Cookies are easier to make from scratch than you might think. When you’re ready to graduate from store-bought, slice-and-bake or mix cookies, these easy recipes can help you turn out successful batches just like a professional pastry chef. If you’ve never before baked drop cookies or shaped cookies, just follow the simple instructions. When you’re done, you’ll be able to surprise your favorite people with something nice.

The two recipes here were brought to American by settlers from countries where baking is an art. One of these classic cookies is made with egg whites and the other is made with egg yolks.

These delicate clouds of meringue are drop cookies, the easiest type of cookie you can make. First, beat egg whites with sugar and fold in ground nuts. Then, simply drop the batter from a spoon or push it through a pastry bag or a food-storage bag onto cookie sheets. Instead of the usual kind of cookie baking, bake Meringue Kisses in a very low oven, turn off the heat and “forget” the cookies while they finish drying in the cooling oven. If possible, make Forgotten Cookies on a dry day. If it’s humid, the cookies can absorb moisture from the air, flatten out and lose their crispness. This is a very versatile cookie.

Well beaten egg whites can expand up to 6 to 8 times their original volume. If you beat in the sugar properly, it will be fully dissolved in the eggs and you won’t be able to feel any gritty sugar crystals when you rub some of the egg/sugar mixture between your fingers. When you beat the egg whites and sugar just right, they’ll stand up in stiff peaks and will be glossy white instead of dull white.

When you’re ready to form the cookies, the classic way to make drop cookies is to use two spoons. Scoop up some of the batter with one spoon. Then, use the other spoon to push the batter off the first spoon and drop it onto a cookie sheet. It’s okay if each cookie looks like a shapeless blob. Sometimes drop cookies stay that way; other times, they smooth out during baking. Either way, they’re still good to eat.

You can also use a pastry bag or a plastic food-storage bag. A pastry bag is cone-shaped and may be made out of fabric or plastic. At the tip of the cone is a hole. To use the bag, put a metal or plastic tip into the bag so that the tip sticks out of the hole. Then, spoon some of the batter into the bag. Fold over a bit of the top of the bag (the wide part) so the batter doesn’t come out of the top. To make a cookie, squeeze the bag from the top so some batter comes out through the tip at the bottom onto the cookie sheet. This is called piping (say it with a long i, like you would say pipe). Pipe only about a tablespoonful of the batter at a time. Forgotten Cookies aren’t monster-sized cookies.

To use a plastic food-storage bag, spoon some of the batter into a sealable food-storage bag. Press out most of the air. Seal the bag with a twist tie or zip seal. Cut a small bit off of one of the lower corners of the bag (away from the seal). Push the batter from the top of the bag toward the cut-off corner so the batter comes out of the corner of the bag onto the cookie sheet. This is a very neat way to make drop cookies. When you’re finished piping out all the batter, you can just throw out the bag instead of having to wash more dishes!

Forgotten Cookies/Meringue Kisses Makes about 60 cookies
	•	4 egg whites
	•	1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
	•	1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar OR 1 cup granulated sugar
	•	2 cups (8 oz.) ground almonds

Bake in preheated 225° F oven until firm, about 1 hour. Turn off oven. Let stand in oven with door closed until cool, dry and crisp, at least 1 additional hour. Store in tightly sealed container with waxed paper between layers. (If stored cookies lose crispness, bake in preheated 200° F oven about 15 to 20 minutes.)

Variations:
Use amounts listed for 1 batch of cookies. To make 2 variations at a time, divide meringue mixture equally between 2 bowls. Beat or fold 1/2 the ingredient amounts listed for a variation into 1 of the bowls and 1/2 the ingredient amounts listed for a second variation into the second bowl. For all variations, omit ground almonds.

Brandy Alexander – Beat in 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon brandy extract.

Cherry/Almond – Fold in 1 cup chopped, drained maraschino cherries and 1 cup chopped almonds.

Chocolate – Beat in 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Citrus – Beat in 2 tablespoons grated orange peel, 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract and a few drops yellow food coloring.

Mint/Chocolate Chip – Beat in 1/2 teaspoon mint extract and a few drops green food coloring. Fold in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

Rocky Road – Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Fold in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels and 1 cup chopped nuts.

Sour Cream & Lemon Cookies
Makes about 72 cookies

These Sour Cream & Lemon Cookies are a German favorite which they call Berlinkranzer and are especially traditional for Christmas. The pliable dough for these melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies is fun to form into shapes.

Options
Use the amount of lemon juice you prefer to give the cookies a light citrus flavor.

Once you’ve rolled each piece of dough into a log, fold the dough once and twist the ends around each other for a twirly candy-cane shape. You can also form two loops at the top and let the ends hang down for a bow. And, you can press the ends together in a circle for a wreath. For a special occasion, you can also form the dough into initials or other letters, maybe to spell out “Happy Birthday”.

If you like, top the cookies with colored sugar or candy sprinkles before you bake them.

Hints
Cutting in butter means exactly that. Instead of stirring, you simply put the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the butter and cut through all of them with two crisscrossed forks or knives or a gadget called a pastry cutter. A pastry cutter is wires or blades, usually in a half-moon shape, with a handle on the top. Whatever utensil you use to do it, the idea behind cutting is to keep crisscrossing the mixture to get small pieces of the butter all mixed up with the dry ingredients. . . without melting the butter.

When you beat the egg yolks with the sugar, you’ll need to beat longer than if you were just beating egg yolks alone.

Refrigerate the dough to harden the butter so the dough will hold its shape. Shape only a small amount of the dough – about 1/4 of the recipe – at a time and leave the rest in the fridge until you’re ready for it. If the dough out of the refrigerator starts to get too soft to form good shapes, pop it back into the refrigerator to harden up the butter again. When you form the cookie shapes, you need to have flour on your hands and on your work surface. The flour helps keep the batter from sticking to you and the table or counter-top and helps keep the butter in the cookies instead of on your hands or kitchen surfaces.

Sour Cream & Lemon Cookies Makes about 72 cookies
	•	3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
	•	1/2 teaspoon baking soda
	•	1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
	•	4 egg yolks
	•	1 cup sugar
	•	1/2 cup sour cream
	•	2 to 4 teaspoons grated lemon peel
	•	2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

In large bowl, stir together flour and baking soda. With pastry cutter or two forks, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In small mixing bowl at high speed, beat together egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 to 10 minutes. Beat in sour cream, lemon peel and juice. Pour about 1/3 of yolk mixture into reserved flour mixture. Stir until combined. Repeat with remaining yolk mixture. Place dough in covered container or food-storage bag. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, on lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands, roll small pieces of dough to form logs, each about 6 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. Shape into twists, bows, wreaths or letters. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated 350° F oven until lightly browned, about 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets about 5 minutes. Finish cooling on wire racks.