Kitchen cabinet: recipes tested in Sunset's kitchen - Sunset magazine

Sunset, Dec, 1997 by Linda Lau Anusasananan

Cookies for the holidays

Painted Cookies Clarice Cox, Roseburg, Oregon

* For more than 50 years, Clarice Cox has made these decorative cookies for family, friends, cooking classes, and fund-raising events. And she often makes use of her collection of more than 60 cookie cutters to cut them out. The cookies are firm, so they stack neatly when packed for gifts.

Prep and cook time: About 45 minutes

Makes: 2 dozen (3 in. wide)

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

About 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 large egg yolk

Food coloring (4 choices)

1. Cut butter into chunks and put in a large bowl; add sugar. Beat with a mixer to blend, then beat on high speed until mixture is fluffy.

2. Add whole egg and vanilla and beat to mix thoroughly.

3. Add 3 cups flour and beat on low speed until dough is well mixed.

4. Divide dough in half, shape into balls, and flatten each into a round cake. If desired, wrap dough airtight and chill up to 1 day.

5. One portion at a time, roll out dough on a flouted board to 1/4 inch thick. With flour-dusted cookie cutters (2 to 3 in. wide), cut out cookies.

6. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 inch apart.

7. To make patterns on cookies, if desired, make impressions with a flour-dusted spoon tip or fork tines. Gently brush flour off cookies.

8. Mix egg yolk with 1/2 teaspoon water to blend. Divide mixture among 4 small bowls. Tint contents of each bowl with a different food coloring, mixing in a drop at a time to get desired intensity.

9. Using small brushes, paint surface of cookies with colored mixtures.

10. Bake in a 325 [degrees] oven until cookies are golden on bottom, about 16 minutes (if using one oven, alternate pan positions after 8 minutes). Cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer with a wide spatula to racks to cool.

11. Serve, or store airtight at once for up to 5 days. Freeze to store longer.

Per cookie: 163 cal., 45% (74 cal.) from fat; 2 g protein; 8.2 g fat (4.9 g sat.); 20 g carbo (0.4 g fiber); 81 mg sodium; 38 mg chol.

Toffee Crisps

Ruby Roethler, Paradise, California

* Years ago, when she was a high school student, Ruby Roethler (then Stratton) admired the baskets of assorted homemade cookies the principal's wife brought to meetings. Now Roethler has adopted this idea and brings a similar basket to potlucks for dessert. These toffee crisps are just one recipe from her delicious repertoire.

Prep and cook time: About 35 minutes

Makes: 5 1/2 dozen

1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter or margarine

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 bag (7.5 oz.) almond brickle or toffee bits or about 1 cup (6 oz.) chopped chocolate-covered toffee candy bars

1. Cut the butter into chunks and put in a large bowl; add granulated and brown sugars. Beat with a mixer to blend, then beat on high speed until the mixture is fluffy.

2. Add eggs and vanilla; beat to blend.

3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix on slow speed to incorporate dry ingredients, then beat on medium speed until well blended.

4. Stir in almond brickle.

5. Drop cookie dough in rounded teaspoon portions about 2 inches apart on oiled or nonstick baking sheets.

6. Bake in a 375 [degrees] oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes (if using one oven, alternate pan positions after 4 to 5 minutes).

7. Cool about 2 minutes on pan. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool.

8. Serve, or store airtight at once for up to 3 days. Freeze to store longer.

Per cookie: 67 cal., 37% (25 cal.) from fat; 0.6 g protein; 2.8 g fat (1.2 g sat.); 9.8 g carbo (0.2 g fiber); 69 mg sodium; 11 mg chol.

Florentine Wedding Cakes

Lynne Tremble, Monarch Beach, California

* The melt-in-your-mouth classic, Mexican wedding cakes, takes on an Italian veil as Lynne Tremble replaces the traditional walnuts with hazelnuts and adds a sprinkle of cocoa.

Prep and cook time: About 50 minutes

Makes: 5 dozen

3/4 cup hazelnuts

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature

About 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Dutch-process cocoa

1. Put nuts in a 9-inch cake or pie pan. Bake in a 350 [degrees] oven until pale gold under skin, 10 to 12 minutes. Pour nuts into a towel and rub briskly with the cloth to remove as much skin as possible. Lift nuts from towel and finely chop. Wipe out pan.

2. Cut butter into chunks and put in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on high speed until fluffy. Add 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar and the vanilla; beat on slow speed to incorporate, then beat on high speed until fluffy.

3. On low speed, mix in flour and salt, then beat until blended.

4. Stir in nuts.

5. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

6. Bake in a 300 [degrees] oven until cookies no longer feel soft when gently touched but are not browned, about 18 minutes. (If using one oven, alternate pan positions after 8 to 10 minutes.) Cool on pans about 5 minutes.