all the rest

These simple, buttery Soft Amish Sugar Cookies are exquisite. They have crisp edges and a soft, chewy center. They’re easy to make and so satisfying to eat. If you’re not careful, you’ll eat three or four before you know it. They are delicious enough to be eaten plain, but you can’t go wrong if you dress them up with sprinkles or dip them in chocolate. They even travel well and make a welcome addition to my holiday packages. Butter and sugar never came together in a more satisfying bite.

I’ve been in the mood for apple pie lately. But since making pies is rather daunting, I was wondering if all that great taste could somehow be put into a smaller package, like a cookie. John at Preppy Kitchen did just that and his step-by-step instructions with photos make it easy and fun. The result is a delicious pie-cookie hybrid, with a tart apple filling wrapped in a flaky, buttery crust full of cinnamon, allspice and ginger.

My sister asked me to make cookies as a gift for her art teacher. I knew I had to make something pretty...afterall she’s an artist, right? I also knew it had to be delicious because my sister’s art class has been the recipient of a lot of my cookie “experiments,” and some of them, although tasty, were not very pretty to look at. A birthday required a delicious and beautiful cookie.

Cake is a birthday must-have, right?  It has been at our house, but several family members have chosen other desserts, too, like chocolate-pineapple pie or a huge chocolate chip cookie. So although cake may not be the only dessert we have for birthdays, it is still one of the most popular.

I’m a little obsessed with cookie cutters...ok, maybe more than a little. You can’t have too many as far as I’m concerned. My family, however, definitely does not understand this obsession so I’ve stopped talking about it! The shapes alone can inspire me to create something unique. I don’t see any harm in getting just one or two more, do you?

Although decorated cutout cookies are my first love, there are other cookies that also lay claim to my culinary affections. Flavor and texture are key and sometimes what I’m really longing for is a delicious, crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside chocolate chip cookie. I almost always have balls of chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer, ready to pop in the oven at a moment’s notice. No decorating time is necessary to produce these heavenly bites.

When my sister and I were children, my father would bring home several boxes of See’s candy every Christmas. My sister would always choose the milk chocolate pieces and I would choose the dark chocolate pieces. We made a great team!

When I take a few minutes to package my cookies like little presents, or put them in a box tied with a ribbon, they just look special. Don’t get me wrong...I’ve put cookies in a paper bag and handed them over like a sack of potatoes! But I decided long ago that the cookies deserved better. So even if I am just putting them in paper bag, I try to make the bag look like a gift. The easiest way to do that is to fold the top of the bag over, punch two little holes in the flap and then thread a piece of string or raffia twine through the holes and tie it in a bow.

On days that my mother would make Aunt Gertie’s “Two-Hour Cinnamon Rolls” all of us kids couldn’t wait to have one as soon as they were cool enough to bite into. They smelled divine and the gooey caramel-nut topping, mixed with the yeasty cinnamon rolls, so-o-o delicious. These rolls were one of my favorite treats as a child. If there were any left the next day (a rare occurrence), they were even good cold! But usually my brother polished them off before the rest of us had a chance.