Scotch Shortbread

1 lb. butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 cups flour

Cream butter and add sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix well. Chill several hours. Roll out about 1/4 inch thick on floured board. Cut into 2x2 inch squares and place on ungreased baking sheet. Prick each cookie several times with fork. Bake at 325 F about 30 minutes, until cookies are delicately brown. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.

Serve with lemon curd.
Makes about 40 cookies.

$500 Cookies

Cooke exchage recipe sumbitted by Donnella B.

1 lb melted butter
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 c coconut)
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp baking poweder
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour (can do half wheat flour)
5 cups oatmeal

Mix butter and sugars. Add remaining ingredients. Add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, coconut, dried cranberries or butterscotch chips.

Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 mins

Sugar and Spice Cookies

A recipe from an Enrichment cookie exchange. Submitted by Jan L.

Mix together:
1 1/2 cups shortening (1/2 butter, 1/2 crisco)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

Sift together and stir in:
2 cups flour
4 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp ginger

Mix thoroughly. Form into balls size of a walnut. Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 10 12 mins at 350 degrees.

Divinity Cookies

Another recipe from an Enrichment Cookie Exchange. Submitted by Vannalee F.

2 Egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tarter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Beat egg white with salt and cream of tarter till soft peaks form. Then add the sugar gradually and beat until stiff. Fold in gently the vanilla, nuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon on waxed paper covered cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Makes 2 dozen.

Honey Spice Snaps

Another recipe from an Enrichment cookie exchange. Submitted by Heather M.

3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 cup honey (or you can use molasses)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or cloves if you use molasses)
2 1/4 cups flour (or 2 cups for molasses)

Combine all ingredients and divide into 6 parts. Roll each part into a skinny snake and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with water over the top of dough and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. The will be lightlygolden brown. Take out of oven and cut on a diagonal. Let cool and enjoy.

Hidden Mint Cookies

This recipe came from an Enrichment cookie exchage. It was submitted by Judy C.

Premade suger cookie dough roll
Mint wafers
Beaten egg
Ground nuts

Slice one roll of sugar cookie dough into 1/4 inch slices (about 30). Place on greased cookie sheet leaving room for them to spread. Put a mint wafer in center of each slice. Cover with another slice of cookie dough. Crimp edges. Brush egg on top and sprinkle with ground nuts.

Bake at 375 for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Lion House Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 5 dozen 3” cookies

5 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
¾ cup shortening
1 ¾ cup sugar
1 ¾ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheet. Mix first 3 ingredients together. Cream next 6 ingredients together. Stir in peanut butter. Add flour mixture and stir until well blended. Drop onto cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with crisscross pattern. Bake until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake.

Pumpkin Cookies

Our Enrichment had a recipe exchage this week centered around pumpkin recipes. I figured I would post the recipes I got here to share with one and all. This one was submitted by Suzanne M.

3/4 cup sugar
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cupe coconut oil
1 TB orange peel
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375. Mix sugar, pumpkin, coconut oil and orange peel. Stir in flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove, cool and add frosting.

Frosting:
2 TB soft butter
2 cups powdered sugar (approx)
buttermilk or milk for consistency
1 tsp vanilla

Cran-Crazy Cookies

This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens. They are so yummy! I feel less guilty eating these cookies knowing they have whole wheat flour in them.


Ingredients:

¾ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon or orange peel
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups chopped toasted pecans*
1 ½ cups dried cranberries (Craisins)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, lemon peel, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sid of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour. Stir in pecans and cranberries.
2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Cool on cookie sheet on wire racks for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

*To toast nuts, spread them in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 5 to 10 minutes our until nuts are slightly golden brown. Stirring once or twice. Cool completely. Chop nuts and set aside.

Simple Pumpkin Cookies

This recipe is simple and straight out of the pantry-no perisables needed. It's a great treat in a crunch.

1 box spice cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
chocolate chips (optional and amount to preference)

Mix it all together. Scoop by tablespoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes at 350.

M&M Party Cookies

This is another old recipe from my mother. We like to make it with the seasonal M&M's and Elijah loves to help put the M&M's on the cookies.

1 c shortening
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 ts vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts salt
1 1/2 c M&M's

Blend together shortening and sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Use cookie scoop to put 1-1 1/2 inch balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place M&M's on top of balls, pressing in lightly (alternatively you could mix the candies into the dough). Bake at 375 until just golden and set, 7-10 minutes, do not over bake. Let cool on cookie sheet then transfer to wire rack.

Spritz Cookies

This is the Pampered Chef recipe for cookie press dough. It makes a beautiful dough that is so easy to work with. Our 8 and 9 year old have alot of fun making these cookies-very kid friendly!


3 sticks of butter softened (can use margarine
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
sugar sprinkles (optional)
We dyed the dough pink for Valentine's day, green for St Patrick's day etc

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter with egg, sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour 1 cup at a time. Dough will be soft-do not refrigerate.

Fill cookie press. Press cookies 1 inch apart on baking stone. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Bake for 10 min. Yields 6-7 dozen cookies

Homemade Samoas

Guess what! You can make Samoas at home; you don't have to buy them for a million dollars a cookie from those cute little girls in green hats! I got the recipe from a really great recipe site called veggienub. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds soooo good!

Homemade Samoas

Cookies:
1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds.Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. If using a mini donut pan, bake for only about 10 minutes, until edges are light gold.Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping:
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.
While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

This recipe has proved itself over the years. I personally make this recipe 5-6 times a year for various holidays and occasions.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted/softened butter
2 eggs
1 ts vanilla
2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
2 cups flour

Beat sugar and butter together until creamy; add eggs and beat until well mixed; add vanilla, baking powder, and salt, mix together then gradually add the flour. Dough will be sticky. Chill dough a couple hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface (not too thin), cut out desired shapes, and place on GREASED cookie sheet. Bake for 7.5-10 minutes (my oven is 7.5-8 minutes). They should NOT be brown but are done when they don't give in to the touch. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

Note: I always double the recipe. I use a tub of cream cheese frosting with added food coloring and sprinkles to decorate my cookies. One tub of frosting frosts a double batch of cookies