Italian Christmas Cookies

Most of you diabetics know that all our sweets cost more in the stores than the regular sweets do. If you are tired of buying the more expensive cookies, or you pass them up to save money, try these quick and easy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that are sweetened with orange juice or the Orange Drop Cookies. The Orange Drop Cookies do have a small amount of sugar so remember that when adding these to your diet.

OATMEAL RAISIN DROP COOKIES

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup uncooked rolled oats

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp ground cloves

3/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

3 tbsp egg substitute

2 tbsp margarine, melted

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and cloves in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; blend well. Add to dry ingredients; blend well. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and drop 2 tablespoonfuls dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire racks.

Yield: 28 cookies

ORANGE DROP COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups Splenda

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened orange juice

1 tbsp grated orange peel

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and Splenda together. Beat in eggs, orange juice, and orange peel. Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 8 dozen

Note: These cookies do contain a small amount of sugar. Remember this when working them into your diet. Do not over indulge!

Enjoy!

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What kid doesn't love a decorated cookie? All kids, all ages love decorated cookies. These days you can go just about anywhere and find cookie cutters. Cookie cutters range in price and style from about 60 cents for a small aluminum cookie cutter to well over 5 dollars for a large copper cookie cutter. You can walk into your local grocery store and get several plastic, easy to handle, easy to use and clean, cookie cutters. Let's just start there. While you're there swing over to the section where the refrigerated cookie dough is kept. This is the easiest dough to use when decorating cut out cookies for kids. Add about 1/4 cup all purpose flour to the dough, roll it into a ball and chill if for about 1 hour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out onto a floured surface and use the cookie cutters to cut the cookies out. The cookies should be about 1/2 inch thick. Bake the cookies according to package directions and let them cool completely. Meanwhile here's a quick frosting that can be made and colored to decorate the cookies:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons corn syrup

(recipe can be doubled)

In a bowl, mix all 3 ingredients together thoroughly. It should be like the consistency of Elmer's glue. The frosting will be a little thick, in which case you can can add more milk and corn syrup each, 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Divide the frosting into bowls and use food coloring to color. Pour the frosting into pastry bags or strong sandwich bags. Snip the tip of the bag with a pair of scissors to allow a little bit to come out. Now you are ready to start decorating cut out cookies for kids. The possibilities here are endless and the kids will love them. You can even add a little flavoring to the frosting. Try a teaspoon of almond or lemon extract before coloring the frosting. This is a frosting that dries with a nice shine. The thing to remember when you are decorating cut out cookies for kids is that this frosting should dry for about 8 hours, so it may be best to let them dry on a cooling rack overnight. The kids can eat the cookies before the frosting dries. It just gets a little messy, but that's all in the fun of making the cookies! Check kitchen and housewares stores for more of a diverse selections of cookie cutters. Of course there is always the internet. Now that you have mastered the art of decorating cookies for kids you can have cookies for all of the holidays. Just make sure to get the appropriate cookie cutters and there is no stopping you!

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Kids and adults all love homemade cookies, especially during the holidays. Treat your family to some new "All Time Favorite Cookies" this holiday season!

Below are 3 special Christmas cookie recipes for you to prepare this holiday season.

1. New England Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup of melted shortening
- 3/4 cup of melted butter
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 cup of sliced blanched almonds
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 3 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of soda

Directions:

- Cream sugar and melted ingredients.
- Beat eggs and add to creamed mixture.
- Sift together all dry ingredients and beat into dough.
- Stir in almonds.
- Form dough into small rolls and wrap in wax paper.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Slice thin and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Do not over bake.

2. Christmas Cookie Slices

Ingredients:

For The Dark Mixture:

- 3 cups of flour
- 1 teaspoon of soda
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 cup of shortening
- 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of raisins, ground
- 1 cup of nuts, ground

For The Light Mixture:

- 2 cups of flour
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of soda
- 1/2 cup of shortening
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1/4 cup of chopped candied cherries

Dark Mixture:

- Sift together flour, soda, salt and spices.
- Cream shortening with brown sugar, add eggs and beat well.
- Stir in dry ingredients, nuts and raisins.

Light Mixture:

- Sift together flour, salt and soda.
- Cream shortening and sugar, add egg, vanilla and water and mix well.
- Blend in dry ingredients.
- Stir in cherries.
- Pack half of dark mixture into wax paper lined straight-sided pan 10 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches.
- Add all of light dough to make a second layer, top with remaining dark dough.
- Pack firmly. Refrigerate at least 24 hours.
- Remove from pan and cut dough lengthwise in half.
- Then slice in 1/4 inch slices.
- Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove immediately from pan.

3. Christmas Cookie Wreaths

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 cup of chopped raisins
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1 cup of sugar
- 4 teaspoons of sweet cream
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 3 1/2 cups of flour (sifted)

Directions:

- Mix butter and sugar in bowl until creamy.
- Whip eggs and sweet cream.
- Add other ingredients and mix well until mixture becomes dough.
- Place in refrigerator to chill.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and cut small pieces.
- Roll into wreath shapes.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Let cookies cool.
- Add decorations if desired.

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My version of Christmas Italian cookies. It's a Holiday tradition. 4 1/2 cup flour 6 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 6 eggs 1 cup oil 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bake at 400 for 8 to 10 minutes

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You have the perfect sugar cookie recipe. You've made the cookie dough and you've tried to cut out the cookies, but it just doesn't quite work. They stick, they tear, they lose their shape. No more! Here are some tips that will have you making sugar cookies that look like a pro made them.

The first step to the perfect cut out cookie is to make the dough and then refrigerate it preferably overnight. At the very least, the dough has to be chilled for a couple of hours. You know the dough is just right to work with when you really have to "mash" it to flatten it out. You absolutely cannot cut out cookies when the dough is freshly made - don't even try it.

If you are in a mad rush and have to have some cookies pronto, you can take a cookie sheet, line it with parchment paper, put a blob of dough on it, cover it with another sheet of parchment and then roll it out to 1/4 inch thick. Then take the cookie sheet and place it in the freezer for about fifteen minutes. Continue to do this with several cookie sheets and you should have enough dough to work with shortly.

Now, if you aren't in a mad rush, get your dough good and cold. When you are ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 400. Make sure your oven heats up for at least 30 minutes - not just until the oven reads 400 degrees. The reason being is that your oven may not be heated to 400 in the center of the oven and will cause your cookies to bake unevenly.

Take out of the refrigerator only the amount of dough that you are going to work with at one time. Leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator so it doesn't get warm or you will be right back where you started.

"Flour" your work surface with confectioners sugar. Yes, you can use regular flour, but the sugar adds an extra sweetness that tastes great. Also rub your rolling pin with confectioners sugar. Roll your dough to approximately 1/4" thick. If you are going to be making cookie bouquets, they need to be 1/2" thick.

Dip your cookie cutter in confectioners sugar and place it on your dough and press down to cut it out. Before you lift the cookie cutter, give it a little jiggle, wiggleing the cookie cutter back and forth. Do this until you can't get anymore cookies out of the dough that you have rolled out. Begin picking up the dough that surrounds the cut outs. Mash the dough back into a ball and put it back in the refrigerator with the other dough that is chilling.

Use a spatula that is thin, preferably a metal spatula not a rubber spatula to lift your cookies onto the cookie sheet. Rubber spatulas tend to be thicker on the end and will mash and distort your cookie. Using a thin-edged metal spatula place your cookies on the cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper about 1" apart. If you have chosen the proper sugar cookie recipe, they shouldn't puff up or spread.

Bake your cookies for 7 1/2 minutes at 400 degrees or just until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookie sheet and let your cookies cool for just a minuet. Taking your metal spatula again, ligtly loosen the cookies from the parchment paper without moving them. Let the cool on the cookies sheet until they are ready for you to decorate.

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The blue ribbon recipes are no doubt award winning recipes because they are very delicious. Almond thumbprint cookies, butter crisps and chocolate covered cherry cookies rise above the rest. Below are the 3 award winning recipes so you can prepare at home:

1. 1986 Winner: Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies

- 2 c all-purpose flour,Sifted
- 1/2 c Sugar
- 1/4 t Salt
- 1 c Butter
- 3/4 c unblanched almonds,Grated
- 2 t Vanilla

Frosting

- 6 T Butter
- 1/3 c Half-and-half
- 2/3 c brown sugar,Packed
- 2 c Confectioners'sugar
- 1/2 t Vanilla
- pistachio nuts, Chopped For garnish

Directions:

- Heat oven to 350 degrees. For cookies, sift flour, sugar and salt into bowl. Cut in 1 cup butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Blend in almonds and vanilla. Work mixture with fingers until a ball of dough is formed. Then shape into 1-inch balls.

- Place balls on greased cookie sheets; make a depression in center of each cookie. Bake about 8 minutes; remove from oven. Dent again and bake about 8 minutes longer; cool.

- For frosting, blend 6 tablespoons butter, half-and-half and brown sugar in saucepan. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Cool about 15 minutes, then stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and thick.

- Fill depressions in cookies with butterscotch frosting and sprinkle frosting with nuts.

2. 1986 Winner: Butter Crisps

Ingredients:

- 3/4 c Unsalted butter, at room Temperature
- 1 c Granulated sugar
- 3 Egg yolks
- 1 1/2 t lemon rind, Grated
- 1 1/2 t Lemon juice
- 1 1/2 t Cherry liqueur, (Kirsch)
- 1/8 t Salt
- 2 c All-purpose flour Colored sugar crystals or Plain pearl sugar crystals

Directions:

- Beat butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon rind, lemon juice, cherry liqueur and salt in large mixer bowl. Stir in the flour. Shape into ball; cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough 1/8-inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into desired shapes. Place on greased baking sheet; sprinkle with sugar crystals. Bake 10 minutes (cookies should not brown). Cool on wire racks.

- Store in airtight container 2 days to develop flavor. Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 6 weeks or in freezer up to 2 months. Recipe from Debbie Vanni of Libertyville, Illinois. From the Chicago Tribune annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 4, 1986

3. 1986 Winner: Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 C Flour
- 1/2 C Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 T Salt
- 1/4 T Baking powder
- 1/4 T Baking soda
- 1/2 C Butter (or margarine,) Softened
- 1 C Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 1/2 t Vanilla
- 48 Maraschino cherries Frosting
- 6 oz Semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 C Sweetened condensed milk
- Cherry juice (4 to 5 tsp)

Directions:
- In bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla to butter-sugar mixture and beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture and beat until well blended.

- Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and push down center of each ball with thumb. Drain cherries and reserve juice. Place 1 cherry in center of each indentation. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

- For frosting, put chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons cherry juice. If too thick, add more juice.

- Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry. Spread to cover cherry. Bake 10 minutes or until done. Do not overcook. Remove to wire rack and cool. The cookies freeze nicely.

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