Favorite Christmas cookie recipes

[Dianna Spencer]

Italian Ricotta cheese cookies

 

[Dianna Spencer]

Kim, I'll do that with the peanut butter cookies. Thank you. 

[Dianna Spencer]

 

Cherie sent in this fruitcake recipe. It sounds sooo good. 

California Fruitcake Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups whole pitted dates
5 cups dried apricot halves
3 cups walnut halves
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F ( 175 degrees celsius)
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large (2 quart) mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar.
Add the dates, apricots, and walnut halves and mix until covered with flour and sugar. Beat eggs until foamy and add vanilla. Add the vanilla/egg mixture to the remaining ingredients and stir to combine all ingredients. Grease a loaf tin with butter and line with waxed paper. Pour batter into the loaf tin, pressing down firmly with a wooden spoon to pack it all together.
Bake for one and a half hours at 300 degrees Farenheit. Remove from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes. Then, place it on a rack to cool by removing it from the tin.
 
If you fail to line the tin with waxed paper it may require a jackhammer to remove the ingredients! Almonds make a great substitute for the walnuts. The waxed paper is best removed once the cake has cooled a bit on the rack.
 
This cake tastes great warm or cold.
 
Enjoy!

 

This use to be my father's favorite. My mother who was born in California baked this many Christmases.  I substitute almonds for the walnuts 

Folks, substitute to your hearts content since you are the ones baking... Cherie

[Kim B]

Dianna, that is the peanut butter cookie recipe I use, except for I add a 1/4 cup of gluten free flour.  It helps it to not be as sticky as I roll the dough into balls, bake, then press hershey kisses or chocolate chips on them right after they come out of the oven.

[Kim B]

This one I want to try.  Gingerbread cut out cookies:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup of dark molasses

1 tablespoon cider vinegar (I would use a cider that has the mother)

3 cups all purpose flour (or a gluten free flour if allergic)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  

For the vanilla butter icing: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 4 to 6 tablespoons of water.

In a bowl using an electric mixer or a spoon, cream together the butter and sugar until light.  Mix in the egg, molasses, and vinegar, beating until smooth.  In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.  Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix just until blended.  Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.  Wrap and chill for 2 hours, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease baking sheets, or use nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/8 of an inch thick.  Cut out with 1 1/2 to 2 inch decorative cutters of choice.  Or use larger cutters for gingerbread people.  Place on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.  One sheet at a time, bake the cookies for 6 to 8 minutes, or until light brown on the edges.  Transfer to racks to cool.

To make the icing in a bowl, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla, then beat in enough of the water to make a spreading consistency.  Spread the icing on the cooled cookies, or spoon it into a pastry bag fitted with a fine tip and pipe it decoratively onto the cookies.  Immediately decorate with the candies, green sugar, and dragees, then let the cookies stand until the icing is set.  Store the cookies between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

 

[Dianna Spencer]

Peanut butter cookies. Dairy free. 

[Dianna Spencer]

I will try to find some dairy-free recipes. Thank you. Now I have something new to look forward to. 

[Dianna Spencer]

Martin... I honestly do not know how to substitute Ricotta cheese. Butter, you could use an oil like almond oil, or applesauce or yogurt. But, there's the dairy again. Oh boy. 

[Martin Oliver Cloonan]

can you cook a dairy free version  :-)

[Dianna Spencer]

Please share your favorite recipes. 

[Kim B]

I am going to bake some cookies this year for christmas.  Thanks for the reminder!