in a distinctive double-cylinder box. Those mints disappeared from store shelves years ago, unfortunately. I've tried using mint flavored chocolate chips, but it's not the same. If I could find those mint wafers I'd probably try to figure how to do some baking in my shoebox-size kitchen. Until then, I'm happy with cookies that other people bake. Mmmmmmmm
.
Dem2theMax
(9,594 posts)My mom made those cookies for us when we were kids. They were my absolute favorite. And of course as an adult, I've never been able to find the mints, and mom never wrote down a recipe, so she took it with her to her grave.
I've tried using a chocolate chip dough recipe without the chocolate chips, and have substituted a mint that just didn't taste the way the old ones did. But from your description, I was able to find the original recipe online, and I'm gonna go from there and figure out how to make those wonderful cookies again.
Thank you so much for posting this. This is the best Christmas present I am going to get this year!
madamesilverspurs
(15,782 posts)And if you find suitable mints, please let me know!
.
Dem2theMax
(9,594 posts)I'm not kidding, I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas morning right now. I have been searching and searching for those mints, and a recipe to go with it, forever. And when I say forever, I'm 63 years old. So it's been a long time coming. I am so happy!
madamesilverspurs
(15,782 posts)My sister found these online, made cookies and sent some my way. EXCELLENT!!! Enjoy!
https://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=46737&trng=fgle&gclid=CjwKCAiAo7HwBRBKEiwAvC_Q8UHQO-Ngl_rZQ3LtO2zf0b4UsAx3Fb5P86V7964r3CqHX0_Y7vIFahoCv6sQAvD_BwE
Dem2theMax
(9,594 posts)How in the world did she find those? I must have searched for 24 hours straight online, and I couldn't find anything that I thought would work. So I bought a whole bunch of Andes Thin Mints at the store. But I haven't had a chance to make them yet.
I am definitely going to buy the mints your sister found.
And I'm so glad to hear they came out so good!
I really needed something to put a smile on my face today. You just did it. Again!
dem4decades
(11,241 posts)Metal press, with the batter green from the food coloring.
And red wreaths and the other shapes you can pt into the press.
Love toll house, peanut butter and ginger snaps too, but the green Christmas trees were once a year and special to a kid. And an adult that remembers being a kid.
japple
(9,772 posts)Her recipe came from the 1958 Mirro Cookie Press booklet, and they were called "holly wreaths." I have her cookie press and I still have pieces of that cookie recipe booklet. Mom always made the christmas trees using the recipe for spritz cookies and they were green, decorated with sprinkles. There was another recipe she made that had 1/2 marachino cherry in the middle. And then there was the recipe for cheese straws. She probably made a ton of cookies over the years and many people still remember them. Thanks for the memories. I still use her cookie press from time to time, but haven't ever mastered it like she did.
dem4decades
(11,241 posts)japple
(9,772 posts)dem4decades
(11,241 posts)handmade34
(22,755 posts)have never found a good mold, but love the taste and texture
pansypoo53219
(20,906 posts)frosted melting moments, but i prefer coffee flavor frosting.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Lemon squares is one of the easiest, no fuss bar cookies. There are also large batch cookies and fancy tea cookies.
llmart
(15,499 posts)I volunteer in a used book store and at this time of year, lots of young women are looking for that book.
I love lemon squares. I made magic cookie bars last year, but maybe I'll switch it up to lemon bars this year.
leftieNanner
(14,997 posts)Our two daughters have celiac disease. We make almond spritz cookies, mixed nut wedding cookies (double coated in powdered sugar), and molasses ginger crackle cookies. All yummy! We also make candy at Christmas - honey vanilla caramel, peanut brittle, and walnut chocolate fudge. Let me know if you want any recipes!
marble falls
(56,353 posts)make creme frostings and use flavorings and colors.
I did get gifted 10# of Pecans so I might try something with those. Oatmeal Pecan Raisin?
llmart
(15,499 posts)10# of pecans - I'd have to take out a second mortgage for that purchase.
I love pecans. All nuts are so expensive these days.
marble falls
(56,353 posts)cheaper than they've been in a while.
We've had years when friends would ask us to please come and pick up up 5gals or so off their lawns. Not there again yet, maybe next year.
dem in texas
(2,672 posts)I think I have posted this recipe before, but here is it - give it a try, you won't be disappointed
Orange Chocolate Chippers Revised - Dec. 2014 (makes about 6 dozen)
My mother (who passed away in 2004) took this recipe from the Recipe of the Month section of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine back in the early 1950s. It has been a family favorite ever since. When the family gets together, out come the cookie sheets and a batch of these cookies is baked for all to enjoy.
The original recipe called for a 3 oz, package of cream cheese and only made 3 dozen cookies. Many grocery stores no longer carry the 3 oz package of cream cheese and this recipe is so good that 3 dozen cookies is never enough, so I adjusted the recipe to use an 8-oz package of cream cheese and make 6 dozen cookies. This is truly the Queen of cookies the best cookie recipe hands down. I am always asked for the recipe.
2 cups shortening (do not use butter)
2 cups sugar
1 8-oz. Package cream cheese
4 eggs
5 or 6 tablespoons finely chopped orange peel, use mirco plane zester for fine peel
4 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 12-oz bags semi sweet or milk chocolate chips (1 of each is best) Best is the blue bag Ghiardelli chocolate chips
Cream shortening, sugar and cream cheese together. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Add orange peel and vanilla. Mix well.
(Note: I grate the orange peel with a micro planner, it is a very fine grate. This gives the cookie a more intense orange flavor)
Sift flour and salt together. Add to creamed mixture. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.
Drop by teaspoon full, 2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until edge of cookies just start to brown. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet a minute, then move to wire rack to cool.
Watch closely as these cookies burn easily.
llmart
(15,499 posts)I think I will try a batch of those. Can't go wrong with chocolate and orange together.
Thanks!
dem in texas
(2,672 posts)My granddaughter sent me this pic of her and my great-grand daughter making the cookies. So happy to see a family tradition handed down to the next generation.
Can you tell how tall my "great" is! She just turned 5, she's tall as a 7 or 8 year old!. My husband's sister is 6 ft; tall runs in his family.
[link:|
Phentex
(16,330 posts)Mine look more like hockey pucks rather than wafers but they taste so good! And they look pretty.
https://www.marthastewart.com/1154435/chocolate-mint-wafers-sprinkles
MissMillie
(38,450 posts)But there is this recipe that I love that involves no baking... chocolate, oatmeal and peanut butter all done on the stove top and dropped on cookie sheets to cool.
I can remember quite a while back I used to buy some cookies (Archway, I think) that were like a snickerdoodle with a pool of raspberry in the middle. I really liked those cookies, but I haven't seen them in the store for years. I'd like to find a recipe for something similar, using lemon instead of raspberry.
Desert_Leslie
(131 posts)I made cookies today that are sort of along the lines of what you are looking for -- and these were great:
Raspberry Walnut Thumbprint Cookies
From "The Kitchen Magpie" website.
The general concept: You make a pretty simple cookie dough, roll the dough balls in chopped walnuts, put in a thumbprint, bake for 10 minutes, take them out and fill them with the jam of your choice -- then they bake for another 8 minutes.
The recipe calls for raspberry but they say you can sub in whatever jam flavor you'd like.
I did half a batch with fig preserves and half a batch with strawberry.
I added the zest of one lemon (on my own) to zip up the dough while it was being mixed. Lemon was undetectable in the final product, but ....
If you are looking for snickerdoodle, you could add in some snickerdoodle-type spices to the cookie dough.
These cookies were tender yet crunchy from the walnuts. YUMMY.
Desert_Leslie
(131 posts)I made one of the recipes from this NY Times Cooking collection -- Brown Sugar-Anise Cookies. Fabulous. It's a shortbread-like base with anise seed and sanding sugar sprinkled on top. Very snappy/crispy. The taste reminds me of Italian anise biscotti -- but with a lot less work.
All the other recipes look great too. Just looking through their online slide show showing a short prep/final result for each cookie -- well, I gained weight just looking at the "food porn"!
> "These are 12 Christmas cookies for the modern era. Susan Spungen is a food stylist and cookbook author. She created these cookies as reimagined classics. Marbled Tahini, Dirty Chai Earthquakes, Homemade Pocky and more. Get the recipes: http://nyti.ms/2DNBJaU
llmart
(15,499 posts)I have never liked the flavor of anise, so this might not be my choice. Or maybe I've never had a really good anise cookie.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)lynintenn
(631 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,333 posts)However, I grew up helping bake tins full of cookie-pressed and dressed Spritz, Walnut Horns rolled white in powdered sugar, cut-out shapes and/or decorated gingerbread men, Chocolate Crinkles, Pecan Tassi's and Rum Balls. Sometimes we'd make the no-bake haystacks.
https://themom100.com/recipe/the-best-no-bake-haystack-cookies/
DH's family did raspberry bars, Slovenian potica bread, a 6-layer walnut torte with chocolate butter cream icing, and the poppy seed and apricot and strawberry jam-filled kolachki's, https://www.thespruceeats.com/polish-kolaczki-recipe-1136953
llmart
(15,499 posts)Those are many of the same ones I used to make as a young wife and mother. I remember making kolachkis from scratch one year and they took me forever but were a big hit. I've also made potica which I love but was time consuming. That walnut torte sounds amazing though.
Now I'm hungry for cookies!
applegrove
(118,006 posts)to make them every year.
yellowdogintexas
(22,114 posts)grandmother used to make. Alas, I never could get the hang of the cookie press.
My family loves Chocolate Shadows, and I put together a lot of slice and bake cookies of different kinds.
My baking tends to be more of the cake variety for the holidays though
trueblue2007
(17,138 posts)llmart
(15,499 posts)She has some very good recipes that I've used in the past and kept. Her instructions are usually very informative and my baking turns out just right. These look yummy also.
trueblue2007
(17,138 posts)i will use this
https://cookingwithkarli.com/brownie-mix-cookies/?fbclid=IwAR3_6VNvqbkvxAi5oF9XJL5tN7fAodkpSFg0ncy9yT5QhYAsdu53aljMJsk
merry christmas
Marthe48
(16,688 posts)I usually bake a lot, and give a lot away, but most of my friends and relatives are either on diets, or have health concerns. So I am not baking baklava, 7 layer cookies, teacakes, thumbprints, ragalach or fudge.
My daughter gave me a bag of almond flour, and I have a bag of Stevia, so I made keto almond biscotti, and s.f. merignues. I also made rum balls with less sugar, but my other daughter wanted traditional. I don't feel good and I put off baking, but my daughter was here and helped me, and it went fast. I found a recipe today for keto rum balls I might try. I'm going to make sugar free Jello jigglers and vegan gelatin jigglers. When I showed my other daughter I had vegan gelatin, she told me I should just use vodka and make jello shots. lol
I have a recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough I make for my daughters. I suggested trying to adapt the recipe, but the one daughter said she'd be happy to have the regular recipe, since it is a treat. I don't eat that myself, prefer baked cookies.
I baked bread, too.
As for suggestions, if you want less expensive, leave the nuts out. Bar cookies are usually cheap. I usually buy supplies here and there so the cost isn't a big hit when I do start baking. My family and friends are thrilled if I make bread and rolls and they are super cheap. Have fun! Merry Christmas