These reminded me so much of the old Stella Dora cookies of my childhood.

Norwegian Toast

By Peggy Melick
My mother was from Virginia, Minnesota, a small town in the Iron Ore range of Northern Minnesota. After one of her visits to Virginia, she brought this recipe back from her childhood girlfriend, Ann Foster. Mom and I prepared them on her return, and I’ve been making them ever since. They are somewhat like biscotti but not as firm.

Makes 3 Dozen

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

1 cup salted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup sour cream
3 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. soda

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Blend in the almond extract and sour cream. Combine the flour and soda thoroughly.

Spoon 3 rows of dough onto a cookie sheet, allowing space between rows. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and with a sharp knife, cut 1-inch slices, turn on side, return to oven and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

These use a ton of ingredients, but make a huge pan of coconutty, shortbready cookies that will feed a crowd. We all decided the recommended lemon frosting seemed like overkill on these, but you can decide for yourself. Another holiday favorite. (And yes, this one slipped by my official photo session as well. Argh!)

Walnut Slice Cookies

Patricia Swan
“I have been making these cookies for over 40 years”

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 eggs
1 16oz package brown sugar
4 T flour
1/2 tsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 pound walnuts, chopped
1 14oz package shredded coconut

Shortbread: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and constrach, then add to butter and sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly. Butter a 9×13″ baking pan. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.

While baking shortbread, beat eggs and brown sugar together until very light in color. Add flour, baking powder and vanilla. Beat. Stir in walnuts and coconut. Pour mixture over baked shortbread crust and bake at 300 degrees for 15 to 25  minutes, then continue baking at 350 degrees for 5 more minutes. Cool.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 16oz package powdered sugar
1 30z. package cream cheese, softened
lemon juice

In a bowl, mix together butter, sugar, cream cheese and enough lemon juice to thin frosting. Spread over cooled cookies.

This recipe is a leading contender this year, due in part to how good they taste, but also to how good they make your house smell while you bake them. It’s a multi-step recipe, but well-worth he extra effort for a memorable cookie that’s like eating a freshly baked apple.

(OOPS! This picture is not really of these cookies. The batch I made got snapped up SO FAST I didn’t even get a picture. Seriously. But they looked pretty much like this.)

Baked Apple Oatmeal Cookies

By Rochelle Wattz

1 c. butter plus 2 tbs.
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 cup baker’s sugar (this is the finely granulated kind — you can get the same effect by pulsing regular sugar in a Cuisinart)
2 eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 c toasted oats
2 c of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt

Sauteed Apples
1.5 cups of apples, peeled and cored
½ cup of apple cider
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
zest of 1 orange

1 cup Caramelized Pecans (use this recipe, it works great!)

In ADVANCE
Toast oats in a large skillet until golden brown-cool. Transfer to a cookie sheet to cool.

Next, peel and core about two small apples to make 1.5 cups of apples. Cut into small cubes. Transfer to skillet and sauté in apple cider, cinnamon, clove, orange zest, and nutmeg. Your house will smell like Christmas. Cool.

Sauté pecans in butter and brown sugar until caramelized. Cool

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, brown sugar, bakers sugar. Add eggs. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Fold flour and oats into butter mixture and mix well. Last, gentle fold in apples and pecans. Drop by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake in Pre-Heated Oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
Cool or heat warm with Vanilla Bean ice cream

This recipe came in by phone, and sounded good enough to transcribe. Mostly because I love Maraschino cherries. Unfortunately, in saving the recipe, the name of the baker got lost in translation. So, if you were the one who called, let me know!

Cherry Surprise Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1.5 cups sifted flour
1/8  tsp salt
1 jar Maraschino cherries with juice reserved

Drain cherries so they aren’t too wet, reserve juice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar, add flour and salt and mix thoroughly. Wrap about a teaspoon of the dough around each cherry and roll into ball. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet about an inch apart. Press gently. Bake 12-15 minutes. Don’t overcook. They should be blonde in color.

Gently set on cooling rack and prepare frosting.

Mix 1/3 c butter and 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar with just cherry juice to get a good consistency. While cookies are still warm, drop a teaspoon atop the cookie so it melts and glazes the top.