1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners'sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp water
36 each thin layered chocolate
1 mint wafers (or other
1 flavor miniature
1 chocolates), unwrapped
ICING
1 confectioners' sugar
1 milk
1 food color, colored
1 sprinkles as desired
Directions
Preparation time: 2 hours Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Have ready ungreased baking sheets.
2. Beat butter in large bowl of electric mixer until light and
fluffy. Beat in half of the flour, the sugar, vanilla and water until
thoroughly combined. Beat in the remaining flour.
3. Use a scant 1 tablespoon of dough and press it flat and thin with
your hands. Put a chocolate mint wafer in the center and fold the
dough over to completely cover each chocolate and to form a neat,
rectangular package. Pinch the edges to seal. Place 1 inch apart on
ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool a
few minutes on the baking sheets and then cool completely on wire
racks.
5. For icing, mix confectioners' sugar and milk to make a thin icing;
color icing as desired. Use a small spatula to ice cookies. Decorate
as desired so cookies resemble Christmas packages.
For variety, second-place winner Carol Feezell of Skokie, Illinois
uses several kinds of miniature candies in her pretty cookies. She
suggests filling the cookies with chocolate mint wafers, such as
Andes, or Hershey's Miniatures. We also enjoyed Lindt's orange
chocolate thins when we made the cookies in the Tribune test kitchen.
from the Chicago Tribune seventh annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie
Contest December 8, 1994
Servings: 36 servings
1994 2nd Place: Surprise Packages Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverage; Candy; Dessert
The History of Recipes
We are able to follow the history of meal recipes way back into distant history, in fact as far into history as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that maybe, in the main part, these early records were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe discovered, according to historians is a series of stone tablets in ancient Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel `wonderful`. As we move into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled a number of documents detailing recipes cooked by wealthy Romans. In his works, Apicius tells us how the meals were divided into starters, main meal and dessert, a very modern way of dining. Aspicius describes how the early Romans made use of a wide range of aromatic flavors, including some familiar names for example bay, fennel and dill. As we move on, there were two recipe books published in the 14th Century ; one book called `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, they are unconnected to the indian food that we all know today, but rather descriptions of the types of meals on the tables of the rich and powerful of the period. Later, in the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many foods and spices from the holy land, including basil and coriander. These new spices and herbs was responsible for an eruption in recipe manuscripts, most of which are now in academic collections. During the next few centuries, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe competed to serve up the most extravagent banquests, and consequentially the best cooks and their recipe collections were much in demand. Even so, it was during the 19th century that fine cookery and recipe books became really popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, trying out, and writing down recipes of the day. By the advent of the 20th century, cookery books were in great demand, as a result of better eduction, people having more leisure time and having more money. |
We hope you enjoy this 1994 2nd Place_ Surprise Packages recipe.
