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Holiday Guest Post by Pitch Wars Mentor Veronica Bartles!

Tuesday, 10 December 2013  |  Posted by Brenda Drake

Christmas card with hot cup of cappuccino,  cinnamon sticks and christmas tree branch isolated,

My favorite Christmas traditions go hand-in-hand: baking delicious treats and spending time with friends and family.

For years, we hosted a Christmas Cookie Open House at our home every December. I’d bake approximately 300 dozen cookies (yes, I did say 300 DOZEN – I usually made between 12 and 20 dozen each of at least 16 different varieties of cookie), and we’d invite all of our neighbors, co-workers, friends and acquaintances to come sample the sweetness of the season with us. Each year, I created at least one brand-new cookie recipe for the event, as well as bringing back the traditional favorites.

By far, my most popular cookie creation was the Lemon Snowball Cookie. And in preparation for the Ultimate Pitch Wars Snowball Fight, I thought I’d share them with you.

Lemon Snowball Cookies, vegan recipe by Veronica Bartles

They taste like classic Lemon Bars, but with a melt-in-your mouth crunch instead of the sticky, gooey mess generally associated with the delectable treat. (And bonus! The recipe has no eggs or dairy, so it’s great for those on a vegan diet and my friends with allergies who are often left out of the goodie exchange because of dietary restrictions.)

You’ll need:
1 c. margarine
1 c. powdered sugar (divided)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon extract
2 1/4 c. flour (whole wheat gives the most full flavor, but all-purpose works almost as well)

Cream together margarine and 1/2 c. powdered sugar.

Add lemon flavoring and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.

Stir in flour.

Chill dough 3-4 hours. (If you skip this step, your cookies will not hold their shape.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll into balls approximately 1″ in diameter (I use a mini cookie scoop, but you can use your hands, if you don’t have one.)

Place dough balls on an ungreased baking sheet. Cookies don’t spread when baked (unless you forgot to chill the dough), so you can place them close together, as long as they’re not touching. I can usually fit the entire batch of cookies onto one large baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set, but not browned. Cool slightly on the baking sheet.

Put the remaining 1/2 c. of powdered sugar into a gallon-sized zip-top baggie. Place the cooled-but-still-slightly-warm cookies into the bag and zip closed. Shake the bag gently to coat each cookie in powdered sugar. I’ve found that 1/2 c. sugar is just about perfect for one batch of cookies, but you can use more or less, depending upon your personal taste preferences.

(recipe makes approximately 7 dozen cookies)

These delicious little bite-sized cookies are so good, you’ll probably need to make several batches, if you want enough to share!

Veronica

Veronica Bartles

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Veronica writes children’s books, from picture books to YA novels. She’s represented by Jessica Sinsheimer (Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, LLC). Her debut YA Contemporary Romance novel, TWELVE STEPS, will be published by Swoon Romance in 2014.

Filed: Misc

13 Comments
  • Dawn Allen says:

    Those sound delightful! Thanks for sharing.

  • Chelle818 says:

    I don’t have margarine. Can I use butter?

    • Yes, you can use butter instead of margarine, and it’s delicious that way. The only reason I use margarine, usually, when making these cookies, is because I make them for my vegan friends. (Butter is not vegan-friendly.) But if you don’t have vegan concerns, butter is a delicious substitution! <3

  • Adriana says:

    Yum! Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to share this with my husband. He loves to bake, and I like to watch him! πŸ™‚

  • Jeri says:

    I bow down in awe! I once co-chaired a cookie walk as a fundraiser. It took dozens of women all day to make that many cookies, and we used a professional kitchen to mix the dough ahead of time.

    The recipe looks wonderful – I love lemon in cookies. And who doesn’t love powdered sugar! Thanks for sharing!

    • To be fair, I didn’t do ALL of the cookie making in one day. I would prepare all of the dough ahead of time, making about 2 large, double batches of cookies each day starting the day after Thanksgiving. I’d portion the cookies into individual dough balls and freeze them on trays, ready to be baked. The day before our party, I’d bake 3-6 dozen of each variety of cookie (so we’d start the party with around 60-70 dozen cookies), and then I kept the oven going throughout the party, tossing in trays of cookies whenever we started to run low of any one type of cookie. (The experienced guests who knew my system would come after the party had been going on for an hour or so, because then they got all fresh, warm from the oven cookies.)

  • Deb says:

    That sounds tasty! I may have to try it!

  • Khyl Shumway says:

    Oh. My. Gosh! Three thousand, six hundred cookies. That’s like… You’re like… Santa Claus!

    Incredible. Lemon bars are my very favorite, so I’m for sure going to make these.

  • Excellent post! These cookies look exactly like the Greek “Kourabiedes” that we traditionally make here over Xmas – the preparation is very similar too so I can very well imagine what your lovely creations taste like – delicious! Happy holidays πŸ™‚

  • Emmie Mears says:

    These look amazing. I love lemon cookies.

  • Robin Hammer says:

    These are awesome! Thanks Veronica! The recipe looked so good I baked them as a Christmas treat for a bunch of my friends! They’re so yummy! πŸ™‚

  • Brenda Drake says:

    I have tasted these lovely treats and they a fabulous! Thank you, Veronica, for sharing your Holiday post with us.

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