Now that finals are over, let’s celebrate the completion of the semester (and the holidays, of course) with warm, delicious, homemade cookies!!
My great-grandmother made some of the best cookies I’ve ever had, and my family still makes them every year for Christmas! Here are some great holiday recipes straight from her cookbook:
Hello Dollies
1/4 Oleo or butter
1 cup of Graham cracker crumbs (can be made by putting Graham crackers in the Ziploc bag and crushing/hitting them with a rolling pin. I’ve also used a blender to make really fine crumbs- if you do it this way you might need more crumbs to make enough crust for one tray of Hello Dollies)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans
1 can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Pour crumbs into the butter (not melted) and stir. Press mixture on a cookie sheet with rims. Add more Graham cracker crumbs and/or butter if needed. Sprinkle the chocolate chips, coconut and nuts over the crust, than drizzle the entire can of condensed milk over the cookies. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes.
Peanut Butter Blossoms (for 65-70 cookies)
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Oleo or butter
1/2 peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Hershey kisses (normally the original kind, but feel free to use different flavors, such as dark chocolate Kisses or Hershey Hugs)
Preheat to 350 degrees F. Cream together the wet ingredients (everything but flour, baking soda and salt). Blend in dry ingredients and roll into balls. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place Kisses in the center of each cookie and press down. Return cookies to the oven and bake about 4 more minutes.
Snickerdoodles (makes about 6 dozen cookies)
1/2 cup butter or Crisco
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 3/8 cups flour
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar + 1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon (to coat balls of dough)
Mix first three ingredients (the wet ingredients), then add the remaining ingredients (the dry ingredients). Roll into walnut sized balls. Roll balls in mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 410 degrees F at the bottom rack of the oven for 8 to 11 minutes.
Happy baking! Make sure to leave some for Santa!
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