Those Very Special Sugar Cookies

By Roz Brown

*Winner of the Best Tasting Cookie*

This recipe makes about 8 dozen (I don't know how to cut it down so I freeze the dough, eat the cookies, and hence, my beautiful womanly shape!)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar (and maybe a sprinkle more)
4 eggs, well beaten
2-4 tablespoons milk, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (and a drip more)
5 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

The Cookie
in large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. beat in eggs, 2 tablespoons of the milk and vanilla until smooth.
in large bow, mix flour, baking powder and salt until light and thoroughly combined. Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture. If dough seems dry, add another tablespoon or two of milk. Gather dough into a ball and divide into eight parts. Wrap each part in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. The dough may also be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator.
When read to bake, remove dough from refrigerator one package at a time. Preheat oven to 350F. For rounded sugar cookies, pinch off about a teaspoon worth and press down. For cookie cutter, with floured rolling pin, roll one package of dough at a time to about 1/8 inch thick on a generously floured surface. The trick is to work with cold dough.

The Streusel (topping)
This recipe will top about 3 dozen teaspoon sized sugar cookies
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (and a dash more)
for additional flavor 1/4 teaspoon allspice
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and press about 3/4 teaspoon onto each cookie. I sprinkled just an added touch more of cinnamon onto each cookie before putting into oven.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until edges are crisp and browned. Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes then to wire rack.

Short on time or don't want to make up 8 dozen cookies? I'm sure any sugar cookie recipe will do, and I've even made them using the Pillsbury cookie dough roll.

Reindeer Poop

By Stacey Lehn

*Most Unique Cookie Award*

Melted chocolate flavored candy melts

spooned on top of almond slices.  Bag and
present with poem:

I came wide awake when I heard Santa call,
"Dash away, Dash away, Dash away all".
Grabbing my robe, I ran out to the lawn,
But reindeer and Santa were already gone.
So with my shovel I started to scoop,
look what I found..
.....gourmet REINDEER POOP!

Frosted Lemon Butter Cookies

By Tina Stevens

1 c butter

1/2 c powdered sugar
2/3 c cornstarch
1 c flour

Cream butter and sugar. Stir in cornstarch and flour. Drop by teaspoonfuls on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes. Cool. Combine frosting ingredients. Spread on cooled cookies. Yield: 2 1/2 dozen.

Frosting:
1/4 c butter
2 T lemon Juice
2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Salena Thomas

1 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar
1 c butter flavored Crisco
2 eggs
12 - 24 oz chips of choice
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 c flour
1 c chopped nuts of choice (opt)

Cream Crisco and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and flavoring.  Add dry ingredients and blend thoroughly.  Mix in chips and nuts.  Shape into walnut shaped balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly with palm of hand.  Bake at 350 for 9 - 10 minutes or until slightly golden.  Let stand on cookie sheets for several minutes before removing to cooling rack.  Makes 3 dozen.
To make extra special dip half the cookie into melted chip of flavor.  I dipped these in melted peanut butter chips and drizzled melted chocolate over the top.

Rolled Baklava

By Eleni Franklin

1 lb fillo

1 1/2 c melted butter
4 c chopped nuts (1 1/2 lb un-chopped) walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc
4 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp vanilla

Remove 3 fillo at a time and place on a flat surface.  Brush each generously with melted butter, arranging one fillo on top of the other.  Combine nuts, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.  Sprinkle a few tablespoons of nut mixture evenly over 2/3 of the top buttered fillo.  Starting with the filled edge, roll loosely in a jelly-roll fashion to make a long roll.  Place in greased baking pan.  Continue filling pans with nut rolls using 3 well-buttered fillo for each roll.  (6 rolls per batch, 9 - 10 slices per roll).  *Cut each roll in 1 1/2 inch diagonal slices, leaving the rolls intact.  Brush tops with melted butter.   Bake 325 for 25 - 30 minutes until golden.  Cool.  Pour warm syrup over rolls in pan.  Let stand 1 hour.

Syrup:
3 c sugar
1 1/2 c water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 c honey
Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice.  Boil 10 minutes.  Slowly add honey and simmer 5 minutes.

Chocolate-Cherry Squares

By Shirley Pauole

1 c flour

1/3 c butter
1/2 c light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 c chopped nuts
Filling (recipe below)
red candied cherries, halved

Heat oven to 350.  In a large mixer bowl combine flour, butter and brown sugar.  Blend on low speed to form fine crumbs (abt 2 - 3 minutes).  Stir in nuts.  Reserve 3/4 c crumb mixture for topping;  pat remaining crumbs into ungreased square pan.  Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa
1/4 c milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 c red, chopped candy cherries

In a small mixer bowl combine cream cheese and sugar.  Beat until fluffy.  Add cocoa, milk, egg and flavoring; beat until smooth.  Fold in cherries.  Spread filling over warm crust.  Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture and garnish with cherry halves.  Return to oven; bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool; cut into squares.  Store covered in fridge.  Makes about 3 dozen squares.

Peanut Clusters

By Minerva Gural

Semi Sweet Chocolate

Salted Peanuts

Melt chocolate for one minute in microwave.  Stir and microwave in 15 second intervals stirring until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Mix in peanuts.  Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper and allow to set.

Susan's Sugar Cookies

By Susan Young

3/4 c butter, softened (no subs!)

3/4 c shortening
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.  Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours (or overnight).
Heat oven to 400.  Roll dough 1/8" thick on lightly floured board.  Cut into desired shapes.  Sprinkle with colored sugar (non if youplan to frost the cookies).  Place on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 6 - 8 minutes until edges are very lighly brown.  Makes 8 dozen 3" cookies.

Cake Mix Cookies

By Jocelyn Denyer

1 box cake mix (any flavor)

2 eggs
1/3 c oil

Mix together ingredients.  Scoop by about 1" balls onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Variations:
Chocolate mint:  Using chocolate cake mix, once the cookies have colled for 5 minutes, top with Hershey's Mint Truffle Kiss.
Lemon Crinckles:  Using lemon cake mix, roll cookie ballinto granulated or powdered sugar before placing on a cookie sheet to bake.

Add ins:  chocolate chips, nuts, crasins, etc...

Chocolate Mint Truffle Cookies

By Joni Page

*Prettiest Cookie Award*

1/4 c butter

1 c semisweet chocolate chips, divided

1 egg

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp mint extract

1 c flour

1/3 c cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 pkg (4.6 oz) Andes mints, chopped and divided

2 tsp shortening, divided

1/2 c white or vanilla chips

In a small microwaveable bowl melt butter and 1/2 c chocolate chips until melted and smooth.  Cool slightly.  Stir in egg, sugar, and extracts.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Stir into chocolate mixture.  Stir in 3/4 c chopped Andes mints.  Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8 - 10 minutes or until tops appear slightly dry.  Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small microwaveable bowl melt 1 tsp shortening, remaining chocolate chips and andes mints.  Stir until smooth.

In another small bowl melt 1 tsp shortening and vanilla chips until smooth.

Dip half of the cookies in melted chocolate mixture;  dip remaining cookies in melted vanilla chips.  Immediately sprinkle with toppings of chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, sprinkles, etc.  Let stand until set.

Pumpkin Soup

By Krista Candella

1 small sugar pumpkin -- cut in half and clean out seeds and insides

4 cloves garlic peeled
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 onions, cut into wedges
4 Tblsp. olive oil
1 large potato, sliced
1 quart (32 oz.) chicken broth
1 cup half and half
1/4 tablespoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place pumpkin, carrots and onions in a baking dish or roasting pan. Put garlic cloves in pumpkin halves. Drizzle with oil. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until soft but not blackened.
In a large pot over medium heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Cook potato in simmering water until soft, about 20 minutes. Combine broth, potato, and roasted vegetables (scoop out pumpkin and garlic from pumpkin skin). Puree in a blender until smooth. I had to to do it in 3 parts because my blender is small. Return to pot over low heat, and stir in half and half, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Heat gently; serve.

Pumpkin Bars

By Becky Sanchez

4 eggs
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 1/4 c. sugar
16-ounce can pumpkin
2 c. flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
Beat eggs, butter, and sugar. Mix in pumpkin, then flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Pour into 17X11 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 butter, softened
2 t. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until frosting reaches desired sweetness. (I didn't use the whole 2 cups)

Pumpkin Balls

By Becky Sanchez

You can use store bought pumpkin cake mix and cream cheese frosting for these,

but I'm also including the recipes I used.

Prepare pumpkin cake and allow to cool. Put chunks of cake in food processor and process until crumbly. Dump into bowl and mix with cream cheese frosting until you can easily roll mixture into balls. Roll into balls and place on baking sheet. Cover and freeze or refrigerate until firm.

Melt small amount of white chocolate chips in microwave 30 seconds at a time until smooth. Pick up pumpkin balls with a toothpick and dip in melted chocolate until covered. Allow to excess to drip off, then place on wax paper until hardened. You can sprinkle with toppings before chocolate hardens if you want.

The original recipe I saw was for pumpkin pops. They were the same as this, but the balls were put on lollipop sticks.

Fabulous French Bread

By Becky Sanchez

2 1/2 c. very warm water
2 T. sugar
1 T. salt
2 T. cooking oil
6 c. flour
2 t. yeast

Into a large mixing bowl, pour warm water. Stir in sugar, salt, oil, half the flour, and the yeast. Beat vigorously for 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until all dry ingredients are completely mixed in. Allow dough to rest 10 minutes. Stir down. Allow dough to rest another 10 minutes. Stir down. Repeat this process until dough has been stirred down five times.

Turn dough onto floured board, knead only enough to coat dough with flour so it can be handled. Divide into 2 parts. Roll each part into a rectangle about 9 X 12 inches and roll up like a jelly roll, rolling from the long side. Pinch end of loaf to seal the dough. Arrange lengthwise on large cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal, allowing room for both loaves. Cover lightly and let rise at room temp for 30 minutes.

With a very sharp knife, cut 3 gashes at an angle on top. Brush entire surface with slightly beaten egg.

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until brown.

Gingersnap Cookies with Pumpkin Dip

By Joni Page

3/4 c shortening

1 c sugar

1/4 c molasses

1 egg
2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger

Beat shortening, sugar, molasses, and egg until fluffy.  Add dry ingredients.  Roll into balls and dip in sugar.  Bake at 350 for 8 - 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Dip:
8oz cream cheese, softened
2 c powdered sugar
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp ginger

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Gradually add pumpkin and mix until smooth.  Stir in spices until well blended.  Chill.  Scoop gingersnaps inot theis yummy dip.  Store in the fridge.