This recipe is Grandma's, with some adjustments made by me to convert them into pan cookies (to be cut into cookie bars). The basic ingredients are butter, sugar and flour, and the cookies can be made with just those three ingredients. The basic dough is a good recipe to use with a cookie press (a gadget that will press the dough into Christmas tree or flower shapes), like Grandma used to do. She would then add butter cream frosting as well, in the form of flowers and leaves added to the baked and cooled cookies using an icing press.
Ingredients:
Basic recipe:4 sticks (2 cups/one pound) salted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
4 cups unbleached white flour
Optional additional ingredients
1/2 cup snipped apricots (cut into small pieces with kitchen scissors)
4 slices candied ginger snipped (cut into small pieces)
2 teaspoons sugar sprinkled on top
1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract added to the dough
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the softened butter into the sugar, then add the flour and with very clean hands, work the flour into the sugar/butter mixture with your hands until the dough is evenly mixed and sticking together. Add the chopped fruit, mixing it gently into the dough. For pan cookies, press the dough into an un-greased cookie pan or pizza pan (I use one with a dark coating). Bake pan cookies for 25 minutes, checking them often at the end. Cut into squares with a sharp knife while still hot, then let them cool in the pan.
Variation for pressed cookies: Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes only, gently move them onto a cooling rack or paper towels, and let them cool completely. Add frosting if desired.
Variation for pan cookies: Instead of adding the chopped fruit, sprinkle the unbaked cookies with cinnamon sugar.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the softened butter into the sugar, then add the flour and with very clean hands, work the flour into the sugar/butter mixture with your hands until the dough is evenly mixed and sticking together. Add the chopped fruit, mixing it gently into the dough. For pan cookies, press the dough into an un-greased cookie pan or pizza pan (I use one with a dark coating). Bake pan cookies for 25 minutes, checking them often at the end. Cut into squares with a sharp knife while still hot, then let them cool in the pan.
Variation for pressed cookies: Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes only, gently move them onto a cooling rack or paper towels, and let them cool completely. Add frosting if desired.
Variation for pan cookies: Instead of adding the chopped fruit, sprinkle the unbaked cookies with cinnamon sugar.
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