Friday, August 21, 2009

Strawberry Walnut Streusel Cookies

I must say, sending sweets every week has made me quite popular with Walter's co-workers.

Strawberry Walnut Streusel Cookies



These cookies came from the Reader's Digest 1,001 Cookie Recipes cookbook. I altered the recipe a bit because I found that it didn't quite suit me normally. I had to add about 1/4 cup more flour to the dough to make it stiff enough to roll, and the streusel topping was a bit bland, so I added more cinnamon and some sugar. After my changes, these cookies were quite good.

Ingredients
For the streusel:
-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
-1 Tablespoon finely ground almonds (I used walnuts, hence the name)
-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/3 cup butter, cut up
I also used 1 Tablespoon sugar and an additional 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

For the cookies:
-1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1 1/4 cup)
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-2/3 cup butter, cut up
-2/3 cup ricotta cheese
-1 Tablespoon vanilla sugar (For this, I just used 1 teaspoon vanilla with 1 Tablespoon sugar)
-1/3 cup strawberry preserves



Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare streusel: Combine flour, walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
3. For the cookies, sift flour and salt into a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Stir in ricotta, vanilla, and sugar to form a stiff dough. Form dough into disc and chill for thiry minutes.
5. Roll dough to thickness of 1/4 inch and cut into 2 1/2 inch shapes. Place on cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
6. Heat strawberry preserves over low heat until thin. Spread over each cookie. Top with streusel.
7. Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and the edges are beginning to brown. Cool on wire racks. Sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar if desired.

4 comments:

Molly Jean said...

I used to flip through Reader's Digest at my grandparent's house when I was just a little one! I love that mag then. I had no idea that they had such yummy recipes like this though!! Looks great

Joanna Eberhart said...

I always loved Reader's Digest too. I have two of their "1,001 Recipes" books: Cookies and Cakes. I haven't tried anything out of the Cakes yet. The cookies have been sort of hit and miss, but with 1,001 recipes, there are bound to be a couple of duds. This one was definitely a hit!

Unknown said...

This sounds like a delicious cookie! I'll have to try this I love fruit with nuts and in a cookie, yum!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

I love how creative this cookie it - looks great!