Cookies and memories, refrigerator cookies

[ppfuf]

Refrigerator cookies are the kind that you roll the dough into a log (or snake), wrap in waxed paper and out in the ‘fridge to chill. When cold, you slice the log into thin cookies and bake. I find as I get older and my hands are less cooperative about rolling out dough I’m making more and more of this kind of cookies.

 

Danish Sugar Cookies from Sunset Cookies
2 cups (14 oz) granulated sugar
1 cup (8 oz) cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (5 ounces) whole almonds, blanched and skins removed
2 tesp vanilla
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) flour
Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Prepare cooling racks.
In the clean bowl of a food processor, grind the almonds to fine crumbs. You do not want a paste, so ensure the almonds are dry before grinding. Warm the almonds in a 200F oven if they are damp. You can pulverize the almonds by hand with a mortar and pestle if you are insane. If you do not have a food processor, you can buy pre-ground almonds if you can find a brand that removed the skins.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugars until well creamed. Add almonds and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add flour to butter mixture and mix thoroughly.
Lift the dough out of the mixing bowl, patting it into two or four large lumps. On a clean cutting board, roll the first lump of dough into a 1 1/2 inch-thick log. Place a tablespoon or two of white sugar on a largish piece of waxed paper, smoothing the sugar out to the length of your log. Place the log on the sugar and roll gently until the outside of the log is covered. Wrap the log snugly in the waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you think the log will stay in the ‘fridge longer than that, place the log in a large zip-top bag. Repeat until out of lumps.
When very cold, remove the log from the refrigerator. Unwrap and use a sharp knife to slice the log into 1/8 inch rounds. Place on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
Bake in middle rack of oven about 8 minutes. If your oven has hotspots, rotate at the 4 minute mark. If using two baking sheets in one oven, trade places from top to bottom at the 4 minute mark. These cookies will puff only slightly, and are done when the edges brown.
When done, remove gently from baking sheets, or place entire sheet of parchment on cooling racks.

 

Poppyseed and Hazelnut slices from Sunset Cookies
I typically double this recipe, but it nearly overflows my mixing bowl so I’ve left the original amounts here.
1 cup (8 oz) butter
1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tesp vanilla
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (1 ½ oz) poppy seeds
1 heaping tesp ground cinnamon 
1/2 heaping tesp ground ginger
1/4 tesp salt
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped hazelnuts
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Prepare cooling racks.
Chop the hazelnuts so each nut is at least in half. You may be tempted to try to remove the skins from the hazelnuts, and if you figure out how to do that without frustration and cussing, please let me know how. It’s much cheaper to buy poppy seeds by weight at Whole Foods or a good health food store.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until well creamed. Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, spices and poppy seeds. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add nuts and mix thoroughly, using your hands if you need to.
Lift the dough out of the mixing bowl, patting it into two large lumps. On a clean cutting board, roll the dough into an inch-thick log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you think the log will stay in the ‘fridge longer than that, place the log in a large zip-top bag. Repeat with second lump. If you have leftover poppy seeds, you can use them to coat the outside of the log by following the instructions for sugaring the outside of the Danish Sugar Cookies.
When very cold, remove the log from the refrigerator. Unwrap and use a sharp knife to slice the log into 1/8 inch rounds. Place on prepared baking sheet, close but not touching. These cookies don’t spread much, if at all.
Bake in middle rack of oven about 6 minutes. If your oven has hotspots, rotate at the 3 minute mark. If using two baking sheets in one oven, trade places from top to bottom at the 3 minute mark. It’s hard to tell when these are done, sometimes I flip one over to check the bottoms for slight browning.
When done, remove gently from baking sheets, or place entire sheet of parchment on cooling racks.

 

Orange Cardamom Cookies by Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez and Lillian Chou from Gourmet Magazine December 2007. The original recipe calls for rolling and cutting the dough, but this works too.
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) white sugar
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 oz) butter
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
2 1/2 cups (10 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Prepare cooling racks.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until well creamed. Add egg yolk, zest and cream and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cardamom and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in small batches and mix until a dough forms.
Lift the dough out of the mixing bowl, patting it into a large lump. On a clean cutting board, roll the dough into an inch-thick log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you think the log will stay in the ‘fridge longer than that, place the log in a large zip-top bag. You may need to create two logs to get them to fit.
When very cold, remove the log from the refrigerator. Unwrap and use a sharp knife to slice the log into 1/8 inch rounds. Place on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
Bake until edges are golden-brown, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then slide cookies, still on parchment, onto a rack to cool completely.

 

Grandma Roger’s refrigerator cookies. I haven’t actually made these in years, but I wanted to get the recipe typed up before the ink faded.
1 cup (8oz) brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) white sugar
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 oz) salted butter
2 eggs
2 tesp vanilla
3 cups (12 3/4 oz) unsifted flour
1 tesp soda
½ tesp baking powder
2 Tbl milk
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Prepare cooling racks.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugars until well creamed. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda and baking powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Add nuts (if using) and mix.
Lift the dough out of the mixing bowl, patting it into a large lump. On a clean cutting board, roll the dough into an inch-thick log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you think the log will stay in the ‘fridge longer than that, place the log in a large zip-top bag. You may need to create two logs to get them to fit.
When very cold, remove the log from the refrigerator. Unwrap and use a sharp knife to slice the log into ¼ inch rounds. Place on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
Bake in middle rack of oven about 8 minutes. If your oven has hotspots, rotate at the 4 minute mark. If using two baking sheets in one oven, trade places from top to bottom at the 4 minute mark.
When done, remove gently from baking sheets, or place entire sheet of parchment on cooling racks.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I looked in the cookbook my mother assembled for me, and the one I remember best is not there. This is what I can remember of it, roughly:

Melt around 2c. chocolate chips. Add some melted butter. Mix in 1 c. coconut shreds. Mix in 1c. oatmeal (possibly toast the oatmeal first.) There may also have been nuts involved.

Drop onto waxed paper on cookie sheets, put in fridge to harden up. After they're hard, they can be kept at cool room temp (ie, not in the summer!)