The Cooky Book: Moravian Ginger Cookies

The Recipe: Moravian Ginger Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: Butter for shortening

The Verdict: I wasn't expecting much from these guys. They required almost no butter, which in my mind does not make for a good cookie. They also are supposed to be "paper thin." This meant that they were a bit of a nightmare to roll. The un-buttery dough was hard to work with and required a lot of pressure to get to that paper thin consistency. In other words, they were a complete pain in the ass to make.

But it was worth it! The ones that I managed to get ultra-thin were crispy and cracker-like, the ones that were a bit thicker were more like gingerbread. Either way, they were really tasty. We even had some friends over who are true ginger cookie enthusiasts and they loved them. So much in fact, that my cookie jar was empty within a couple of days.

The Cooky Book: Filled Cookies

The Recipe: Filled Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: Butter for shortening

The Verdict: These were pleasant, but troublesome. To keep things simple, I chose to make the turnover style, rather than cut out individual shapes and make cookie sandwiches. What I ended up with were some empanada style cookies, that were made out of straight-up buttery cookie dough rather than pastry.

I rolled these guys a little thicker than I should have, seeing as I ended up with almost half the number of cookies that the recipe was supposed to yield. This wasn't a problem in itself in that they baked up just fine, but the finished cookies got pretty moist and soggy after sitting in my cookie jar for a couple of days. I don't know if this is because of the thickness or because of the filling, but either way, they got a bit swampy over time.

Still, they're pretty delicious. I made the pineapple filling, which is basically a pineapple apple sauce with some nutmeg thrown in. Very tasty, even if they don't keep for long.