cookies | Pamela Toman

Kolacky

A classic.

Ingredients	Step
	Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
½ lb. butter, softened 8 oz cream cheese, softened 1 T. sugar 1 T. milk	Cream together.
1 egg yolk	Add. Mix in.
2 c. cake flour ½ t. baking powder	Whisk together, then add to wet ingredients.
	Chill 2 hours or overnight.
2 cans Solo pie filling (e.g., prune, apricot)	Take a baseball sized ball of batter. Roll it out using cake flour. Cut it into squares, then place the squares onto ungreased cookie sheets. Dab on filling, then fold up the two side corners of each cookie. Bake 10-12 minutes.
powdered sugar	When cool (or after freezing then thawing cookies), sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Source: Cathy Sorensen

A nice hamentaschen dough recipe, suitable for preschoolers. Each batch makes 36 circles.

Ingredients	Step
	Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
½ c. butter 1 c. sugar	Cream together. Beat until fluffy.
1 t. milk 1 t. vanilla	Add. Beat well.
1 egg	Add. Beat well.
2 c. flour 2 t. baking powder pinch salt	Sift together. Stir to make a soft dough. Chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
⅓ c. filling (e.g., cherry, apricot, prune, poppy seed, mini chocolate chips, raspberry)	Roll out dough on a lightly floured board to ⅛" thick. Cut out circles. Add jelly to center and then pinch or fold three corners.
	Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Source: Barb

This recipe must chill overnight, so plan ahead. It makes roughly 4 dozen small cookies.

If you substitute butter for shortening, use ¼ c. milk instead of ⅓ c.

Ingredients	Step
½ c. shortening 1⅔ c. sugar	Cream together.
2 t. vanilla 2 eggs, beaten 2 oz. unsweetened Baker's chocolate, melted	Add & beat.
2 c. flour, sifted 2 t. baking powder ½ t. salt	Sift together.
⅓ c. milk (or ¼ c. if using butter)	Add to the mixer alternately with dry ingredients.
½ c. walnuts, chopped	Stir in.
	Scrape down bowl, cover, and chill overnight.
powdered sugar	Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in confectioner's sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Source: my grandma

Made for Sarah's birthday in 2023. Makes 3½ dozen.

Ingredients	Step
	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.
3¼ c. flour 1½ c. sugar 1 T. baking powder ¼ c. cocoa powder 1¼ t. black pepper, fresh ground 1½ t. cinnamon ¼ t. clove ½ t. salt	Sift together.
¾ c. shortening	Work in the shortening (aim for coarse cornmeal texture).
½+ c. milk ⅔ c. walnuts, chopped	Add milk and nuts. Mix by hand until well-blended. If necessary, add a bit more milk so the dough holds together.
	Pinch off 1-inch pieces of dough and roll them into balls. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until firm.
1½ c. powdered sugar, sifted 3 T. milk 1 t. rum extract	Beat until smooth for a thin frosting (while the cookies bake). Add a wee bit more milk if necessary.
sprinkles	Let cookies cool on racks only until warm. Dip tops into icing, then sprinkle with colored sprinkles. Let the frosting dry completely, then layer the cookies between wax paper to store.

The huge chocolate chocolate chip cookies -- one of the food stars of my car's 18th birthday.

Ingredients	Step
	Preheat oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
1 c. butter, cold, cubed 1 c. brown sugar ½ c. white sugar	Cream in a mixer for at least 4 minutes (time it!).
2 eggs 1 t. vanilla	Mix in. Mix for at least 1 minute, scraping as needed.
½ c. (60 g) cocoa powder 1 c. (120 g) cake flour 1½ c. (180 g) AP flour 1 t. cornstarch 3/4 t. baking soda ½ t. salt	Combine in a large bowl. Then fold into the wet ingredients, leaving some streaks because there's more dough working to come.
1.75 c. chocolate chips 2 c. mini marshmallows 3/4 c. cashews, chopped	Stir in.
	Roll the dough into 5-6 oz. balls (roughly baseball size). Press a few extra chocolate chips and marshmallows into their tops.
	Bake 9-11 minutes at 410 degrees. After removing from oven, use a silicon spatula to press the edges to the center to make each cookie round again. Let them rest on the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cool fully on a rack.

Source: modernhoney.com from Levain Bakery