Christmas Cookie Family Favorites

Sherman Family Christmas cookie favorites include sugar cookies and date bars.

 

Every year my family looks forward to my mother’s cookies and fruit cake.  She bakes yule logs flavored with molasses, date bars, rolled sugar cookies, and fruit cake.

This year, I followed her recipe for sugar cookies and for the filled bar cookies, using chopped dates.  She sometimes substitutes part of the water with orange juice. I added a quarter teaspoon of orange extract.

 

My mother rolls her sugar cookie dough and then cuts them into shapes. I was lazy so I formed the dough into balls and then pressed them flat with the bottom of a glass.

This are my Mother’s recipes as she wrote them:
Filled Bar Cookies

Make date or other filling.

Preheat oven to 400°.

3/4 cup margarine 1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 3/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Mix margarine and sugar together thoroughly.

Mix together and stir in flour, soda, and salt.

Stir in oats and mix thoroughly. Place 1/2 the

crumb mixture in a greased and floured 9 x 13

pan. Spread with cooled filling. Cover with

remaining crumb mixture……patting lightly.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned.

While warm cut into bars and remove from pan.

Date Filling: Mix together in saucepan; 3 cups

cut-up dates (24 oz.), 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 1/2

cups water. (I have substituted orange juice

for part of the water.) Cook over low heat,

stirring until thickened. (About 10 minutes)

Cool.

Prune Orange Filling: Mix together in saucepan;

3 cups cut-up cooked prunes (drained), 1/2 cup

sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 tbls. lemon

juice and 2 tbls. grated orange rind(optional).

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until

thickened. (About 10 minutes) Cool.

Fig, Apricot,or Raisin Filling: Use date recipe

and replace with figs, apricots, or raisins.

 

 Sugar Cookies

4 1/2 cups sifted flour      2 cups sugar

  1/2 teaspoon salt          4 eggs, beaten

4 teaspoons baking powder    1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup margarine              2 tablespoons milk

Sift flour, salt  and  baking powder  together.

Cream margarine  and sugar together.   Add eggs

and vanilla.   Add sifted ingredients and milk.

Roll and cut. You will probably have to add

more flour as you roll. Sprinkle with sugar and

bake on an ungreased baking sheet in  375° oven

12 minutes.

To Fill Cookies:

Roll out dough  and cut  into  circles.   Place

teaspoon  of  filling  on  half of the circles,

keeping it away from  the  edges.   Cover  with

remaining circles  and  press  together  around

edges with tines of a fork.  Bake as for sugar

cookies.

               Raisin Filling

2/3 cup sugar    2 cups raisins    Dash of salt

2/3 cup hot water         3 teaspoons margarine

Combine ingredients and cook until thick. Cool.

                 Fig Filling

1 cup chopped figs   1 cup water  Juice 1 lemon

 1/2 cup sugar     2 tbls. flour   Dash of salt

Combine ingredients and cook until thick. Cool.

Emergency Chocolate Relief Act

Need some chocolate relief? Mix this cookie dough, form into cookies, freeze and then pop into the oven whenever you have a chocolate emergency.

Our annual book club Christmas party was on Monday night.  We exchange small, but wonderful gifts.  We bring a gift for each person, so we go home with a lot of loot. 

This year, Chris brought a recipe for “Emergency Chocolate Relief Act” plus the actual raw cookies in a plastic bag to put in our freezers.  The raw cookies were ready to pop in the oven whenever we were feeling faint and in need of chocolate. She even gave us a small cookie tray, which will fit into a toaster oven.  It was all wrapped in a festive tea towel.  Her mother, Judy, also a member of book club, gave us a small spatula to complete the ensemble. You can see it all above with the cookies hot from the oven. 

The recipe:

Take off all jewelry. Wash hands. Combine one roll of Nestle refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough with a roll of another brand (such as Pillsbury) in the same amount.  Add substantial amounts of pecans and chocolate chips or pieces of candy bars.  Squish all together into balls. Slightly flatten and put in freezer bags.  Freeze. When you need a cookie or two or three, break out of the bag.  Put on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  Cool slightly.  Eat!  You’ll feel instant relief!