Greetings friends!
I’m very excited today because I just finished proof-reading a close-to-completion High Altitude Bakes Holiday Cookie Book 2013! I’ve been working quite diligently for the past few weeks on this. My kitchen, at times, resembled a cookie factory. Assorted cookie doughs were lined up in rows chilling patiently in my refrigerator, sheet trays of baked cookies sat stacked next to the oven, and mini photo shoots of cookies seemed to be happening left and right. I had a sad, tired-looking notebook with frenzied scribbles- “2 1/2 cups flour reduced to 2 cups”, “roll into 1/2″ balls!”, “original recipe says 30 minutes. done in 23.”, and so on.
I’m pleased with how everything came out, and I hope you are too. Thanks again to everyone for voicing their request and opinions. I am grateful.
Here is the final cut of recipes that made it into the book:
Date Pinwheel Cookies
Peppermint Meringues
Sicilian Fig Bars
Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Chocolate Snowflake Cookies
Lemon Madeleines
Whipped Butter Cookies
Coconut Macaroon Trees
Cut-Out Gingerbread Cookies
Pecan Pie Bars
Soft Molasses Cookies
Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
Ginger Snaps
Cheesecake Bars with Cranberry Compote
Jam Thumbprints
Chocolate Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Anise Biscotti
Gingerbread Brownies
Also included in the book will be all of the High Altitude Bakes cookie recipes already posted on our site, so your high altitude cookie recipes can be organized and easy to access in one place. That includes:
Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Snickerdoodle Cookies
Chewy Walnut Treasure Cookies
Nutmeg Meltaways
Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
Pecan Sandies
Iced Sugar Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricot, Ginger, & Bittersweet Chocolate
Orange Marmalade Cookies
Greek Holiday Twist Cookies
Black & White Cookies
Butter Shortbread Cookies
Pumpkin Crumb Bars
Chocolate Bourbon Brownies
We’ll have that book up on here as soon as we finish perfecting all the final touches. Like last year’s High Altitude Bakes Holiday Cookbook 2012, it will be in the form of a flipping e-book, which you’ll download for instant access.
In the meantime, please enjoy this FREE recipe hot off the pages of The new High Altitude Bakes Holiday Cookie Book 2013.
How to make this high altitude adjusted recipe:
Date Pinwheel Cookies from The High Altitude Bakes Holiday Cookie Book 2013
Adapted from Taste of Home
A fig variation of these cookies can be made by substituting the date filling with the fig filling in the recipe for Sicilian Fig Bars.
- COOKIE DOUGH:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- DATE FILLING:
- 1 ½ cups chopped dates
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- In a saucepan, combine the dates, sugar, and water.
- Cook and stir over medium heat, about 15 minutes, or until thickened. If you forget about them and they’re sticky-tacky but not burnt, add some hot water to the pan and stir to make a softened mixture again.
- Stir in the pecans and set aside.
- Cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir until the dough starts to form a ball.
- Divide the dough in half.
- On a floured surface, roll one half into a ¼” thick rectangle.
- Spread with half of the filling.
- Roll up, starting with the long side. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Wrap each log well with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Unwrap each log and cut into ½” thick slices.
- Place 2” apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies 11-12 minutes or until a light golden brown.
- Yield: About 4 dozen
- Storage: Kept in an airtight container, these cookies will be good for up to 5 days
- Shipping: Ships well
- Note: These cookies can be made into a fig-filled variation, using the fig filling recipe from the Sicilian Fig Bars recipe in the High Altitude Bakes Holiday Cookie Book 2013
Note: This recipe was adapted for high altitude baking. To make at sea level, increase flour to 4 1/2 cups and baking soda to 1 teaspoon.
