Mary's Bell Cookies
- Preparing Time: -
- Total Time: -
- Served Person: Makes about 5 dozen cookies
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 15 to 18 maraschino cherries (from a 10-oz jar), including 3 tablespoons juice
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (5 oz)
- 1/2 teaspoon instant-coffee granules or instant-espresso powder
- 1 cup vegetable shortening (preferably trans-fat free), at room temperature
- a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter; a small offset spatula
- Carbohydrate 13 g(4%)
- Cholesterol 4 mg(1%)
- Fat 6 g(9%)
- Fiber 0 g(2%)
- Protein 1 g(2%)
- Saturated Fat 1 g(6%)
- Sodium 36 mg(2%)
- Calories 103
PreparationMake filling: Stir together brown sugar, butter, and 3 tablespoons cherry juice until combined, then stir in pecans. Set cherries aside. Make cookies: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, and coffee. Beat together brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 6 to 8 minutes. Add corn syrup, egg, and cream and beat until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, then mix until combined. Roll out one third of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/8-inch thick (about 15 by 11 inches). Chill dough on wax paper on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 10 minutes. Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutter and transfer with a metal spatula to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Roll out, chill, and cut remaining dough in same manner. Reserve scraps. Center 1/2 teaspoon nut filling on lower half of each cookie, then, using spatula, fold sides in toward center to form a cone. (Dough may crack along fold; part of filling will be exposed.) Stem and quarter cherries. Place 1 cherry quarter over exposed filling on each cookie to make bell clapper. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 12 to 16 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool completely. Reroll scraps, then make more cookies in same manner (reroll only twice), baking them on cooled sheets. Cooks' note:Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.
PreparationMake filling: Stir together brown sugar, butter, and 3 tablespoons cherry juice until combined, then stir in pecans. Set cherries aside. Make cookies: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, and coffee. Beat together brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 6 to 8 minutes. Add corn syrup, egg, and cream and beat until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, then mix until combined. Roll out one third of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/8-inch thick (about 15 by 11 inches). Chill dough on wax paper on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 10 minutes. Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutter and transfer with a metal spatula to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Roll out, chill, and cut remaining dough in same manner. Reserve scraps. Center 1/2 teaspoon nut filling on lower half of each cookie, then, using spatula, fold sides in toward center to form a cone. (Dough may crack along fold; part of filling will be exposed.) Stem and quarter cherries. Place 1 cherry quarter over exposed filling on each cookie to make bell clapper. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 12 to 16 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool completely. Reroll scraps, then make more cookies in same manner (reroll only twice), baking them on cooled sheets. Cooks' note:Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.
