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I’ve made these cookies at Christmas for many years. They are one of my favorites. The recipe comes from Taste of Home. I think these cookies are also know as Split Seconds, although I didn’t know that until now, and I haven’t checked into the Split Seconds recipes. Raspberry Ribbons are super simple to make, but they really don’t store very easily, so it’s the kind of cookie you should probably make only a day ahead or the morning of an event where you’ll need them.

  • Cookie Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2-1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup raspberry jam (other jam flavors optional)
  • Glaze Ingredients
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. cream
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Divide dough into four portions and shape each portion into a log of about 2-1/2″ around and 10″ long. Place two logs on each baking sheet. Make a 1/2″ depression lengthwise along the top of each log. Bake 10 minutes.

I’m reusing my parchment paper for these cookies, so please excuse the way it looks in the picture.

Remove from oven and spoon raspberry jam into the depressions. Bake another 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned. This is important as you do not want a soggy center beneath the jam. They should be nicely crisp. Remove from oven and cool for two minutes.

I carefully slice into 3/4″ slices while they are still on the cookie sheet, but you can remove them to a cutting board first. It just seems like an extra unnecessary step to me. After slicing, remove to a cooling rack. Be careful not to lose the jam, so do it with care. Separate the slices on the cooling rack.

In a small bowl combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle over warm cookies. Cool completely.

I have made these cookies using other flavors of jam and they’re all great. Raspberry seems to give the most punch to offset the buttery goodness of the cookie dough. Apricot also does this, rhubarb too, but although rhubarb tastes great it’s not as eye-popping pretty as raspberry.

This is a nice anytime cookie, easy to make. It looks very nice on a Christmas cookie platter. I took the recipe from Collecting Memories.

One of my 2018 Christmas Cookie Platters
  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup baking cocoa powder
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable (or Canola) oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar

In medium bowl, mix together cocoa powder, sugar, and oil. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth and shiny. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into cocoa mixture until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out dough with a spoon and roll into balls of 1 to 2 inches. Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The cookies will spread while baking so place them at least 2″ apart. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes depending upon the size of the cookies. They should be soft in the center, so they end up being chewy instead of crispy. Let cool for several minutes before removing from baking sheet. The yield is around 5 dozen, depending upon how large you make them.

I improvised a bit on Gluten-Free Cauliflower Cake to come up with this broccoli cake. It’s very simple to make and tastes delicious.

  • Ingredients:
  • 1 large crown broccoli, sliced into florets
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp. butter
  • 1/2 cup sliced or thinly chopped onion
  • 5 extra-large eggs (or 6 large)
  • 1 cup gluten-free flour (I used Namaste Perfect Blend)
  • 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a 9″ round cake pan by spraying or greasing.

Cook the broccoli by simmering in salted water until tender. Remove from heat. While the broccoli cooks, saute the onion in butter until translucent. Remove from heat. Let broccoli and onion cool a little bit. Mix together. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in gluten-free flour, baking powder, salt, and sharp cheddar cheese.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes or until top springs back when pressed lightly. Let rest for 5-10 minutes and then remove from pan onto cooling rack. Slice and serve while warm.

This recipe is from Not So Humble Pie. I tried this back in 2015 as a cookie to share, but it was a minor disaster because I didn’t follow the directions. The cookies spread out ridiculously, they were so thin and fragile that you had to eat them standing right there over the cooling racks. They were not at all good for sharing. But the flavor. Oh, the flavor. In 2016 I decided to give them another go because I still remembered how delicious they were. That time I weighed the dry ingredients, and used the exact ingredients listed in Not So Humble’s recipe. I didn’t try to convert the measurements from UK to USA. Success! If you do not have a kitchen scale, then please proceed at your own peril. These are refrigerator cookies and are among the easiest type of cookie to make. 

  • Ingredients
  • 1-1/3 cup butter (11 oz.)
  • 12 oz. sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 8 oz. bread flour
  • 8 oz. cake flour
  • Pinch salt
  • 1-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
  • 1 Egg white, whipped lightly with a fork
  • Decorative or sugar crystals

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Mix in bread flour, cake flour, salt, and cardamom. Divide into two or three portions and roll each portion into a “log” of about 1-1/2″ to 2″. Wrap each log in waxed paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. I leave mine for an hour or more. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once chilled to quite firm, brush each dough log with egg white and roll the log in decorative sugar. Cut each log into slices of 1/4″ and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. They should be lightly browned and will be a crunchy cookie.

I do these cookies in batches, only taking one log out of the refrigerator at a time. I think part of the spreading problem has to do with the chill on the cookie dough. Keep it cold. Rolling in sugar has its own challenges, the logs are hand-rolled and therefore uneven, so don’t really roll flat against the pan where the decorative sugar is spread. I sprinkle the sugar over them as I roll. You’ll end up with a mess on your hands, and the egg white tends to dissolve the decorative sugar if you touch it, but if you handle the logs as little as possible after the egg white has been brushed on, it’s fine. Then I pop the remainder of the roll back in the refrigerator until I’m ready for it. Keep the dough cold! And lastly, I make mine about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter because they’re seriously addictive and maybe whole-cookie bites into your mouth keep you from eating too many. Maybe. Merry Christmas!

What kind?