Once the Thanksgiving leftovers disappear, it means one thing at Chez T. Time to start baking the holiday cookies. Better loosen your belts, folks, because it's time to do the Cookie-Boogie!
Growing up, I loved baking Christmas cookies with Mama. My sister never showed much interest, but I loved rolling dough and sprinkling sugar and piping icing along the rims.
We always made the same 4 or 5 kinds of cookies every year. Once in a blue moon, we'd try something different, but ultimately, we always came back to these old favorites.
And I'm happy to share our Greatest Hits with you this season.
So as to not overwhelm you and induce Cookie Coma, I'll share one cookie recipe a week with you this month. I hope you enjoy the process as much as I will, and perhaps it will encourage you to tie on that apron and bake up some memories with your kids.
Miss M. was beyond excited to help, and Miss D. learned what separating an egg means.
These cookies are my personal Waterloo. I can resist an alarming number of sweets; I'm a salt girl. But not these delectable guys. And because I'm a freak, I prefer to eat them straight from the freezer.
Toffee Cookies
Base:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/2 cup ground pecans (my note:I used the food processor)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
Topping:
Large (59-cent)* Hershey's chocolate bar, chunked
Nuts, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients for base using a mixer, beating until well blended. Press into the bottom of a 9x13-inch or a 10x15-inch cookie pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden.
Turn off the oven. Working quickly, cover the top of the base layer evenly with chocolate; return to oven for 2-3 minutes or until chocolate is spreadable.
Watch out for chocolate thieves!
Spread chocolate evenly over crust and top with nuts, if desired. Wait until thoroughly cooled to cut.
* Shows how old this recipe is! It's a 7-ounce bar. :)
** A little side note. Mama got this recipe from a neighbor whose son, Darren, was my age. Darren followed me around like a devoted hound and could snort pickle juice up his nose. I was, naturally, wicked impressed by this gift.
OOH sounds wonderful, I might just try in the next few days!
ReplyDeleteTKW, these toffee bars would be eaten by me before I present them as gifts or in cookie exchanges :) They look so scrumptious. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThey look great! When I was a kid, fore Christman, we had yuke logs :)
ReplyDeleteThat pickle juice trick sound impressive!
ReplyDeleteI am usually a salt girl myself but I bet I could easily finish off a couple of these!
Those sound wicked...truly wicked...but very delcious!!! xxx
ReplyDeleteThese are right up my ally! Wow I'm impressed for someone who doesn't bake, look at that mixer. (I think I have a hand held one passed down from my sister)
ReplyDeleteI'm more salt not sweet too, nice to see something worth eating sweets for!
P.S. I loved seeing your helper! Nice job!
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to give these a try. They look yummy! Look at you baking already. I'm jealous.
ReplyDeleteI am sooo stoked that you are doing a cookie of the week post!!!! Yay KW!
ReplyDeleteThe girls look like they are having so much fun in the kitchen! I love toffee bars and this looks like a quick and reliable recipe.
ReplyDeleteI believe I will have to add these to my arsenal of holiday cookies. I love to bake so will try them, maybe even this weekend.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my blog tomorrow as I am in a virtual cookie exchange.
I'm sending you my Visa bill if my pants refuse to fit after trying these cookies.
ReplyDeleteWhere DO you find the funny cartoons? Almost fell off my chair with this one.
ReplyDeleteMy mom made these- love them!
Are they soft or crunchy? They look really yummy.
ReplyDeleteCookie of the week? My kids are now bowing to you and saying I'm Not Worthy. (Youngest is obsessed with anything cookie-related right now. When we went to my sister's for Tgiving, he said, "Oh, are we going over to Auntie's to eat some cookies? Yay!")
ReplyDeleteYour girls are adorable!
Ok so these look awesome we will have to add to our baking list this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd the cartoon is a riot!!!
Kitch, you are a vile temptress! A cookie of the week!? I just got back into my regular clothes after my pregnancy. I guess I shouldn't pack up the maternity gear quite yet...
ReplyDeleteI think I drooled down the front of my shirt....
ReplyDeleteAm making. And teaching Evan to separate an egg was one of the funnest things I ever did. And I think I might actually be very attracted to someone who could snort pickle juice.
ReplyDeleteI am going to make these cookies. And then I am going to blog about it. You are singlehandedly changing the immutable creature that is Me. You know what got me? "Baking up memories." I love this. Love. This is what you are doing right here on this blog. This is what each of us is doing, apron or no, in our lives. Memories. Sometimes sweet. Sometimes salty. Always delicious.
ReplyDelete(I am also a salt girl!)
Yay! A new cookie recipe. I recently stumbled upon a luscious chocolate cookie. This will be a nice addition.
ReplyDeleteAs for separating eggs, my 4-year-old girl is an expert. My 5-year-old boy is, um, NOT. What is up with that? Because I SWEAR I am going to teach all of my children to cook. NOT JUST THE GIRLS, thankyouvermuch. We all would be better off if their dad could hold his own in the kitchen, you know?
great little helper and give me one!!, have you made a snowman yet!
ReplyDeleteChow: No snowman today--it's only 17 degrees outside and that's not with the wind chill factored in!
ReplyDeleteJen: You are my hero! Teach that little dude to cook! Girls will love him!
Jennifer: they're mainly soft but the edges crisp up and the nuts add crunch...
So glad some of you are going to warm up your ovens and bake with me!
Your kids are so adorable! It's wonderful that you are incorporating cooking into their lives, you learn so many wonderful things in addition to be able to bond with your children.
ReplyDeleteI love how kids pat the cookies. Good cookies, good cookies.
ReplyDeleteThe dog in the ass is disturbing.
jc
Love the cartoon! And it expresses exactly how I feel about cookies. Now if you had a recipe for potato chips (called crisps over here), I'd willingly wear size 163...
ReplyDeleteMom and I baked cookies together every year for decades, to give a presents to my work colleagues. It was frequenly all weekend and/or an all nighter to get all that done. And we always seemed to have our same old favourites, too. Thanks for reminding me.
I should print that cartoon and put it on my fridge about now...
My mom has a recipe just like this that I"ve started making at Christmas Time, too. This is my favorite of the recipes I make, and yours sounds almost exactly the same! I am also in a cookie baking frenzy... I tell my husband it's because baking is good stress relief! Kind of distracting, though, when I find myself baking instead of doing the mountain of homework that needs to be done before finals! I can't wait to see what else you share :)
ReplyDeleteDarling photos of the kids. As for snorting pickle juice -- that is wicked impressive. Wouldn't that sting???
ReplyDeleteIf you are a salt girl and like these cookies then I will have to give them a try! mmmmm
ReplyDeleteCartoon = but gusting laughter.
Mommy brain! I meant gut busting! Oh my.
ReplyDeleteNow you're really making me wish the old broken cookie adage (if you break a cookie in half the calories spill out) was true! Man, this look too good to pass up!
ReplyDeleteAmbrosia: I have been typing wonky things like that for two weeks now...I knew exactly what you meant! :)
ReplyDeleteYum! These look heavenly!
ReplyDelete(And I love that cartoon, it's so damn funny.)
Ooo, I love making cookies too.
ReplyDeleteGood gosh almighty, these look good.
ReplyDelete(nibbling on my laptop screen just a little)...
ReplyDeleteThose look awesome! I should hire you to do my job this week. I have to come up with a bunch of cookie recipes -we are doing a cookie countdown on the A&E section of the Daily News- and I have very little to share with the readers... everyone in my family always loved salty treats, so cookies aren't up my alley!
ReplyDeleteThere's much to be said for consistency when holiday cookies are concerned. My in-laws adore my mom's cookies, and I know she always looks forward to my MIL's annual tower of pizzelles. And I definitely helped in the baking process--who else would unwrap the Hershey Kisses for the peanut butter blossoms?
ReplyDeleteThese look amazing, per usual!
this type of thing is a source of addiction for me. some people turn to drugs or booze, i turn to toffee. it's the better choice, right? :)
ReplyDeleteI adore toffee! My grandma makes some like these every year and I eat them until my teeth ache. I'll have to throw a few in the freezer this year.
ReplyDeleteThese look awesome! My mom, her sister, and my grandma get together every weekend to make cookies and candies. And I get to help now that I moved back! But it would be nice to bring something new to the table.
ReplyDelete