The cookie table is a local wedding tradition worth baking for.
Flour, sugar and butter have been disappearing from grocery shelves at an alarming rate over the past few weeks. Like milk and toilet paper on the eve of a winter storm, vanilla extract and chocolate morsels have to be restocked regularly. Are people preparing for some sort of calamity? No, they're just stockpiling cookies for the season of weddings, graduation parties, anniversaries and other family gatherings that seem to hit a peak in June.
I never met a food tradition I didn't like, and the Pittsburgh cookie table is one that came as a welcome surprise to this transplant from Brooklyn, N.Y. The quantity and quality of the cookie assortments at these functions are a source of endless discussion and great family pride. I recently read about one event where there were 800 dozen cookies! You may have heard of even more extravagant displays.
No one seems to know where or how this tasty tradition began, but here are two recipes from my mother's repertoire to add to the table.
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Ingredients:
1 jar (12 ounces) apricot preserves
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
2 sticks butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
Sugar and cinnamon mixture
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Instructions:
Cook apricot preserves and chopped, dried apricots in a saucepan over medium heat until apricots are soft and mixture has thickened. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add flour. Form into 2 balls. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Divide each ball into 4 smaller balls. Roll out each lightly floured ball to a 10-inch circle. Cut each circle into 4 pie-shaped wedges. Place a small amount of preserves mixture at wide end of 1 triangle. Roll up toward point, tucking in sides as you go. Continue with other quarters and with other dough balls. The batch makes 32 cookies. Place cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with chopped walnuts or sugar-cinnamon mixture. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 15 minutes until
golden-brown.
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Anisette Cookies
Ingredients:
1 stick margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon anise liquor
6 eggs
2 cups flour, sifted
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon anise liquor
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Instructions:
In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, vanilla and anise. In a small bowl, beat eggs. Alternately add sifted dry ingredients and beaten eggs to creamed mixture. Spray a 15-by-10-inch pan with nonstick spray. Pour batter into pan and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden-brown on top. Remove from pan and slice crosswise at 1-inch intervals. Lay slices on sides and return to oven for 2 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 2 minutes. Remove to a rack
to cool. Makes approximately 16.
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