A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange (A Mystery With Recipes)

by Crawford, Isis

  ½ tsp salt

  1 tsp cinnamon

  1½ tsp cloves

  3 shots whiskey

  1 tsp vanilla extract

  2 cups milk

  Mocha Glaze

  1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

  2½ tbsp melted butter

  2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

  2½ tbsp unsweetened brewed coffee

  ½ tbsp salt

  To prepare the glaze, combine sugar, butter, cocoa, coffee, and salt; stir until well blended. Add a little more hot coffee or hot water to get the desired consistency.

  For the cookies, mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in milk, whiskey, and vanilla and mix with your hands into a giant ball. Wrap dough in wax paper and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove dough, and roll with hands into 1½-inch balls. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Dip cookies in glaze immediately after removing from the oven. Let cookies stand on a rack until cool. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

  Filled Cookies

  6 cups flour

  3 eggs

  1 cup milk

  2 cups sugar

  1 cup shortening

  5 tsp baking powder

  1 tsp salt

  1½ tsp vanilla

  Filling

  1 lb dates

  1 lb figs

  1 lb raisins

  1 cup white wine

  Simmer the filling ingredients together for 10 minutes and put aside to cool.

  To make the dough, combine all the dry ingredients, cut in shortening, then add eggs, followed by other ingredients. Form dough into a ball, cover with wax paper, and refrigerate for an hour.

  When dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle and cut it into three even strips. Put a line of filling down the center of each strip and pinch the cut ends of the dough together to hold in the filling. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove and cut strips into 1-inch slices.

  Italian Christmas Cookies

  2½ cups all-purpose flour

  1 cup granulated sugar

  ¼ cup soft butter

  ½ cup whipping cream

  2 tsp baking powder

  1 tsp almond extract

  ½ tsp salt

  1 egg, separated

  1¾ cups confectioners’ sugar

  ½ tsp almond extract

  ½ cup chopped almonds

  ½ cup chopped red and green cherries

  Mix together flour, granulated sugar, butter, whipping cream, baking powder, 1 teaspoon almond extract, salt, and egg yolk. Work well with hands to blend. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or more. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into an 8-by-6-inch rectangle on a floured board. Square off corners. Place on greased cookie sheet.

  Beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Beat until stiff and glossy; spread onto rectangles. Sprinkle nuts and cherries on top. Cut into 1-by-1-inch rectangles. Bake for 10 minutes. Cut again.

  Longely is an imaginary community, as are all its inhabitants. Any resemblance to people either living or dead is pure coincidence.

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2013 by Isis Crawford

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2013940651

  ISBN: 978-0-7582-7489-2

  eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-9157-8

  eISBN-10: 0-7582-9157-4

  First Kensington Electronic Edition: November 2013