Monday, December 08, 2008

Getting in the holiday spirit



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Elfin Bites
Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications Christmas Cookies 1998

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
2 tablespoons colored sprinkles I used about 3 tbsp.

STIR together flour and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in butter till mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling. Stir in sprinkles. Form mixture into a ball and knead until smooth.

ROLL OR PAT dough on an ungreased cookie sheet into an 8x5" rectangle. Cut into 1/2 inch squares. I used my pizza cutter. Separate the squares on the cookie sheet.

BAKE in a 325°F oven for 12-14 minutes or till bottoms just start to brown. Transfer to wire racks covered with wax paper to cool. Makes about 160.
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I don't usually test run my Christmas cookie recipes but I won't have time to experiment this year so I gave this recipe a whirl yesterday.

I'm always looking for festive recipes that taste good and don't require a lot of work. I'm not into cookies that are cute just for the sake of being cute. Taste is most important but I still want my cookie trays to look Christmas-y. These little cookies are a nice way to add some pop to a cookie tray. The recipe only makes about enough cookies to fill a cereal bowl but it's so easy, you can quickly whip up a few batches, especially if you use your food processor (I used mine to cut in the butter, then I added the sprinkles and continued by hand.)

My dough was a little dry which was likely my fault. I might have been a bit heavy-handed with the flour. Because it was a tad dry, my edges were a bit rougher than they should have been so I made a note to be more careful measuring my flour next time.

I used to eagerly look forward to the cookie magazines that come out around the holidays. When I started baking Christmas cookies after I was out on my own, those magazines are where I found most of my recipes. After a while I didn't seem to be finding many new recipes in them so I stopped buying them but I kept the old ones and had fun going through them this weekend. Some of them are quite stained.

Question of the Day: Are you ready for the holidays? I'm getting closer but I don't think I'm ever 100% ready.

5 comments:

ThursdayNext said...

Not just yet. The cards are done and mailed and the tree is ready to be trimmed, but in terms of menu and shopping...no where near done! These LOOK amazing btw!

Anonymous said...

Hello Paula,

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Please let me know if you might be interested. If we can come to a fair price, I will pre-pay for 1 year via paypal.

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All the best,
Cassie (cassie003@gmail.com)

La Pixie said...

Im as ready as Ill ever be.

this recipe looks so simple, that Im gonna try it out this weekend. hopefully, the church peeps will like them. =)

Anonymous said...

READY ???? READY ???? I wish!

I'll put it this way. While in Walmart today, I picked up a $4.00 poinsettia plant. Ta da!

I don't think I've ever been so far behind. I've picked up a few presents, but no decorations, no cards done, no baking, no nothin'.

Jan

Rochelle R. said...

Those cookies are so cute and they seem really easy. I am going to try them. I work in retail so this is a really busy time of year for me and I never get much done. I usally only make some fudge.