Better than Pizzelles!

Still testing cookie recipes... Notice that I always start with a batch of Nestle's Toll House - that way, no matter how terrific the disaster test recipe might be, I still come out a winner with the boys who just want chocolate chip cookies any way.

From Midwestern Living magazine this month comes this butter cookie recipe called Butterdream Cookies. What caught my attention was the story behind it that says this cookie recipe came over from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, an area I am familiar with - just south of Denmark.

For those who like a little cookie with their butter, this is a fantastic mouthful. For me though, they are a little rich... However, I must say that I am very pleased with my results because these cookies came out looking just like the picture in the magazine. This really beats the you-know-what out of the Pizzelle recipe I tried a few weeks ago.

If you would like to try these German Butterdream Cookies, they go like this:

1/2 cup margarine
Note: I don't cook with margarine and wonder if these cookies might be better actually using butter!
1/2 cup crisco (I also never cook with Crisco!)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
2 & 1/4 cups flour
12-15 maraschino cherries (rinse, drain and dry before cutting in half)

Shape dough into balls. Put little dent in the middle and press 1/2 maraschino cherry into the dent. Bake at 350, 8-10 minutes*

*I baked these cookies on parchment paper (on dark cookie sheets) for 15 minutes and the bottoms were still very, very light - but it took my oven 15 mins to set the dough