Behind the Scenes

Thank you to everyone who submitted recipes this year!  We appreciate all the recipes and wish we could bake them all.  We also wish we could meet in a big room and test taste them together!

Our Christmas Cookie Contest is a much, much smaller deal than, say, the Pillsbury Bake Off.  For starters, we're not offering a million dollar grand prize.  I can only imagine what that kind of contest must be like!

Last week I mentioned that it was interesting to see which recipes were selected and why. Today I thought I'd share another glimpse behind the scenes.  In a perfect world, I suppose we would wait until all the recipes were submitted before we chose the cookies we would try.  Alas, at this time of year, everything starts snowballing, so there's an eagerness to start baking.  As each recipe came in, I sent it on to our group of bakers.  As much as possible, I sent them without the name of the person submitting the recipe. 

Each of us baked the recipes we selected.  I will admit that last year, as well as this year, a few recipes didn't quite work out.  That's not always a reflection on the recipe.  I know that my own tried and true recipes sometimes don't work for whatever reason.  Last year (the submitter knows this, so I'm not talking out of school), one of the recipes just plain fell apart.  I know it's a great recipe because we ate the crumbs and they were delicious!  But if we can't make the cookies come out right, then we really can't place the recipe as a finalist -- no matter how spectacular the crumbs are!

Today's finalist is VO Cookies from Shawn! I was very intrigued by the idea of whiskey in cookies.  These will appeal to Santas who like the richness of shortbread, but with a softer, flaky texture.  I used pecans, which added a nice flavor that went well with the hint of whiskey.  It made just over 50 cookies.

VO Cookies

1 lb butter
1/2 cup nuts, chopped fine (any type you want)
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 oz VO or Rye Whiskey

cinnamon/sugar mixture

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into balls.  You can then roll into crescents if you like.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until light brown on bottom.  When slightly cooled, roll into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar

Let the butter soften and the dough couldn't be easier to mix.

They bake up bald . . .

And turn into pretty sugared balls.

I used 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for the topping.