Cherry Nut Cookies

This is a family favorite that my dad's mother made, and my mom continued. It is such a simple cookie with very few ingredients that comes together quickly, but its very tasty and pretty, and it makes a wonderful addition to a Christmas cookie tray! (Didn't my husband and boys do well while I was sewing?)

Cream together until light and fluffy:

• 1 c. butter
• 2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar (sucanat)

Add and mix thoroughly:

• 1 egg

Stir in:

• 1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl, stir together

• 2 1/4 c. flour (I use white whole wheat)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Add 1 c. flour to butter mixture and stir until smooth. Add enough more lfour to make a moderately stiff dough.

Mix until well blended. Shape dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Roll in:

• 1 c. chopped nuts.

Place on ungreased baking sheet. Press thumb into balls to make depression in center of each. Bake in moderate oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Fill depress in cookies with:

• halved candied cherries, cut side down.

Makes about 6 dozen (really) small cookies (I've never gotten that many).

Grandmother noted on the card: VERY GOOD

Halloween Cookies

So easy, even a husband, two boys, and a crying baby can make them! As I sit here icing my back (the cold kind, not the yummy kind), my dear husband is making these cookies with the boys. They love putting the candy on. So much for blogging about food in order to inspire myself to cook it.

We never did much trick or treating growing up. For one thing, we lived on a dead end dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Our Halloween tradition primarily consisted of carving a jack o lantern and celebrating the day after with deeply discounted candy. But, in later years, my mom found this recipe, and we had it every year.

I will admit, I just love how candy corn looks... and just hate how it tastes. I pick the candy corns off my cookies to eat the cookie alone, but usually there are others around who would just assume have more candy corn, so, everyone ends up happy. We didn't this year, but some years we buy those candycorn pumpkins and cut the tops off and put them in the middle. The candy lovers like the remains.

Maybe these are a little late for making on Halloween, but they could just as easily be "harvest cookies" for Thanksgiving.

And tomorrow...all the candy corn will be on sale.


Halloween Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)
1 cup brown sugar (I use sucanat)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups oats***
2 cups flour (I use white whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1.4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup rice cereal
Candy Corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

***Take 1/2 of the oats and put in a blender about half a cup at a time and blend until it is like flour. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add cocoa, vanilla and eggs--beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in cereal.

Drop by rounded tablespoon (we use about two, typically) onto prepared cookie sheet (we like to use parchment). Bake 12-15 minutes (we switch and turn the pans halfway through). Immediately after removing from the oven, press 3-4 pieces of candy corn onto the tops of cookies (one if you made smaller ones). Let stand for a minute on cookie sheet before removing to racks to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes 5 dozen small cookies or 2 1/2 dozen larger ones.

My mother suggested doubling the recipe and freezing half the dough for another day. We cooked a doubled recipe because they are for a party.

I've never made it this way, but the recipe also says you can choose not to add cocoa and add 1 cup candy coated chocolate pieces or chopped pecans to the dough before stirring in the cereal.