HOLIDAY COOKIES : Cookies for Small Hands

I have come to love and appreciate a good cookie more and more over the years. One good cookie can do wonders for my flagging spirits.

There is a great difference between homemade cookies and commercial cookies sold in stores. Commercial cookies often seem to be baked with more concern for shelf life than for flavor. As for the cookies in the shops that are springing up everywhere, their underbaked, candy-sweet character can’t compare with a tasty cookie from your own oven.

When baking at home, you can use the best ingredients and prepare the cookie dough in minutes. If you use a good recipe, it is pretty hard to go wrong.

Of course, the greatest enemy to a good cookie is staleness. Most cookie jars are not airtight, and within a day or two the taste and texture of the cookie fades. Freezing is the best way to preserve freshness. Any cookie recipe can be cut in half if quantities are too big for your needs.

Three of my favorite cookie recipes were designed for children. Late last year, I taught several baking classes to children. It proved lively and humorous: When asked what they had cooked in the past, one girl, 7 years old, answered, “Ice cubes.” Although I taught several different dishes, it was cookies that aroused the greatest enthusiasm.

The Children’s Nut Chews are very chewy and have a rich butter flavor, the Children’s Oatmeal Scotch cookies are simple and tasty and the Children’s Mock Macaroons are delicious, quick to make and require no knife work. They have crisp brown edges and a chewy middle.

CHILDREN’S NUT CHEWS

2 tablespoons butter

2 eggs

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

Melt butter in small, heavy saucepan over low heat. Pour into 8-inch-square baking pan or 9-inch pie pan and swirl to cover bottom of pan.

Beat eggs lightly in mixing bowl with fork. Add sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla extract and beat until well mixed. Stir in walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees until center feels firm when touched gently, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Cool and cut into pieces: 2-inch squares if using square pan, thin wedges if using pie pan.

Makes 16 cookies.

Each cookie contains about:

113 calories; 63 mg sodium; 30 mg cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.35 gram fiber.

CHILDREN’S OATMEAL SCOTCH COOKIES

1/2 cup butter

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cook butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in saucepan over moderate heat until butter has melted (butter will not blend completely with sugar). Stir in vanilla extract, oats, baking powder and salt until completely mixed. Spread mixture in greased 8-inch-square baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool on rack. Cut into 4-by-1-inch bars.

Makes 16 cookies.

Each cookie contains about:

125 calories; 162 mg sodium; 16 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.11 gram fiber.

CHILDREN’S MOCK MACAROONS

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup oil

1 egg, well beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Put oats, brown sugar and oil in bowl and mix well. Cover and let stand at least 5 hours (overnight is fine).

Add egg, salt and almond extract to oatmeal mixture, and stir to mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoons, about 1 1/2 inches apart, onto buttered baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees until edges are browned and center golden, about 7 or 8 minutes. Cool on racks.

Makes about 60 cookies.

Each serving contains about:

37 calories; 22 mg sodium; 4 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.03 gram fiber.