Four Nights A Week

This recipe comes from my Aunt Eleanor’s collection of recipes, and while the original source is no longer known to us, it was one of my Dad’s favorite cookie recipes. Aunt Eleanor, a career woman who did not marry until later in her life, always made sure we were well-stocked with cookies whenever we visited family in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. Her cut-out cookies were legendary – and included a secret ingredient: jello (more on that later)!

These buttery short cookies are include a dried fruit of choice and candied pineapple was her original ingredient. Later, Mom used glacéed cherries and mixed the extracts to be half-and-half almond and vanilla, but for this iteration, I’ve kept to Aunt Eleanor’s originals

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Eleanor (Puglisi) McMillen

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 4 TBSP confectioner’s sugar
• 1 TBSP vanilla (Mom’s variation, 1 TBSP vanilla, 1/2 tsp almond)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
• 1/4 cup chopped candied pineapple (Mom’s variation was to used glacéed cherries)
• Additional confectioner’s sugar for coating

Method

1. Cream together butter, 4 TBSP confectioner’s sugar and flavoring extract.
2. Work in the flour, chopped nuts and candied fruit
3. Suggestion from Mom: Chill dough overnight
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Form 1/2 inch balls of dough and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes (the bottoms can brown quickly so keep an eye on them)
7. Roll baked cookies in confectioner’s sugar while they are still warm (maybe a minute out of the oven) and then coat them again when fully cooled.
8. The recipe came with a note to my Dad, Eleanor’s brother, Bud: “allow to ripen a week or more” – which we did not bother to do. Still delicious.