Life This Week: December 5, 1938 and Visions of Sugarplums

My regular readers (hi, guys!) know all about "Life This Week," but if you're visiting from Visions of Sugarplums (more about that later), first, welcome to my blog. Second, "Life This Week" has been a regular Monday feature on The Past on a Plate for most of this year. I post when the issue for the corresponding week in 1938 has an interesting movie reviewed in it or features an interesting recipe, sometimes both! You can visit this week's issue by clicking the graphic above.

Chocolate Kriss Kringle Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( plus extra for rolling)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkles, to decorate

Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the melted chocolate.

Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon with the first 1/2 cup of flour.

Wrap the dough in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough (you'll probably need to roll it out in batches, say 1/3 at a time) on a floured surface to 1/8" thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Decorate with sprinkles.

Bake 5 to 8 minutes on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking sheet or parchment. When the cookies just start to brown around the edges, they're ready. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Adapted from a Baker's Chocolate ad from 1938.

Print at Food52
Print at Food.com

See? I let "hubby" help. He doesn't like being called that, though. He prefers "Paul." One note: the original recipe doesn't specify when to apply the sprinkles. I thought the cookies would be warm enough when they got out of the oven for the sprinkles to stick. Not really. So--I've instructed you to put the sprinkles on before baking in the instructions.

I know it's not Christmas-y, but Paul and I listened to Glenn Miller while enjoying our Kriss Kringle Cookies. I've got a former jazz trombone player in my house, so he's always "In the Mood" for Glenn Miller! Here are some of our favorites (at least the ones I was able to find on Grooveshark).

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For more info, click on the graphic, above. Be sure to check out today's bloggers:

My mom, Lori Hairston

Mika at Mika's Pantry

Jennifer at Just Wedeminute