Favorite Christmas Cookies or Bars

EJ, you don't have graham crackers in Essex? Gosh, I don't know what you could substitute.

 

Butter Pecan Pie Squares

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light or dark Karo syrup
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

Combine flour and 1/3 cup sugar in bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse meal. Press into a 9-inch square or round pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Combine eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, Karo syrup, flour, salt, butter and vanilla extract. Beat well. Stir in pecans. Pour filling over crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until firm.

I like the light Karo syrup best.

 

Chocolate Drops

1 (12 ounce) package chocolate chips
3 tablespoons margarine
1 cup flour
1 (14 ounce ) can condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts work best.
Confectioner's sugar, sifted

In the top of a double boiler, over high heat, combine chocolate chips and margarine. Stir the mixture until the chocolate melts. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the flour, condensed milk and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Add the nuts and blend. Place cookie mixture by heaping teaspoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Slightly depress the center of each cookie with your thumb or with a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes. Do not brown. Transfer the cookies immediately to wire rack to cool. Dust the drops with the confectioners' sugar. Makes 72-84 cookies.

 

The kids and I used to make Christmas cookies and decorate them. We had so much fun. I used an old sugar cookie recipe my mom gave me that her mother had given her. I need to dig that recipe back out!We would mix up the dough and roll it out and cut out Christmas trees, bells, wreaths, Santas, reindeer and lots more. Then we would mix egg yolks with food coloring in seperate bowls for each color and use paint brushes to paint on the cookies. They were very delicious!!The egg yolks and food coloring made a very pretty gloss on the cookies.We would spend all day making our cookies and have so much fun and laughs!! We couldn't wait for John to come home from work to see our beautiful cookies!!lol I'm sure Evan and I will make the same cookies together one day! If I can find the recipe Alan and I just might make our cookies this year!!