Cookie diet: How sweet the pounds

I ate a few more cookies during the holidays than I should have, and now I'm weighing a few more pounds than I'd like.

Still, I'm starting the year off writing about what I might put next into the cookie jar. OK. Call me crazy.

While my daughter, Leslie, was visiting, she thumbed through my grease-stained, held-together-with-tape and much-loved paperback copy of "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book."

Originally published in 1963, the book contains one of my favorite recipes for Thumbprint Cookies. Leslie spent several minutes sifting through my 1975 edition, reminiscing about cookies I made in the past and those she liked best.

This cookbook is divided into six, distinctive sections: Cooky Primer, Holiday Cookies, Family Favorites, Quick 'N Easy Cookies, Company Best Cookies and Betty Crocker's Best Cookies. Over the years, I've baked some happy family memories from each of them.

The Gingerbread Boys in the Family Favorites section is an example. Years ago, when I first made them, I wrote "no fail" in the margin. With its homespun flavor of molasses, allspice, ginger, cloves and cinnamon, this cookie dough produced more beautiful heart and moose-shaped cookies than I care to remember.

Leslie and I found the final section, Betty Crocker's Best Cookies, especially interesting, since it featured the most popular recipes from 1880 to 1970, with historical highlights of each decade - from 1883, when the Brooklyn Bridge opened, to 1969, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon.
Food shortages during World War II restricted options for cookie ingredients and time. Men went off to war, and women took their place in the production lines. Thus, cookie baking and other home tasks had to be sped up. Caramel Refrigerator Cookies became popular, because the dough could be mixed one day and then sliced and baked the next.

The recipes are also accented by humorous anecdotes, such as "the first brownies were a fallen chocolate cake." If you ever wondered what cookies children ate when they got home from school in 1900, you'll find your answer here: Cinnamon Jumbles.

In vogue from 1955 to 1960, while Alaska and Hawaii were proclaimed the 49th and 50th states, women were fascinated by the delicious and beautiful Bonbon Cookies. The candy-cookies were baked as cookies, but were served and eaten as candies.

I'm fascinated, too. So much so that I thought I'd whip up a batch and share the recipe with you. Here's one more way for me to sweeten my cookie diet. Bring on the New Year!

BONBON COOKIES

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons food coloring, optional
Cream

Fillings: candied or maraschino cherries, pitted dates, nuts or chocolate pieces

Toppings: chopped nuts, coconut, colored sugar

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla and food coloring. Sift flour and then measure. Blend salt in flour thoroughly by hand. If dough is dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. For each cookie, wrap 1 level tablespoonful of dough around a filling suggested above. Bake 1" apart on an un-greased baking sheet 12 to 15 minutes, or until set but not brown. Cool.

Dip tops of cookies in icing, and then decorate with any of the suggested toppings.

Bonbon icing: Mix 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons of cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla and any food coloring, if desired.