Christmas Cookies - Part 1

So I managed to score a couple of extra days off here at the beginning of December (okay, I had put in for them in January, but I was happy they were still on the schedule come December), and I had a list longer than Santa's of stuff I wanted to get done.  First was finishing all my Christmas knitting, and with one last project to cinch close and weave in the ends of the yarn, Check!  Second was to decorate indoors and turn it into a Christmas wonderland, and after putting the ornaments on the artificial trees that had stood for two days barren but for their lights, Check!  

Third was to get all the presents I wanted ordered online, and Paypal put up a pretty good fight on this one, so I still have some gifts left to purchase.  Fourth was Christmas cookies!!  And we are still working on this one too.  We've made 3 different kinds so far and hopefully we'll get to number 4 tomorrow.  So, by request, here are the cookies.


Our first attempt was Lemon Semolina cookies.  They turned out kinda cake-y and if we had followed the directions and refrigerated them, they might have been more like the recipe described.  We have so many leftover lemons (thank you Costco!) that even with Mom making a batch of lemon curd, we probably will give this one another try.  

Lemon Semolina Cookies


2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
2 Tblsp olive oil
2/3 cup semolina (you can find it by the flour, we used Bob's Red Mill brand)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus some for rolling
2 large eggs
2 lemons grated for zest and juiced
2 Tblsp limoncello (that's right some lemon liqueur)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream butter, olive oil, and 1 cup sugar.  Add eggs, lemon zest, juice from zested lemons, limoncello and vanilla.  Mix until well blended.  Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and continue to blend.  Add in flour and semolina.  Mix into a nice batter and refrigerate 1 hour.  Grease cookie sheet (or spray with Pam) and scoop up some dough to make a 1 inch ball.  Roll into ball and then roll in a bowl of granulated sugar and place on cookie sheet.  Bake until the centers collapse and crinkle and edges are golden brown, 14 to 18 minutes.

The next new cookie we tried was Mint Chocolate Crinkles.  And these were winners.  I shouldn't take the credit for those, it was all Martha, so here's a link to the recipe.  I couldn't find it on Martha Stewart's website, but King Arthur Flour is where we got the Dutch cocoa (and it was worth it!) so at least it takes you to the right place.  We ended up baking them for 22 minutes, but that was our oven, so follow her directions and yours should be just as tasty.

The latest cookies are good old tried and trues in my family.  Betty Peterson's Butter Cookies.  The batter alone could be a food group.  When I was a child I would eat, raw mind you, the leftovers from Mom cutting them into shapes.  And I'm still working on getting that weight off. :) The recipe came from my Mom's Girl Scout leader Betty Peterson.  I still hear about all the wonderful things that came out of her kitchen and though many of those recipes are lost we are lucky enough to have this one written in the back of a Betty Crocker cookbook that looks like it should be in the Smithsonian.  Since I'm in the Christmas spirit I'll save you the eyestrain of trying to read it off of the picture and give you the recipe.  You can frost these if you like, or just let them sit around and let the vanilla mature in them a couple of days until they can be eaten plain.

Betty Peterson's Butter Cookies


3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 egg
3 Tblsp cream (or half and half, or milk)
1 Tblsp vanilla


Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.  Add egg and cream and mix until well incorporated.  Add in salt and baking powder and blend well.  Add in flour slowly, letting the blender mix it into the batter before adding more.  If your batter is too sticky to roll, add in small amounts of flour until you can work with it.  On a clean generously floured surface roll out dough and cut with your favorite cookie cutters.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until edges are golden brown.