Hanukkah Gelt Cookies!

A major hit for the under-four set, and also for anyone who loves sugar cookies. They're sweet, uncomplicated, quick and seasonal. Exactly what you want a Hanukkah cookie to be. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup margarine
2 eggs (or the equivalent in egg replacer)
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
25 pareve chocolate Hanukkah gelt coins

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix the sugar and margarine until smooth, and add the eggs and wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients well, and slowly add to your wet mixture. When the dough comes together, rolling the dough into balls and pressing lightly on them to flatten (on parchment paper-covered cookie sheets). Then unwrap a chocolate coin and place it in the middle. Or let a child do this!   

Bake 8-10 minutes, and take out immmediately for a softer cookie, or a little longer for a crispy cookie (Wait until the top browns a little for more crisp cookies). Cool the cookies on racks. With one-inch balls, you will yield approximately 25 cookies. For smaller balls, many more. I made a variety of sizes so that the chocolate gelt pieces would fit. Enjoy. A freilichen Hanukkah to all!

*If you don't wish to use immediately, the dough can also be formed into a log, placed in plastic wrap and refrigerated for an hour or overnight, or even frozen. When ready to bake, the dough can be sliced with a sharp knife into sugar cookies.