Herald readers share their cookie recipes

We asked our readers to send in their favorite holiday recipes. Here are some of the cookies your friends and neighbors are making this holiday season.

I got this recipe years ago from a friend of my mother’s. I use it every year. It is so easy to make lots of different cookies with one big bowl of dough. And it is a great recipe for kids to help with.

The rolling and stamping is fun for kids to help with, and one bowl of dough can make a great variety of cookies. They bake in such a short amount of time that it gets done very quickly.

Marie Chavez

Lynnwood

THIN SUGAR COOKIES

2cubes butter

1cup granulated sugar

1cup powdered sugar

1teaspoon vanilla (or other flavoring: lemon, almond)

1teaspoon cream of tartar

1teaspoon salt

1teaspoon baking soda

2eggs

1cup oil

4 1/2cups of flour

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugars, vanilla, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, eggs and oil.

Beat well then add flour.

Chill dough.

Roll into small balls (about 1 inch). Then roll the balls in colored sugar, white sugar, cinnamon sugar, coconut, finely chopped nuts or whatever you have.

Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet and stamp with the bottom of a glass until very thin.

Bake 5 to 6 minutes until just beginning to turn tan around the edges.

Four generations of marzipan makers: We start them at 10 to become little bakers. Good every time.

The Thompson Family

MARZIPAN COOKIES

1cup butter

1/2cup sugar

2 1/2cups flour

1teaspoon almond extract

Green, orange, red and blue food coloring

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Wash hands carefully.

Cut dough with cutter until butter is lightly incorporated.

Use hands to finish mixing the ingredients.

Separate dough into three sections and add food coloring to each.

Green dough can be made into pea pods by rolling a flat piece (the pod) and wrapping it around 3 small rolled peas. Make a shape looking like a broccoli bunch, color small dots in dark green, and draw a line for the stem.

Orange dough can be made into pumpkins with cloves as a top. Shape pears and add small green dough for leaves.

Red and blue mixed together can make plums with cinnamon sticks on the top.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Bake about 30 minutes or until brown. Let cookies cool and remove from sheet.

This is a cookie that an older lady friend of my mother’s made when I was growing up. It was probably in the early 1960s. She always made recipes that were “healthy” for her husband.

I have made them at Christmastime ever since then: through my teenage years, early married life and since our daughter was born.

She now lives in Richland and is the assistant director of special education for the Pasco School District, but she had to have these during the holidays. If I don’t make them, she will. She even tried to make them better one year by using butter instead of margarine, but they don’t turn out right if you do.

So a warning: Do not substitute butter for the margarine.

Kathy Carsen

Lake Stevens

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

1/2pound margarine softened (do not substitute butter)

2tablespoons sugar

1teaspoon salt

1cup flour

1teaspoon vanilla

1cup walnuts, ground

Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all ingredients, except powdered sugar, in a bowl until soft and well blended. Best done with clean hands.

Roll with hands into small round balls about 1 inch in diameter.

Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. They won’t look brown.

Roll in powdered sugar while hot and again when cool.

This cookie recipe was given to me by a good friend a long time ago. The cookies are delicious and always popular.

Pam Kluth

BRUNA KAKOR

1cup butter (Do not substitute margarine or shortening

1cup sugar

2cups flour

1teaspoon baking soda

2teaspoons vanilla sugar (can substitute 1/2 teaspoon regular vanilla)

2tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup (Do not use Karo or other syrups. I find Lyle’s Golden Syrup at QFC.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix in order given. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Divide dough into 4 parts and roll each part on a sheet of waxed paper with your hand so that it looks like a long hot dog, about 12 inches long.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet, two to a sheet.

Bake about 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. The hot dog shape will flatten and turn a nice golden brown.

Slice diagonally while still warm.

Store in airtight container. Enjoy.

I found this recipe on the inside of a Land O’ Lakes butter box several years ago. It was quickly added to my Christmas cookie list and has become my husband’s favorite.

I can’t wait to see the other recipes everyone else shares.

Sharon Means

RASPBERRY ALMOND SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINTS

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 cups flour, sifted

Jam

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter, sugar and almond flavoring till creamy.

Add flour and beat till well mixed. Roll into 1-inch balls and press thumb in center. Edges may crack. Fill each cookie with 1/4 teaspoon of jam.

Bake 16 minutes until brown on edges.

Tip: If cookies are spreading out too much, chill dough for 1 hour or stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour.

Drizzle glaze over top.

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2teaspoon almond flavoring

2 tablespoons water

Stir to make a thin glaze.

I put glaze in a cup with a pointed spout and drizzle it in lines over cookies.

I’m enclosing four recipes. The first two are my very favorite Christmas cookies. My mom made these for years and got the recipes from the booklet “The Electric Company — Home Service Bureau” (I have no idea which electric company).

One year, when she decided she didn’t want to do a lot of baking anymore, she mailed us kids the recipes instead of sending the cookies. Now my sister Sarah makes and shares them.

Judy Henceroth

ORANGE PECAN COOKIES

1cup butter

1/2cup brown sugar

1/2cup white sugar

1egg

2tablespoon orange juice

1tablespoon grated orange peel

2 3/4cups bread flour (I use all-purpose flour)

1/4teaspoon soda

1/2cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Add orange peel and juice, sifted dry ingredients and pecans.

Form into rolls and refrigerate overnight.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice thin and bake about 8 or 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

FRUIT-FILLED REFRIGERATOR COOKIES

1cup butter

2cups brown sugar

3eggs

4cups bread flour (I use all-purpose flour)

1/2teaspoon cinnamon

1teaspoon soda

3/4teaspoon salt

Filling

1cup pitted dates, cut in small pieces

1/2cup sugar

1/2cup water

1/2cup nuts, finely cut

Cream butter. Add sugar and cream thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour with cinnamon, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture.

Divide dough in half. Roll each half 1/4-inch thick.

Make filling: Cook dates, sugar and water until dates are soft. Add nuts and cool.

Cover rolled out dough with filling and roll like jelly roll.

Chill overnight in refrigerator.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice thin with sharp knife.

Bake about 10 or 12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

My wonderful friend, Herb Gingold, gave me the third recipe in Washington, D.C., in 1982.

These are fun and a nice change because they’re spicy, not sweet.

I suppose one could have a discussion over whether these are cookies or crackers, but they’re rich like cookies.

Herb said that he once made the mistake of setting these out where some young kids got to them who were (unpleasantly) surprised because they were spicy, so he was more careful and gave warning afterwards.

Another friend’s mother brought a similar recipe from Australia using curry instead of cayenne.

CAYENNE-CHEDDAR COOKIES

2sticks of butter

3cups of pecans, chopped fine

3ounces of sharp cheddar, grated

2cups flour, unsifted

1/2teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Blend the butter, pecans and cheddar. Stir in flour and pepper.

Roll in wax paper, into a tube and chill overnight. (Herb would put these in the freezer for an hour.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut into 1/4-inch slices, not too thick or thin and place on greased a cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, but check in 8 minutes to see if done.

Put under broiler for 1 minute. Watch out for burning.

The fourth recipe, from my former co-worker, Dee (can’t remember her last name), makes a cookie that has a relatively delicate flavor, not too sweet. It does take some hand stirring:

BISCOTTI DI REGINA — SESAME SEED COOKIES

1 1/2cups flour

3/4teaspoon baking powder

2/3cup sugar

1egg, beaten slightly to blend

1teaspoon vanilla

6tablespoon melted butter (3/4 of a cube)

2/3cup sesame seeds, approximately

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the egg, vanilla and slightly cooled butter into the well. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a big ball.

It is easier to handle if you let it sit for a few minutes (5 minutes at most).

Roll out into a log on a board (do not use additional flour). Cut into 1-inch slices. Roll lightly in the sesame seeds and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. I sometimes roll out the dough and cut shapes with a cookie cutter, then lightly press top side into sesame seeds.

Bake for 10 minutes for a soft cookie, 20 minutes for a more traditional Italian wine cookie.

I was first introduced to anise by my mother-in-law and made this recipe for the first time with her. Maybe that’s what made these cookies the best I’ve ever eaten. I bake them every year around Christmas time and remember Mom Lucero.

Terri Lucero

ANISE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2 3/4cup flour

1teaspoon baking powder

1/2teaspoon salt

3/4cup butter, softened

1cup powdered sugar

2eggs

1teaspoon vanilla

1teaspoon crushed anise or anise oil

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix butter, powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla and anise until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture and mix well. Chill for 1 hour or until firm.

Roll out small amounts at a time to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes.

Bake on greased cookie sheet in 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Decorate with frosting or colored sugar. Homemade chocolate frosting is the best.

This has always been my favorite Christmas cookie recipe since childhood. I love the softness and the not-too-sweet taste of this cookie.

I have fond memories of my mom turning our home into “the little cookie factory” in December as she made and baked dozens and dozens of different kinds of wonderful Christmas cookies.

Jeanine (Knowlton) Nichols

Edmonds

COCONUT SNOW BALLS

1cup butter

2cups sugar

2eggs

1teaspoon vanilla

1cup flour

1teaspoon baking soda

2teaspoon baking powder

1/2teaspoon salt

4cups flour, alternating with