General

These cookies are very soft, and have a wonderful mix of flavors and spices—as long as you like raisins! They puff up during cooking, and remain puffed. Softness is retained well in storage, but add a piece of bread to enhance their shelf life.

Load recipe in LoseIt: Jumbo Raisin Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F (177C).

Boil two cups (290g) of raisins with one cup of water, then let them cool back to room temperature.

Cream shortening and sugar, then add the eggs and the cooled raisins. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and slowly add to tjhe shortening mixture. Form into roughly 20 gram balls, and place two inches apart on a light-colored baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops just start to brown. Cool on wire cooling racks.

This dough can be tricky to work with, as it's quite dry, but it's worth the hassle—the resulting cookies are light and flaky and melt in your mouth.

Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding more sodium.

Load recipe in LoseIt: Shortbread Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F (177C).

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt and set aside. In your stand mixer (or a separate bowl with hand mixer), cream the butter, then add the sugar and beat until smooth. Finally, add and mix in the vanilla.

Gently stir in the flour and salt mixture until it's just incorporated. Flatten the dough into a roughly circular disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least an hour.

Line two light-colored baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick. Cut into rounds, or use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Place on the papered baking sheets, and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm up the dough. The cookies can be fairly tightly spaced, as they won't expand much when baked.

Bake for eight to 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned (my preference is to get them out at the very first hint of brownness). Cool on a wire rack.

These cookies are shaped with a cookie press—I imagine you could use cookie cutters, but I've never tried. I don't have any experience with the linked presses; I have a 1960s vintage cookie press that works wonderfully well.

Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding more sodium.

Load recipe in LoseIt: Spritz Cookies

Preheat oven to 400F (204C).

Cream butter, then add sugar. Blend in egg, salt, vanilla extract and flour. Knead dough in hands until soft and pliable. For Christmas, divide the dough in half and color each half red or green.

Press dough through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet; decorate as desired (I sometimes use red and/or green sugar sprinkles).

Bake for eight to 10 minutes, until just lightly browned—I prefer mine not quite browned, as they're just a bit softer that way.

A thin slightly-chewy cookie. The frosting can take a long time to dry!

Load recipe in LoseIt: Sand Tart Cookies

For the frosting, you'll need these ingredients:

Preheat oven to 350F (177C).

Cream together butter, sugar, and beaten egg. Slowly add flour and baking powder to the mixture. Chill the dough a few hours, or even overnight. Roll thin on a floured surface, and cut to desired shapes. Baking time is probably under 10 minutes, but you need to watch them closely—they go from not done to burned very quickly. Remove and cool on wire racks.

For the icing, add food coloring for seasonal colors. Add more powdered sugar if necessary to get the consistency you need. Allow cookies to set out in the open for the icing to dry; a fan can help speed the process, but it will take a while.

These cookies are light and softish at first, though they tend to dry out relatively quickly (add a piece of bread or two to the storage bin to help that).

Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding more sodium.

Load recipe in LoseIt: Snickerdoodle Cookies

Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

In a large mixing bowl, cream at medium speed the butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture until well blended. Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes.

For normal, non-holiday versions: Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and form dough into balls that weigh about 20 grams. Roll balls in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

For holiday versions: Replace the sugar and cinnamon with red and green decorating sugar, and roll dough balls in that mixture instead.

Place two inches apart on a light-colored baking sheet. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Snickerdoodles will puff up at first and then flatten out during baking.

Deliciously soft and airy gingerbread cookies—I much prefer soft gingerbread to the hard crunchy type, though I'll admit it's much worse for making gingerbread houses!

Note: I never add the salt in any of these recipes; I've found I can't taste the difference, so I see no point in adding more sodium.

Load recipe in LoseIt: Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F (177C).

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg and molasses. Separately, combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in another bowl. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture until well integrated.

Roll into 20 gram balls, then roll in sugar. Place two inches apart on ungreased light-colored baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Remove and cool on wire racks.