A bible for lovers of cookies

Published 6:58 pm Tuesday, December 11, 2007

With the exception of last Christmas (which a lot of us would like to erase from memory but can’t, because it was so ugh-shudder endlessly horrendous), Christmas cookies are an annual and unbreakable tradition in many of our homes.

But last Christmas — struggling through repeated wind-and-snow-driven disasters stretching from Thanksgiving weekend through New Year’s Day — found some of us with no power, meaning no heat, no light, no running water and, subsequently, no wherewithal whatsoever to make cookies.

For some of us, and no exaggeration here, the only and unceasing priority was keeping the family as far this side of hypothermia and hunger as was humanly possible.

What cookies there eventually were, were, by sheer necessity, bought at store or bakery. Aargh! Next year, we vowed, there WILL BE homemade cookies.

Well, guess what? “Next year” is here. Right now. So what say we start our cookie project with a copy of “I Like Cookies,” a hot-off-the-press collection of goodies galore by our very own longtime Forum helper-outer Dianne Berst of Marysville.

Compiled as a tribute to a very dear childhood friend, this cookbook offers a huge array of tantalizing choices, with sections devoted to drop cookies, bar cookies and formed cookies, too, not to skip over a chapter on quick breads, muffins and rolls.

Between the covers of “I Like Cookies,” you’ll find recipes for classic old-timers (lemon bars, gum drop cookies, whoopie pies and dishpan cookies); newcomers (eat-the-dough Christmas cookies with no raw eggs, caramel sundae cookies, Wyoming whoppers, Easter story cookies); and, of course, historical (Depression-era Aunt Myrtle’s washboard cookies) and classic ethnic-heritage cookies (kourambiethes, pfeffernuesse, rugelach and hausfreund).

A quick flip also reveals lip-lickers such as lollipop cookies, jammy fingers, 27 dozen cookies, grasshopper cheesecake bars, date delights (circa 1950 as sold at the Snohomish Bakery), peanut butter (or mint or chocolate fudge) bars, guess whats, chat-and-chew bars, fudge meltaways (said to “freeze well and are really good right out of the freezer”) and Dianne’s own oatmeal apple toffee drops and rhubarb-filled cookies.

Oh, did I mention plenty of no-bake concoctions and time-saver cookies that start with a cake mix?

All told, this cookie-lovers’ cookbook contains 250 pages of tried-and-true recipes, from real people just like you and me.

Many tell a tale or are accompanied by a note about the recipe’s provenance. Kind of like an edible letter from home. Well, sort of. You know what I mean…

Aaah, homemade Christmas cookies. We offer them to holiday drop-ins, they delight as dessert for our families, and we always, always leave a plateful (and don’t forget carrots for the reindeer!) for Santa.

So, if you gotta/wanna make cookies, not just for Christmas but throughout the whole year, or have a lucky someone on your give-to Christmas gift list, here’s how to get your hands on a copy of “I Like Cookies!”

The cookbooks sell for $15 each, plus either $5 per book for postage and handling for Priority Mail, OR $3 postage and handling for 4th class Media Rate (slower delivery). Note that two books, at $15 each, can be sent to the same address for a total of only $3 p/h, using the media rate.

Make checks payable to Dianne Berst, and send to her at P.O. Box 82, Marysville, WA 98270.

Now, while you wait for your copy to arrive in the mail, and ever mindful that a storm is never that far away this time of year, let’s try the book’s no-bake recipes for:

1/2cup butter or margarine, softened

1pound powdered sugar

1can (6 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

12ounces vanilla wafers, or graham crackers, rolled into fine crumbs

Coconut flakes for rolling

Chopped pecans for rolling

Mix together the butter and powdered sugar. Add orange juice and crumbs. Form into small walnut-size balls. Roll balls in coconut flakes or chopped pecans. Place on cookie sheet and refrigerate about 3 hours before serving. Store in large covered container in the refrigerator.

Note: The recipe’s contributor, Janet Elliott of Snohomish, mentions, “These cookies freeze well. The coconut can be tinted for special occasions.”

Makes about 6 dozen.

1cup sugar

1cup light corn syrup

3/4cup peanut butter

6cups Special K cereal or other favorite cereal

1cup butterscotch chips

1cup chocolate chips

For the bars, turn sugar and syrup into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 1-minute intervals, up to 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, until sugar is dissolved. Add peanut butter and stir thoroughly. Pour over cereal, mix well, and press into a 9-by-13-inch pan.

For the frosting, combine chips in a separate microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Spread over the bars in pan. Let stand until frosting is set.

Makes one 9-by-13-inch pan.