Holiday Baking #6 - Bell Cookies

These are my father's favorites. My Grandma, his mother, makes them every year (she's the one who taught me to bake) and I started making them a few years ago. They are by far my most time consuming and difficult cookie. These make whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies seem like a walk in the park.

I may have shared them before. I'm not sure if I did last year or not and I'm too lazy and busy to go look. I entered them into our local newspaper's cookie contest and was royally pissed off when I found out the main taster didn't like nuts. Grrrr.

Here they are. If you attempt them, feel free to email me any questions. The dough is super super soft and difficult to work with. Then there's the steps of the filling, cutting the cherries and placing them on. Ugh. These also work best stored in an airtight container with waxed paper between each layer. Because they have to be high maintenance until the end. They are worth it though. YUMMY!

* Exported from MasterCook *
Bell Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup margarine

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1 tablespoon cream or whole milk

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons maraschino cherry liquid from jar

1 1/2 cups pecans -- chopped

1 tablespoon margarine -- melted

1/2 cup maraschino cherries -- cut in 1/2

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream together margarine and sugar. When well combined add corn syrup, cream and egg. Beat until well combined.
Slowly add flour mixture until combined.
Chill dough until easier to handle. It is delicate and sticky.
Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, cherry juice, chopped pecans and melted margarine.
Roll dough onto floured surface. Cut circles with cookie cutter or top of a glass.Place circles on ungreased cookie sheet. Add 1/2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon of filling into center and fold over tops at an angle so it looks like a bell. Place 1/2 marachino cheery at the widest part of fold on top of filling.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 - 15 min.
Cookies will be puffed up. Let cool slightly on cookie sheet and remove to cool on wire rack.
Store in tightly covered container with waxed paper in between each layer to keep moist and from sticking to each other.

And just to keep it real like the Pioneer Woman does, here's a portion of my dishes from Sunday. A portion, as in about 1/4 of them from Sunday.