Cookie, Cookie, Cookie!

I realize I haven't been posting about food too much lately (actually, make that posting about anything too much lately), so I'm remedying that today with some mouth-watering shots of cookies that people brought to my friend Rox's holiday cookie party. Everyone had to bake 6 dozen cookies, and everyone got to take 6 dozen of other people's cookies home. Everyone baked a different kind of cookie, so we ended up with quite a delicious selection. Check out these beautiful striped peppermint cookies:




These pinwheel cookies were made by a professional baker and they tasted amazing.


What was my contribution? I originally planned to bake up some premade cookie dough that I had bought from my nephew's school fundraiser. I thought I had it all nicely planned: buy the cookie dough, help my nephew out, save me the time hassle of mixing my own dough, and having some delicious chocolate chip and sugar cookies ready for the party. I hadn't counted on 2 things:

1) That darn cookie dough was so delicious, I kept baking some of it for my kids' playdates

2) The cookie party invitation read, "Homemade cookies only!"

Drat my conscience! I reluctantly searched my cookbooks for an easy cookie recipe. I settled on a Snickerdoodles recipe from a Betty Crocker magazine. It's basically a sugar cookie dough that you shape into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar before baking. They were a hit! You can find the recipe here, or if you're too lazy to click over to the site, here it is:


Snickerdoodles
Prep Time: 40 min
Total Time: 50 min
Makes: 4 dozen cookies

1 1/2cups sugar
1/2cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2cup shortening
2eggs
2 3/4cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour
2teaspoons cream of tartar
1teaspoon baking soda
1/4teaspoon salt
1/4cup sugar
2teaspoons ground cinnamon

1) Heat over to 400F. In large bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed (or with wooden spoon) until well mixed. With wooden spoon, stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until mixed.

2) In small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. For each cookie, shape dough into 1 1/4 inch ball. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.

3) Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove cookies from cookie sheets to cooling rack.

3 comments:

Asianmommy said...

Sounds like a fun party. I was invited to a cookie exchange this year, but they asked me to make 11 dozen cookies, which is a huge stretch for me!

Shangrila said...

Mmmm, snickerdoodles! I've been trying to convince my sisters to help me plan a cookie exchange for years-I so jealous-lol! I'm trying aout a few Paula Deen cookie recipes myself (because you can never have too much butter and sugar, right?!) Happy Holidays to you, Alfie and the kids!

Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama said...

Love your pictures of all the cookies! Yum! Snickerdoodles are part of our yearly holiday cookie baking repertoire! Instead of the cinnamon though, we roll them in either red or green sugar. Although this year our 5 year old pulled out orange, pink, purple, and turquoise too! They look like ornaments and are still delicious!