Well, we’ve brought you some amazing vintage Christmas cookies these past few days so now, in true Mid-Century Menu fashion, it’s time to bring you some cookies that aren’t so great. We’ve saved the “best” for last and are now happy to bring you:
Christmas Snowballs!
It would be unfair to say these cookies are bad, because they aren’t. They just aren’t as amazing as the cookies we featured on previous days. These have all the makings of a great holiday cookie: they are stuffed with cherries and iced with a mint frosting, but for some reason this cookie just doesn’t come together as magically as I thought it would. Which is too bad, because it is one of the more “fussy” cookies I made and I was hoping all of the work would be worth it.
The failure of the finished cookie may have been my own fault. In the recipe, it calls for the cookies to be dipped completely into the thin icing and then rolled in coconut, which created a huge mess. Instead, out of sheer laziness, I just drizzled icing on top and then sprinkled them with coconut. Maybe they needed that huge icing-crust to be the cookie they were always meant to be.
This recipe is, once again, from an issue of Mail Box News. It is from December 1966, which contained a TON of cookie recipes.
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups rolled oats
- red or green candied cherries
- 2 cups flaked coconut
- For Frosting:
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- Few drops of green food coloring
- Few drops of mint extract
- Cream butter with sugar, salt, water and vanilla.
- Add flour and beat until blended. Stir in oats.
- Shape dough around whole cherries into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake in 325 degree oven for 18 to 20 mins. Cool on racks.
- Dip cooled cookies into frosting, then roll in coconut. Let dry on racks.
- For Frosting:
- Combine sugar, milk, food coloring and extract. Beat until smooth.
“How are they?”
“Meh.”
“Really?” I was disappointed. As I mentioned, these were fussy and I hoped for a big payoff.
“Yeah, they are kind of chalky.”
The Verdict: Okay. Cookie was plain and crumbly.
From The Tasting Notes:
A little crumbly, almost a chalky taste. Not very sweet, but cherry inside was a nice touch. Tastes a bit like shortbread on the outside. Cookie could probably be improved significantly by upping the flavoring of the cookie itself or by subbing chocolate for the cherry inside.
A delicious combination of candied cherries and coconut can be found in the Santa’s Whiskers cookie. I use the recipe out of the Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Cookies Cook Book from 1975 (a gem of a retro cookie book!), but this recipe is pretty similar: http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/cookies/santas-whiskers/ I have loved your 10 days of cookies!
Thanks jillyb3! Maybe the frosting for the Christmas Snowballs should be flavored with rum and not mint to be more like these!