Best Bites: Cookies

Cookies! Not Just for the Holidays

By Joan Leotta

Some people call the winter holiday time “cookie season.” But cookies are good all year round. Holidays give us an excuse to get out the favorite family recipes and add more butter and sugar into our meal plans, but a cookie is a welcome sweet ending to a meal any time of year.

Many of our favorite recipes come from friends and family. These are from the Buzz family to you, so you can munch and think of us sweetly now and in the year to come.

SOFT MOLASSES COOKIES

From Joan Leotta, Coastal Buzz Writer This soft molasses cookie is really yummy and makes a small batch. In a tin, they last about a week. 1 stick margarine 1 cup sugar (scant) Pinch of salt 1 egg ¼ cup Grandma’s molasses 2 cups fl our 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda (scant) 2 teaspoons ground ginger (I often use three) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I usually use two)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream margarine with sugar and salt. Beat in the egg and the molasses.

Sift the fl our, baking soda, and spices together, and then stir into the molasses mixture. Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut, place on a lightly greased baking sheet, and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. It’s a good idea to check at 10 minutes.

CHOCOLATE SNOW COOKIES

From Wendy Kaplar, Coastal Buzz Writer My husband Bob and I love chocolate and decorating Christmas cookies, so this tasty recipe is a favorite! Eat the entire batch or freeze cookies to enjoy later. 1 cup baking cocoa 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 2 cups fl our 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons vanilla (I use imitation vanilla) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix cocoa, oil, and sugar. Blend in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, fl our, baking powder, salt, and buttermilk. Chill dough for several hours or overnight. Roll balls of cookie dough in red or green colored sugar sprinkles, then roll again in powdered sugar. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes.

RUSSIAN BUTTER BALLS (AKA RUSSIAN TEA CAKES)

From Pat Naughton, Coastal Buzz Garden Columnist Russian Tea Cakes are my Christmas time cookies. My mother had a bit of Paula Dean in her cooking. The butter and confectioner’s sugar give them a sweet creamy taste. I’m told they freeze well but they never make it to the freezer in my house.

1 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon almond fl avor 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups fl our 1 cup fi nely chopped walnuts Confectioner’s sugar—between one quarter and one -half cup.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream butter and sugar, add remaining ingredients, and mix well. Roll into small balls. Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes. While still hot, roll in confectioner’s sugar, then when almost cool, roll again.

ORANGE CHOCOLATE BARS

From Shelagh Clancy, Coastal Buzz Editor I make these every year. They’re modifi ed from an old toff ee cookie recipe-- new and improved! 1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks) 1 cup powdered sugar 1 ¼ cups fl our 1/3 cup cocoa (I use Hershey’s Special Dark) 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk 3 teaspoons orange extract 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped small (Any sweetened baking chocolate will do) ½ cup walnuts, chopped

Heat the oven to 350°. Reserve 2 Tablespoons butter.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fl uff y. Add fl our and cocoa and mix well. Press dough into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan and bake 10 minutes.

Add reserved butter and condensed milk to a medium saucepan and cook and stir until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange extract. Pour this over the crust and bake 10-15 minutes until golden.

Remove from the oven and add the chocolate pieces. Let them stand one minute, then spread the melted chocolate evenly over the top. Sprinkle with nuts and pat them gently into the chocolate. When completely cool, cut the cookies into bars or triangles.

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Wrap Up for Winter Reading

By Donna Ruth Morgan

Finally it’s cool enough to curl up with a lap robe, a cup of tea, and a good book. Find your favorites here, then fi nd your way to your nearest Brunswick County Library branch.

Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides by Geoff rey L. Cohen (2022) is a social psychology study of how our behavior aff ects individuals and groups around us. Belonging is not a selfimprovement book; it is a deeply researched, scholarly examination of our fragmented, divided society and how science might provide healing. Drawbacks are repetition and a disorganized summary. Nutshell review: The author’s theories about creating camaraderie and group cohesion are encouraging. Dreamland (2022) is vintage Nicholas Sparks with its familiar genre (romance) and setting (mostly North Carolina) in a novella-length book. Dual storylines, starcrossed lovers, and themes of family loyalty and obligation create delicious tension. How do honorable people choose between following dreams and fulfi lling responsibilities? Nutshell review: Followers will enjoy a brief escape immersed in beautiful scenery, charming characters, and tidy endings.

Astronauts orbiting the earth experience the “overview eff ect” in the opening imagery of Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization (2022). Neil DeGrasse Tyson makes a compelling case for healthy disagreement based on rationality and science but his appeal to objective truth is contradicted with snark and polemics, demeaning those who hold positions he doesn’t like. Nutshell review: Esteemed writer whose latest disappoints— please, stay in your lane, sir.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (2022) awaits fans of adventure, thrillers, and just deserts for evildoers. This novel features a quartet of female assassins who fi nd themselves targets of elimination. Suspend disbelief for the action scenes and enjoy the humor and antics that are probably beyond most senior citizens’ ability. A bit one-dimensional, but nice for an evening’s entertainment. Nutshell review: If no one notices them, can older women get away with murder?

Before the Coff ee Gets Cold (2020) is an unhurried, immersive series of vignettes celebrating another culture and realigning the paradigm of time travel. Who doesn’t want to relive a moment in life? What if the rules include an unremarkable café in Tokyo, a select chair, and the cooling rate of a beverage? This former stage play translated from Japanese is odd but charming, akin to reading subtitles until you adjust to the style. Nutshell review: Characters can reconnect to a pivot point in their lives.

Jonathan Darman traces Roosevelt’s childhood, early political forays, and the trials of an incurable affl iction in Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President (2022). The well-researched biography examines how adversity shaped our longestserving president’s conscience, moral concepts, and social attitudes.