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Grandma Cookies

What more can you say than nirvana?  The chilled dough is especially good, so much so that it has been known to disappear entirely without a single cookie being baked.  They're called Grandma Cookies because we used to bake them to take to Grandma (my sister tells the whole story here).  They were based on a recipe for icebox cookies from the Betty Crocker Cookbook circa 1956.  

Jar full
Sheets ungreased         Oven 400 degrees F        Time 6-8 minutes

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Mill together:
  375 g soft wheat
    75 g rice
  1/3 nutmeg pod, crushed
OR
    3 cups unbleached flour or whole wheat pastry flour
    3 teaspoons nutmeg

1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

    Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and mix till smooth.  

Whisk all the dry ingredients together, then stir into wet;  add the walnuts with the last of the dry, and stir just until mixed.  

Shape into 2" diameter logs and chill in the freezer 1-2 hours, until firm enough to slice thinly and cleanly.  

Slice 1/8" thick and place on sheets.  Bake 6-8 minutes, until just turning golden at the edges.
                                     921023
Makes 7 dozen cookies @ 45 calories:
     53    % fat        49% carbos          4  % protein

Some other interesting variations:

Cinnamon-Pecan Icebox Cookies--substitute cinnamon for nutmeg and pecans for walnuts.

Ginger-Almond Icebox Cookies--substitute ginger for nutmeg and almonds for the walnuts.

Super Gingery-Almond Icebox Cookies--a particularly nice spicy version
use 1 cup of brown sugar, no white sugar
drop the flour to 2 1/3 cups unbleached or whole wheat pastry flour, or use
    250 grams soft wheat
      75 grams rice

and add 250 grams of ground almonds (dry grated/ground, not almond butter) with the dry ingredients

And spice with the following:
    1/4 teaspoon mahleb seeds ground in with the wheat, or add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
    6 cloves or 1/4 teaspoon clove powder
    1 inch cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
    6 teaspoons powdered ginger (2 tablespoons)

And use 1/2 cup toasted coarsely chopped almonds in addition to the ground almonds


Hot Gingersnap Icebox Cookies--flavored like gingersnaps but with a bit more zing than usual
    omit white sugar
    decrease brown sugar to 3/4 cup
    add 1/4 cup molasses

    Mill wheat and rice with
        1 cinnamon stick
        1/2 tsp cardomom seeds
        6 long peppers
    or add 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

    and stir in 2 teaspoons ginger with the soda and salt

    Use 1 cup chopped toasted almonds


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