Cookies for Santa — and everyone else

Today is the 12th day before Christmas. Which brings to mind maids a-milking, lords a-leaping, turtle doves, etc. But what does your true love need with any of those? Can’t eat ’em. Turn your efforts to sweeter things.

We’ll help. Here are ideas for five cookies a-crisping.

They are all easy-does-it recipes, allowing you time for other holiday duties, such as finding a partridge for that pear tree.

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Double Chocolate Mochiko Cookie

Adding mochiko to flour doesn’t turn cookies chewy like mochi — although that would be really cool. To the contrary, it gives cookies a lighter texture and a really nice crunch. Don’t ask me why. Magic, I suppose. Which is in keeping with the holiday spirit.

These cookies are a nice twist on the traditional chocolate chip.

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Betty Shimabukuro, Star-Advertiser

• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.

Combine flour, mochiko and baking powder.

In separate bowl, dissolve cocoa powder in water.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and dissolved cocoa. Slowly add flour-mochiko mixture, mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

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Royal Scotch Shortbread

In her younger days, my mom, Ethel Oshiro, was a powerhouse in the kitchen. She was the queen of “everything from scratch,” and this was most evident during the holidays when she tirelessly baked dozens upon dozens of this shortbread for each of her three children’s school Christmas parties. The dough in this simple shortbread — there are just three ingredients — is resilient and versatile, not to mention delicious. It’s a cookie long on both style and substance.

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Joleen Oshiro, Star-Advertiser

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter (or 1 stick butter and 1 stick margarine), softened

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Sift flour and powdered sugar together. Cut in butter until pea-size balls of dough form. Knead and work dough until thoroughly incorporated.

Press into rimmed ungreased cookie sheet to 1/4-inch thickness and bake 30 minutes. If using all butter, edges will brown slightly when done. Butter/margarine cookies will be darker brown.

Remove from oven, cool for a minute, then cut into pieces with sharp knife. Fills a 10-by-15-inch cookie sheet.

Variations

>> Decorate pressed cookie with colored sugar. Premade red- and green-colored granules are available on supermarket shelves, but with a little elbow grease it’s easy to make your own: Place white sugar in jar with tight lid. Add one drop food coloring, secure lid well, then shake jar vigorously until color is evenly distributed. Add more coloring drop by drop to achieve desired shade.

Spread colored sugar evenly over sheet of pressed cookie dough, then bake.

>> Roll dough out and use cookie cutters, then decorate.

>> Make candy-cane cookies: Add few drops of red food coloring to half the dough and knead until color is evenly distributed. Add more coloring if necessary. If needed, refrigerate dough for 5 to 10 minutes to firm it up.

Roll small balls of red and white dough into cylindrical strips of equal lengths. Line up 1 red piece and 1 white piece, then gently roll together to make a two-toned strip. Twist ends in opposite directions to create candy-cane effect. Place on baking sheet and curve one end to form candy cane.

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Gluten-Free, 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

My son Dylan brought the basic recipe for this cookie home from his Kailua Intermediate School home economics class. The teacher told the kids their parents would all have the same reaction to the recipe: “Where’s the flour?”

This recipe is highly customizable. Add ground cinnamon or other spice; mix in chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped nuts, etc., to taste. Roll in colored sugar or sprinkles; plunge a Hershey’s Kiss into the center before the cookie cools. There are many possibilities.

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Erika Engle, Star-Advertiser

• 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• 1 cup sugar (granulated, light brown, dark brown, or a combination)
• 1 egg, beaten

Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add chips or other mix-ins, if using.

Refrigerate about an hour to firm up dough.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.

Scoop dough onto cookie sheet to create cookies of desired size and thickness (Dylan usually makes them small but thick).

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown (check at 13 minutes; baking time will vary by oven and thickness of the cookies). Makes about 20 cookies.

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Homemade Energy Bar

When I mention no-bake cookies, I mean no heat whatsoever.

It turns out that most no-bake cookie and bar recipes are no easier than recipes that require baking. They still call for heating milk, cocoa, chocolate and butter, before mixing with other ingredients and finally dropping or spreading them onto sheets and letting them set in the refrigerator. Few turn out pretty enough for gift giving.

I found many recipes that blended peanut butter and cocoa powder, two ingredients I don’t care for because, let’s face it, I can be a food snob.

So I started with things I enjoy eating, imagining that they would all come together beautifully. While shopping, a friend tried to intervene. “You need something sweet because the cranberries are sour.” “That’s a lot of pumpkin seeds. Are you going to use that much?”

Truth is, I had no idea, but I like what I like and came up with a Christmas palette of green and red, with a lot of sweetness from using dates. Next time I’ll probably take out two dates and substitute an equal amount of rolled oats for reduced sugar and more fiber.

You might have other ideas, and that’s the great thing about no-bake bars. This basic recipe can be considered a starting point for bars made with fresh ingredients of your choosing. You’ll have no more worries about unknown food additives and preservatives going into your healthful snack.

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Nadine Kam, Star-Advertiser

• 1 cup quartered dates
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, roasted and shelled
• 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar

Line an 8-by-8 dish with waxed paper or baking parchment.

Pulse dates, seeds and nuts in food processor until chopped medium fine. Add cranberries, flaxseed and agave. Pulse until ingredients are combined.

Spread in pan; press firmly to create a flat, even top. Mixture will be sticky, so use another square of waxed paper or parchment to compress. Refrigerate a couple of hours before cutting into bars. May be stored in an airtight container for a week. Makes 8 to 12 bars.

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Tofu Cookies

This recipe doesn’t contain oil or granulated sugar. But it does include tofu — a good source of protein, iron, calcium and several other minerals — and flaxseed — rich in dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B1. The cookies can be made with the nuts and dried fruit of your choice. While they don’t fall into the typical crispy or chewy cookie categories, they also don’t taste like tofu. Don’t wait too long to eat them, they’re best about 10-15 minutes after they come out of the oven.

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Michelle Ramos, Star-Advertiser

• 1/2 block soft tofu, drained and mashed (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small banana, mashed (about 1/3 cup)
• 3 tablespoons apple sauce
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (your choice)
• 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (your choice)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.

Combine tofu, banana and apple sauce in a bowl.

In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except nuts and dried fruit. Using a spatula, add to tofu mixture, using a cutting motion until almost combined. Add nuts and dried fruit; continue cutting motion until incorporated.

Drop by tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes. Makes about 28 pieces.

Nutritional information unavailable.