CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Present an assortment of cookies as a gift, using a fast-food salad container as a "gift box."

A holiday cookie
collection

---

By Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.com

These simple cookies are favorites at my house. The first two have been around for many seasons; the peanut cookie is this year's addition. As a whole they provide good variety, they look good and they're all easy, the type of baking project that can involve children in a mass-production line.

If you're planning cookie gifts, here's a presentation idea: Fast food salad containers. Surely you'll be eating fast food over this busy time. These containers have clear, snap-tight lids, plus they're light, stackable and hold a dozen or so cookies. Put a bow on top to cover the image of the Golden Arches, and you're set.

Rolled cookie

Sugar cookies are among the prettiest of the holiday season, but not the most practical. Usually they're decorated with frosting, which makes them overly sweet, sticky and difficult to stack.

These chewy, cinnamon-flavored cookies have a baked-on egg-yolk glaze that makes the cookies look as though they've been touched up with watercolors. They're packable and stackable.

A single egg yolk is enough to color a full batch of cookies. Best way to set up is to use a muffin tin to hold the various colors, and inexpensive watercolor brushes to apply them. This is a great project for kids, even for very young ones, although their creations may be a bit avant-garde.

Glazed Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Decorative sugar sprinkles (optional)
>> Glaze:
1 egg yolk
A few drops water
Food coloring, various colors

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add gradually to creamed mixture and beat until blended. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To prepare glaze: Break up the yolk and divide it among 4 to 5 sections of a muffin tin (or use small bowls). Add 2 to 3 drops of water to each section, just enough to smooth out the yolk. Add 2 drops food coloring to each section to create a palette of colors.

Roll dough on a well-floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. If dough is sticky, add more flour. It's all right if cookies are powdery; you'll be covering them with glaze. Transfer cut cookies to cookie sheets. Paint with colors and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light brown around edges. Makes about 30 cookies.

Drop cookie

This recipe has been tried and proven by thousands of bakers nationwide. It's from the C&H Sugar collection -- one of the many recipes once printed on the sugar bag. C&H says it is one of the most requested.

The cookie has all the familiar flavors of gingerbread -- cinnamon, ginger and cloves -- but in a convenient cookie form. Unlike traditional gingersnaps, though, this cookie is soft to the bite.

It spreads out when it bakes rather than puffing up, so it packs flat. And it's very sturdy for including in gift boxes.

The C&H Web site offers an extensive catalog of recipes, and you know these are user-friendly because the company has to make them error-proof for the masses.

Visit www.chsugar.com.

Chewy Gingersnaps

1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon EACH ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar

Cream together brown sugar and shortening until fluffy. Add egg and molasses; beat well.

Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture; mix well. Chill dough.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Bar cookie

This is an adult cookie -- not too sweet, with lots of peanutty flavor.

The base is a light shortbread that you spread out by hand into a thin layer. After baking and cooling, break it up into individual pieces.

This cookie needs to be thin, so it will bake up crisp. The recipe is written for a standard jelly roll pan, the type with the 1/2-inch rim. If you don't have one, use a large cookie sheet and spread the dough to the dimensions listed. If you use a regular 9-by-13-inch baking pan, the dough will be too thick.

Cookie Brittle

"1001 Cookie Recipes" by Gregg R. Gillespie (Workman Publishing, 1995)

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup unsalted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 15-by-10-inch jelly roll pan.

Combine flour and salt.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar; beat in vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Dough will be stiff.

Spread dough in pan, pressing with fingers to make an even layer, about 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle peanuts over top and press gently into dough. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until top is lightly colored.

Cool in pan on wire rack, then break into irregular pieces of any size. Makes 2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Click for online
calendars and events.