Cookie Recipes from Bridge Sessions

Held at Puritan Bridge Club

Fall, 2019

Produced by Cathy Carvin

2

Applesauce Spice Squares

My first career was as a Home Economics teacher at Weymouth South High School (1972-1978). I shared my room with Betsey Erickson. Betsey was a wonderful friend and mentor to me as a young teacher. She had the best recipes! During the Fall, she would make these spice squares for staff meetings and shared the recipe…on a little 3x5 index card…remember those?

Ingredients:

½ Cup Shortening (Soft) 2 Cups All Purpose Flour (Sifted)

1 Cup Sugar 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Eggs ¾ Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract ¼ Teaspoon Cloves

¼ Teaspoon Nutmeg

1 ½ Cups Applesauce

1 Cup Chopped Nuts

1 Cup Raisins

Confectioners’ Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. 2. Sift flour with soda and spices. 3. Cream shortening with sugar until light and fluffy. 4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. 5. Add in flour mixture. 6. Add applesauce, raisins, and nuts. 7. Pour into greased 10” x 15’ pan [Called a “Jellyroll” pan in Home Ec circles but a rimmed

cookie sheet of about this size will do just fine!] [I line mine with tinfoil and PAM it. Then I just pull out the tinfoil from the pan]

8. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. 9. Remove from oven and cool completely. 10. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar when cooled. 11. Cut into desired size bars.

3

Apricot Squares

Ingredients: DOUGH

1. CREAM together 1 Cup Sugar and ¾ Cup Crisco

2. ADD 1 Egg

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 3/8 Cup Shredded Coconut

3. MIX until dough forms (it will be somewhat crumbly)

FILLING

1. COMBINE

12 Ounces Apricot Preserves (you can also use Raspberry Preserves)

½ Cup Chopped Walnuts

Directions: 1. SET aside approximately 1/3 of the dough.

2. PRESS remaining dough into 9” x 13” pan (I spray lightly with PAM)

3. TOP with apricot-walnut mixture

4. SPRINKLE top with remaining dough

5. BAKE at 350° for 35 minutes

6. COOL completely

CUT into squares. MAKES 16, 24, 32, or 48 squares…you decide! (freezes well)

Kathy McGrath

Carney Hospital, September 1992

4

Chocolate Crinkles During the holiday season many workplaces have gift giving traditions. In 2006, The Boston Globe Magazine highlighted homemade gifts to share at work. One was this recipe for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies that were a specialty item from Cheryl Rubin, a North Easton caterer. Her business, La Belle Cuisine, is long gone but this cookie is a mainstay in my holiday cookie trays and with some candy hearts at Valentines!

Ingredients:

4 Ounces Unsweetened Chocolate, Coarsely Chopped

2 Cups Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

½ Teaspoon Salt

½ Cup Canola Oil

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

4 Eggs

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar (or more for sprinkling)

Directions:

1. In the top pan of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat chocolate, stirring occasionally, until it melts. Remove double boiler from heat. Set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. 3. Combine oil and granulated sugar fully. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in

the vanilla, then the chocolate, until batter is smooth. Beat in flour mixture just until combined. 4. With rubber spatula, scrape up the bottom of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and

refrigerate one hour. (I make the dough and refrigerate overnight then bake off the next day…or the next day... I find it much easier to handle)

5. Pre-heat oven at 350° and grease (PAM) cookie sheets 6. Have on hand a bowl of cold water. Place confectioners’ sugar in shallow bowl. Wet your palms and

shape heaping teaspoons of dough into balls. Roll balls into the confectioners’ sugar and coat them well. Set them on the greased baking sheet about one inch apart. Continue until all dough has been used.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 – 15 minutes or until tops crack and set. Remove cookies from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes. Transfer them to wire racks to cool.

8. The recipe states that it makes 2 ½ dozen. I generally get 40 or so cookies. Store in an airtight container, layered with waxed paper for up to one week or freeze for up to one month.

5

Millie Corbett’s Kongo Bars

This is an oldie but a goody that I clipped it out of The Confidential Chat section in The Boston Globe many years ago (Confidential Chat used to be a Wednesday feature in the paper). The story goes that when Millie Corbett’s children were small, she made these Kongo Bars from a recipe that appeared in a cookbook put out by the Saint Mary’s Mothers Club of Saint Mary’s of the Assumption Parish in Brookline, MA. Her children attended this school. I can and have made them in my sleep!

Ingredients

¾ Cup Butter (1 ½ sticks), Softened or Melted

1 ¾ Cups Brown Sugar (I Switched to DARK BROWN SUGAR from Light Brown Sugar in

2018 and I Like It Better)

3 Eggs

2 Cups Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

Pinch Salt

1 Bag (12 oz.) Semisweet Chocolate Chips (I Switched to MILK CHOCOLATE Chips in 2016

and I Like It Better)

½ Cup Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Grease 9 x 13 pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light.

3. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.

4. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat only until the flour is well blended.

5. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts at this time. 6. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread to the edges.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

8. Let pan cool completely on wire rack. Cut into squares. (Depending on how big you

want your squares, recipe will make 24 to 48 squares).

Please Note:

This recipe calls for using a mixer. I make all the cookies by hand and use “elbow grease” to

blend the batters and doughs.

6

Molasses Ginger Cookies

Ingredients:

¾ Cup Butter (1 ½ Sticks at Room Temperature)

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

¼ Cup Molasses

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

½ Teaspoon Cloves

½ Teaspoon Ginger

½ Teaspoon Salt

Additional Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Combine flour, baking soda, and spices and set aside

3. Mix butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg, molasses, and vanilla. Beat until light and

fluffy

4. Add flour mixture. Mix until everything is well incorporated. Chill for one hour.

Truth be told…I do steps 2 through 4 and then refrigerate the dough that has been

wrapped in plastic until I have time to bake them off.

5. To form cookies, break off small pieces and roll into one (1) inch balls. Roll balls into the

additional sugar and place on an UNGREASED cookie sheet or one lined with parchment

paper

6. Bake until they begin to brown (~8-12 minutes…10 works well in my oven)

7. Remove from oven. For crisper cookies, cool on cookie sheet. For softer cookies, cool

for ~ 2 minutes and then remove to rack

8. Makes 3 to 4 dozen

Please Note: This recipe calls for using a mixer. I make all the cookies by hand and use “elbow grease” to

blend the batters and doughs.

This Recipe Came from a Boston Globe Article on School Bake Sales (2000)

7

Peanut Butter Cookies

In 1968, as a freshman at Framingham State Teachers College (that’s what it was called in the old

days), I majored in Home Economics. I took Foods I in my second semester. The course included

a lab where we were put through the paces long before Food Network existed. Our textbook

was Food Preparation Recipes by Kathryn Bele Niles. The book’s s introduction went like

this…Much in the way of health, happiness, and useful, enjoyable living comes by way of the

successful recipe…oh brother!

This textbook became our Bible and I have referred to it frequently over these years. This Peanut

Butter Cookie Recipe is very basic…but always successful.

Ingredients:

1 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour, Sifted ½ Cup Peanut Butter (Room Temp)

½ Teaspoon Baking Soda ½ Cup Shortening

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder ½ Cup Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed

½ Teaspoon Salt ½ Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Egg

Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 375°

2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt

3. Cream together peanut butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla extract, and egg

4. Add sifted dry ingredients and blend well. Do not overmix

5. Break off pieces of dough about 1 inch in diameter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and

flatten with fork tines dipped in water. Leave tine marks on surface of cookies (like a

hashtag #)

6. Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until light brown.

7. Cool slightly before removing from pan. Cool on rack.

Standard: Golden, uniform brown, well-shaped, attractively ridged by fork tines; crisp; tender; fine grain;

rich, pleasing peanut butter flavor (Eat your heart out Gordon Ramsey!)

8

Salty-Sweet Butterscotch Cookies

Ingredients: ½ Cup Butter, Softened 2 Eggs

1 Cup Granulated Sugar 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar 2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder ¾ Cup Chopped Salted Cashews

½ Teaspoon Baking Soda 2/3 Cup Butterscotch-Flavored Chips

½ Teaspoon Salt

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. In large bowl, beat butter with mixer on medium for 30 seconds

3. Add both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

4. Mix until combined, scraping bowl as needed

5. Add in eggs and vanilla

6. Stir in flour

7. Add in cashews and butterscotch chips

8. Drop dough by small scoop 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet

9. Bake 11-12 minutes until edges are light brown

10. Cool on cookie sheet ~ 2 minutes

11. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely

Please Note: These cookies took longer to bake in my oven (stated 9 minutes in original recipe). ALSO…I did

use a scoop and made ~ 40 cookies. The recipe calls for using a mixer….I do all my cookie

making by hand, no mixer… The recipe refrigerated well and was easy to come together…

9

S’MORES TASSIES

Ingredients:

1- 8 oz Pkg. Cream Cheese (Softened) 1 Egg

1/3 Cup Butter, Softened ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

½ Cup All Purpose Flour ¾ - 1 Cup Marshmallow Crème

½ Cup Graham Crackers (Finely Crushed) 2 Bars Hershey’s Milk Chocolate

2 Tablespoons Sugar (1.55 oz. size) Broken into

Pieces

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325°

2. In medium bowl, beat 4 ounces of cream cheese and ALL of the butter until combined

3. Stir in flour and crushed grahams.

4. Divide dough into 24 pieces. Place a piece of dough in each of 24 - 1 ¾ inch muffin cups

(mini-quiche size), pressing onto bottoms and up the sides of the cups. Bake 5 minutes

5. Meanwhile, for filling, in another medium bowl beat sugar and REMAINING 4 ounces of

cream cheese until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in ½ cup of marshmallow

crème just until combined.

6. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of filling into each hot crust-lined cup.

7. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is light brown or filling is puffed. Remove from

oven.

8. IMMEDIATELY top each tassie with about ½ teaspoon of remaining marshmallow crème

and placed a chocolate rectangle on each tassie.

9. Bake 1 – 2 minutes more or until chocolate softens.

10. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack 5 – 10 minutes. Remove tassies from pan; cool

completely on wire rack.

11. Refrigerate up to 3 days.

12. Makes 24 tassies

Please Note: This recipe calls for using a mixer. I make all the cookies by hand and use “elbow grease” to

blend the batters and doughs.

10

Sour Cream Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

CAKE 3 Cups Flour 1 Cup Butter (2 Sticks)

½ Teaspoon Baking Soda 2 Cups Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt 6 Eggs

***** 1 ½ Teaspoons Lemon Extract

1 ¾ Cups Fresh Blueberries 4 Teaspoons Grated Lemon Rind

***** 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Cup Sour Cream

Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 325°

2. Prepare your BUNDT pan with either a generous coating of PAM or butter with a dusting of

flour. Set aside

3. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside

4. In another bowl, toss the blueberries with 2 ½ Teaspoons of the flour mixture. Set aside

5. Cream softened butter with sugar. Add sugar in 3 portions to allow for becoming well

combined.

6. Beat eggs into butter mixture, one at a time. Blend in lemon extract, lemon rind, and lemon

juice

7. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternating with sour cream in 2 additions. Begin and end

with flour.

8. Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix in blueberries.

9. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula

10. Bake cake for 75 – 80 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake

comes out clean or with a few stray crumbs when withdrawn. The baked cake will pull

away from the sides of the pan.

11. Set the cake on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. CAREFULLY invert the cake onto another

cooling rack, gently pull off the pan. INVERT again so that cake is right-side up.

GLAZE 1/3 cup lemon juice 1/3 cup sugar 1. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and sugar. Stir well, the sugar will NOT dissolve

2. WHILE CAKE IS STILL WARM…use a brush and paint the glaze over the top and sides of the

warm cake, dipping into the bottom of the glaze mixture to catch the sugar with each

stroke.

3. Leave to cool completely

PLEASE NOTE: The original recipe calls for using a mixer for combining all the ingredients. I

do this by hand and use a lot of elbow grease!

11

Sue Rogers’ Oatmeal Cranberry Chip Cookies

In April 2002, The Boston Globe published the results of their March Cookie Madness! They had

requested favorite cookie recipes in March to compete like the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

They had over 150 entries. They tested more than 60 submissions and selected winners in DROP,

BAR, and ROLLED or SHAPED categories. This recipe was a runner up in the drop category but a

winner in my book! Sue Rogers comes from Wilmington MA.

Ingredients: 2 ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour 1 Cup Butter (2 Sticks)

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda 2/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 Eggs

***************

1 Cup Dried Cranberries

1 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment or spray with PAM

2. In one bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt

3. In a larger bowl, cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light

4. Add eggs, one by one

5. Beat dry ingredients into the larger bowl until blended

6. Stir in cranberries, walnuts, and chips

7. Drop mixture by heaping spoonsful onto prepared sheets, space them 2 inches apart

8. Transfer baking sheet into pre-heated oven. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes (depends on the

size of your cookie) or until they are firm

9. Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool

completely. Store in an airtight container

10. Makes 36 – 50 cookies depending upon the size of your drop!

Please Note: This recipe calls for using a mixer. I make all the cookies by hand and use “elbow grease” to

blend the batters and doughs.

12

Thumb Print Cookies These Cookies Are Super Simple.

Each Year I Make Them First When I Open My “Cookie Factory” and Bake for the Holidays.

Ingredients:

½ Cup Butter (one stick) ¾ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3 Tablespoons Sugar Large Pinch Salt

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

Jams or Preserves

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°

2. Mix first four ingredients until smooth

3. Add flour until well combined…it may seem dry but don’t worry.

4. Scoop by teaspoonful and roll to form a small ball

5. Place on UNGREASED cookie sheet

6. Press middle of cookie with thumb and fill with jam or preserves of your choice

7. Bake 7-9 minutes.

8. Place on wire rack to cool.

Kathy McGrath Carney Hospital – 1994

13

Turtle Bars

This recipe came from the magazine, Real Simple (May 2005).

I knew I would make it at some point!

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

½ Cup Confectioners’ Sugar

1 Cup Butter (2 Sticks)

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz.)

1 Egg

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Pecans, Coarsely Chopped

¾ Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Toffee and Chocolate Baking Pieces (Such as Heath or Skör Bars)

Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 350°

2. Chop pecans. Chop up toffee-chocolate pieces (I used a mini food processor). Set both

aside

3. Combine flour, confectioners’ sugar, and butter in a bowl until a crumbly dough is formed

4. Press dough firmly into a greased 9x13 pan

5. Bake until just golden…about 13 minutes

6. In the meantime…whisk together the condensed milk, egg, and vanilla.

7. When dough is golden, remove from oven and pour filling over the baked crust.

8. Sprinkle the pecans, chocolate chips, and toffee pieces evenly over the filling.

9. Bake until the filling is set, the edges are golden, and the toffee is melted. This should be

about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on rack for 20 minutes.

10. Cool completely in the refrigerator (~ 2 hours).

11. Cut into 32 bars.