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Irish Rovers – Miss Fogarty’s Christmas Cake

Waiting for Christmas can get a bit stressful, for the young as for the old, though usually for different reasons.  What better to do about it than to have a good laugh, and, not to forget, a little jig to shake off the tension and enjoy the season as we should?

 

Snowball Cookies

SNOWBALL COOKIES

They are very tasty, and I made them by myself with Mommy.  The cornmeal makes the especially crunchy, too!

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup unsifted confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar (we use light brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (we use fresh-ground whole-wheat flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

confectioners’ sugar, for finishing cookies

INSTRUCTIONS

Adjust rack to lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, and salt.  Combine dry ingredients with butter mixture to form a soft dough.

Shape into 1-inch balls (using about 1-½ teaspoonfuls of dough per cookie), and space about 1-½ inches apart on large, parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly colored.

While cookies are still warm on the baking sheets, sprinkle them with confectioners’ sugar through a small sieve. 

YIELD:
About 3 dozen.

 

Milk-and-Cookie Cups

Cookies and milk are great together, so why not combine them into mini chocolate chip cookie cups coated with chocolate, and then filled with cold milk?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 (12 ounce) bag of mini (we actually used normal size) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups of cold milk, for serving

Directions

• Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
• Whisk together the flour and salt in a bowl.
• Beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugars, until well blended.
• Add the egg and vanilla and beat again till well combined.
• Scrape the bowl and add half the flour-and-salt mixture and mix till just blended.
• Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix again till well blended.
• Add 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips, and stir into the dough till evenly mixed.
• Spoon one tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup, and push the dough into the bottom and up the sides of each cup so that the dough rises slightly above the rim.
• Use a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon to smooth the center well.
• Put the pan, uncovered, into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Cover the bowl containing any remaining dough with plastic wrap and put it int eh fridge as well.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Bake until the edges begin to brown, about 20 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a wire rack.
• Immediately use the half-teaspoon measuring spoon to smooth the centers again.
• Let cool for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the cookie cups, using a small icing spatula to help loosen them.
• Let the pan cool completely, then bake the second batch with the remaining dough.
• Melt the remaining chocolate chips until smooth.  Don’t let them get too hot!  The recipe asks for way more melted chocolate than we needed, though.
• Spoon a 1/2 teaspoon (use the half-teaspoon measuring spoon) of the melted chocolate into each cookie cup, using a small spoon to coat the sides of the cup with chocolate.
• Let the chocolate set for 20 minutes or as needed until the chocolate is firm.
• Fill with milk and DEVOUR!

Makes 36 cookie cups.

Source:
American Girl Cookies, San Francisco, CA 2018, p. 93/94