Michelle your cookies are so pretty, yummy looking too :)

Your cookies are beautiful. I love a good Linzer, translated to one with LOTS of butter, which this one has. I will have to try the recipe.

Michelle, I love when you post your cookies, they are the very best! Do I see Mary's Lemon Pistachio cookies at the top? One of my favorites!

Beautiful Michelle! They sound delish, maybe next year.......

I'll ditto "OMG, they are fabulous!"
Just beautiful!

Lucy

Oops I forgot to mention I only used 1 tsp vanilla in the Best Linzer Cookie recipe. So many new recipes call for an incease in the vanilla and I don't think it is necessary.

Thanks everyone for your more then kind words!!

The last few weeks have been so hectic and I did not get to bake 5 recipes I had planned on making. Plus I just plum ran out of time as far as decorating them. No painted cut out snowflakes, no meringue cookies, no piped icing with sprinkled gold dust, in fact no iced cookies at all. The new puppies were not the problem, I blew the transmission in my car and we were stranded in booneville IL for a weekend and then I was a week with no car. I am so glad I got all my candies done early!

Marigene, yes the cookies at 11:00 are Mary's Lemon Pishachio Cookies and they are good!!

As far as a ringer for my holiday baking this year, it has to be my Genealogy Death cookies that I've made many times. But this year I sprinkled crushed candy cane on top. Unfortunately the candy cane melted so the effect was not as planned. To correct this blooper I was going to drizzle icing over them but as you see that did not happen. BUT THE GENEALOGY DEATH COOKIES WITH JUST A HINT OF PEPPERMENT are too die for!!!!!!!!

Michelle

....and the recipe for the Genealogy Death Cookies is ?

:)

Wow, wow. Your cookies are gorgeous! I made so many this year, but I think fewer varieties makes a more elegant statement than my cookie platter with 30 varieties did. And I must take credit for the candy cane cookie recipe. You did a great job on them, and I'm glad you tried it.

Happy New Year!
Nancy

and what prey-tell are geneology death cookies?

your green ones are scaring me LOL

the brown ones behind the LT's - are they a ginger cookie? if so YUM YUM YUMMMMMMM

they look delicious. can't wait for my sample box to arrive LOLOLOLOLOL

Thanks Nancy, I can now add your name to the recipe.

Clockwise starting at midnight.

Candy Cane Cookies
Genealogy Death Cookies
Cream Cheese Cookies (cookie press and family tradition)
Linzer Cookies
Molasses Cookies (Mom's recipe)
Lemon Pishachio Cookies

Not shown: Santa's Helpers, Cheddar Cheese Thumbprints, Molasses Thumbprints and there is another one too but I don't remember what it was off hand...LOL!

I would like to make a Candy Cane Cookie with the Genealogy Death Cookie dough and my Cream Cheese Cookie dough. It would be an interesting cookie for Halloween!

Genealogy Death Cookies

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag double chocolate baking chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a double boiler, or in the oven. Stir frequently to combine and prevent scorching.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the melted chocolate/butter mixture until smooth, and let cool slightly.

Add brown sugar to chocolate and butter, and mix until well combined.

Add egg, and beat until blended with other wet ingredients.

Add dry ingredients (a little bit at a time) and mix well.

Add sour cream and vanilla, and mix until everything forms a smooth, even dough.

Drop onto cookie sheets (no need to grease the pans unless yours are particularly sticky...you can also use Silpats or parchments to line the pan.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until firm.

Cool on rack.

Michelle

Thanks Michelle, these genealogy cookies sound good ... I have copied and pasted them for a later day.

michelle, would you share the molasses recipe?

Michelle..I am so glad you enjoyed them~
All your cookies are beautiful..

This yr as new additions..our favorites were Moka Viennese Shortbreads..and the Santa's Helpers~

Happy New Year:)

all the cookies look great!

Two questions on the Genealogy cookies:

what do you do with the bag of double chocolate chips? are they melted, or stirred in at the end?

and *why* are they called Genealogy Death Cookies?? certainly sounds like there's a story there...

Maryanne, I will note my Mom's recipe below which is a very basic and good Molasses Cookie. But we had quite a thread on Ginger Cookies...as I remember it was maybe Nov '06 or somewhere around that time. I can post these recipes if you'd like. Let me know.

nama, Ooops you're right there is no mention of the chocolate chips in the directions. I always melt it with the unsweetened chocolate and butter. But I bet you're supposed to just mix the whole chips in at the end. My dough is a bit sticky but easily workable. And it is a drop cookie so the dough consistency is not crucial. They are a very, rich chocolate cookie. At the time I had been looking for the perfect CHOCOLATE cookie and I sure found it.

Where the name, Genealogy Death Cookies, came from I have no idea. I don't even remember where or when I picked up the recipe but it was at least 5-6 years ago. I do genealogy and used to work at our local Family History Center and I think I may have picked up the recipe from a patron??? I do remember googling Genealogy Death Cookie years ago and there was nothing on the net at that time. So the name, as far as I know, is a mystery, along with many other aspects of genealogy...LOL!!

Drop Molasses Cookies (Mom's recipe)

1 c. sugar
3/4 c. shortening (I use butter)
1 egg
4 TBS molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp soda
2 1/4 c. flour

Cream crisco/butter and sugars. Add egg and molasses, cinnamon, ginger, soda, vanilla and egg. Add flour. Chill dough. Make balls into a size of a walnut, roll in sugar. DO NOT press down. Bake at 350 degrees.

NOTES: Do not over over bake these cookies. They should be soft and chewy. I like to roll then in the coarse sugar but granulated sugar is just fine. I make them with no sugar coating too.

Michelle

Michelle - question - what size bag of chocolate chips for the Genealogy Death Cookies? 6 oz. or 12 oz.?

They sound like a little bit of chocolate heaven!

Also - where can I find the recipe for those Lemon Pistachio cookies?

thanks Michelle, those look great--can't wait to try them. I was thinking the name came from always making them when someone had a death in the family---or perhaps they were so rich that they would clog your arteries causing early death and thus no continuation of the genealogy?? LOL!! My dh and BIL dabble in genealogy and we have a pretty extensive direct descent tree right now. I'd love to start looking for some of the contemporary "branches".

And I have a very similar ginger/molasses recipe, except it has cloves, too...

Nancy

Oh wow...there is alot missing from the Death cookies, isn't there! I never noticed before and I've made this recipe countless times.

I use the 12 oz bag of chocolate chips. I go big on
everything! ;)

Pat here is the Lemon Pistachio Cookie recipe from Mary.

LEMON PISTACHIO COOKIES (Mary)

2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 Cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 Cup plus 3 Tbs. sugar, divided
1 Large egg
1 Tbs. lemon zest, grated
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/3 Cup pistachio nuts, finely chopped

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, mixing
until just combined. Add lemon zest and juice. Blend in dry ingredients, mix
to thoroughly combine. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

Combine pistachio nuts and remaining sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into
1-inch balls. Roll balls in pistachio-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on
ungreased baking sheets. Press cookies down with a small glass to flatten
slightly. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden. Transfer to racks to cool.

NOTES: I add the zest from a entire lemon. And I add about 2 T. fresh lemon juice.

I worked and worked on a lemon cookie recipe and it took me about a year before it dawned on me to add cream cheese which made the cookies just perfect. I have to admit they are the best lemon cookies I've ever eaten but of course they are to my taste and puckery lemon.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies (My recipe)

1 c. butter
1-3 oz package of Cream Cheese
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 TBL fresh lemon juice (you can add a bit more juice I DO!)
Grated lemon Peel (I grate the entire lemon)
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder

Lemon Glaze

Juice of 1 lemon
Grated Lemon Peel (I grate the entire lemon)
Powdered sugar

Cookies:

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, egg, lemon juice and rind. Add flour and baking soda and blend into cream cheese mixture. Chill dough. Use cookie press, drop and crisscross with fork or press flat or you can roll out and use a cookie cutter. Cool cookies before glazing.

Glaze:

Mix lemon juice and rind and add powdered sugar until you have a nice glazing consistency. You can grate more rind and sprinkle on top too.

Michelle

Thanks Michelle! I think I might try the Genealogy Death cookies very soon.

Michelle

Your Lemon Cream Cheese cookies sound yummy but . . . mmmm . . . do ya cook 'em? Kinda thinking so with the flour and the cool before part. Could ya share that part or is it a secret? :-))

Sorry Holly...I always bake my cookies at 350 degrees just until the edges get a light brown. I don't time my cookies I just keep an eye on them. I now have a convection oven so I lowered the temp to 325 degrees.

Michelle