Cookies headline Amana’s Prelude to Christmas

AMANA — Cookies, cookies and more cookies will headline Amana Church’s annual Prelude to Christmas Bazaar during Prelude to Christmas weekend next month.

The Prelude to Christmas Bazaar will be open Friday, Dec. 1 and Sat. Dec. 2, and the Prelude to Christmas Cookie Walk will take place Dec. 2 at the Amana Church in the heart of the village of Amana, half a block north of Main Street, not far from the Tannenbaum Forest.

The Amana Church Holiday Bazaar features homemade foods: yeast breads and kuchens, jams, jellies, salsa, fudge and caramel popcorn; as well as handmade craft items such as woodwork, needlework, Christmas décor, ornaments and unique treasures.

Nearly everything is made by local volunteers who donate their work to the Bazaar.

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The Bazaar is open noon to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in the Amana Church in the village of Amana. Parking is available behind the church. Visitors should enter through the west door.

Visitors can pick up cookie walk reservations beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. The walk begins at 10 a.m.

Every 15 or 20 minutes, 30 people are allowed to enter the walk room, wearing gloves, and select cookies and candies from among all the baked goods available.

A cookie box costs $30 and holds about six dozen cookies and candies. The walk continues until all the sweets are gone.

More than 80 volunteers bake cookies and make candy for the sale.

Again this year the church is offering a virtual market so that people can shop for selected items in the online store at amanachurch.com. People can order online and pick up their items at the Amana Church Dec. 2 between noon and 1 p.m.

Proceeds from the Amana Church Cookie Walk and the Christmas Bazaar benefit the Amana Church’s youth programs.

For those who want to bake their own holiday cookies, Amana Church offers the following recipes from its cookie-walk files.

Italian Sugar Drops

2/3 sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 eggs

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ tablespoon corn syrup

Colored sugar for on top

With an electric mixer, cream together sugar, butter, vanilla and almond extract, until fluffy.

Add eggs and beat. With the mixer on low, beat in flour, baking powder and salt until the dry ingredients are blended in. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape chilled dough into three dozen 1-inch balls. (Lightly dust your hands with a little flour if needed.) Place on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are set, about 12 minutes.

Whip together all glaze ingredients till drizzling consistency is achieved. (Corn syrup will make glaze glossy and less likely to smear.) When cookies are cool, drizzle tops with glaze and sprinkle with a dusting of colored sugar.

German Pfeffernüsse

2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground all spice

1/8 teaspoon ground clove

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup butter, melted

½ teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest

1 and ½ cups finely chopped, blanched almonds

½ cup candied citron, chopped

Powdered sugar

In one bowl whisk together flour, sugar and all spices. In a second bowl whip butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Blend in dry ingredients. Stir in zest, chopped blanched almonds and citron.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll into ½-inch balls. Place on greased or parchment paper covered baking sheets about 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 or 9 minutes.

Roll warm cookies in confectioners sugar, maybe more than once. Cool. Store in sealed container.

Butterscotch Blondies

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 ¼ cup packed brown sugar, light or dark

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

1 cup white chocolate morsels

1 cup dried cranberries

Top with a butterscotch sauce or dark chocolate glaze before serving.

Line a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with two sheets of parchment paper, cutting and fitting sheets so that they overhand the edge of the pan and you can lift the brownies out when cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat till the butter foams and turns a toasty brown color, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour melted butter into a mixing bowl.

Beat in brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour, baking powder and salt. Finally, fold in chopped nuts, white chocolate morsels and cranberries. Spread batter evenly into pan

Bake until firm when touched, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool.

When cool, lift brownies out of pan. Before serving glaze with dark chocolate or butterscotch sauce.