Cookie of the Week: Dusseldorf cookies

This is one old recipe; Mama says it's at least 120 years old. Gramma Rhetta got it from a neighbor--a good little German lady named Mrs. Hagerup. Mrs. Hagerup must have been one helluva baker because not one but two of our family Christmas cookie recipes come from her.

This cookie was one of my favorites to make, because I loved filling the cookies with jam and then rolling them in sugar. It's good fun for a kid. This is also the first cookie Daddy reaches for on the dessert tray.

Dusseldorf Cookies
makes a buttload

2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
3/4 cup ground pecans or walnuts (I spun mine through the food processor)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Jam, any flavor you like
granulated sugar

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Form dough into logs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm.

Preheat oven to 350. Cut logs crosswise into thin slices. Bake until browned around the edges, about 8-12 minutes. Cool.

Spread the underside of one cookie with jam; stick another cookie onto it to make a sandwich. Roll in granulated sugar.



See y'all Monday. If you schlep out to the mall this weekend, don't forget to scout out the Valium Salt Lick before you go.