Quick Nutella Cookies/Whoopie Pies

Writing is the supreme solace. – W. Somerset Maugham 

Sometimes you need chocolate, and quickly. It’s a comfort food. Comfort is what I’ve been searching for lately, and slowly finding. It will come, but I wish more quickly than it is. I guess there are just some things you have to work through in your own head.

It’s strange being here in the house alone. Henry always used to be just one head scratch away. I still see him out of the corner of my eye – on the sofa, in the hall, outside – sort of like he’s here still. I hope I do for a long time yet to come. He was a very, very good boy and constantly loyal friend.

A dog that size (he was a 115 lb Bouvier) is like having your own live, oversized teddy bear, but with tons of kisses. He got plenty of hugs and kisses returned, believe me. I miss him terribly.

But for now, cookies will have to do, albeit a very poor substitute. And far less hairy. I miss all that hair, even when found in my cookies.

A manageable amount of batter. Not 3 dozen cookies.

I made these a few nights ago. Once they were baked, I wished I had bought some Fluff (the whipped marshmallow stuff). They would have made exceptional whoopie pies.

This is my own take on Nutella cookies, slightly different than many I saw “out there.” This makes more of a cake-style cookie, much like original whoopie pies that most likely were first made from leftover cake batter. (Is there such a thing?)

Of course, Nutella isn’t the most healthy of confections. I believe modified palm oil is the second ingredient. But it does taste of hazelnut, which gives these an interesting twist.

People take their whoopie pies, and their provenance, seriously.

This is from Wikipedia:

Pennsylvania, Maine, and New Hampshire all claim to be the birthplace of the Whoopie pie. In 2011, the Maine State Legislature considered naming the whoopie pie the official state pie. The proposal received bipartisan support. L.D. 71, officially known as "An Act to Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert", read "The whoopie pie, a baked good made of two chocolate cakes with a creamy frosting between them, is the official state dessert".

The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau and other observers in Lancaster County, PA, note that the whoopie pie comes from the area's Amish and Pennsylvania German culture – origins that are unlikely to leave an official paper trail – and has been handed down through generations. Most likely, Amish groups that migrated to Maine brought the treat to the people of Maine. Mainers assert that Labadie's in Lewiston, Maine has been making the confectionery since 1925. The now-defunct Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts had been making the "Whoopee Pie" since 1931 and it is also claimed that the whoopie pie originated there in Massachusetts and spread both north and south. It appears though that German immigrants brought the predecessor of the Whoopie Pie to communities throughout the northeast.

The Maine Legislature eventually decided to declare the whoopie pie the official state treat, and chose blueberry pie (made with wild Maine blueberries) as the official state dessert.

So there you have it. These cookies went together in minutes, were easy to put on the cookie sheet (just one sheet), made a manageable amount, and baked without burning. What more can you ask.

A perfect metaphor for my mood: slightly out of focus.

Quick Nutella Cookies

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake: 15 min  |  Yield about 16 cookies

1 cup Nutella

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup milk

1 lg egg

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

If making Whoopie Pies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (for ease of clean-up).

Combine the cookie ingredients together with a mixer. You have to make sure the Nutella is well mixed in. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the sheet to make 16 cookies.

Bake for 15 minutes. They will be puffed but not browned around the edges.

Let cool slightly. If making whoopie pies, mix together the filling, spread evenly on 8 of the cookies, top with a second cookie and serve.

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Birthday Recipe: Parsley & Pumpkin Dog Treats

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. – James Thurber 

Someone got homemade treats for a present.

Today's a very special day in our household. Today our Bouvier – and best pal – Henry, turns 8 years old. How has that happened?

It's difficult to believe that it's been 8 years since he came into our lives. Time passes so quickly. Life will pass you by if you don't watch out.

We actually have only lived with Henry for 7-1/2 years. He was one of two "leftovers" from a litter of 8. They were crated at the breeder's during the day so weren't taught a great deal.

When we went to look the breeder said that the other puppy was probably the one we would want because he was more outgoing. That puppy paid no attention to us at all.

Henry, on the other hand, was supposed to be a very reserved one. Funnily, he wouldn't leave us alone. I believe he chose us, as opposed to the other way around.

We love Henry with all our hearts, but I do have to admit that when he first came to our home – at 6 months old – it was a trial.

His other father wanted to send him back. He was working nights, and since Henry had been crated at the breeder's we thought we could do the same here at first. Simon (our older Bouvier) was loose in the house to keep him company.

Were we wrong. Apparently being crated with his brother and being crated at our house were two completely different experiences. He howled all day. Have you ever heard a Bouvier howl? It's not a soft, quiet whimper.

That almost ended it. My spouse was getting no sleep, and I was hearing all about it every day when I got home. It went on for maybe a week.

I believe we finally solved it in an obviously simple way. We let him roam the house free with Simon. And he's still roaming.

Over the years he's learned to work the two of us really well to get what he wants. He knows who's the "soft touch" at the table (not me), and who's best to come to for lovings (that's me).

He has become such an integral part of our family that he (and his gut) are never far from our thoughts. He seems to enjoy eating…

The least we could do was make him some biscuits for his birthday.

Henry was certainly interested in the whole process, and even more so as the biscuits baked and their smell filled the kitchen. I even thought they smelled good.

There's only good things in these biscuits and they take no time at all to make. The parsley acts as breath "moderator" which is also a bonus.

Henry had one that I took out early because it was thinner than the rest. I think he won't mind eating them.

In fact, he actually did what looked like a little dance in front of the oven. Mmmm. Good, Dad!

Parsley & Pumpkin Dog Treats

Prep: 30 min  | Bake: 40-50 min  |  Yield: 36 treats

2-1/2 cups buckwheat flour

1 cup dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

2 eggs

enough water to make a dough

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Blend the buckwheat, parsley and salt in a bowl. Add the pumpkin and eggs and knead with your hand. The dough should almost come together and will be very stiff.

Add just enough water to bring the last of the buckwheat into the dough. I used 1/4 cup.

Flour (a little white flour) a flat surface. Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thick. Cut out cookies and place on foil-lined baking sheets. Continue to bring the dough scraps together until all the dough is used.

I used a 3" long bone-shaped cookie cutter and the yield was 36.

Bake for 20 minutes on the first side. Turn and bake for 20 or 30 minutes more, or until nearly dry. They will continue to dry out a little more as they cool.

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Holiday Baking: Gingerbread Men

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them. – Bob Dylan

Sweet tasting memories.

We may not be able to physically relive our memories, but we can most certainly maintain them and make new ones. These cookies remind me of growing up and Seamone’s Bakery in Liverpool.

We used to go grocery shopping on Fridays in Liverpool on the South Shore. There was a bakery on Market Street run by Mr. Seamone.

It was an old Victorian storefront with wide glass windows and a recessed entry. When you opened the door you were surrunded by counters on three sides, filled with freshly baked goodies.

In the bakery was all manner of homemade breads, rolls and sweets. Three treats that I remember are the fantastic “egg tarts,” sugar cookies and these delicious little men.

The gingerbread men stood out because they had no fancy decoration. The eyes and buttons were nothing more than red food colouring. But in our eyes they were decked out in gold.

Slightly firm and slightly spicy they were a treat for us on the drive home, if we were good while Mom and dad were shopping. We had to have something to occupy us on the half hour drive.

The bakery and its recipes are long gone, but the happy memory remains. Baking these cookies is a way for me to reconnect with happy times gone by.

I’m posting this today because this is a perfect activity to do with your kids this weekend. The dough takes next to no time to mix up. If you have things you need to do put it in the refrigerator and when you come back roll it out and bake.

We had company last night and baking the cookies made our dessert. It was fun and fast and made the house smell like a home. Two dozen cookies didn’t last very long either.

There’s one lonely gingerbread man left. And he’s soon to join his friends!!

By the way, gingerbread men, although fantastic for the holidays, would be happy to make an appearance in your kitchen any time of the year.

Gingerbread Men

Prep: 10 min  |  Refrig: 1 hr  |  Roll and bake: 30 min  |  Yield 24-28

1/2 cup butter or mararine

1/2 cup sugar 

1/2 cup fancy molasses 

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ginger 

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 

red food colouring

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add the molasses and egg and beat again.

Next add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. Stir to combine.

Add the flour, one cup at a time, beating it in well after each addition.

Scrape all the dough onto some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Dust a rolling board with flour. Roll the chilled dough out to about 1/4” thickness and cut out with a cookie cutter. Arrange on a baking sheet, with a little space in between. The cookies will spread slightly.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit on the tray for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack. Do not stack the cookies while warm or they may stick together.

In a few minutes the cookies will firm up.

Bring any remaining dough together, re-roll and cut until all the dough is used.

To decorate add 3 drops of red food colouring to 2 tablespoons of water. Dot the cookies with a small paint brush for eyes and buttons.

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Recipe: Fallen Angels Orange Sugar Cookies

I slide my arm from under the sleeper's head and it is numb, full of swarming pins, on the tip of each, waiting to be counted, the fallen angels sit. – Wislawa Szymborska

I wanted cookies a few nights ago, and I wanted them fast. I had a bad craving.

This ruled out rolling and/or shaping dough, and it also ruled out butter. I find butter cookies take longer to make because you have to cream the sugar and butter together until “light and fluffy.” That means beating for at least 5 minutes.

Strange dough. This little bit made 36 cookies.

Every second was precious. It was getting late. That meant oil and drop cookies. Cookies made with vegetable oil? You bet.

Many sugar cookies have tons of butter, and are delicious, but there are recipes that are equally as good that call for just oil. Maybe not as rich, but just as tasty.

Sugar cookies have been around for quite a long time. In the 1700s, German protestant settlers in Nazareth, Pennsylvania were baking a cookie called the Nazareth Sugar cookie.

Of course they brought this tradition from the Old World, but modified what they were used to making. More than likely the progenitor of the sugar cookie was an unleavened “cookie” called a jumble. They came into being in the 1600s.

Jumbles were often rolled into strands and then shaped into circles or even knot shapes, much like pretzels and boiled. These cookies were then able to be dried and stored for many months.

They were introduced to Europe by the Moors in Spain as a savoury rather than a sweet, and may have their origins in the Middle East. There is some evidence that the Moors may have picked them up from the Italian cimabetta.

So blame the introduction of the sugar cookie on conquest and trade. It’s come a long way to its now favourite childhood place – the plate, beside a glass of milk, left out for Santa Claus.

These particular cookies are flavoured with vanilla and orange rind. The orange gives them just a hint of citrus flavour. These cookies also have one property that isn’t all that common in sugar cookies.

I named these cookies “fallen angels” because they were so rounded when they first came out of the oven but collapsed shortly after, as I hoped they would. 

Even when collapsed, they somehow retained a light, yet chewy, texture. Amazing!

I may try these cookies with melted margarine at some point. But I think the structure would change because margarine has been hydrogenated to remain a solid at room temperature. Who knows...

Give these cookies a try. I’m sure they’ll become one of Santa’s new favourites.

Fallen Angels Orange Sugar Cookies

Prep: 12 min  |  Bake: 10-12 min  | Yield 36

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil (I used soy oil)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Rind of 1 orange, finely chopped

large grained sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Combine the oil and both sugars in a mixing bowl. Beat until light coloured, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in well. The mixture will get much lighter.

Stir in the vanilla and chopped orange rind.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time, until all incorporated. The dough will be almost like a putty. This is good.

Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets, about 12 cookies per sheet. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with large grained sugar.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out when the edges are just barely starting to brown. The tops will be quite rounded and puffy.

Remove the cookies to a rack. As the cookies cool they will collapse slightly.

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Recipe: Buttery Scottish Shortbread

You are the butter to my bread, and the breath to my life. – Julia Child

Shortbread cookies must be among the simplest cookies to make, especially if you use a food processor. One interesting facts is they have no added flavourings. All that goes into the dough is flour, sugar and butter, and sometimes cornstarch. I like the cornstarch because it makes a slightly lighter cookie.

All the flavour of homemade shortbread is carried by the butter. So choose it wisely. Butter today isn’t the same as that used decades ago. Back then butter had real flavour.

Butter production

The butter we commonly purchase today is only one of the types of butter that are available worldwide. Almost all North American butter is made from cow’s milk, but butter can be made from sheep, goat and even buffalo – each with a unique flavour.

North American manufacturers make their butter from cream separated from pasteurized cow’s milk.

While butter made from pasteurized cream keeps for several months, unpasteurized cream butter has a shelf life of only about ten days. (That’s one of the reasons why early settlers had well-used butter churns in their kitchens.)

Cultured butter

So what’s the trade-off? Flavour. Often when people made their own butter they had to save cream from their milking for several days. Over this time the collected cream would start to naturally ferment. 

During fermentation, the cream naturally sours as bacteria converts milk sugar into lactic acid. The fermentation process produces aromatic compounds, including diacetyl, which makes a more highly flavoured butter. 

You can still purchase cultured butter today, but because of health standards around milk it is made slightly differently. Pasteurized cream has fermentation introduced by Lactococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria.

Normandy-style butter

When you go to the Superstore you will see PC brand Black Label Normandy-Style Cultured Butter. This is butter that has been made by introducing active culture into the cream. It’s about the closest available at the supermarket to old-fashioned butter. 

There may be other brands that offer cultured butter as well. I believe Lactantia does. Both cost more than regular butter, which is not inexpensive on its own...

If you’re lucky enough to find butter at a local farmers market I’m sure that will be more flavourful than regular manufactured butter, too. And you would be supporting loal business.

You can make shortbread as a wonderful gift by baking a few and stacking them in an 8" decorative tin. Separate with waxed paper rounds or decorative paper doilies. Just make sure you make them slightly smaller than the size of the tin – or they won't fit!

Buttery Scottish Shortbread

Prep: 5 min  |  Bake: 25-30 min  |  8 large wedges

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup cornstarch*

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter + 1 tbsp, softened

Demerara sugar, or other large crystal sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Place the flour, cornstarch and sugar in a food processor. Pulse until combined. Add the butter while the motor is running until the mixture comes together.

Draw an 8” circle on a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Gather the dough and press out to the shape of the circle. make as round as possible.

Press marks into the dough around the outside edge with a fork. Then pierce the centre of the dough all over with the tines. (At this time you can make score marks for individual wedges, or wait until the cookie is baked to cut.)

Sprinkle the top generously with Demerara sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm and golden.

Let cool slightly, but cut into wedges while still slightly warm. Cool completely (overnight) before serving.

* The cornstarch makes a lighter cookie. If you prefer heavier, substitute flour for the cornstarch.

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Recipe: Best Peanut Butter Cookies

Children ask better questions than adults. "May I have a cookie?" "Why is the sky blue?" and "What does a cow say?" are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than "Where's your manuscript?" Why haven't you called?" and "Who's your lawyer?" – Fran Lebowitz

Still slightly warm from the oven.... Mmmmm.

Related recipe: Homemade peanut butter

The butter, PB, honey and sugar.

Get out the milk. We’re having peanut butter cookies!

Peanut butter cookies are a wonderful cookie that are a favourite of both young and old.

Did you know that cookies were originally created sort of by accident? Dutch chefs would used a small amount of cake batter to test their oven temperature before baking a full cake. This was before thermostats in ovens, of course.

These batter tests were called "koekje", which means "little cake" in Dutch. Koekje turned into cookie.

Peanut butter cookies are distinguished from other cookies by having peanut butter as a main ingredient. This cookie most likely originated in the United States in the first decade of the 1900s.

Chilling the dough makes it easier to handle. But this dough
is still very soft and light.

George Washington Carver, an American agricultural educator, was a known promoter of the peanut as a replacement for the cotton crop, which had been heavily damaged by the boll weevil at the start of the 20th century. 

He compiled peanut recipes and published them in a 1916 agricultural bulletin “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption.” In it were three recipes for peanut butter cookies.

Peanut butter cookies are one of my favourites, if the recipe is a good one.

This recipe is a good one. It combines the peanut butter with both brown sugar and honey. This gives the batter a sweetness that is different from sugar alone.

The batter for these cookies is quite light and fluffy and the cookies spread in the oven.

The time listed is important, but so is some visual reference. For soft cookies, bake to the lower time. Crispier cookies take a little longer.

Of course, nobody’s oven is “bang on” as far as temperature goes. The clue is to check the edges. Barely brown means chewy, a couple minutes longer will give you a drier cookie.

Cookies always “firm up” after being removed from the oven so remember that too.

I bet you won’t be able to stop at just one cookie. May I have some more milk, please?

Best Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep: 15 min  |  Refrig: 1 hr  |  Shape: 15  |  Bake: 8 min  |  Yield 40

1/2 cup butter*

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter*

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup white sugar for rolling

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar and honey until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir into batter. Put the batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour to set.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

After the hour, take the dough out of the refrigerator and drop heaping teaspoons of dough into the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.

Form into a ball and place each one on a cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with a fork, crossing the marks to make the common square pattern on the top. (see photo)

If the fork sticks to the dough dip it in sugar.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown slightly. Do not over-bake or the cookies will be dry. 

The cookies will be soft when you remove them from the pan. They firm up as they cool. For chewy cookies bake about 10 minutes, for crispier 12 minutes.

A final note: remember that some people are allergic to peanuts. Consumption can result in a potentially fatal reaction of anaphylactic shock. So make sure no one’s allergic. That's a good thing...

They really spread, didn't they?

* Do not add salt because there is some in both the butter and peanut butter (unless you have made your own and know differently). 

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Baking: Chocolate Whisky Cookies

I like my whisky old and my women young. – Errol Flynn 

Chocolate...and whisky.

Mmmm chocolate. Mmmm whisky. Mmmm chocolate whisky cookies.

Do I need to write any more? Well I will… you know me by now. I’m not a chocolate fanatic “per se,” but when I do get a craving I dive in up to my neck.

My craving runs to deep, dark and – if possible – gooey chocolate. Two of my choco-faves are “lava” cake (which I should post) and pudding cake (the one that makes its own “sauce”). They’re a little different, in case you think they’re the same thing.

For cookies, I want choco-choco-chocolatey. These cookies deliver with a few unusual ingredients. To make these 3x chocolate, I incorporated chocolate companions: coffee and whisky.

Have you ever eaten a really expensive chocolate bar and sipped a small glass of whisky, or bought a whisky-ganache truffle? If you have you’ll know what I mean? They complement and enhance the overall chocolatey-ness.

These cookies do not really spread much at all. If you wish you can thin the batter with 1/2 cup of milk or light cream before shaping the cookies. The milk will help them spread a little if you like a flatter cookie.

I like these because the tops crack like crinkle cookies. This effect is enhanced by the dusting of cocoa/icing sugar.

If you like chocolate, and the occasional tipple, try these. They don’t “reek” of whisky or taste of coffee. The overall effect is a wonderful, rich, chocolatey cookie.

By the way, if you don't like whisky substitute a favourite liqueur (Drambuie, Grand Marnier) or flavoured liquor.

Dust the cookies well with the cocoa/icing sugar to show off the cracked tops.

Chocolate Whisky Cookies

Prep: 20 min  |  Bake: 8-10 min  |  Yield: 40 cookies

2 cups sugar

1-1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp instant coffee powder

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup whisky

4 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

(optional 1/2 cup milk or light cream)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup cocoa powder mixed with 1/4 cup icing sugar, for dusting

Stir together the sugar, cocoa powder, and butter in a mixing bowl until well incorporated. Beat in the whiskey, then the eggs (one at a time) and then the vanilla. 

If you wish to add the optional milk do it now.

Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add to the bowl in two additions and beat until evenly combined. The dough will be quite thick.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Adjust the two racks so they are both as close to the centre of the oven as possible.

Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Scoop out the dough using a tablespoon measure. Place 12 “balls” of dough on each sheet, leaving some room between each cookie. The dough does not have to be in a perfect ball at all. The cookies don’t spread a great deal.

Dust the cookies with cocoa powder/icing sugar mixture passed through a sieve.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. 8 minutes gives a moist cookie, 10 minutes a bit drier inside.

The cookies will be cracked on top, but with either cooking time, still delicious.

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Baking: Old-fashioned “Pressed” Ginger Cookies

You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make. – Earl Wilson

Home-baked cookies. As the Norwegians say: made of butter and love.

Sometimes a person just needs a homemade cookie. Do you know what I mean?

There’s only one problem: the clean-up. I know, I know – there’s clean-up with anything that you do, but cookie trays can be particularly evil. Especially with cookies that are baked when coated with sugar like these. It tends to caramelize at the edges and stick.

Photo: renielet, Flickr ccl

There is a product that can make your cookies release easily and clean-up of your cookie sheet a breeze. It’s the silicone pan liner. The most famous of all the brands is Silpat®. It’s a timesaver for sure.

Silpat® is a company that produces silicone pan lining sheets that you place in the bottom of your cookie tray. They are a combination of fibreglass (hmmm…) and food-grade silicone. Just place your dough/batter/whatever on it and – presto – after baking it releases immediately.

No more stuck anything. The company has been around for a while, too. In fact, pastry chefs have been using Silpat® products since the 1960s. They are safe up to temperatures of 480°F. (I do believe a cookie would scorch a little at that high a heat.)

Silpat® products are FDA, NSO and even Kosher certified. Why Kosher is beyond me really… As far as I understand it has more to do with food preparation techniques and combination than anything else. If you wish you can read more about Silpat® HERE.

If you find the dough too soft you can chill it
for 1/2 hour before shaping.

Silpat® liners are the “Cadillac” of silicone pan liners, and as such you pay a premium for them. Currently a 11.5” x 16.5” sheet costs about $30 online at Amazon.ca. That’s about the same as actual stores in the region as well. I bought mine at Winners for about half that cost. So look there first.

There are many other brands, and many other shapes you can buy as well. Cupcake moulds, loaf pan liners, tube cake pans… you name it. Not only do they make cleanup easier, but storage as well. Just roll your bakeware up and jam it in a drawer.

These type of liners certainly are time savers in some cases. I love the Silpat® we have. And for sticky things – like this cookie – they are a godsend.

These are pretty good cookies. You roll the dough into balls, toss in sugar, and then press flat with the bottom of a drinking glass that has been dipped in sugar. Mmmm…..

I can remember my Great Aunts Hilda and Nettie making “pressed” cookies much like these when I was very young. Good memories from what seems like yesterday (but sadly wasn’t…).

I only have one Silpat® liner, so for my second baking sheet I lined with foil. It did work, but they still stuck to it, and it ripped a little when trying to get a spatula underneath to remove them. So the silicone liner wins.

One by one, roll each ball in sugar.

Pressed Ginger Cookies

Makes 46+ cookies

3/4 cup margarine, room temperature

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar (for rolling and pressing)

Press flat with the bottom of a glass.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone liners or foil.

Beat the margarine in a mixing bowl until soft. Then add the molasses and sugar and beat well to combine.

Add the two eggs to the molasses mixture. Don’t worry if it looks like they’re not mixing in. They will when the dry ingredients are added.

Combine the spices, salt, flour and soda. Slowly add to the wet mixture until totally combined. The dough will be quite soft.

Place the remaining 1 cup of sugar in a small bowl. Drop the batter into the sugar by 1/2 tablespoonfuls. Roll in the sugar and place on the baking sheets.

With the bottom of a glass dipped in the sugar, press the cookies flat.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove to a rack and let cool.

The cookies will crisp up slightly as they cool.

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