Another very versatile nut cookie. These make great logs, dipped in chocolate, and they also make great thumbprints.  We usually fill these with the leftover apricot or fig filling. In 2017, we made them with red walnuts. Yum!…

• 2 1/2 cubes butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup ground walnuts

Cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla.  Add flour and then the walnuts.  Chill dough.

Shape dough into 1/4 to 1/2″ cylinders.  Cut into 2-3 inch lengths.  Bake at 375° for about 10 minutes, or until they start to turn brown..  Cool completely, then dip one end in melted chocolate.

Another versatile nut cookie. These  make great thumbprints.  We usually fill these with leftover apricot filling from Aunt Emma’s cookie and the cuccidati fig.  Really Yummy! In 2016, we made logs and dipped them in chocolate. In 2017, we used almond flour and are still debating whether we like the coarser almonds or the finer almonds…

• 2 1/2 cubes butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup ground almonds

Cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla.  Add flour and then the almonds.  Chill dough.

Shape dough into 1″ balls.  Press thumb in center, fill with apricot jam or filling of your choice.   Bake at 375° for about 10 minutes, or until they start to turn brown..  Cool completely, then cover with powdered sugar.

**2016 – logs dipped in chocolate

This is one of Tim’s Mom’s recipes.  We found it while going through her recipes and made them for the first time in 2001.  They’re GREAT – and definitely now part of the annual collection! As time was becoming a factor, we just powdered sugared them instead of decorating.  They were excellent!

• 2 sticks butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugars.  Add next 8 ingredients.  Mix well.  Beat in 2 eggs and vanilla.  Add flour gradually until all mixed in.

Refrigerate dough several hours or overnight.  Roll out dough on lightly floured board.  Cut into shapes.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 400 until lightly browned.

Cool completely and frost and decorate.

These may just be the easiest cookies in the world to make!  They are extremely versatile, and lend themselves to a myriad of different fillings, shapes, and ideas!

The basic:

• 3 1/2 cups unsifted flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients.  Beat sweetened condensed milk, butter, eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Chill 2 hours.

On floured surface, divide dough into thirds.  Roll each portion to 1/8″ thickness. Cut with favorite cookie cutters.  Place on parchment-lined (or greased) cookie sheets, about 1″ apart.  Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes.

Now for the fun stuff…

You can add different flavorings in place of the vanilla… lemon, peppermint, almond, amaretto – you name it!

Make Chocolate cookies by adding 1/2 cup cocoa powder, and decreasing flour by 1/2 cup. (Try these with peppermint flavoring!)

Stained glass cookies:  Cut holes with tiny cookie cutters or knife, and fill holes with crushed hard candy.  This you need to do on a DRY day or the candy gets sticky and hard to use. Bake 6-8 minutes or until candy has melted.

Filled cookies: Use round cookie cutters, place one cookie on baking sheet, top with your favorite filling or jam, and place a second cookie on top with a small hole cut out.  Bake about 8-10 minutes.

However you do them, they’re fun – and yummy!

Pizzelle’s are an Italian cookie made on a special “Pizzelle Iron.” It’s sorta like a waffle iron, except it makes incredibly thin cookies. Newer-fangled ones are electric and cook two cookies at a time.  The older, original ones were cast iron and held over an open flame.  Sometimes progress is a good thing…

The *family* recipe calls for anisette and anise seed. One year, I decided to make an amaretto flavored pizzelle substituting 1 cup of almond meal for 1 cup of flour and amaretto in place of anisette.  It was sacrilege and scandal in the Martorano family home.  Victor’s mother wouldn’t touch them. Just to be contrary, I made them again the following year – and she scarfed them up!

We now make a variety of them simply by tweaking the original recipe. Nonna still prefers the original – but will eat any offered to her!

• 6 cups flour
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 pound butter, melted
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• anise seed and anisette to taste.

Beat together eggs and sugar till smooth. Add cooled butter, vanilla, anisette, oil, and milk.  Sift together dry ingredients and mix into egg mixture. Toast anise seeds to release flavor. Cool and mix into batter.

Place walnut-sized drop of dough onto pizzelle iron and cook about 25-30 seconds. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled.

These are really versatile.  We make balls and thumbprints from this recipe!

• 3 cubes butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans

Cream butter with both sugars and salt.  Add vanilla and mix in flour.  Mix in pecans, being careful not to overmix.

Roll dough into large marble-sized pieces.  Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake about 20-30 minutes at 325° until nicely browned. Cool completely and roll in powdered sugar.

Alternately… Press thumb into unbaked ball to form thumbprint.  Fill with your favorite jam.  Bake as directed above.

Victor found this recipe years ago and it’s become a favorite! It’s.easy to make and yummy to eat!

• 2 cubes butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup coconut, toasted and cooled
• powdered sugar for dusting

Cream butter and sugar.  Add zest, vanilla, and lemon extract.  Add flour and mix in well.  Add coconut and mix in well.

Form dough into 2 logs, about 8″ long.  Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300°.  Slice logs into 1/4″ cookies and place on parchment lined cookie sheets about 2″ apart.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until pale golden brown.

Cool completely, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These are a light, chocolaty cookie. The original recipe calls for rolling in powdered sugar.  We roll them in a mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  They don’t resemble ‘snowballs’ but they sure are good!

In 2017, we added peppermint extract, cut into cubes, and then dipped in chocolate. The ultimate Chocolate Peppermint Cookie!

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• powdered sugar
• cocoa powder

Sift dry ingredients together.  Cream butter with sugar until light.  Beat in melted chocolate, egg, vanilla, and milk.

Mix in dry ingredients a little at a time to make a stiff dough.  Refrigerate overnight.

Roll dough into marble-sized balls and place 2″ apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes.

Cool on wire racks.  Roll in mixture of cocoa powder and powdered sugar.

This is from Uncle Rudy.  Here is the basic – and, again, the original anise flavored.  We have a lot of fun with this recipe, making many, many variations.  Apricot Macadamia, Cointreau, dipped in dark chocolate, Amaretto, dipped in milk chocolate.

We’ve made chocolate hazelnut, added walnuts, pecans, almonds… We’ve stuffed them. The possibilities are endless – and they all come out great!

We’re thinking that 2018 may be the Year of the Biscotti – making a dozen variations and skipping all the others!

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cube (stick) butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp anisette (or more…)
• 1 tbsp toasted anise seed
• 1 tsp vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients.  Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, anisette, and anise seed.  Stir in flour.

Divide dough in half.  Shape into logs.  Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes.

Cool completely.  Slice into 1/4 to 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

This recipe is one of Victor’s family treasures from his Aunt Emma. Several members of the family make them every year, as we do.  The competition to see whose taste the most like Aunt Emma’s is intense. Naturally, ours come out best every year – no matter what anyone else says!!

Filling:

• 1 pound dried apricots, chopped fine (soaked overnight – we soak in apricot brandy!)
• 3 cups sugar
• grated lemon rind (we use about a tablespoon – the amount was never specified)

Drain apricots. Place in saucepan with lemon rind, sugar, and water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until water is absorbed.  Be really careful — it burns easily.  Cool.

Dough:

• 2 pkg dry yeast
• 5 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 pound lard (Yes, lard. Shortening just doesn’t cut it.)
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 shot whiskey
• Juice and rind from 1 lemon

Proof yeast with 1 tsp sugar and 1/4 cup warm water.  Cut lard into flour, as you would for a pie dough.  Make a well in the mixture and add all the other ingredients, including yeast.

Work dough with your hands and form into a ball.  (Don’t overwork.  Use a light hand.)  Refrigerate overnight.

Roll cold dough to about 1/8″ thick.  Aunt Emma would cut the dough into triangles, place a scant teaspoon of filling at the wide end, then roll up and shape into a crescent similar to a croissant. It takes a bit of practice. The easier way is to cut squares, fill, and fold over. Cut into 2″ squares or circles. Place scant teaspoon of filling, fold and seal. Shape into crescent.

Bake at 325° until golden brown on lightly greased sheets or ungreased parchment paper. (Investing in a box of parchment paper is the only way to fly!!)
Cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.

*We took the shortcut one year and the family almost shot us!  The cookies TASTED fantastic, but that wasn’t the point – they weren’t Aunt Emma’s cookie!  One comment from Uncle Rudy – at least the printable one – was “they’re dumplings, not cookies.”

*Another thing – Crisco just doesn’t work as well as Lard.  Oh, we know that lard has a really bad reputation and all, but it REALLY makes the best, most tender dough.