They're a must-have cookie for my family. On Friday I'm planning to make thumbprints and some kind of sugar cookies. I've never made snickerdoodles but the recipe I have sounds interesting. My daughter asked me if I could try a batch of Mexican wedding cookies. I've never made them but the recipe I found sounds like they're decadent with all the butter that goes into them.

I love pecan tassies but I'm not a big fan of gingerbread. My mother used to make a shortbread cookie every year but it was never a favorite of mine.

I love thumbprints -- my mom used to make them.

My aunt Dorothy's specialty was a cookie similar to Mexican wedding cookies (which are also called Russian teacakes). Her recipe was called "kiflings" and I assume it has a Scandinavian background originally. Ground almonds, powdered sugar, butter, etc. Sometimes I use ground hazelnuts. She blanched her almonds, but I don't bother to do that step.

Last edited Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

My m-i-l introduced them to me back in the 60s and I've been making them since then. You can frost them with a simple butter cream frosting but I use canned vanilla stuff just to save time.

Recipe:

2 cups Sugar
1/2 lb Butter

Cream these together in the mixer bowl. Then add:

2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Lg Eggs
15 oz Ricotta

Beat well for about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl mix:

4 C Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda

Slowly add this mix to the batter and mix well. I use a small scoop to drop the batter on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes. Do NOT bake any longer than 10 minutes. They might look like they're not baked enough but don't let that fool you. Cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. The recipe makes a lot of cookies.

My husband can never wait for the frosting before he tastes them. I like them better with the frosting.

On edit: I changed the scoop size to small. Medium was incorrect.

Snickerdoodles take a bit longer but are huge hits with my daughter's friends. I rarely bake anything else for school parties because when they know something's coming along, my daughter's friends will always say, get your mom to make Snickerdoodles. I find them easier to handle if I use a scoop to make the cookies and chill the cookie balls for several hours. I also like to roll them completely in cinnamon sugar, so there's sugar all around instead of just on the top. Also, I just made some sugar cookies my making the Snickerdoodles "dough" with 1-1/2 tsp almond extract in it, and rolled the balls in plain sugar.

I'd also like to know more about the ricotta cookies.

Packaged them all up last night, and will ship three boxes tonight (I hope.) Five flavors for those receiving them: Mocha-Almond, Orange-Almond, Lemon-Anise, Coconut-Lime, and Spiced.

Then I start all over again this weekend!

I made two plum puddings to two different recipes, to see which one I prefer. I made a fruitcake and I'm going to make a pannetone this weekend.

Have you made that before? I have read that in the old country (and in NY-NJ) nobody makes their own; they always buy from a bakery.