The Secret Cookie Club (21 page)

Grandpa's Iced Holiday Cookies

These have a satisfying texture and are more flavorful than iced cookies from a bakery. Also, the dough is easy to work with. Be sure to allow time to chill the dough and let cookies cool before icing.

(Makes about 5 dozen)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¹
/
₂
teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional sugar for rolling out cookies

For the cookies, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Then, in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and one cup sugar until well blended. Add the egg, sour cream, and vanilla, and beat 1
minute. In two additions, add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until just blended.

Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. If dough is refrigerated more than an hour, let it sit out a few minutes to soften before you roll it out.

Sprinkle a work surface and the top of the dough disks with additional sugar. Working one disk at a time, roll the dough to
¹
/
₄
-inch thickness and cut out with assorted 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters. Transfer to cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 1 inch apart. Keep gathering scraps, rolling dough and cutting cookies until all the dough is used. Chill unbaked cookies on baking sheets at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until golden at the edges, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely before icing.

Icing

4 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

¹
/
₂
teaspoon vanilla extract

Colored sugar crystals, sprinkles, and/or decorations

Food-safe colored markers

For the icing, stir together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and spreadable. Add more milk by the teaspoonful if the mixture is too thick, and sugar if it is too thin.

With an icing spatula or table knife, spread a thin layer of icing on each cookie. Sprinkle on sugar crystals and other decorations before icing sets. Let icing dry about half an hour before using markers.

Cookies can be made up to 3 days ahead. Store air-tight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.

Grandpa's Big Chocolate Cookies

These are easy to make in a saucepan (!) and taste like brownies in cookie disguise.

(Makes about 2 dozen)

2 teaspoons instant coffee

¹
/
₄
cup boiling water

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened baker's chocolate, chopped

6 tablespoons (
³
/
₄
stick) softened unsalted butter

¹
/
₂
teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

¹
/
₄
teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips (preferably Ghirardelli)

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a saucepan, dissolve coffee in hot water. Add chocolate and place over low heat to melt the chocolate, stirring constantly.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, then add vanilla and sugar till combined. Add the cooled chocolate mixture (it's okay if it's still warm but it should not be hot) and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until blended.

Combine flour and salt, and add to saucepan. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

Place dough by the teaspoonful on a parchment-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake about 13 minutes. Cookies are done if the center barely springs back when touched. Do not overbake. Cool on a rack immediately.

Grandpa's Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These melt in your mouth like cotton candy, and the powdered sugar makes a pretty pattern on top. Be sure to allow time for chilling!

(Makes about 6 dozen)

¹
/
₂
cup vegetable oil

4 ounces (4 squares) unsweetened baker's chocolate, melted and cooled

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¹
/
₂
teaspoon salt

nonstick cooking spray

¹
/
₂
cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl, mix the oil, chocolate, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar. Roll to coat and shape into balls. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. To test for doneness, touch gently in the center with a teaspoon. Almost no imprint should remain. Remove to cooling racks immediately.

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2015 by Martha Freeman

Jacket and chapter opener illustrations copyright © 2015 by Brenna Vaughn

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or
[email protected]
.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Book design by Krista Vossen

The text for this book is set in Kepler Std.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Freeman, Martha, 1956-

The Secret Cookie Club / Martha Freeman.

pages cm

“A Paula Wiseman Book.”

Summary: Four very different girls meet at Moonlight Ranch camp and decide to remain friends all year by exchanging letters and homemade cookies, using recipes their counselor's grandfather passed along.

ISBN 978-1-4814-1046-5 (hardcover)—ISBN 978-1-4814-1048-9 (ebook) [1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Family life—Fiction. 4. Cookies—Fiction. 5. Clubs—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.F87496Sec 2015

[Fic]—dc23

2014025949