Molasses Cookies

Since it has been finals week and I’ve had so many papers to write. I am a bit behind. So, to make it up to you all I will be posting the recipes now. I have them all typed up, but I just haven’t had time to post them. As such, the introductions will be almost non-existent.  I will, however, post them under the days they were supposed to be posted. Here is today’s: Molasses Cookies! They are super delicious. I hope you enjoy them!

Ingredients

·         3/4 cup sugar

·         2/3 cup softened butter

·         1/4 cup orange or lemon juice

·         1/2 cup dark corn syrup

·         1/2 cup dark molasses

·         4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

·         2 teaspoons ground ginger

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

·         1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

·         In a bowl, cream sugar and butter

·         Blend in orange or lemon juice, corn syrup and molasses

·         Combine the dry ingredients before adding to creamed mixture

·         Mix well

·         Chill overnight

·         Roll out the dough to about ¼ in

·         Cut into shapes

·         Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets

·         Bake at 350 degrees F for 14 minutes

Vacanze Cookie

Buon Natale!

Vacanze Cookies are Italian! They are interesting. Some people won’t like them as they are fried cookies. Strange, I know, but they are tasty. Hope you enjoy making these!

Ingredients

·         1 tablespoon of sugar

·         1 teaspoon of lemon zest

·         1 teaspoon of vanilla oil

·         ½ teaspoon of sea salt

·         4 eggs

·         2 ½ cups of unbleached flour

·         Canola oil for frying

·         1 cup of honey

·         Candy sprinkles

Directions

·         In a large bowl mix together sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and sea salt

·         Add eggs and 2 cups of flour and mix until well blended

·         Turn out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour

·         With a floured knife cut into 20 pieces

·         Roll each piece into a rope

·         Cut rope into ½ inch pieces

·         Heat the oil to 350 degrees F

·         Fry cookies, about 5 at a time for 2 minutes per side

·         Drain on paper towels and place in a large bowl

·         Heat honey until it comes to a boil

·         Pour over the cookies

·         Move the cookies to a serving platter cover with candy sprinkles

·         Allow to cool before serving

Boże Narodzenie Ciastka

Wesołych Świąt!

Boże Narodzenie Ciastka are from Poland, duh. Anyways, this is a recipe that I received from this wonderfully eccentric Polish lady that I know.  She told me that I had to share it with the world. So, I am. Keep in mind that this recipe is in metric measurements and you will have to convert them. Since I am European, I have metric measuring cups and do not need to do so. They sort of taste like licorice. So, if you do not like licorice, I do not recommend this type of cookie. It is delicious though. I like them and a bunch of my friends that do not like licorice love these. Enjoy!

Ingredients

·         225 g. butter

·         205 g. shortening

·         400 g. vanilla sugar

·         5 large eggs

·         940 g. whole grain flour

·         30 g. baking powder

·         3. salt

·         15 g. anise oil

Directions

·         Preheat oven to 175 degrees C

·         Cream butter, shortening, and vanilla sugar

·         Add eggs and anise oil

·         While mixing stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt

·         Mix until soft

·         Chill dough for half an hour

·         Roll out the dough and cut out with cookie cutters

·         Grease cookie sheet

·         Bake cookies for 15 minutes

Pebber Nodder

God jul!

Pebber Nodder is a cookie from Danmark that is made around Christmas time. They are a type of spiced shortbread cookie that one can eat with Glogg. They are quite delicious. They are fairly easy to make and they keep really well. So, here you go.

Ingredients

·         1 cup of butter

·         ½ cup of vanilla sugar

·         ½ cup of white sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         2 ½ cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

·         1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Directions

·         Preheat the oven to 350°F

·         Mix the butter in sugars in a large bowl until smooth

·         Beat in eggs one at a time and stir until light and fluffy

·         In a separate bowl, mix the flour, and spices

·         Stir in flour mixture with butter and sugar mixture until well blended

·         Separate into six parts

·         Roll into a rope about ½ an inch in diameter

·         Cut into ½ inch pieces

·         Place on a cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes or until light brown

Russian Orange Cookies

It has occurred to me that I have not posted a recipe from Russia. This makes me kind of sad because the Russians make really good food. Anyways, I shall be sharing a recipe for orange cookies. Hope you enjoy it. I find them tasty.

Ingredients

·         2/3 cup of shortening

·         2/4 cup of vanilla sugar

·         1 egg

·         ½ cup of orange liquor

·         1 teaspoon of orange zest

·         2 cups of unbleached flour

·         ½ teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon of baking soda

·         ½ teaspoon of sea salt

·         2 cups of powdered sugar

·         2 tablespoons of butter

·         2 tablespoons of orange liquor

·         1 teaspoon orange zest

Directions

·         Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your cookie sheets

·         Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

·         Stir in ½ cup of liquor and 1 teaspoon of orange zest slowly

·         In a separate bowl, cream the shortening and vanilla sugar together

·         Mix the egg into sugar mixture until well mixed

·         Slowly add mixture to the flour mixture

·         Drop onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly

·         Bake between 10-12 minutes

·         Mix powdered sugar and butter together until smooth

·         Pour in liquor and zest into the mixture

·         Once the cookies have cooled ice the cookies

Tada! Just so you know, you can use orange juice instead of the orange liquor if you are not into baking with liquors. For the type of liquor to use, any orange liquor will work. However, keep in mind that as with mixing drinks the better the quality of the liquor, the better the taste of the finished product. Personally, I would use Cointreau. It’s a French liquor, in case you couldn’t tell by the name and in case you are wondering, yes, Cointreau is a triple sec liquor. So, if you make many Cosmopolitans you will probably have a suitable orange liquor for these cookies.

Until next time!

Finnish Sour Cream Cookies

Since St. Valentine's Day is right around the corner I have had many requests from people for cookies, candies, ect... One of my friends asked me if I had any recipes that were Valentineish in nature so, here is an easy one. These can have food colouring added to them to make them pink, red, or any colour that you want them to be. 


Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• Food colouring of choosing

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl
• In a separate bowl, cream together sour cream, salt, and vanilla
• Add together
• Add food colouring if desired
• Chill for about 1 hour
• Roll out and cut into various shapes with cookie cutters
• Grease cookie sheets
• Bake for 10 minutes

And that is it! They are easy and are fun to make. I like to frost mine like sugar cookies, but leaving them plain is fine too. If you have trouble rolling the dough out all you need to do is let it warm up just a bit and it will be fine.