Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Cookies=Magic

If you didn’t quite realize it from the loops of Christmas music in the stores or the commercials on T.V., the holidays are here! You know what that means.

Food.

Glorious food.

During the holidays when I was little, my mother used to bake these wonderful chocolate chunk cookies from scratch. To give you an idea of the effort involved, I remember her sifting oatmeal back and forth between two strainers at least a dozen times. And then repeating. And repeating. You couldn’t even feel the oatmeal inside those cookies, but it was there. Oh, my was it there.

Unfortunately, I think my mother is half magician. This mere mortal rarely has the time or patience to bake as much as I’d like to. Luckily, I discovered a recipe for my holiday cookies that is almost as good, if slightly different: The Perfect Sugar Cookie (With Frosting) (Mmmmm, Frosting).

These are deliciously moist and soft cookies, and marvelously convenient. I froze these about a week before a party, and when I defrosted them they were as good as new. They’ll stay moist in a plastic box or ziplock bag for a while. You can also make the dough well in advance and let it sit in your fridge until you’re ready to use it.

Ingredients and directions:

Combine the following dry ingredients and set aside:
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups of flour

Cream together:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar

Blend in:
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of sour cream

Add the dry ingredients you set aside earlier to your batter. Blend it all together until the dough is smooth. Wrap the ball of dough in a sheet of plastic wrap and set it in the fridge to refrigerate for at least one hour or until firm. When you’re ready to bake, use a rolling pin (and extra dry flour if it’s sticky) to roll out dough and cut out desired shapes, or you can just pinch off and use your hands to pat flat circles if you’re in a hurry. Place on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake 8-10 minutes. Do NOT let them turn brown.

Now this is the really yummy part. These cookies taste great on their own, but who doesn’t love icing?

Ingredients:
2 tbs. sweet cream butter
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
1-2 tbs milk

Combine butter, sugar, and extract until smooth, add in milk slowly until you reach the desired consistancy. If you don’t care for lemon extract, you can try almond (also very delicious), orange (yum), banana, etc. If you do the citrus flavors, try a little zest in there as well, it’s a nice touch. Oh, or if you really want to get festive? A drop of peppermint extract.

Spread it on your cooled cookies and enjoy.

I’d love to hear your favorite holiday treat!

Alisha Rai
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