White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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These sturdy and delicious cookies are very homely-looking compared to some of the more elaborate decorated cookies we make, and the others are usually stacked on top of them. They are so easy, though, that this year, pressed for time, I was baking and taking trays of them out of the oven as everyone was arriving to make up our cookie packages. White chocolate chips are a fairly recent development and the original recipe from 1989 called for coarsely chopped vanilla-flavored confectioners’ coating. In recent years, all my chocolate chips have been from Trader Joe’s and I have been extremely happy with the quality of the chocolate. I hope that they continue to carry the white chocolate chips so that I can continue to make these homey, but delectable cookies.

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 extra large egg
• 2-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

In a small mixing bowl, stir together flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add sugars; beat until light and fluffy.

Add egg and beat well.

Add flour mixture; beat until well mixed.

Stir in oats, chocolate chips and almonds.

Scoop with a 1-3/4-inch ice cream scoop about 3 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Using your hand, flatten slightly.

Bake at 375°F. for about 7 minutes in a convection oven, or about 10 minutes in a conventional oven until done.

Remove from cookie sheets while still slightly warm.

Makes approximately 45 cookies.

These freeze well, layered between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container.

Mini Pecan Pies

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My sister Adele and I began making these over thirty years ago for our catering business and they were an integral part of our enticing and delicious trays of miniature desserts and pastries. They were very time-consuming in the beginning as we attempted to neatly spoon the egg mixture over the pecans so that errant drips would not cause the pastry to stick to the pan when baked. Then, I hit on the idea of pouring the egg mixture through a funnel into a squirt bottle and voila! It became neat and easy to get the mixture where it was supposed to go. In recent years, I discovered that a small, thin offset spatula is invaluable for removing these types of pastries from the pan. When the food processor came along, we were in heaven. Recipes that used to take all day by hand could now be accomplished in a few hours.

Adele and I spent many hours sitting and discussing our lives while we pressed various types of dough into mini pans, but I consider them hours well spent. I still enjoy the zen nature of this activity and so do my granddaughters.

Mini Pecan Pies

• 6-oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 beaten extra-large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• dash of kosher salt
• 1-1/2 cups broken pecans

Blend cream cheese and the 2 cups of butter. Stir in flour. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Shape dough into 48 1-inch balls. A mini ice-cream scoop is useful to portion the dough.

Place in ungreased 1-3/4-inch mini-muffin pans; press dough over bottoms and completely up sides of pans.

In small bowl, beat together egg, brown sugar, the 2 Tbsp. butter, vanilla, and salt just until smooth.

Divide the pecans among the pastry shells.

Spoon or squirt (from a squirt bottle) about 1/2 Tbsp. of the egg mixture over the pecans in each shell.

Bake in 325°F. oven for 25-30 minutes, or until filling is set and pastry is golden.

Cool and remove from pans. They are easier to remove while still slightly warm.

These freeze well, in a single layer, in an airtight container. Makes approximately 48 mini pecan pies.

Lemon Bars

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Bar cookies are really easy to make and you have the advantage of making lots of them just by choosing the size into which you want to cut them. I think, if I were to ask my daughter, Jessica, which of the many cookies that we make are her favorite, she would probably choose the lemon bars because she is really fond of tart flavors.

As with the Toffee Squares, the most time-consuming part of this recipe involves pressing the crust layer into the baking pan evenly with your fingers. Do not even think about using anything but fresh lemon juice squeezed directly from a real lemon.

Lemon Bars

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
• 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 6 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. grated fresh lemon peel
• pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt butter; add sifted flour and confectioner’s sugar. Mix well and pack into an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together sugar, flour, and baking powder.

Add eggs, one at a time, then lemon juice, lemon peel and salt.

Pour this mixture over the hot crust and return to the oven to bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

Cool and cut into 48 to 60 squares.

These freeze well, layered between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies

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I made these for the first time this year because Adele did not have time to get to them with Chanukah coming so early on the secular calendar. While assembling them, I thought I was doing a terrible job. I cut the first batch of dough into a rectangle, but then realized that a precise rectangle would not really make a difference in the look of the finished cookies after they were cut into slices. The filling has a tendency to thicken as it cools and is more difficult to spread on the soft dough, so I recommend working quickly to get the rolls made up before the hardening occurs. Rewarming the mixture does not improve the texture once the process of hardening has begun. An offset spatula is a useful tool for spreading.

In the end, all the cookies baked into perfect little swirls even though the next batch I rolled out was irregularly shaped and free-form. If you like peanut butter, these are the cookies for you!

Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
• 1 6-0z. package (1 cup) peanut-butter-flavored pieces
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

For dough:
In a large mixing bowl, cut butter into flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, keep a lowest speed just until crumbs form.

Stir in sour cream and beat on low speed just until mixture forms a ball.

For filling:
In a medium saucepan, melt peanut-butter-flavored pieces over low heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in peanut butter.

Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Use immediately.


Halve dough. On a surface sprinkled lightly with additional powdered sugar, roll each dough half into an approximately 12 x 9-inch rectangle.

Spread half of the filling on each rectangle.

Roll up tightly from the long side.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 to 2 hours or until firm.

To bake:
Cut rolls into half-inch slices.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350°F. for 15-18 minutes in a convection oven; 25-30 minutes in a conventional oven until edges are lightly browned.

These cookies freeze well, stacked between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Snickerdoodles

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These are the easiest of all cookies and the best to make with little children. A few years back, my friend, Larry, visited Penzey’s, the giant spice company, in Chicago, and called to ask what he could bring me. Vanilla beans and cinnamon were among the items that I told him I could use. He brought back a sampling of small jars of cinnamon and cassia from all over the world. How was I to compare their flavor? I baked batches of Snickerdoodles. I decided that I liked the flavor of the Saigon cinnamon the best.

Izzy and Sami have rolled up the little balls of dough and then rolled them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture since they were toddlers. Just recently, I learned that these simple cookies are among Ari’s top three personal favorites. Unfortunately, the Crisco shortening, which is essential to the texture of these cookies, has proven to be less than healthy. I console myself to the fact that I only make them a few times a year.

Snickerdoodles

• 1 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy.

Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Beat into shortening mixture.

Roll into small balls. (A 1-1/4 inch ice cream scoop can facilitate this process.)

Roll balls in mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 400°F. for 5-6 minutes in a convection oven; 8-10 minutes in a conventional oven, until lightly browned, but still soft.

These freeze well layered between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen.

Melt-Away Cookies

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These cookies, visually, are probably the stars of the cookie assortment that our family makes. A few years back, Jess told us a humorous story about pandemonium in her office because of these. She had brought a large plate to work for her colleagues to share. As we make almost 30 different cookies, the plate had just one or two of each type. Rather than choose individual cookies, her co-workers had chosen to slice each one up into miniscule slivers so that each one could have a taste of all of them. Over several days, the tray had diminished until just the one large, beautiful heart-shaped cookie remained. Then, a colleague who had been away for a few days came back and ate the last cookie. When the others discovered that the last cookie was missing, and that the whole large cookie had been eaten by one person, they were aghast. The disingenuous soul who had eaten the cookie was severely castigated by the others and Jessica called me to see if there were any more remaining, but there were none.

Adele and I made these together this year as there are several steps involved, although none are particularly difficult, especially if you roll the dough out using a well-floured pastry cloth and stockinette covered rolling pin. We poured the melted chocolate through a wide-necked funnel into a squirt bottle to apply the chocolate around the top cut-out heart. If the chocolate starts to set, let the bottle sit for a few minutes in a hot water bath. An individual tea strainer with jointed handle makes a great little device for neatly shaking on powdered sugar. This year, I discovered a delicious organic strawberry spread from Kirkland brand at Costco, and we were delighted with the intense taste and texture both in these cookies and in the Cream Cheese Frills.

Melt-Away Cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 6 oz. pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup preserves, jam, or jelly
• powdered sugar

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.

Add half of the flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and almond extract.

Beat thoroughly and then beat in remaining flour.

Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap, shaping dough into thick discs and chill for at least one hour or until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough 1/8-inch thick. (Keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator until ready to roll.) Cut into shapes with cookie cutter.

Place on ungreased baking sheets.

With a smaller cutter, cut out centers from half of the unbaked cookies.

Bake at 375°F. for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the edges are firm and bottoms are very light brown. Cool.

Repeat with dough scraps and remaining dough.

In a small, heavy saucepan, melt chocolate pieces over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread about 1 tsp. of the melted chocolate on the bottom of each cookie with the removed center. Immediately place chocolate side atop whole cookies to form a sandwich.

Sift powdered sugar atop cookies.

Spoon preserves or jelly in the center hole of each cookie.

Makes about 30-40 sandwich cookies.

These freeze well layered between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container.

Chanukah Sugar Cookies

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I had a lot of time with my granddaughters this year before Chanukah, and they told me in no uncertain terms that they wanted to make and decorate cookies more than any other activity while they were visiting. My grand niece Brenna visited and helped decorate as well. I was very happy to oblige them as they are all endlessly creative with their decorating and both granddaughters are becoming quite competent cooks and bakers if I can just get them to understand fractional measurements. Baking is a great incentive for them to learn their math.

These cookies have been in the family for many years and are tender, buttery, delicious, and easy to roll and cut, especially if you use a well-floured pastry cloth and stockinette-covered rolling pin. I think the girls did an amazing job this year.

Chanukah Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1-1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 2 tsp. lemon extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• non-stick cooking spray
  
• sugar, decors and food-color markers for decorating
  

Cream sugars and butter until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Add lemon extract, buttermilk and baking soda and beat well.

Sift together flour and baking powder; add to other ingredients. Mix until well blended.

Wrap in a thick disc shape in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make cookies, divide dough into two or three portions, keeping refrigerated those portions not being worked.

Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use Chanukah forms to shape cookies.

Place carefully on non-stick spray greased pan. Push leftover dough scraps together and continue to roll and cut until all the dough has been used up.

Sprinkle with sugar, colored sugar or press in sugar decors. Alternatively, bake plain and decorate with royal icing and sugar, or sugar decors, or food color markers.

Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes in a convection oven, or 8-10 minutes in a conventional oven.

These freeze well even when glazed with royal icing and food color designs.

Makes 60-100 cookies depending on the size of the cookie cutters.