Pittsburgh has long been known as a city of immigrants. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, after all the cookie crumbs were wiped away and the votes were tallied, the top contenders in the Post-Gazette Holiday Cookie Challenge celebrated our region’s ethnic roots and cultural traditions in all their lip-smacking and colorful glory.
Buttery, jam-filled spitzbuben from Germany, oatmeal shortbread glittering with sugar from England and crispy bow tie “love knots” from Eastern Europe took top honors in three of the four categories.
This was the first cookie competition at the Post-Gazette in more than five years, so we were excited (and yes, a little nervous) to see how it might go down. We quickly discovered that Western Pennsylvanians not only love to bake during the holidays — they’re up for a public challenge.
Barbara Lanke’s winning entry in the Sandwich category has its roots in Germany’s Black Forest. One of Germany’s most traditional Christmas cookies, it features bright raspberry jam sandwiched between two crisp shortbread cookies, with a snow-like dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top. It was handed down by her German grandmother Dorathea Lichauer, who changed her name to Lanke after marrying a Welshman.
The cookie is a family favorite that’s a “must for Christmas,” said Ms. Lanke, who grew up on the North Side with “lots of German folks” and now lives in Ross.
Barbara Watson, of Scott, triumphed in the Easy category with her mother Grace’s shortbread recipe. The buttery squares have just four ingredients, including ground oatmeal — an American substitute for an English ingredient that couldn’t be found here. Dusted with sugar, it’s a simple take on the treasured English biscuit.
A nostalgic recipe for a Ukrainian fried cookie known as khrustyky won top honors for Lynette Regan in the Cookie Table (big batch) category. The Pottstown resident got the recipe years ago from her mother, Catherine, and making the cookies — which bring funnel cakes to mind — helps her feel connected now that’s she’s gone. They’re flavored with a touch of whiskey.
And finally, the Showstopper category. Carol Colaizzi’s Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries simply bowled us over with their bold chocolate flavors and sour cherry kick. Each one is a “wow” in your mouth.
The challenge
More than 40 contestants submitted recipes by midnight Nov. 19, with the Easy and Cookie Table categories drawing the most entries. Judges reserved the right to recategorize any entry to a more appropriate category.
After choosing three finalists in each category based on the descriptions (and sometimes photos), the PG Food Team divvied up the recipes and spent last weekend baking them for an on-site sampling in the PG’s offices on the North Shore.
On Nov, 30, staffers completed the difficult task of tasting all the confections and judging them based on flavor, texture and overall appearance.
It was a definite sugar rush, but no one complained about having to wipe all that powdered sugar off our fingers and desks. In fact, we gladly agree with Ms. Lanke, who, when told she was the overall winner, declared: “Haven’t met a cookie yet that I didn’t like!”
Along with some well-deserved bragging rights, she won a $100 gift card as the overall Holiday Cookie Challenge Champion. The other three category winners were awarded $50 gift cards.
Below, we offer all 12 cookie recipes for your holiday pleasure, all of them PG tested. Happy baking!
WINNER: Holiday Cookie Challenge Champion
Spitzbuben
“Having a German grandmother (Grossmum) meant the kitchen was always filled with smells of cinnamon among other mouthwatering aromas,” Barbara Lanke, of Ross, said of this treasured family recipe handed down from Dorathea Lichauer. “These bright, buttery gems are a family favorite and tradition, a must for Christmas and all weddings!” The cookie won the Sandwich category, making it eligible for the top prize.
1 cup sweet butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 cups sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt
Raspberry or currant jam, for filling
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Sift flour with salt and resift into butter mixture. Chill for 1 hour.
Divide dough in half and roll one portion to ⅛-inch thickness on lightly floured board. Cut with round cookie cutter about 2 inches in diameter. Using a very small cutter (e.g., a thimble), cut small circles into half the rounds.
Bake cookies on parchment-covered cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely.
Place small spoonful of red currant or raspberry jam in center of cookie. Place top cookie with thimble hole on top. Press gently (very gently, or they will crack) together. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Alternately, before baking, beat whites of two eggs and brush tops of cookies and sprinkle with mix of finely chopped blanched almonds or un-blanched walnuts mixed with granulated sugar.
Makes about 4 dozen.
— Barbara Lanke, Ross
Tester’s note: These buttery, gem-like cookies are simple to make, with dough that is super easy to handle. I used a fine mesh to dust the tops of the cookies with confectioners’ sugar and the cap of an olive oil bottle to cut out the interior circles.
WINNER: Easy
Northumberland Shortbread
Barbara Watson, of Scott, used to help her mother, Grace Watson, make these simple but elegant cookie before emigrating with her husband and 11-month-old daughter to the U.S. from Gosforth in Northeast England in 1955. The winning recipe requires just four ingredients, including ground oatmeal.
4 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 cup ground oatmeal
1 pound butter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In large bowl, blend dry ingredients with a pastry blender. Cut in butter until well blended. Gently hand knead the dough until it stays together and can be rolled out.
Divide dough into two pieces and form each into a long roll. Flatten top and sides into a brick shape and slice into ¼-inch-thick oblong shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove from tray and sprinkle with white or colored sugar for the holidays.
Allow to cool, then store in airtight containers. Can be frozen for longer storage.
Makes 5-6 dozen.
— Barbara Watson, Scott
Tester’s note: Overall, this is a very straightforward recipe. I used steel-cut oatmeal, which probably made it a bit quicker to grind. Cookie cutters would be nice with these. I didn't have any, so I just used a knife and cut rectangles. Then I ate one with my afternoon tea.
WINNER: Cookie Table
Love Knots (Bow Ties)
Lynette Regan, a Ukrainian American who was born in Natrona Heights Hospital, got this recipe from her mom, Catherine Kominko. “It was her favorite recipe to make and so easy,” says the Pottstown resident. “I love the nostalgia of it and how it makes me feel when i’m making it.... It’s our little connection.”
¼ pound butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ pint sweet cream (light cream)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 ounce whiskey
Add butter, sugar, eggs, cream, baking powder, salt and flour to bowl of stand mixer. Mix just until a smooth dough forms.
Roll dough out on floured work surface. Cut dough into strips 3-4 inches wide and 6 inches long. Cut and tie. Cut a 1-inch slit in middle of each strip and pull one end through slit to create a bow tie shape. Repeat until all dough is used. Let sit on floured board until all strips are cut and pulled through.
Deep fry (in lard) until the pastries are puffed and light brown on each side. Remove carefully with a strainer and place on a paper towel-lined plate to cool.
Sprinkle while hot with confectioners’ sugar.
Makes about 4 dozen.
— Lynette Regan, Pottstown
Tester’s note: I fried these funnel cake-like cookies in a Dutch oven using vegetable oil instead of lard, because that’s what I had on hand. A lot of the confectionary sugar melted on the hot cookies, so I dusted them again after they cooled. I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to pull the dough through (!), and cut the strips 1-inch wide instead of the suggested 3-4 inches to make a thinner, more delicate cookie.
WINNER: Showstopper
Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries
Carol C. Colaizzi won a blue ribbon at a county fair with this decadent Martha Stewart cookie, on her younger sister, Patricia’s, suggestion. “Everyone loves them — just goes crazy — whenever she makes them,” she says. “The chocolate is wonderful and the cherries are really good in there, too.” And the size? “No one should have to share a cookie,” she says.
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ cups unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1½ cups dried sour cherries, firmly packed (9 ounces)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined.
Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed, until just combined. Do not overbeat.
With a wooden spoon, fold in chocolate and cherries. (Dough can be frozen at this point, wrapped well in plastic, up to 1 month. Thaw completely before baking.)
Form balls of dough, each about ¼ cup. Place balls on baking sheet about 3 inches apart.
Bake until puffed and cracked, 9-11 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, up to three days.
Makes 3 dozen.
— Carol C. Colaizzi, New Castle
Tester’s note: Don’t make these cookies unless you’re a dark chocolate fan. But if you love the stuff, they deliver. The already chocolatey dough ends up packed with bittersweet chocolate and sour cherries. Also, be sure to let the cookies cool completely before trying to shift them off the baking sheet. All that molten chocolate takes a few minutes to firm up.
FINALISTS: Easy
The Mocha Sundae Cookie
“When I was growing up, we were always baking. Cookies were for everyday eating,” Cathy Kaup, of Ross, noted in the headnotes for this recipe. It was inspired by the chocolatey "Sundae Cookie” made for special occasions during her childhood. While the original Sundae Cookie recipe is lost, “recreating recipes using what's available can be fun,” she writes — in this case, a cake mix base for simplicity, espresso powder for complexity, and two-toned frosting for eye-catching appeal.
Any light, fluffy frosting will work if you can’t find Bettercreme. If you don't have a pastry bag for the frosting, you can use a plastic freezer storage bag and snip ¼ inch off the bottom corner. If you dislike coffee, omit the espresso powder and decorate with the vanilla frosting, chocolate, cherries, nuts or whatever you choose.
For cookie
1 box chocolate fudge cake mix (such as Duncan Hines)
2 eggs
1 stick butter (melted)
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
For topping
1 carton (32 ounces) of Rich's Bettercreme (vanilla), sold at baking supply stores
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Maraschino cherries
Chocolate espresso beans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In large bowl, stir together dry cake mix, eggs, melted butter and espresso powder to form a soft dough/batter. Stir in chocolate chips.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart to fit 12 on a sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until done. Remove, allowing to cool.
Prepare frosting: Pour 3 cups liquid Bettercreme into mixing bowl. (You will have some left over. Keep refrigerated per carton instructions). Add vanilla flavoring. On medium speed, using the carton's instructions, whip for 6-10 minutes, until soft peaks form.
Leave 2 cups of whipped Bettercreme in the mixing bowl. Put aside the remaining mixture.
Sift the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder.
Gradually beat in the cocoa-sugar mixture to the Bettercreme in mixing bowl. Then beat in the espresso powder until smooth. This will not take long. If you feel your mixture is too stiff to decorate with, you can add a bit more of the liquid Bettercreme and beat to desired consistency.
Decorate cookies: In a pastry bag with a large decorator tip (such as 1M), fill one side of the bag with the chocolate espresso mixture and the other side with the vanilla mixture. Squeeze the frosting into a swirl on top of each cookie.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave.
Snip the point off the corner of a plastic sandwich bag, about ¼ of an inch or less.
Pour the chocolate chip mixture into the bag. Squeeze the chocolate drizzle back and forth over the cookie.
Add Maraschino cherry, chocolate espresso bean, or decoration of your choice.
Makes two dozen.
— Cathy Kaup, Ross
Tester’s note: The recipe noted that "any light fluffy frosting will work," so I used Betty Crocker Whipped Vanilla Frosting. I got a 12-ounce container. If you're really into icing, get two containers. I tweaked the frosting recipe as follows: The frosting I got tasted plenty vanilla-y and sweet, so I did not add the vanilla or confectioners’ sugar. I did add the full amount of espresso powder.
Honeyjack Spice Cookies
“I never make desserts, but last year I decided to give cookies a try,” Tom Bates, of McCandless, writes about this unusual cookie, which features canned jackfruit and Chinese five spice because “that was what was around the house.” He suggests sprinkling coconut on the cookies if you want a white Christmas.
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder, or to taste
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup honey
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 20-ounce can of yellow jackfruit in syrup (drained)
Mix the flour, baking soda, Chinese five spice powder and salt together.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the butter and both sugars together on high speed until creamy. Add the honey and mix. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and mix.
Drain jackfruit, and dice the fruit or cut into small strips. Add to dry mixture.
Mix all the ingredients together, and let rest in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator, and let sit for about 30 minutes.
Place parchment paper on cookie sheets. (I use a cast-iron griddle with a flat surface. I also place it beforehand in the oven for around 15 minutes to warm it up.)
Make small balls of the dough (around ½ inch diameter); the size of the ball will determine the size of the cookies. Press balls on the cookie sheet spaced nicely apart.
Place in oven and bake for around 15 minutes; the time affects whether cookies are hard or chewy.
Remove cookies from oven, and let them cool for around 5 minutes, and then place on a rack.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
— Tom Bates, McCandless
Tester’s note: These were not as weird as they may sound. The Chinese five spice powder is perfect for baking. Because jackfruit continues to be trendy as a meat substitute, it was hard to find it even at our local Indian grocery, so we ordered our can online. I thought that ½-inch diameter dough balls were too small with the diced jackfruit, so I made mine a bit bigger, and I baked them on parchment on a cookie sheet until they were nicely browned on the bottom but still soft.
FINALISTS: Cookie Table
Peanut Butter Moose Track Cookies
“I found this recipe in the Post-Gazette years ago,” says Ruthie Marlowe, of McCandless. “I kept tweaking and changing ingredients.” If you substitute M&M Caramels for the chopped caramel, she suggests forming a ball of batter around the M&M instead of using the scoop.
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter or butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped pretzels
½ cup Kraft caramel bits or chopped caramels (sometimes I use Caramel M&Ms)
In large bowl, mix together white and brown sugars, butter, peanut butter and vanilla. Add eggs, and then mix to combine well.
Add flour, baking soda, salt, candy chips, pretzels and caramel. Mix until all ingredients are just incorporated. Do not over mix
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop a flat portion on the cookie sheet. Give the center of each cookie a slight tap.
Bake cookies for about 14 minutes.
Makes 3 dozen.
— Ruthie Marlowe, McCandless
Tester’s note: Peanut Butter Moose Track Cookies come packed with flavors, including peanut butter, chocolate, caramel and pretzels. All that's missing is the kitchen sink. The test version used butterscotch chips rather than peanut butter chips.
Chocolate Spice Drops
“My mother made these cookies when she supplied cookies for cookie tables at weddings in Erie,” Michele Ament says. “They are tasty, with cocoa and many different spices.” These cookies should be soft in the center and slightly crispy on the outside.
For cookies
1¼ cups shortening
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon orange rind
¼ cup orange juice
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1¾ cups cocoa powder
¾ cup sour cream or buttermilk
2 to 3 drops red food coloring
1 cup chopped nuts
For glaze
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream shortening, sugar and eggs. Add orange rind and orange juice.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Add food coloring and nuts.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and drop onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake cookies for 8 minutes.
While cookies are baking, make glaze. In large bowl of stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) combine the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated.
Dip tops of cookies in glaze once they have cooled. Let glaze drip and harden on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Makes 12 dozen.
— Michele M. Ament, Pleasant Hills
Tester’s note: Calling these spice drops may be an overstatement. There's a slight profile of cinnamon after baking, but the overwhelming flavor is chocolate, and that's a shame as there were several other spices involved here. If I made these again, I would double the amount of all the spices to give them more kick. That said, the texture was really great, and they were fun to roll and dip — a definite opportunity to get kids to join in.
FINALISTS: Showstopper
Micah’s Hand-Painted Holiday Sugar Cookies
Micah Joy Whitfield has been tinkering with this sugar cookie recipe for a while, and now makes it with her 2-year-old daughter, Eliza. With a little boy due just before Christmas, “this recipe has been my joy to create, but also to take my mind off of the aches and pains of pregnancy,” the McCandless resident writes. “It's been a labor of love but also of patience, practice and persistence as I try to create a cookie that my kids will one day be able to think, ‘My mom's cookies are the best!’”
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup salted or unsalted butter, at room temperature but still cool
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I only use Nielsen Massey)
½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl then set aside.
In mixer, cream butter for at least 2 minutes on high, then gradually pour in the sugar and cream for an additional minute, stopping to scrape bowl when needed.
Add egg, extract(s) and zest, then beat on medium to high for a minute or so.
Add in the dry ingredients a little at a time on lower speed. Mix just until all incorporated — do not over mix.
Take dough and divide into halves and pat down into flat discs. Refrigerate in plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least an hour (sometimes I do this overnight). (You also can roll out dough immediately into ¼-inch thickness and refrigerate in layers in between plastic wrap.)
Once chilled, roll out dough on a floured silicone baking mat to ¼-inch thickness — no thinner.
Cut dough into shapes and freeze for at least an hour. Work quickly so the butter does not melt. (I usually re-roll scraps up to three times only.)
Freeze in single layers between layers of parchment — not wax paper — for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake cookies on a large cookie sheet covered in parchment for 11-15 minutes (start with 11 and then check to see if edges are brown). I like when the edges are almost brown but not quite, typically about 13 minutes.
Cool completely (at least 4 hours) before icing with royal icing or buttercream.
Frost with buttercream or pipe and flood with royal icing using the recipe below. After they've dried for 24 hours, I hand-paint them with a mixture of a few drops of vodka and green and black food gels (for the trees). Then I dot with additional royal icing to look like snowflakes.
Micah's Royal Icing
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
Mix ingredients in stand mixer with paddle attachment for 1-2 minutes. Icing should be around the consistency of toothpaste — NOT light and fluffy. Store icing in airtight container with plastic wrap beneath lid, just touching the surface of the icing.
When ready to pipe/flood, take ½ cup or so and add to a container. Add a few drops of water and some white food gel, then stir until desired piping consistency. Add ½ of the batch to a piping bag and seal.
Take the additional ¼ cup and add a few more drops of water until flooding consistency has been reached. Pipe and flood the cookies and let them dry 24 hours. Then take a few drops of food gel (green & black) and mix with 3-5 drops vodka.
Using a food paint brush, paint on the trees. Then use piping icing to add dots/snowflakes on or around the cookie.
— Micah Joy Whitfield, McCandless
Tester’s note: These cookies require some effort and you also have to factor in chilling and drying times. So they can’t be done on the fly. While the entrant hand-painted her cookies after icing them, that was beyond my skill level, so I simply piped and flooded them in holiday colors with royal icing.
Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies
“My granddaughters share their leftover Halloween candy with me so I can bake these cookies for them,” writes Cecilia McCartt, of New Castle. “They love the recipe, and always let me go through their candy.” She’s been making it since her own kids were little. They make a big cookie.
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Halloween candy bars
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla: Beat well. Beat in baking soda and salt. Add flour and stir until it is mixed in.
Stir chocolate chunks into the dough. Cut candy bars into small pieces and stir some of the pieces into the dough.
Scoop ¼ cup of dough onto the cookie sheet and flatten slightly into mounds. Leave about 3 inches between cookies because they will spread as they bake. Press remaining candy pieces (decoratively) into the mounds.
Bake 14-16 minutes or until cookies are almost set. Do not overbake. Centers should be slightly soft. Cool on baking sheet for about 7 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Makes 12 cookies.
— Cecilia McCartt, New Castle
Tester’s note: This recipe is the perfect use for all those leftover candy bars still lying around the house from Halloween, especially for the more undesirable bars that may not be top picks on their own -- just be sure they're chocolate based. I would reduce the amount of chocolate chips from 1 cup to ½ cup or less to let the Halloween candy shine. I didn't quite get the dozen the recipe said, but I was dolling out generous ¼ cup mounds, so if you want the full dozen, be a bit more miserly.
FINALISTS: Sandwich
Cream Wafers
Cindy Rylands, of Hampton, found a handwritten card for this Betty Crocker recipe in her grandmother's recipe box. “She made them all the time, and they were one of my family's favorite,” she writes. They are made for all the weddings, with the icing made to match the bride’s accent color.
For the cookies
1 cup soft butter or margarine
⅓ cup whipping cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Mix the butter, whipping cream and flour together. Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll about ⅓ of the dough, ⅛-inch thick on floured board or cloth. Cut into 1½-inch circles (use a really small glass).
Transfer rounds to waxed paper that is heavily sprinkled with granulated sugar, turning to coat both sides. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Prick in 4 places with fork.
Bake 7-9 minutes or until slightly puffy or just until set. DO NOT BROWN.
Use Creamy Filling (see recipe below) to put two cooled cookies together to make sandwiches.
For the filling
¼ cup soft butter
¾ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Food coloring
Few drops of milk, if necessary
Cream these ingredients together. Add a few drops of food coloring, if desired (icing should be pastel). Add a few drops of milk, if needed, to make creamy.
Makes about 4 dozen.
— Cindy Rylands, Hampton
Tester’s note: These cute little sandwiches are on the sweet side but offer up a delicate crunch. Be sure to poke each cookie with a fork several times before baking to keep the wafer nice and level. Otherwise, it will puff up into a ball. For a deeper frosting color, add more food coloring.
Irene's Meringue-Topped Sandwich Cookies
1 cup sweet unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks (save whites for meringue later)
1 whole egg
4 cups flour
1 pound walnuts, finely ground
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
In large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg yolks and whole egg, and mix thoroughly.
Add flour and ground walnuts, and mix to combine thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll dough out in between 2 pieces of waxed paper. Cut into 1½- to 2-inch circles and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies until golden brown on edges, 20-25 minutes.
After cookies go in the oven, make meringue by beating egg whites with a few tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar, then set aside.
Halfway through baking (about 12 minutes), place a teaspoon of meringue on half of the baking cookies, then place back into the oven and continue baking until the meringue is set, another 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven.
To compose, spoon a little raspberry jelly on top of a plain cookie and top with a meringued cookie. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
Makes several dozen.
— Mary Zawoysky, Crescent
Tester’s note: This was the first time I ever attempted meringue and I was surprised at how easy it is to make. If you evenly divide the cookies onto different cookie trays, it’ll be easier to top half of them with the meringue halfway through baking. You need just a little bit of jam to glue the sandwiches together; too much and it will drip down the sides.
First Published: December 8, 2021, 9:47 p.m.
Updated: December 9, 2021, 11:14 a.m.
