Marys Bell Cookies Recipes

MARY'S BELL COOKIES

Steps:

• Make filling:
• Stir together brown sugar, butter, and 3 tablespoons cherry juice until combined, then stir in pecans. Set cherries aside.
• Make cookies:
• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, and coffee.
• Beat together brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 6 to 8 minutes. Add corn syrup, egg, and cream and beat until combined well.
• Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, then mix until combined.
• Roll out one third of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/8-inch thick (about 15 by 11 inches). Chill dough on wax paper on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 10 minutes. Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutter and transfer with a metal spatula to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Roll out, chill, and cut remaining dough in same manner. Reserve scraps.
• Center 1/2 teaspoon nut filling on lower half of each cookie, then, using spatula, fold sides in toward center to form a cone. (Dough may crack along fold; part of filling will be exposed.)
• Stem and quarter cherries. Place 1 cherry quarter over exposed filling on each cookie to make bell clapper.
• Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 12 to 16 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Reroll scraps, then make more cookies in same manner (reroll only twice), baking them on cooled sheets.

MARY'S PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• 2. Combine margarine, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
• 3. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients and add to wet mixture.
• 4. Form into small balls, roll in remaining sugar and flatten with a fork... creating a criss-cross design.
• 5. Bake 10-12 minutes until practically perfect.
• 6. Note: You can substitute butter for the margarine, but I actually prefer the reduced-fat margarine in this recipe. Also, be careful not to over-bake. These cookies are best when they're a little under-done.

MARY'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; blend into the creamed mixture. Cover and chill for at least two hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the dough into two parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of the dough out to 3/16 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Sprinkle cookies with plain or colored granulated sugar.
• Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.