I always try to do a cookie recipe this time of the year because you know Christmas cookies are a thing that people like to do. So when trying to find what cookie recipe that should be, I found a photo of a cookie buffet in the 1962 A Treasury of Holiday Treats: Fabulous Foods from the Washington Gas Light Company. Now if follow this blog, you know that I like to recreate buffets and menus. I did this last year with a 1956 Christmas buffet from the booklet A Merry Christmas at Your House. I have done it the last three years with Thanksgiving menus so you know that this instantly drew me in.
I was originally going to make all 12 cookies plus a punch because….this is me. I then reminded myself that while I like making a batch or two of cookies, I was not someone who enjoyed the process of making a whole bunch of cookies at a time. I have always had a deep admiration for all you Christmas cookie bakers who the minute Thanksgiving is over, you go right into cookie mode for presents, potlucks, and cookie swaps. I am not that person so I simplified it to being just the cookies on the silver stand. On the menu were frosted cashew cookies, peanut blossom cookies, pink lady cookies, heavenly snowballs, pixies, no-bake brownies, and sparkle ginger cookies.
So the heavenly snowballs are just frosted pieces of angel food cake that are then rolled into some coconut. I admit that frosting little pieces of angel food cake is quite annoying. I will further admit that I am not a fan of coconut so I was not going to bother to cut up a whole angel food cake into 60 squares to frost. Before anyone points out that there are several recipes containing coconut on this blog, I just power through those recipes. Let’s face it you can not have a vintage food blog and not have coconut pop up now and then. So to end my tangent, I am not including the official recipe because it made an already tedious process even more tedious. I will concede that the heavenly snowballs are cute on a cookie platter. If one wants to make them, just grab some frosting and tuck in for the long slow process of frosting little cubes of angel food cake. Good luck my friend because you are a saint!
The next is the ginger sparkle cookies. Ok so these were not actually part of this spread nor is this a recipe from the book. I just wanted to make them! I actually found this recipe in an old recipe tin and I wrote about it in a post last year. So check it out here.
The peanut blossom cookies, you may have noticed, I wrote about the history of the cookies a couple of days ago. Finding the recipe in this book was the catalyst to me going searching for the history of the cookie. It really doesn’t take much for me to deep dive into some research. The link to the post with the recipe is right here.
The texture of the frosted cashew cookies kind of reminded me of those Loft House sugar cookies that you can find at supermarkets. You all know the ones that have brightly colored frosting depending on the holiday. The recipe called for these to be drop cookies but when I test that out I was left with a very rough surface that was not ideal for frosting. So I ended up making balls that I then pressed down and that did the trick. Depending on how much frosting you like on a cookie, you may need to double the frosting recipe.
Pink lady cookies are finger-shaped cookies with half of it frosted in pink frosting and then dipped in finely chopped almonds. These remind me of shortbread or pecan sandy. I will admit these are probably my favorite of the bunch. I also got quite a kick out of frosting these and dipping them in the nuts. It is the small joys in life……
Next up are the pixies or as others call them chocolate crinkles. There is really not much to say about them except that they are delicious and chocolatey. Plus the “crinkle” look that rolling them in confectioners sugar before baking is always amazing.
Last but not least are the no-bake brownies. These were the ones that I was not looking forward to as I thought these were going to remind me too much of fudge. Yes, I am also not much of a fudge person. I am letting out all the secrets today! Surprisingly these little chocolate squares were quite tasty and I definitely will be making them again. They end up really being a variation on rocky road candy. I especially loved the texture that the cookie crumbs gave these no-bake brownies. Though to be clear these in NO WAY are even close to the texture of brownies. I am just trying to set up expectations now.
Frosted Cashew Cookies
A cookie featuring chopped up cashews and frosted with a brown butter frosting.
Ingredients
Cashew Cookie
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 2 cups salted, whole cashews – 1 1/2 roughly chopped and 1/2 cup left whole for topping cookies
Golden Butter Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
Directions
To make the Cookie
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla and sour cream.
- Slowly add the sifted dry ingredients until combines
- Fold in the chopped cashews.
- Take tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. Place on a baking sheet and gently press down to create a disk.
- Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.
- Frost with the Golden Butter Icing and top with a whole cashew in the center.
To make the frosting
- In a saucepan over medium heat, brown the butter.
- Once browned, remove from heat and add the heavy cream and vanilla.
- Gradually add the confectioners sugar and beat with a mixer until smooth and thick enough to spread.
NOTES: Here is a quick tutorial for browning butter.
Pink Lady Cookies
A finger shaped cookie frosted with pink frosting and dipped in almonds.
Ingredients
Pink Lady Cookies
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoon butter, softened
- 3/4 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/4 cups rolled extract
- Pink Lady Frosting (Follows)
- 3/4 cups finely chopped blanched almonds
Pink Lady Frosting
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 drop red food coloring
Directions
To make the Cookie
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour and salt and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Add the extract.
- Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Fold in the rolled oats.
- Using 1 1/2 teaspoons of the dough form a oblong log shaped about the length of your index finger.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Let cool and then frosting one side with the Pink Lady frosting and dip it into the minced almonds.
To make the frosting
- Combine together the butter, sugar and cream and mix well. Add the exract and red food coloring and mix until there are no more streaks of red and it is a nice pink color.
Pixies
An easy chocolate cookie rolled in confectioners sugar before baking.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 cups granualted sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, melted chocolate and sugar.
- Add the eggs one at a time until combined.
- Gradually add the sifted ingredients and mix until the ingredients are combined.
- Drop tablespoons of the dough into the confectioners sugar and then roll into balls.
- Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 14 minutes.
No Bake Brownies
An easy fudge filled with cookie crumbs, nuts and mini marshmallows.
Ingredients
- 3 cups vanilla wafers, crushed into fine crumbs (1 box)
- 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
- 1 cup chopped walnuts plus extra for sprinkling on top
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 3 teaspoons evaporated milk
- 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Grease a 9 inch square pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the crumbs, nuts, marshmallows and salt. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium low heat, melt the choclate with one cup of the evaporated milk stirring constantly. Once the chocolate is melted remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Reserve 1/2 cup of the chocolate for the frosting.
- Add the remaining chocolate with the crumb mixture. Mix thoroughly and press into the square pan.
- Mix the remaining 3 teaspoons of milk with the 1/2 cup of reserved melted chocolate and spread over the top. Then sprinkle on some extra nuts.
- Chill in refrigerator until firm (about 1/2 hour).
- Cut into small squares.
Quaint Cooking 
Great recipes and thanks for posting this
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Thank you!
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