Christmas Cookie for Our Daughter

Every year, for longer than I care to remember, I’ve baked a buttery, nut and cherry flecked cookie for Christmas. The original recipe called for the dough log to be rolled in coconut before wrapping it up for it’s stay in the fridge. After making it that way for a few years, I decided that the coconut was messy and often burned before the cookies finished cooking. Soooo, goodbye Santa’s Whiskers and hello Shaven Santa cookies. Call ‘em what you like, they are yummy!

These have become a holiday tradition; it just isn’t Christmas without them. When we traveled to Monterey after our son died, I brought a tin of these cookies along. When we visited my Mom on Christmas a few years ago, brought some to eat on the plane. When we went to Seattle for Christmas, our very own Shaven Santa cookies kept the Macrina cookie selection company.

This year our daughter will be in the Nashville area for Christmas so I’m mailing a box to JM’s mom and asking her to put the package with these same cookies under their tree…a bit of home and tradition to meld with the new experience.

So you can bake these and start your own tradition…and you can add back the ‘whiskers’ of coconut if you like. They taste great either way. If you make them with both red and green candied cherries as we do, they also look very festive. They are tender and have both an almond and a pecan flavor. Best of all they go together quickly and are easy refrigerator cookies….just slice and bake.

Shaven Santas/Santa’s Whiskers

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mixed red and green candied cherries
1/2 cup pecans

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add almond extract and beat until creamy.

Mix in the flour until well blended. Dough will be stiff.

Coarsely chop cherries and pecans.

Stir in fruit and nuts. Mix well. Form dough into two logs on pieces of plastic wrap.

Wrap well and refrigerate at least an hour and up to one week (or freeze up to one month).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough logs from fridge or freezer. If frozen let thaw a bit.
With a serrated knife, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick discs.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets about 12 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool on rack.

Makes 4 or 5 dozen.
Note: To make as Santa's Whiskers roll logs in coconut before wrapping to refrigerate or freeze. Proceed as written with rest of recipe. Make sure not to burn coconut when baking.

I’m submitting this to Food Blogga Susan’s great cookie event, Eat Christmas Cookies, now in it's second year. She has a wonderful assortment of cookies already showcased for this year. If you need inspiration, or a virtual cookie fix, head on over to the round up!

Let's Bake Cookies!

The Inner Elf has been slow to surface this year, but this weekend I had the the urge to bake cookies. Going to sleep at night after reading recipes in Dorie Greenspan's iconic book Baking, From My Home to Yours certainly helped. So many cookie recipes, so little time.

Chockablock is the whimsical name that Dorie gave to these everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cookies. Not only do they have molasses and oats, two of Sweetie's favorite ingredients for cookies, but they also allow me to throw in lots of dried fruits and nuts, which always appeals to me. Making them even more popular is a large dose of chocolate and some coconut. What's not to like?

This is my contribution to a great food event, Eat Christmas Cookies, at Food Blogga.

"Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without ... eating cookies," is a perfect reason to get out the baking sheets and the mixing bowls and bake some great cookies. These would make a great addition to the cookie platter or a delicious gift. I'm taking a box of these to a Christmas Party on Wednesday and I know they will be a hit.

Chockablock Cookies
Dorie Greenspan, from Baking From My Home to Yours

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup solid vegetable shortening (I substituted 4 oz. unsweetened applesauce)
½ cup sugar (I used dark brown sugar here)
½ cup molasses
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I mixed walnuts and pecans about half and half)
1 cup coarsely chopped dried fruit (I used a combination of diced apricot, dried pear, dried apple, plus some golden raisins and dried cranberries)
2 cups chocolate chips
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the apple sauce and mix well, about two minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes. Pour in the molasses and beat for 1 minute more.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the oats, then add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Toss in the nuts, fruit, chocolate chips and coconut and, turn the mixer on and off quickly a few times to incorporate.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared pans, leaving about 1 ½ inches between the mounds.
Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, rotating pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until the cookies are golden and just about set. Remove the baking sheets to cooling racks and let the cookies rest on the sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring them to racks to cool to room temperature.



These cookies were so dark from the dark brown sugar and the molasses that it was a bit difficult to tell when they were done. They were moist and the nuts, fruit, chocolate and coconut were barely held together by the dough. The molasses flavor was strong when the dough was unbaked, but the fruits and nuts mellowed the molasses flavor when baked.