Perky Peppermint Penguins by Sandra Entrican

This cute little guy was entered into the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest in the decorated category. Of course he won! The lady who made him enters this contest every year and~surprise she wins every year. Here is the recipe if you would like to make a fun bunch of penguins for yourself.

Perky Peppermint Penguins

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and flavorings. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Wrap and chill dough until firm, at least one hour. Roll out dough on floured board and place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes. Cool. Frost with glaze.

Glaze

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Enough water to make a spreading consistency.

Decorate as desired. (She made a recipe of white chocolate "plastic" or as some people call it-modeling chocolate and cut the pieces from that to decorate the penguin)

White Chocolate Plastic

9 ounces Wilton candy melts

4 ounces glucose or corn syrup

Melt chocolate and add slightly warm glucose. Mix until combined and wrap in plastic. Let set overnight. Knead dough and roll. Cut into desired shapes.

Swedish Dala Horses

Here is another entry in the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest (decorated category). This cookie didn't win but I thought they tasted good. Here is the recipe:

Swedish Dala Horses

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs-beaten

2 tablespoons almond paste-cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

2 1/2 cups flour-sifted

1/2 cup ground almonds

2 teaspoons baking powder

Royal icing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, almond paste, and orange peel. Combine sifted flour, ground almonds and baking powder and add to wet ingredients. Stir to combine. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into desired shape. Dala Horse cookie cutters are available online or at Scandinavian shops. Simple shapes are best for this cookie as they do spread when baking. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Frost with royal icing.

Here is the link to the origin of the Dala Horse:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalecarlian_horse

Tarragon-Sesame Crisps

Here is another cookie recipe from the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them but they are a light, nutty quarter sized cookie.

Tarragon-Sesame Crisps

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh tarragon

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Beat in egg and add sesame seeds, pecans and fresh tarragon. Add to this a sifted mixture of flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well and drop in small mounds 3 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Bake about 9 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. Makes 4 dozen

Ginger Snowflake Cookies by Nelson Prater

These thin cookies were so good and tasted a little like an oatmeal cookie. You should definitely try this recipe.

Ginger Snowflake Cookies

2/3 cup salted butter

2 cups quick-cook oats

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger, cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slowly melt butter in a saucepan. Stir together oats, sugar, flour, spices and salt. Stir in melted butter, corn syrup, milk and vanilla. Line baking sheet with foil (shiny side up). Drop by rounded TEASPOON on to foil.

Press down to flatten out pretty thin. (These will spread quite a bit-to at least 2" in diameter, so leave lots of room).

Bake 6-8 minutes or until starting to brown. (You can prepare other foil sheets with dough while these are baking).

Remove from oven, pull sheet off the pan onto wire rack to cool. Slide next foil onto pan and stick in oven and repeat. After they have completely cooled, they will be easy to peel off the foil. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Cookie Man

This little guy is my entry for the Cookie Contest in the Cookie Man division. The cookie man is kind of the mascot for the contest. Last years winner appears on all the contest forms for this years contest. I will be entering in 3 categories: Cookie Man, Decorated and Family Recipe. I'll add the family recipe cookie later. It's a blueberry cookie that is very nummy-num!