Old-fashioned Refrigerator Cookies – by guest blogger Emily Reiman
My fellow blogger and baker, Emily Reiman hails from Nebraska. She is in the planning and research phase of starting her own gourmet, artisan cookie and cupcake business. Her blog, Sugar and Meringue features a nostalgic look and feel and focuses on old-fashioned stylings and recipes.
My love of baking has led me to try all kinds of fancy cake and cookie recipes requiring special skills and fancy ingredients. The result is usually some concoction that is so extremely rich, time consuming and expensive to make that the recipe goes back into my recipe box and is never pulled out again. It’s the simple old-fashioned recipes that my Grandma and mom used to make that I find myself making most often too. One of our long time favorite family recipes is Betty Crocker’s Refrigerator Cookies. Here’s the recipe for my basic Vanilla Refrigerator Cookies:
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1tsp. salt
Mix shortening, sugars, eggs & vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Press & mold into a long smooth roll about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper; chill several hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 400º Cut dough in thin slices (1/8″). Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 min. or until lightly browned.
Colorful Refrigerator Cookies-Baked and Ready to Bake
Variations: add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts; add 2 tsp. of cinnamon instead of vanilla; or add 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate (melted and cooled)
Make them pretty: divide the dough into equal portions and add food coloring of your choice. Roll out each color (on waxed paper), stack the different colored rolls and slice for striped cookies or roll for pinwheel cookies, or wrap 1 color around a log of another color to create a bull’s-eye. Roll dough logs in coarse colored sugar or sprinkles.
This dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, just slice and bake as needed.
My friends always appreciate a gift of refrigerator cookie dough. They can fill their home with the wonderful scent of baking cookies and enjoy them fresh baked with very little effort.
Enjoy!