<p>I wonder if you could microwave “raw flour” on a plate for about 15-20 seconds (a cup at a time) and if that would kill any issues.</p>
<p>Northeast mom, I actually don’t make my gingerbirds small, just thin. For parties I usually use my 5 pointed and 6 pointed star cookie cutters, at home we have a dove shape that we use. (It’s bigger and more awkward.) Anyway glad you liked them - the almond refrigerator cookies don’t spread either.</p>
<p>I played around with the thickness of them. I like both the thin very crispy ones as well as the few that I made that were a little thicker and had chewy centers. I think that if I had to choose, I would say that I prefer the ones with a bit more of a chewy center, but it is so hard to decide things :D. Thanks for the heads up about the almond ones, and thank you for sharing these recipes :D</p>
<p>^Yeah, I have the same problem and have made them both ways too. :)</p>
<p>Thank my aunt Edith who rode around Palo Alto in a grown up tricycle when she was in her 90s!</p>
<p>That must have been something! I wonder if her cookies are what kept her so spry in her 90s!</p>
<p>*Thank my aunt Edith who rode around Palo Alto in a grown up tricycle when she was in her 90s! *</p>
<p>Awesome! I have an Aunt Cecilia who will be turning 90 in April and she still teaches water aerobics classes at a fitness center! I know that she eats the Cream Cheese Spritz cookies…lol</p>
<p>Oh no! I can’t believe flour is bad for us now. I will google around and see if microwaving it can make it ok.</p>
<p>abasket, I made those last year, but my kids preferred Oreo balls. I thought they were delicious though!</p>
<p>I am bumping this thread because I really enjoyed it last year, and there are a lot of great recipes here. It’s getting to be that time again! I’m adding my recipe for baklava cookie bars that has been popular. (Actually my gf’s, but on this forum I’ll take credit for it. 
)</p>
<p>Baklava Bars</p>
<p>Cookie Base
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg</p>
<p>Filling
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 frozen mini fillo shells (from 2.1-oz package)</p>
<p>Glaze
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla</p>
<p>Garnish
5 tablespoons honey</p>
<p>Directions:
1 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
2 In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir walnuts, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the salt with fork until mixture is well mixed and crumbly.
4 Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over partially baked base. With hands, crumble frozen fillo shells evenly over nut mixture. Bake 18 to 20 minutes longer or until golden brown.
5 Meanwhile, in small microwavable bowl, microwave 1/3 cup honey, 2 tablespoons butter, the brown sugar, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon uncovered on High 1 minute or until bubbly. Stir in vanilla.
6 Drizzle honey mixture evenly over fillo. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
7 For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Before serving, drizzle 1/2 teaspoon honey over each bar. Store covered at room temperature.</p>
<p>Blue, I made legit baklava last year and it was delicious but I might be tempted to take this quicker way out - how would you compare them to “real” baklava??? Not the same I’m sure, but what was good and what did you miss compared to the real recipe???</p>
<p>Real, legit baklava is much thicker (at least as I’ve had it), and richer. One piece is about all I can have and it’s about the only time I crave a glass of milk for some reason. This is soooo much easier. Side to side you miss the moisture of the real baklava, and biting through those layers, but for the ease of making it it’s definitely worth a try to see if it will suffice. It’s good if you’re trying to make a lot of something. I also think real baklava keeps longer.</p>
<p>Will it freeze well???</p>
<p>That I don’t know, but will find out. I can’t imagine why not. Mine just got gobbled up in about 5 days, however I did have them covered in a no eating zone prior to Christmas last year for about 5 days. So, they were good for at least 10 days after baking.</p>
<p>Thanks for bumping this thread, blueiguana. We tried momofthreeboys’ sugar cookie recipe last year (post 11) and I have to say that they are the best sugar cookies we have ever had. Perfect texture, wonderful flavor. I’ve been intending to thank her for the past year - so, momofthreeboys, consider yourself thanked. :)</p>
<p>Heh thanks! I just hopped on to see if there are any more good recipes, I try to add one newbie each year in a replacement rotation…but the Sugar cookies remain. I’m actually making sugar cookie dough right now. My team is decided they wanted to “make” and decorate sugar cookies for our local hospice house as a holiday activity…so I’m supplying the dough and they are all supplying the sprinkles and creativity. </p>
<p>I remember the “fake-Baklava” from thanksgiving and this was a reminder I was going to try it…i need something because i have no “safe” no-eat zone so perhaps I’ll put this together to keep all the male sweet teeth happy.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness! I just made that sugar cookie recipe last weekend! I found it recently in a newspaper home section; the article stated that it came from Mary Todd Lincoln’s cookbook. They were delicious! You can also roll them into balls, dip in sugar and flatten with a glass.</p>
<p>I always use my mother’s recipe for roll-outs: has Crisco shortening and milk as ingredients.</p>
<p>Oh that’s so cool (about Mary Todd Lincoln)…I tried ALOT of recipes and kept adapting this and adapting that for years. A good friend of my mother’s gave us beautifully decorated sugar cookies every year when I was little and I kept trying to get to her recipe but she died before I could every get it. All butter, all margarine, half butter/half shortening, lard…finally ended up where I did and stopped experimenting. There’s not a whole lot you can do to sugar cookies except switch up the "grease"ingredient. I always figured I wasn’t the ‘first’ to settle on 1/2 oil, 1/2 butter.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys, I’d like to make those sugar cookies next week. I’m not much of a baker so maybe this is a dumb question but one part of the recipe wasn’t too clear to me. After I chill the dough, do I just roll it out flat and cut out the individual cookies with cookie cutters? The recipe mentioned hand-patting. Was that just an option instead of rolling out the dough or is that another step?</p>
<p>Can’t wait to try them, they sound delicious!</p>
<p>I’m a beginner in the kitchen. When I make cookies I’m ok until I get to beating flour and oatmeal into the creamy butter and sugar mix in my bowl to make cookie dough with my handheld electric mixer. My mixer gets gummed up with dough in the beaters and starts overheating. Is it just me doing something wrong with the handheld mixer? Does a heavy duty stand mixer work a lot better with cookie dough? With my handheld mixer I end up having to mix dough with a wooden spoon after poking dough out of stuffed up beaters. I’m not in a rush to spend $200+ for a stand up mixer though. Thanks.</p>
<p>Lizard, start saving your money. I bake at least once a week, and I am still using my original mixer. Other than replacing the beater, it’s terrific. I have no idea if the less expensive versions, e.g. Sunbeam, hold up as well.</p>
<p>I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s really the equipment, and you’re going to be frustrated otherwise. That said, I’m still working with a hand-mixer (and am a frustrated baker and don’t do it often). If anyone knows of any super fantabulous sales for KitchenAid mixers please let me know. My b’day is a few weeks after Christmas so I could probably justify asking DH to smush the two together. But it has to be a red one…if the red one’s aren’t on sale it won’t work, lol. :D</p>