Baking Cookies for the Holidays

When my sister, Mariana and I were in elementary school, we loved to read. We often ordered books from the Scholastic Book Club in those days. We ordered all kinds of books from kids' mystery books, Beverly Cleary books, and fun how-to books. One of our favorites was The Cookie Book by Eva Moore. The book had twelve cookie recipes, one for every month. It featured snickerdoodles, tiny timmies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip brownies,Christmas cookies, and even three-color sugar cookies for the Fourth of July.

We liked baking for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas especially. We would get pointers from Mami and Papi, on how to use the mixer, a lovely properly, and how to measure the ingredients. It was one of the things that I looked forward to the most because the cookies were fun to make and I loved how the kitchen smelled while the cookie, a lovely scent of vanilla or chocolate, cinnamon, butter, and sugar wafted into the air. After the cookies were done came the difficult part; waiting for the cookies to cool so that we could enjoy each crunchy, delicious bite and follow it with cold glasses of milk. We also loved providing dessert for Thanksgiving and cookies for Santa. After all these years, baking during the holidays still takes me back to that nostalgic past when we eagerly prepared for Santa's arrival.

Even though I couldn't find the copy of The Cookie Book, I was delighted to discover that I could still order a used copy. The brownie recipe is not from The Cookie Book because it didn't arrive in time for it to be included. so the following Classic Fudge-Walnut Brownies recipe is taken from my recipes.com:

Ingredients

3.38 ounces all purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks, divided

1/3 cup fat-free milk

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, divided

Cooking spray

How to Make It

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Combine 1/2 cup chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH one minute, stirring after 30 seconds. Stir in butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add milk mixture, 1/2 cup chocolate, and 1/4 cup nuts to flour mixture; stir to combine.

Pour the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup nuts. Bake at 350 degrees F for 19 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in the pan on a rack. Cut into squares.