The ruminations of an artist on art & life...art quilts, beading, knitting, drawing, painting, printmaking, bookmaking are all my passions, I love to explore creating....

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Our Tradition: Plenty of Holiday Cookies


I love baking and the holiday season provides me with ample opportunity to bake cookies and breads for gifts. This year, with moving and all--I have hardly thought about the holidaze...but the first area of my new apartment I unpacked and arranged was my kitchen...then I baked some bread to welcome myself to my new home. Now, with the rest of the place still up to my knees in boxes and packing materials, my thoughts turn to holiday cookie baking. Here are some of my favorite holiday cookies, I have made both of these recipes numerous times and they always are a big hit--so do try them.

[Georgia's] RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

1 cup butter
1/2 cup pwd. sugar 1tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup white flour 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I use the blender or food processor to grind these pretty fine)

Cream together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla, then add the flour and walnuts and mix well. Bake @ 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Roll once in powdered sugar when hot from the oven, and again when they cookies have cooled. These store well--if you can keep the elves, gremlins and cookies monsters from eating them right up!


[Great] Aunt Maude's Almond Cookies

note: (My great Aunt Esther--Maude's sister--who gave me this recipe had in parenthesis on the recipe card the statement: "very like shortbread")

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups white flour
1 cup ground almonds
whole almonds for garnish

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl very well---you may need to use your hands to do this--dough will be quite stiff (resist the urge to add any liquids, however). Make rounded balls (with your hands) about 3/4" in diameter; place 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet; flatten slightly and then press an almond into the center of each cookie on top. Bake at 325 degrees until slightly brown --about 20 minutes. You may roll these in granulated or powdered sugar when partly cool (still warm, but not hot). Stored in airtight containers these also keep well--if they are not gobbled up right away.

TODAYS QUOTE : " If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give." ~George MacDonald

4 comments:

Genie Sea said...

Welcome to your new place! Hope all went well. Unpacking, I have found, is not as onerous as packing.

YUMMY cookies! Than you for the recipes :)

marain said...

Reading your cookie recipes makes me feel hungry for some! Thank you for sharing!

All the best!

Mary Timme said...

I'm such a cookie monster. So, I don't bake them and love to see them. When the children were little we spent hours baking cookies together. I loved that.

You'll have to read my blog in a day or two when I get it up as I'm making the rustic artisan breads in 5 minutes a day or less! I love the smell of baking!

LizzieK8 said...

Thanks for the Tea Cake recipe. I'd forgotten about them this year. My grandmother used to make them every Christmas!

I finished up the Bourbon Balls the other day and they are in the pantry "aging"!