COOKIES
2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup grated unblanched almonds
2 tsp vanilla
FROSTING
6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup half-and-half
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 chopped pistachio nuts
1 for garnish
Directions
Preparation time: 45 minutes Baking time: 16 minutes
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. For cookies, sift flour, sugar and
salt into bowl. Cut in 1 cup butter with pastry blender until mixture
resembles coarse crumbs. Blend in almonds and vanilla. Work mixture
with fingers until a ball of dough is formed. Then shape into 1-inch
balls.
2. Place balls on greased cookie sheets; make a depression in
center of each cookie. Bake about 8 minutes; remove from oven. Dent
again and bake about 8 minutes longer; cool.
3. For frosting, blend 6 tablespoons butter, half-and-half and brown
sugar in saucepan. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly; remove from
heat. Cool about 15 minutes, then stir in confectioners' sugar and
vanilla. Beat until smooth and thick.
4. Fill depressions in cookies with butterscotch frosting and
sprinkle frosting with nuts.
Winner Penney L. Haney of Kenosha described these cookies: "Oh, the
aroma! Dad knew his 'girls' had been baking as soon as he stepped in
the back door, brushing snowflakes from his coat. He warmed his hands
over the hot oven, slowly recovering feeling in his fingertips, numb
from stringing red, yellow, blue, green and white lights in the pines
in the yard. His chore and our special treat combined each year to
mark the beginning of our holiday preparations.
"While chatting to Mom about trying to locate the single,
burned-out bulb that had kept an entire strand out, he watched me,
his tiny daughter, with not so dexterous fingers, shaping dough into
big marbles. I had to kneel on a wooden chair to reach the table,
with Mom's brightly-colored apron wrapped around me nearly twice,
held together in back by a giant safety pin." from the Chicago
Tribune annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 4, 1986
Servings: 60 servings
1986 Winner: Almond Thumbprint Cookies Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cookie; Nut
The History of Recipes
We are able to read the history of `recipes` way back into the far past, in truth as far as the Egyptians, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, sadly, these ancient recipes were just primitive hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to experts is a collection of clay tablets in the Sumerian language describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who tried it feel exhilarated and blissful. As we move into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a collection of documents which described recipes prepared by wealthy Romans. In his scrolls, he describes how the meals were separated into starters, main meal and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef tells us how the Roman cooks made use of a good variety of herbs, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks such as thyme, rue and asafoetida. During the next few centuries, the upper-class families of Europe tried to lay on the best banquets, and consequentially cooks and their recipes became highly prized. However, it was during the 19th century that haute cuisine and recipe collections reached a high level of popularity. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, verifying, and publishing recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. By the advent of the 20th century, cooking books are increasing in popularity due to better eduction, people having more free time and disposable income. |
We hope you enjoy this 1986 Winner_ Almond Thumbprint Cookies recipe.
