I is for Icebox Cookies

Of course, “I” had to fall at the very end of November, practically December, when it’s wintery cold and the only “I” foods that came to mind were “ice cream” and “iced tea”.  Not exactly the greatest timing, seeing as I can never feel my fingers or toes from October to March.  Thus I resigned myself to making a big bowl of icing, which made my tummy turn from the thought of all that sugar.  I really didn’t feel like making icing, but what other choice did I have?  With a heavy sigh, I researched cookie recipes to put my icing on, and the first one that popped up was “icebox cookies”.  Meant to be?  I think so!  

 

Although more commonly referred to as “refrigerator” or “freezer” cookies, they were originally named “icebox” cookies since the dough was shaped into a log and frozen in an icebox, or an old-fashioned freezer.  Freezing the dough makes it easier to work with, and thin slices are cut off the end and baked into cookies of even thickness.  This helps when decorating cookies since the top is flat, as opposed to the rounded top of drop cookies.

 

The recipe that I found called for relatively few ingredients, and I liked that I could prepare the dough in the morning, chuck it in the freezer, and forget about it until I got hungry for dinner and went to grab frozen veggies.  It used pure brown sugar, which gave the cookies a beautiful golden color.  I needed to bake the cookies longer than the recipe called for, closer to 12-14 minutes, which was hard since they smelled so delicious, but that’s just the way this cookie crumbled.  And they looked so good when I pulled them out of the oven that I ditched the icing and served them soft and warm instead.  Yum!