Eggnog-Frosted Nutmeg Sugar Cookies

These cookies are delicious! They are a great complement to any holiday party - the spices give them just a hint of traditional holiday treats. Sorry, no picture; I don't want to find the camera and put it on the computer.

2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c butter, soft
1 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 Tbls eggnog
3 1/4 c flour

Beat butter in large bowl with mixer 30 seconds. add sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, eggnog, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Divde dough in half. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough portions to 1/4" thick. Cut with a cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are slightly browned. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Spread with Eggnog Icing (recipe below). If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Makes about 24 (but I ended up with 41).

ICING:
In a medium bowl, stir together 3 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir in enough eggnog (or milk) to make an icing of spreading consistency.

Latest Cookie Recipes & Tree Pics

Today's cookies were Christmas Sandies. They turned out pretty good. I sent them with James to his test tonight, and they were all eaten, so I guess that's a good sign. Another good sign is there are no eggs, so if you're pregnant, you can taste the dough without any fear!

1 c butter, softened
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c finely chopped dried cranberries (use a food processor, and I would cut this down to 3/4 or 1/2 cup)
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
white, red, and green nonpareils

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Beat butter with a mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in berries, lemon peel, and any remaining flour.

Shape mixture into 1/2-, 3/4-, or 1-inch balls. Roll dough in non pareils. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 10 minutes for 1/2" balls, 13 for 3/4" balls, and 15 for 1" balls (although mine were 1" and I only baked them for 13 minutes, but my oven runs hot), until bottoms are light brown. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.

Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars - these were delicious! I think they would have been a little softer at the end if I would have used the 9x13 pan as suggested, but it was in the dishwasher, so I improvised with 2 smaller pans, so my crust was a little thinner that it would have been.

3/4 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c quick oats
1 c graham cracker crumbs
2 1/2 c mini marshmallows
1 1/4 c semisweet or milk chocolate chunks (I used both types of chips)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13x9 pan with foil that extends over the edges of the pan. In a large bowl, beat butter on med speed for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats and cracker crumbs.

Reserve 1 c of the oat mixture. Spread remaining oat into pan (use back of large wet spoon). Bake about 15 minutes until lightly browned. Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over warm crust. Top with chocolate chunks. Dot remaning oat mixture over chocolate and mallows.

Bake about 20 mins more until top is lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Using edges of foil, lift uncut bars out of hte pan. Cut into bars. Here's the finished product before cutting:

And just for good measure, here is Maiby and James putting her special ornament on the tree.

Ginger Cookies

Thanks to everyone who came over yesterday to make cookies; Maiby and I had a great time, and the cookies turned out really well. I had to change recipes because right before people showed up, I looked at it again and saw it was supposed to be chilled for 2 hours, but I had another Ginger Cookie recipe that I'd never tried before. They are delicious! (We didn't use the glaze.)

Frosted Ginger Cookies

3/4 c butter, softened

1 c white sugar

1 large egg, beaten

3 Tbls molasses

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 c flour

1/4 - 1/2 c white sugar for rolling

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350

In mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Mix in beaten egg. Add molasses and stir until the mixture is uniform in color.

Add the baking soda and salt, and stir well.

Sprinkle in the spices. Stir until they're thoroughly incorporated.

Stir in one cup of the flour, mix it all up and then mix in the 2nd cup of flour.

Measure out 1/4 c sugar and place in small bowl. When it gets low, add more as needed.

Break off pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls. Roll in sugar and place on greased sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the sheet and then move to wire rack.

When they are cooled, make the glaze.

Combine the sugar and juice. If it's too thick to drizzle, add more juice. If it's too thin, add more sugar.

Drizzle the glaze on the cookies.

Let the glaze dry before you store them. It should take 20-30 minutes.

YIELD: 6-7 dozen (although we ended up with 4 1/2 dozen yesterday)

This recipe came from one of my favorite authors, Joanne Fluke. She writes murder mysteries about a lady that runs a cookie shop in Minnesota, and after every few chapters, there is a recipe. I have copied down about 30, but only tried 3 or 4, but all that I have tried have been delicious. I definitely recommend the books. So far there are twelve, and she has a website: HERE.

This recipe was found in her latest book, Plum Pudding Murder.