January 3, 2013

I made some cookies for Christmas “last” year which included a recipe from the story “The Christmas Cookie Club” by Ann Pearlman. The cookie appears to be a new favourite of my dad’s so I probably shouldn’t lose the recipe.

Pennsylvania Dunkers

• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) softened butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans (I used a rubber mallet — that was fun!) You can toast the nuts, though I didn’t bother.

Mix together the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix very well. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients and nuts. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Mix very well with your hands.Separate dough into four parts. Shape and pat into logs approximately 6 inches long, 2 1/2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Wrap each log tightly in wax paper and freeze for three hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To bake, slice thin, about 1/6 inch, with a sharp knife. Bake for 8-12 minutes until just slightly browned at the edges (if you cut thinner it will take less time and give you more cookies). Watch closely as they can get overbaked easily. Each log makes 25-30 cookies.

Cookies are very crisp and great for dunking into tea or coffee.