Some great cookie recipes
 for the 24th Cookie Walk

It’s funny how the flight of time dims the memory! Members of the Parish Life Committee were recently trying to figure out how many years we had been holding the Cookie Walk at St Stephen’s. Most seemed to agree that this year’s event would be the 22nd.

Colby Hawks, however, was pretty sure it would be the 24th. She was in a very small minority, but it turns out she was right on the money. The first Cookie Walk was held on the first Saturday in December, 1992—almost two years before the church on Mays Chapel Road was dedicated.

Earlier that year the parish bought the land for the church from Patrick Miller and his family, who then lived in a house on the site. (Sadly, the Baltimore County planning department made demolition of the Miller’s home a condition for issuing the construction permit.)

We had held a parish picnic at the house and were debating how best to use it to raise funds for building the church. Jack Kohler, chairman of the newly formed Parish Life Committee, said: ‘Let’s hold a Cookie Walk.’

‘What’s a Cookie Walk, Jack?’ we asked.

‘That’s what everybody will ask,’ Jack replied. ‘And you can bet the farm they’ll come to find out.’

Jack was right. We held the First Annual Cookie Walk in the Miller house, and the neighbourhood turned out to find out what it was all about, and they’ve been turning out ever since.

I believe we made something over $3,000 that year, and were very pleased with ourselves as a consequence.

Today the Cookie Walk is a neighbourhood institution. And, over the years, it has been led by a number of redoubtable chairmen—including Jack Kohler, Anne Hawkins, Colby Hawks, Charlotte Hawtin and most notably Donna Szper. This year, Brock Johnson is in the hot seat.

In any event, this year’s 24th Annual St Stephen’s Cookie Walk will take place on Saturday, 5 December, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. And as we can’t have a Cookie Walk without cookies, we are asking each parish family to contribute two batches of scrumptious home-made cookies to make this year’s Cookie Walk even more successful than the last.

To get you all started, we are publishing favourite cookie recipes so you can stockpile your contributions. We hope you’ll pin them on your freezer door with plans to try one or two of them when you have a moment.

Here are recipes for cookies you can make in advance and freeze (in dough form), baking them in the week before the Cookie Walk. We have also printed some variations. These recipes are taken from James Beard’s American Cookery Book—so we know they work!

We also need new or never-used items for our gift table, fresh greens for our bags and baskets (boxwood, cedars, juniper, spruce, nandina, hemlock, etc.), gift items for our children’s table, help the week before and on the day, and your presence at the sale along with all your friends!

Refrigerator or Icebox Cookies

1 cup butter
1 to 1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt

Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Add flour and salt sifted together and stir until well blended. Divide the dough into three parts and form rolls. Roll each roll in waxed paper and store in the refrigerator or freezer until firm. With a sharp knife, slice ⅛ to thickness of the cookies. Remove from pan while warm and cool on a rack. Store in airtight containers. Yields 4½ to 6½ dozen cookies.

Butterscotch Refrigerator Cookies

Instead of white sugar, use 1½ cups brown sugar.

Chocolate Refrigerator Cookies

Add 2 to 3 ounces bitter chocolate melted, to the creamed butter and egg mixture. Use ¼ cup less flour.

Pinwheel Refrigerator Cookies

Divide the mixed dough approx. in half. Add 1 to 1½ oz bitter chocolate, melted, to half the dough, mixing until no streaks remain. Roll half of the white dough between two sheets of heavy wax paper or foil until until about ¼-inch thick and about 3 inches wide. Roll out half of the chocolate dough until the same size. Flip the chocolate dough over onto the plain dough and roll up like jelly roll, as tight as possible. Wrap in wax paper or foil and chill until very firm. Repeat with the remaining dough. Slice in ¼-inch slices and bake on a greased baking sheet until lightly yellow. Do not let these brown, or the contrasting stripes will not show up.

Orange or Lemon Refrigerator Cookies

Omit the vanilla and substitute 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind, or 3 or 4 teaspoons finely grated orange rind.

Raisin, Date, Currant, or Prune Refrigerator Cookies

Put raisins, currants, or pitted dates or prunes through the medium blade of the food chopper (large chunks of fruit are difficult to cut through and will break up the cookies) and beat into the creamed mixture before adding flour. From ½ to 1 cup ground fruit is sufficient. Use spice recipe below, if you like.

Spice Refrigerator Cookies

Sift 1 tablespoon cocoa, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon cloves with the flour and salt.

Filled Refrigerator Cookies

Shape spice, nut, chocolate, or butterscotch dough into a 2-inch roll. Chill until firm. Slice thin, place filling in centre, cover with another thin slice of dough, and press edges down. For filling, use jelly or jam, etc.

Rolled Oat Refrigerator Cookies

Use 1 to 1½ cups finely chopped rolled oats or oatmeal in place of 1 to 1½ cups of the flour. Rolled oats are too large to slice down successfully. Whirl them, about ½ cup at a time, in a blender for 30 to 40 seconds in place of 1 to 1½ cups of the flour.

Nut Refrigerator Cookies

Mix ½ to ¾ cup finely chopped walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, or peanuts into the sifted flour and salt. The nuts must be quite fine or the dough will crumble while being sliced