On this the third day of Christmas… the cookie days of Christmas continue
Then there are a whole category of cookies that involve no baking and very little cooking. The Refrigerator Cookie.
The Cool Cookies.
I don’t remember how I came to have this book, I just know that I do. And I’ve baked cookies from it. And have not-baked from it.
Mrs. Fields Cookie Book
100 recipes from the Kitchen of Mrs. Fields
1992 from Time-Life Books
The Refrigerator Thumb Print cookie is a cookie I have not-baked. Raspberry jelly is the jelly that is called for, which is SUCH an ’80’s thing I may never be able to eat the chocolate/raspberry combo again.Although my sister made some raspberry jelly…..
And since the chocolate called for is in chip form, and there are so many chip options, my imagination has gone a little wild with this.
Of the chocolate chip family, there are bags in range from 12 to 10 oz. (a few a 11 or 11.5 – honestly – 11.5??????? You can’t go to 12?) so you may need to make some minor adjustments. If I did they were so minor that I didn’t record them. Or remember them.
Semi-sweet
Dark – and there are lots of brands now, it’s not just Nestle
White
Peanut Butter
The secret ingredient is QUICK OATS. Not to be confused instant or old fashioned rolled. Oats.
Quaker went to the round box in 1915 – how were they selling oats before that????? Each answer just generates more questions.
Quaker introduced Quick Oats in 1922 – even then people were looking for a quick and easy breakfast food. The box hasn’t changed a lot in all that time, although Larry, the Quaker Man, had gotten an update.
..
Refrigerator Cookies Suite
The Basic Chocolate Overture
The Dark Chocolate Sonatas
The PB&J Coda
The White Chocolate Finale
The Basic Chocolate (Overture)
¼ cup (half stick) butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup white sugar
2 cups (12 oz. bag) semi – sweet chocolate chips
1tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cup quick (NOT Instant) oatmeal
1 cup well flavored fruit preserves (what do YOU like with chocolate? Apricot, Orange marmalade, cherry, ginger marmalade, cranberry jelly, seedless raspberry, (chocolate and raspberry is such and ‘80’s combo I don’t feel I need ever go there again…)…use what you have or get what you like!
- Combine butter, cream and sugar in a 2 Q saucepan. Warm over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
- Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips, 1 cup at a time, stirring so that they melt. Add the vanilla.
- Add the oats and stir until all combined. This is the dough.
- Shape the dough to 1” balls (I use a tablespoon) and place on a lined cookie sheet – something no-stick, like wax paper or a silicon sheet. They’re not going into the oven so it doesn’t have to be heat proof.
- Flatten the cookies either with the bottom of a glass or your impeccably clean fingers to be about 2” in diameter.
- Make a depression in the center of each cookie with your thumb (that’s why they’re called Thumbprint) – that’s where the jelly or the jam is going to go.
- Chill the cookies in the fridge for ½ hour or so until they’re set.
- Spoon ½ teaspoon of preserves/jam/ sweet stuff into each thumbprint.
- Try not to eat them all as you make them…finger lickin’ good!
The Dark Chocolate Sonatas
¼ cup (half stick) butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup white sugar
2 cups (10 oz. bag) dark chocolate chips
1tsp almond extract
2 cups quick (NOT Instant) oatmeal
¼ cup sweetened flake coconut
¼ cup slivered almonds
Melt, mix,drop by spoonfuls, flatten, fridge and enjoy – very much like an Almond Joy
The PB&J Coda
¼ cup (half stick) butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup white sugar
2 cups (12 oz. bag) peanut butter chips
1tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cup quick (NOT Instant) oatmeal
Grape jelly
Melt, mix, drop, make a thumbprint, chill and add jelly.
The White Chocolate X-Mas Finale
¼ cup (half stick) butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup white sugar
2 cups (12 oz. bag) white chocolate chips
1tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cup quick (NOT Instant) oatmeal
Maraschino cherries, 1 jar
Mint jelly (the green stuff)
Melt, mix, chop the cherries and add. Drop by spoonfuls and make a thumbprint. Add the mint jelly and think of White Christmas – the song and the movie
Can’t you see them all munching on these white chocolate cookies after the finale?
Peanut Butter Chips! That’s not something I’ve thought of in many a year.
The litle chop section of the supermarket has grown by leaps and bounds. First it was different brands (different the Nestle which pretty much was chip central through my growing up). Hersey’s is there, and Ghiradelli, and a store brand. And the variety – semi-sweet, dark, white, peanut butter AND toffee, as well as milk chocolate, and milk chocolate and peanut butter….too many choices!
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