New Cookie Recipe: Nutmeg Sparklers

 I'm not planning to do much holiday baking this year, except my beloved Gingerbread Cookies. But I recently ran across a recipe for Nutmeg Sparklers from an old Penzeys Spices catalog and thought it might be fun to try something new this year. I have found that if you're facing a holiday season after a significant loss, it helps to shake things up a bit and try some new things. 

Click on the image below to see the recipe. It's sort of like a sugar cookie, but firmer (at least mine were!) and with nutmeg! You really can't go wrong with nutmeg!

Of course, I always have one or more problems when baking. This time, I was mixing the dough in my stand mixer when I discovered it looked quite dry and crumbly. OOPS! Forgot the eggs! A closer check of the recipe indicated that I forgot the vanilla, too! Good grief. So I added both of those ingredients LATE, hoping this mishap wouldn't affect the results too much. Luckily the cookies taste great. I'm sure they would be even better if you actually followed the recipe! :)

I used my cute new owl measuring spoons, a gift from my friend Sharon, to mix up the sugar and nutmeg used to coat the cookies.

Six tablespoons seems like a LOT of sugar, but I used nearly all of it. And I only spilled just a tiny bit. :)
 

It seemed like the more cookies I rolled, the dough there was! I guess that's how it is when you're rolling dough into balls and coating them with sugar. That part takes awhile. 

Another tip: Be sure not to over bake these cookies, or they'll get a little hard on the bottom because they're coated in sugar. (Spouse, however, didn't seem to notice as he snatched a few from the cooling rack!) The recipe indicates 10-12 minutes in a 400-degree oven. I found that 10 minutes was just right.

But they turned out great in the end, and they are quite festive! Nutmeg Sparklers will be a nice addition to my very limited repertoire of holiday cookie recipes!

Janet