Christmas Cookies

I heard somewhere that the average person gains something like 7 pounds in the space between Thanksgiving and New Year's. No wonder we all head frantically to the gym on January 1! Here's my contribution to that weight gain (and trust me, if you eat the whole batch, you can probably gain it all in one sitting).

This recipe for zuccarini is from Mario's aunt (who is getting a Lazy Girl Miranda Day Bag for giving this to me). Keeping myself in cookies wasn't the only reason I decided he was a keeper, but I have to admit it was on the list. This fall she finally handed over the recipe.

For the cookies:
1/2 lb. butter
2 cups of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
15 oz. ricotta cheese

Cream the butter and sugar, add vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time until mixture is light and fluffy. Sift flour and baking soda, add to cream mixture alternately with ricotta (this because the mixture gets unbearably hard to stir otherwise - don't use a mixer unless you've got a standing one; I burned out the motor in my handmixer on my first batch of these). Drop by teaspoons onto baking sheet. Aunt Cathie recommends scraping the dough off one teaspoon with another because it's so sticky that using your hands is impossible. Use only a small amount for each cookie because they spread in the oven. Because the cookies will be iced later, you might want to cover the baking sheet in foil. Bake at 350 for 11-15 minutes (depending on oven temp - his aunt's are done at 12, mine took the full 15). The cookies may get a little dark on the bottom, but don't worry, they won't taste burnt. Makes an obscene amount of cookies (in the 100 range) that will disappear before they're cool.

For the icing:
1 box confectioner's sugar (1 lb).
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. milk

Mix ingredients together. Consistency of icing will be almost as sticky as the cookie dough. Spread on cookies when still warm, so the butter in the icing will melt into the cookies. Jimmies, sprinkles or colored sugar are optional, but tasty. Refrigerate until the icing sets. The icing recipe is generous, so you'll probably have some left over. Oh, the hardships of leftover butter icing.

Enjoy!