Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies

Another use for a mountain of oranges is dessert. And Cranberry Orange Shortbread cookies are one of my favorites, especially for tea time.
-AnglophileLV

Ingredients
•1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped fine
•1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
•10 tablespoons softened butter
•1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
•finely grated zest of 1 orange
Optional: finely chopped almond slivers (for a Morroccan touch), or Chai Masala (for an indian touch)
 
Preheat oven to 325.
Mix everything together and roll the thick dough out until it is 1/4th of an inch thick. These cookies do not rise, so you have to flatten it out to cookie-thickness. Then cut out your cookies with a cookie cutter, or the lid of a jar of yeast (that's what I did), and lay them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
 
Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottoms.
 
Makes a little under 2-dozen.
 
Now - for extra flair - I spread melted Ghiradelli chocolate on half of each cookie. You can't go wrong with dark chocolate and orange. Yum.

Polka Dot Cookies

My boyfriend went on a Cookie spree today. I woke to the the smell of baking cookies and the sound of him singing Christmas carols along with Dean Martin and Bing Crosby. Between us, we filled three tins and two plastic baggies with peanut butter cookies, sourdough chocolate chip cookies, and these delicious Polka Dot Cookies. Santa is going to gain ten pounds at our apartment alone with all these goodies. --AnglophileLV


Polka Dot Cookies
Ingredients (Original Recipe Yields around 50 cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set.

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Imagine Toll House, but lighter and fluffier - that's what these turned out to be. I don't know whether it was the shortening or the sourdough starter, but one or both of them made these into a melt-in-your-mouth consistancy. I highly recommend this recipe. My mom swears she can taste a slight sour kick to the cookie, but I sure can't. --AnglophileLV
***On consideration, these cookies could have used more chocolate chips. So throw in 1 and 1/2 bags if you are making a half-batch like I did.

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe makes 70 cookies, cut in half for smaller batches)

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour -- unsifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter -- softened
1 cup shortening -- softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar -- packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sourdough starter
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups walnuts -- chopped
2 12 oz pkgs chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine butter, shortening, sugars and mix well. Add eggs and beat until all are blended. Add vanilla and sourdough starter. Beat in flour, soda, salt and mix well. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Despite my protestations, my mother still thinks these taste just like gingerbread men and wants to squeeze white icing all over them- but ginger cookies do not have to be limited to the Holidays! These are delicious just as they are.
--AnglophileLV


Big Soft Ginger Cookies


Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons Chopped crystallized ginger
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses2+ tablespoons white sugar (to coat cookies)



Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.