The annual cookie post (with bonus recipies)

Reading through some of the local-yokel blogs I follow, I noticed that at least two area bloggers have also been making cookies. Well, this week it was rounds two and three for cookie making.

Before going to Iowa for Thanksgiving, I made Grandma Krause’s Pepper Nuts, which regular readers should already know about. I screwed up that batch; they were edible and everything, but far from my best batch of Pepper Nuts, and not up to my late grandmother’s standards for sure.

Then on Thursday, I found out that we were supposed to be bringing two or three dozen cookies to Will’s school for a thing that parent’s association does for teachers. Not having a lot of time to screw around with something like sugar cookies, I called my mom up and asked her for the recipe for “those cookies you make with the Hershey kisses in them.” I’m sure you’ve seen these before; they often have those Brach’s chocolate star candies in them. Here’s the recipe she emailed:

Chocolate Stars

1 3/4 cup flour
1 t. soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup peanutbutter
1 egg
2 Tbs. milk
1 t. vanilla

Mix together and roll into balls. Roll balls in sugar. Bake @ 375 for 10-12 minutes. Press kiss in while warm. Enjoy!

It really was pretty much that simple, and I’d recommend them of course. But the big surprise/big hit was a sort of non-recipe Mom passed along, Rolo/pretzel cookies or candies. My mom didn’t actually have a recipe– she just said they were really good– but thanks to the Internets and a search engine, Annette and I were soon able get some more specific guidance. Here’s a web site complete with pictures of the candies; the recipe author, Mary Ann Ross, says she makes for funerals at her church. Not real Christmas-y, but there you have it. Here’s my rendition of the recipe:

A bag of mini round pretzels

A bag of Rolo Candies

Some pecan halves (and presumably, you could substitute another nut of your liking)

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees or so. You will see in a moment that the exact temperature really doesn’t matter; in fact, I bet you could just make these in the microwave in a pinch.
• Put some pretzels on a cookie sheet covered with foil or parchment.
• Place one Rolo Candy in the middle of each pretzel. Be sure to unwrap the Rolo first.
• Bake this for just a few minutes– four, tops– until the candies soften.
• As soon as you get them out of the oven, squish a pecan nut half onto each of the candies to flatten it out.
• Let them cool to firm up a bit. Eat them or store them like candies.

I thought this was the goofiest thing I’d ever heard of, but they were darn good.