Festive Fruitcake Cookies

Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 24
Ingredients

■FOR THE COOKIES:
■3 teaspoons Milk
■3 teaspoons Baking Soda
■1 stick (1/2 Cup) Regular (salted) Butter, Softened
■1-⅓ cup Packed Brown Sugar
■2 whole Eggs
■1 cup Brandy
■1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
■2 cups Flour
■¾ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
■8 ounces, weight Candied Pineapple, Roughly Chopped
■4 ounces, weight Candied Red Cherries, Roughly Chopped
■4 ounces, weight Candied Green Cherries, Roughly Chopped
■½ cups (additional) Flour

FOR THE GLAZE:

■½ cups Brandy
■½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
■1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine milk and baking soda and stir. Set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and mix lightly. Add milk/soda mixture and mix. Add 2 cups flour and mix until just combined. With mixer on low, pour in brandy and vanilla and mix until combined. Add nuts and combine.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup additional flour over the chopped fruit. Toss to coat. Add fruit and any excess flour to mixing bowl Mix until just combined. *Batter will be very wet*

Spray baking sheet with baking spray (or use baking mat.) Drop heaping tablespoons of batter, then bake for 20 minutes or until just golden brown. Do not overbrown!

Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl, then spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons of glaze over each warm cookie. Allow to cool. These cookies get better with age! (Well…within reason.)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/festive-fruitcake-cookies/

Christmas Cherries

Prep Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 36

Ingredients

■2 sticks Butter, Softened
■½ cups Sugar
■2 whole Egg Yolks, Stirred
■1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
■Zest Of 1 Lemon
■Zest Of 1 Orange
■Juice Of 1 Lemon
■2 cups All-purpose Flour, Sifted Twice
■Candied Green And Red Cherries (sold Around The Holidays)

Preparation Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add egg yolks, vanilla, orange peel, lemon peel, and lemon juice, and mix until combined. Use rubber spatula to scrape bowl, then mix again.

Add sifted flour and mix until combined. Place dough in a ziploc bag and refrigerate for at least one hour, or until firm.

When ready to make the cookies, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut candied cherries in half.

Roll dough into small balls and set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. Gently press the cherry halves, cut side down, into each ball.

Bake for 20 minutes, removing from oven before they start to brown. Cool on a wire rack.

*Adapted from a Helen Corbitt recipe.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/11/christmas-cherries/

Spicy Molasses Cookies!

Makes 18 cookies
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg together until well combined.
Dump in dry ingredients, stirring dry ingredients together lightly. Mix together until dough is combined.
Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, then generously coat each ball with sugar.
Place balls on a baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes, allowing to bake for about a minute after cookies begin to crack.
Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow to cool….though these are delicious while still warm.
Fun variation: drizzle melted white chocolate in decorative stripes over the top of each cookie. Allow to harden before serving. Or: dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate. Yum.
Another fun variation: make sandwiches using two cookies and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. Yikes.
Another really fun variation: eat all the cookies yourself, then hide all the evidence.
See you tomorrow for Day Two of Cookie Week. Unless I wake up tomorrow and decide to cancel Cookie Week, which I promise I won’t do. Unless I do.
Love,
Pioneer Woman

Pioneer Woman’s Mother-in-Law’s Christmas Rum Cake

Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small package INSTANT vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup rum (dark or light is fine)
1 cup chopped pecans
Brown sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 325.
Grease and flour Bundt cake pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. If desired, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar over the nuts.
Mix all cake ingredients together.
Pour batter over nuts. Smooth out ’til the top is even.
Bake 1 hour, or a little less if the pan is black. Do not overbake!

Glaze:
While cake has ten minutes to go, make the glaze.
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup rum
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off flame and pour in rum. Stir to combine and reheat for 30 seconds.
Remove cake from oven. Immediately drizzle 1/3 of the glaze on the bottom (top) of the cake. Allow to sit for five minutes.
Invert the cake onto a serving plate. Prick surface a hundred times with a fork (gently, please.) Slowly drizzle remaining rum glaze all over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Cool to room temperature before serving to ensure glaze has soaked in.
Eat. Enjoy. And don’t feel guilty. It’s Christmastime!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/12/christmas-rum-cake/

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Christmas Cookies From Childhood and Beyond

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
4 teaspoons milk
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream shortening, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla thoroughly. Add in egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the milk and mix.
Sift dry ingredients together, then blend into cream mixture. Divide dough in half (thirds if you double the recipe), slightly flatten between two sheets of waxed paper, then refrigerate for one hour (or freeze for 20 minutes.)

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to lightly greased cookie sheet and paint cookies with soft brushes with egg yolk glaze:

Egg Yolk Glaze
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
2 to 3 drops food coloring

Bake at 375-degrees for approximately 6 minutes. Do not allow to become brown.

Remove cookies from oven, remove cookies to wire rack to cool. Then, using a pastry bag or Ziploc, pipe with white icing to decorate.

White Decorative Icing
1 2-pound bag powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons egg white (optional)
*Mix together, ensuring the icing is much thicker than Pioneer Woman's icing was that day. Icing should be thick and somewhat retain its shape.

Enjoy!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/my_favorite_christmas_cookies_from_childhood_and_beyond/