Chocolate Snowflake Crackles

7th Cookie in the series.

6 Tablespoons butter

3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

Extra powder sugar for rolling

Makes 4 1/2 dozen

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Directions: 

Cream butter until light and fluffy.

Add melted chocolate and sugar, blend well.

Add eggs, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix well.

Add flour.

This dough NEEDS to be chilled. It's the consistency of thick frosting at first. You'll never be able to work with it. Chill overnight.

Heat oven to 350*F

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Don't worry if they look a bit underdone when you take them out. These delicious cookies are tender like bites of warm brownie. Don't over bake them. They will firm up as they cool.

Maybe I'm a little OCD, but when I say that I measure my cookie dough with my scoop to keep consistent results, I'm not kidding. I fill the scoop and push any excess off the scoop. The scoop is filled, but not over filled. The cookies will then not only be the same size, but they will cook evenly. You will not have some under cooked and some on the verge of burning.

Roll in powdered sugar before placing on baking tray.

Beautiful AND tasty! :)

Enjoy!

Greek Butter Cookies

6th Christmas Cookie in the series.

1 cup butter

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup toasted and finely chopped almonds

2 1/4 cup flour

Extra powdered sugar for sifting over after baking

Makes 3 1/2 dozen

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Directions: 

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and fluff again.

Add the egg yolk and extracts, blend well.

Add baking powder, mix well.

Add the chopped nuts and blend well.

Add the flour, slowly, so the mixer doesn't throw it out at you.

This dough isn't overly sticky. More like pleasant Play-Doh. 

You can bake as soon as you mix these, no chilling is necessary.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Bake at 325*F for 20 minutes.

Let them cool a few minutes and then dust with a light coating of powdered sugar dusted over with a sieve. They are a mildly sweet cookie. Don't be tempted to skip this sugar dusting. 

How pretty they are.

Pecan Fingers

5th cookie the series.

1 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon water

2 cups flour

2 cups ground pecans

Powdered sugar for rolling

Makes 4 1/2 dozen

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Directions:

I grind my pecans in the food processor. If you find them already ground, they will be much more expensive than necessary. And grinding them in the processor is a snappy job, very fast.

In the mixing bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

Blend in vanilla, salt and water.

Add flour and ground pecans. Mix well.

Chill dough until firm. I leave it in there overnight.

Heat oven to 325*F

I measure out the cookies with my small scoop, but even THAT is too large. I cut the balls in half and roll those into the fingers. They should be only about one and a half inches long. Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake 14-15 minutes. They should just be barely browned around the edges. Allow to cool slightly. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar until well coated.

I cut the scooped balls in half. They come out being two bite cookies. Anything bigger and they are TOO large.

Easily shaped in one hand. About 1.5 inches long. They puff up a bit while baking.

Two dozen per cookie sheet. :)

Roll them in powdered sugar after baking. YUM!

They will be a nice sugary addition to my cookie plates!