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
Written recipes as a concept can be observed way back into the distant past, at least as far back into history as early Egypt, and maybe even further. Having said that, mostly, these ancient recipes were just basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for food preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe in existence, according to experts in ancient history is a series of ancient tablets in Sumerian describing the preparation 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. Much later, in Roman times a man called Apicius assembled a few documents describing recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his publication, he recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into starters, main meal and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. Additionally, he informs us how the chefs of Roman times made use of a wide range of aromatic flavors, including many that are still in use today like bay, rue and parsley. Over the succeeding few hundred years, the powerful families of the West competed with each other to offer the most extravagent meals, and as a consequence, chefs and their recipes increased in prestige. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 19th century that fine cookery and recipe publications became popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, trying out, and recording recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. The TV revolution brought us TV cookery programs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the invention of the internet, allowing everyone to search through massive numbers of recipes just like those on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this 1994 2nd Place_ Surprise Packages recipe.
