Tis the season ... for cookies!!!

Click images to enlarge.

   Tonight, will be the women's ministry Christmas cookie exchange and fellowship.

    Monday and Tuesday this past week, I made German Springerle cookies [< click the link there for recipe].  I'd found several that my mom had written, but the one I found online was the best sounding one (and best tasting!).   It was a bit of a learning experience since I hadn't made them in almost 50 years.  My brand-new hand mixer died 20 minutes into the process, so I went old school making them by hand the way my grandmother and mother taught me.  It brought back so many wonderful memories of times with both of them, and of Germany.  I wish I'd been making them for the past five decades of Christmases and will make sure they are a part of every Christmas forward.

    I was able to use my handmade French rolling pin [< click the link there to buy one for yourself!] that was gifted to me earlier this year from a couple of angels (one named Amy!), and the Springerle rolling pin that I purchased on my 2007 Rhine Holiday Markets cruise [< click the link there to book a cruise for next Christmas!].  (these are not affiliate links and I'm not paid for promoting them, I just love Amy and UniWorld cruises!)

   I also wanted to make Spritz butter cookies and use my decorative cookie press but had a hankering for adding cranberries to the batter for a little more festive flavoring.  Two of my pastry chef slash baker mentors (Nancy & Deb) wisely advised that cranberries probably would not be compatible with the cookie press, and so they became drop cookies instead.  Not as pretty as most Christmas cookies, but what they lack in looks they make up for in flavor.

    Fortunately, I have enough ingredients to make them again without the cranberries and using my cookie press, but not the upper arm strength to properly "cream" and beat them into "light and fluffy" submission.  Perhaps next week when I can exchange the mixer or (dream on) purchase a standing mixer with a dough paddle also.

Cranberry Cheesecake Butter Cookies (a Cindi creation) This recipe made about 45 cookies; however, I cannot confirm or deny that all 45 made it to the exchange on Friday.

• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup butter
• 1 3oz package softened cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar that I made several months ago with vanilla beans)
• 1 egg yolk (I actually used two because the first egg open had a tiny yolk!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange zest (I used fresh lemon zest)
• 1 cup chopped dried cranberries (OPTIONAL)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  
2. Sift together the first three dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon). 
3. In a separate larger bowl, cream together butter and softened cream cheese (and this was when I wished I hadn't killed the hand mixer!)
4. Add sugar & egg yolk/s, beat until light and fluffy (ditto above)
5. Stir in vanilla & zest.
6. Gradually add in dry ingredients.
7. If you are not adding dried cranberries, fill the cookie press and press cookies out onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I always bake mine on parchment paper).  If you are adding dried cranberries, I would spoon drop them onto the sheet.
8. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden (I baked mine for 15 minutes on the top rack in the oven.  I didn't want them to get scorched bottoms.)
9. Remove at once from hot sheet onto cooling racks.