Down! Down!
Down, down!
Yellow and brown
The leaves are falling
Over the town.
Spiced Autumn Leaves
You will need
2 cups confectioners’ sugar ½ cup (I stick) butter,
softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened (half of an
8-ounce package)
I egg
I teaspoon vanilla extract 2½ cups all-purpose flour
I teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
food colorings In assorted colors
Special Aids
3-Inch leaf-shaped cookie cutter
wooden skewer
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Preparing the Dough
1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat sugar, butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.
2. In a medium bowl, using a whisk, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Add to cream- cheese mixture; stir until a dough forms.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Knead food colorings into dough to tint each piece a different autumn color.
4. Shape each piece of dough into a disk; wrap each disk separately in plastic wrap. Freeze dough until slightly firm, about 15 minutes.
Making the Cookies
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Using your hands, divide each color dough into several small pieces. Gather about one- quarter of dough pieces from each color dough and press together to form a multicolored disk, being careful not to combine colors completely. Continue pressing the pieces of dough together to form 4 multicolored dough disks.
2. Wrap 3 dough disks separately in plastic wrap; chill until ready to use. On a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll remaining dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch leaf-shaped cookie cutter, cut out leaf shapes, rerolling scraps for additional cookies.
Transfer cutouts to ungreased baking sheets. Using a wooden skewer, draw “veins” on leaves. 4 Bake cookies until edges just start to brown, 7-9 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool. Continue rolling, cutting and baking remaining dough.
Enjoy!
