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Oma's Soft Cream Cookies

I recently made 6 times the recipe for a wedding event which gave over 700 cookies since it was one of the bride's favorite cookies and thought it would be a good Flashback Friday recipe. It is that time of year again where the home smells of sweet delights baking in the kitchen. If you like peppermint cookies, you can add 3 teaspoons of peppermint extract to make them peppermint cookies.






Some cookies are just a sweet reminder of days gone by, and I have fond memories of these soft and delicately sweet cookies. Do you remember these when you were growing up?
  • 2 cups sour cream, or whipping cream
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup of margarine or butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 5 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder (yes that is the correct amount)
  1. Mix margarine sugar beating well
  2. add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
  3. mix in the vanilla
  4. Mix dry ingredients together
  5. add into the egg mixture stir alternately with the sour cream.
  6. This dough is soft and should be in the fridge over night, so it can be rolled out easily the next day. When you roll out the dough, flour the counter and over the dough liberally because the dough is a bit sticky. 
  7. Roll out dough on floured surface just over a 1/4" in thickness, into desired shapes.
  8. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes watching carefully not to brown. They taste best looking whitish.
You may choose to ice them when cooled with the following glaze.

Glaze
2 cups icing sugar mixed with cream til it is a thick but spreadable constancy.
Add a few drops of food coloring if desired.

54 comments:

  1. The cookies look and sound great Charlotte. I really like that cup and saucer!

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  2. CAN ANYONE GIVE MEASUREMENT IN OZS OR ANY METRIC MEASURES AS WE DO NOT USE CUP SIZES IN THE UK

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    Replies
    1. 1 cup = 250 mL of liquid or around 125 g of flour

      a teaspoon is 5mL
      a tablespoon in 15mL

      You can google the conversions if you need to

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  3. I'm thinking the office employees will LOVE this one. I love to bake and send the food away after a little nibble.

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  4. Love this cookies, have never made them before. Think I'll be trying this very soon.
    1 cup - 8oz or 250 ml
    1 tsp - 5ml
    1 Tbsp - 15ml

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  5. These cookies are wonderful! They certainly remind me of both my Grandmas. As small children, we called them Sprinkle Cookies, because Grandma tipped the iced cookie directly into a bowl of colourful sprinkles. So so yummy! I make them just like Grandma still does, with lots of sprinkles!

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  6. I grew up with these, too. Now I make them for my kids. I make chocolate icing instead, and dip in coconut. Just like my grandma and my mom made them. :D I just have to remember not to roll so thin. They are best when thicker, too, and yes, not too brown.

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  7. My aunt made these with a homemade marshmallow icing and then dipped in coconut plain or toasted. I haven't thought of these in years and now I N-E-E-D one. Does you or anybody else out there have the homemade marshmallow icing recipe that they would be kind enough to share. Thank you in advance. Debrah

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    1. MARSHMALLOW TOPPING
      4 Tbsp cold water
      2 envelopes (2 Tbsp) unflavoured gelatin
      ½ cup boiling water
      1½ cups sugar
      1 tsp vanilla
      In large mixing bowl, soak gelatin in cold water until soft. Dissolve in boiling water. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until thick and foamy. Spread on cookies and dip cookie into toasted coconut. (This amount replaces 1 bag marshmallows).

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  8. They do look good and reminds me of a cookie my grandma made. Sorry for sounding like a nit-picker but approximately how thick should they be when rolled out? Chocolate icing and dipped in coconut sounds wonderful! Will be trying both.

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    1. You are not being nit picky, that is a good question. Not thin like pie pastry, not thick like biscuits, does that help..:) I didn't think so.
      I looked on my ruler to give you my best guess. I would roll them out a bit thinker than a 1/4", but not much thinker than that. I will amend the recipe and add that to the method. Thanks for asking.

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    2. I would do at least 1/4" to 1 cm thick. Then it has a nice fluffy center. Enjoy. Oh, and they freeze great. I freeze without icing, and then they're aren't messy in the freezer. :D

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    3. can these be drop cookies---no rolling? looks like the peppermint cookies my Oma made.

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    4. These cookies are delicious. However, I had a lot of trouble rolling them out - way sticky. Perhaps it's b/c I used whipping cream and they would 'work' better with sour cream. I ended up dropping at least half of them and they turned out much better, shape-wise.

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    5. AngAK-My Mom made these as drop cookies when I was growing up.

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  9. There desperately needs to be a gluten free version of these. I miss them so much!!

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    1. why not try substituting GF flour for the flour part....
      They have a new flour out now...that we buy here in BC..called "Cloud 9"....it is the best GF four mix ever...and we just substitute it for the regular flour...
      Good luck.... :)

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    2. Thanks so much. Since I, too, am in BC I will look for it!

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    3. My mom is GF and I just replace the regular flour with a GF mix, it works wonderfully and she LOVES them.

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  10. Wow Charlotte - you've touched nostalgic hearts with this one - they look terrific.

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  11. I remember my Grandma Fehr making these...absolutely yummy!

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  12. Debrah, my Grandma always made these cookies with a pink marshmallow topping and dipped in coconut. I called my mom for the recipe and it is as follows:

    mix the following two ingredients and chill till slightly thickened,
    1-3oz. pkg jello powder (strawberry, cherry or raspberry)
    1/2 c. boiling water
    then add:
    3 egg whites
    1 c. sugar
    beat till firm and ice cookies, dip in coconut

    I hope this works for you I have not made this myself but think that it's time to give it a try.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for this recipe, it does sound good, but my grandmother's was white. Debrah

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    2. Glad you mentioned the white marshmallow. I also have that recipe:
      1 c. water
      2 c. sugar
      2 tbsp. unflavoured gelatin powder (Knox)
      2 tbsp. water
      1/2 tsp. vanilla
      dash of salt
      disolve gelatin in 2 tbsp. water
      bring 1 c. water and sugar to a boil
      stir gelatin mixture, vanilla and salt into sugar water mixture. Beat on high till mixture thickens (15-20 min). Spread on cookies and dip in coconut.

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    3. THANK YOU!!!!!-Debrah

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    4. Debrah,

      I know it's been a long tome, and probably the recipe above is the white marshmallow frosting you were looking for. However, when I first read your description, I said to myself "Seven-Minute Frosting!" I used to make it for my kids' birthday cakes, and is is very glossy white and very marshmallow-ey. Simple, too -- only 4 ingredients. Google "7-minute frosting."

      Deb in Indiana

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  13. This recipe has been in our family for over 100 years. Another variation is to use whole buttermilk and instead of iciing, I sometimes make a gelatin (marshmallow as my family calls it) topping sprinkled with colored coconut.

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    Replies
    1. Recipe for the icing please-Debrah

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    2. Are you Tina Fehr from SK? Because if so, I know you.

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  14. They look so good

    I love that Cup and Saucer
    I love anything in Blue

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  15. Oh. My. Goodness. Your posts make me drool. Seriously! These look SO GOOD! I can't wait to try all the recipes on your blog!

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  16. I always enjoy these old fashioned recipes that talk about memories and schmeck so gut...

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  17. ok a lot of added version;s now could a person use buttermilk ,, ?? I;ll be trying it anyway as I need to use it up ,, may turn out to be drop cookies ,,
    sask menn

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    1. sorry missed the one with buttermilk ,,, ignore the post sk

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    2. fyi I made these today ,, and used buttermilk ,, as a good hutterite friend ,, always said simplify dear soul she passed away this year ,, said i always do things as simple as possible ,, having said that ,, i just did ,,,made them into drop cookies and they looked just like your picture ,, and a lot less work ,, only thing i needed more of was flavour ,, as hubby said thy should have peppermint ,, so that;s my next try ,, i mixed the glaze with lemon juice .. that added ,,, for this time

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    3. glad you enjoyed them. yes, good idea about peppermint flavoring :)
      I think the icing gives it a bit more flavor, and I like all the suggestion with the chocolate, coconut and sprinkles too.

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  18. OH yummy, I'm going to make these for my family!!!

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  19. I have everything I need for this recipe and am going to make these TOMORROW!!!!!! Thanks for posting the recipe AND the picture. My 'baby steps' blog is at http://milkmaidrecipebox.blogspot.com/

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  20. My grandma made these cookies for my grandpa because they were his favorite, alhtough she always used buttermilk. These are so simple but so very tasty. They are one of my favorites too. So wonderful to finally find this recipe as Grandma never wrote hers down, just went by memory. :) I will definitely be baking these very soon. :)

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  21. How many cookies will I get from this simple recipe

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    1. If I can recall, it is approximately 6 or 7 dozen.

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  22. Oh wow do these bring me back a long ways. This Christmas I decided to add some mint in the glaze...delicious!

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  23. OH!!I well remember my mom making these for Christmas..soo YUMMY!!!Brings back so many happy
    memories of days gone by.

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  24. I think I like this recipe better than my mom's - because of the amount of baking powder. They were great. This recipe makes 6 dozen.

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  25. I remember these and if I do recall correctly, my grandma from Russia used ammonia :)

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  26. Sounds wonderful - just a couple questions. Do I put the peppermint in the cookie batter or the icing? And what is baking ammonia? Is it an alternative to baking powder?

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    1. These are wonderful plain, soft white cookies, but if you wish to make peppermint cookies, yes, the baking ammmonia replaces baking powder and peppermint oil goes in the batter. You can check out hte recipe for peppermint cookies.

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  27. Oh those must be good if it's Oma's recipe!!! Tis the season for cookies!!!

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  28. These look so good! I'd like to try the recipe. One question though...you mention baking ammonia but the recipe doesn't seem to call for it? Thanks :)

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  29. Yes,, how much ammonia and peppermint do you put in?? I think my MoM used both... not sure though.

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  30. I have always loved anything made by Mennonites! These are very interesting looking and I'm going to try them. The old recipes are the best.

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  31. When using whipping cream, do I whip it first or just use it in liquid form?

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  32. This recipe is very similar to the family recipe my husband's family brought out of Russia when the immigrated here to the US. We use 2 Tablespoons (25 cents worth according to the original recipe)baking ammonia dissolved in hot water and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. The recipe we use also calls for 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract in the dough. I have never used less than 6 1/2 cups of flour to get the right consistency to roll, and the recipe makes 13 dozen. We make them at Christmas, and they are Santa's Favorite according to my children. Baking ammonia can be purchased online from King Arthur Flour or on Amazon if you cannot find it locally. I started using gluten free flour in place of the regular flour after our daughter developed a gluten allergy, and no one noticed a difference in taste.

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