Tis the season to be jolly! Time to do gatherings with friends and family and enjoy lots of tasty sweets. Even if you are watching what you eat, this is the time when those good habits seem to go out the window. Hold on, our Home-made cookies can give you the taste treats you want with a bit of healthy goodness and portion control. Giving or serving home-made cookies is a simple way to tell others you care about them. Making them with family or friends can be as much fun as eating. 

Decorating shaped cookies is easy, even for the smaller members of your family. Use cookie cutters for shapes or draw a shape on wax paper and trace on the cookie dough.

Basic Sugar Cookies Recipe:

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

   To Make:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill until firm (1 hour).

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼in thickness. Use cookie cutters or a paper pattern to cut out shapes. With a floured spatula, transfer cookies to greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° until lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Decorating: Use a squeeze bottle or a paint brush. Make a paste thin enough to spread and thick enough to stick. Use 1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring extract, 2 ½ to 3 tablespoons milk or water. Use separate bowls to add food coloring.

Feliz Navidad          Habari Gani              Hanakkah Sameach          Merry Christmas 

Home-made Christmas Cookies

Jingle Bell Cookies: Pop-in-your-mouth Delicious 

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 cups chopped pitted dates, (8 ounces)

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups toasted rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies

• 1 cup shredded coconut

To Make:

1. Combine butter, sugar and dates in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted, the sugar is no longer white, and the dates are mostly melted, 8 to 15 minutes. The mixture should be a shiny, brown sticky mass. Remove from the heat.

2. Add salt, vanilla, rice cereal and coconut; stir well to combine.

3. When cool enough to handle, squeeze and roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. Place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet or plate. Refrigerate until chilled.

TIPS for FUN, Taste and Health

Nuts add extra crunch, taste, and health: Almonds have more calcium than milk; pecans have vitamins A, B, and E plus lots of those minerals you need.

• Dates , naturally sweet, have minerals our diets often lack, fiber and antioxidants.

Cut The Calories with Applesauce and up the taste

• One egg = ¼ cup of applesauce

Oil or butter: Use the same amount of applesauce instead of the oil or butter ( 1/4 cup of applesauce = 1/4 cup of oil or butter). Replace Either the Eggs OR The Butter and Oil in your cookies with Applesauce

• Crispy Cookies: Use applesauce in place of eggs or use applesauce to replace ½ the butter or oil.

• Soft, Chewy Cookies: Use applesauce to replace the eggs or all the butter

Storing Cookies: Different kinds needs different containers. Cool completely before storing.

• Soft cookies: Store in tight container with a piece of bread to keep them soft

• Crunchy cookies: Store in cookie jar

• Iced or delicate cookies: Store in airtight container in single layers with a sheet of wax paper, aluminum foil or even tortilla between the layers